Story

Japan’s “Age of Civil War” was a time of rival warlords, when no one could find a way to bring peace to the country.

“Akizuki,” “Yamana” and “Hayakawa” are three provinces that border upon each other. Mountainous Yamana, which has survived on its meager mineral resources, wishes to conquer its large and prosperous coastal neighbor, Hayakawa. Running through its already slender resources, Yamana instead sets its eye on its other neighbor, Akizuki, a smaller region but with fertile land and abundant gold mines. A surprise attack catches Akizuki off guard, and its castle falls without a significant fight. The Yamana troops make a frantic search through its burnt-out ruins for Akizuki’s hidden war chest of “100 Kan in Gold.”

Takezo and Shinpachi are young re’er-do-wells constantly on the lookout for a get-rich-quick scheme. Impressed as slave-labor in this search, the miner Takezo (Jun Matsumoto) and wood cutter Shinpachi (Daisuke Miyagawa) use the commotion caused by a coal-gas explosion to flee the castle. With no destination in mind, the two stumble upon what looks like gold bearing the armorial insignia of Akizuki hidden among sticks of firewood by a waterfall. Overjoyed at finding the Akizuki war chest, they are captured by two warriors who appear out of nowhere. The two are in fact Akizuki’s chief samurai, Rokurota Makabe (Hiroshi Abe) and the heir to Akizuki, Princess Yuki (Masami Nagasawa), engaged on a secret mission to take the gold to shelter in Hayakawa. At the point of Rokurota’s sword, Takezo suggest how they might be able to accomplish this.

A samurai incognito, a princess out to recover her land, and the two mountain villagers.
Greed struggles with the fate of a nation.
Braving a tights military cordon of thousands of warriors, taken as prisoner to an impregnable fortress, the four fight against all odds.
A hunt for hidden gold and a princess in distress; a desperate and dangerous escapade has begun.