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is a 2010 Japanese ''jidaigeki'' (period drama) film directed by Takashi Miike. The screenplay was written by Daisuke Tengan. The film is a remake of Eiichi Kudo’s 1963 black-and-white Japanese film of the same name, ''Jûsan-nin no shikaku''. A samurai epic with a loose historical basis, the film was produced by Toshiaki Nakazawa, who also produced the 2009 winner of Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film ''Departures''.〔 The film stars Koji Yakusho, whose credits include'' Memoirs of a Geisha'' and ''Shall We Dance'', along with Takayuki Yamada, Sōsuke Takaoka, Hiroki Matsukata, and Kazuki Namioka.〔 It is the third film in which Yamada and Takaoka co-starred, the first two being ''Crows Zero'' and ''Crows Zero 2'', both directed by Miike. It was nominated for Best Film at the 34th Japan Academy Prize. ==Plot== In the 1840s, Japan, as the Tokugawa Shogunate faces extinction, a corrupt lord named Matsudaira Naritsugu of Akashi freely rapes, tortures, and murders his own citizens. He is protected because the Shogun is his half-brother. However, the Justice Minister realizes the threat he poses if Naritsugu should further ascend, and hires a trusted older Samurai, Shinzaemon, to ambush and murder Naritsugu. Unfortunately, the conversation is overheard by the Samurai Hanbei, a childhood friend of Shinzaemon who has persisted in loyalty toward Naritsugu. Shinzaemon gathers 11 more Samurai to be his Assassins, among them his own nephew Shinroukuro, and comes up with the plan of ambushing Naritsugu on his official journey from Edo back to Akashi. With the legal authority and financial assistance of the Justice Minister, the Assassins empty out the small town of Ochiai and builds numerous traps and fortifications inside of it. Meanwhile, a minor lord whose daughter-in-law was raped and whose only son was murdered by Naritsugu obstructs the official highway, guaranteeing that Naritsugu must travel the Ochiai route. Around this time, the Assassins are on the road when they are ambushed by Ronins paid off by Hanbei. They travel through the mountains for cover but get lost in the forests. In the process they encounter a hunter named Kiga Koyata, who guides them out of the forest and is adopted by them as the 13th Assassin. When Naritsugu arrives to Ochiai, it is discovered that he has been reinforced. Instead of facing 70 soldiers, the Assassins must fight through 200. A lengthy battle follows with Naritsugu and the soldiers becoming boxed inside that village, and straightaway being assaulted with arrows, gunpowder, spears, and swords, along with Koyata who slings rocks. Naritsugu thinks that the carnage is entertaining, telling Hanbei that upon becoming counsel to the Shogun he shall bring back the civil wars of the Sengoku period. One by one the Assassins are killed, but not before they inflict heavy casualties on the Naritsugu's force. Naritsugu and Hanbei manage to run out of the village, but are cornered by Shinzaemon and Shinrokuro. After Shinzaemon kills Hanbei, Naritsugu and Shinzaemon mortally wound each other, the latter purposely being wounded so he can die a soldier's death rather than of old age. The battle being over, Shinrokuro wanders through the wreckage and piled up bodies. He meets Koyata, who was stabbed in the neck by Naritsugu but somehow became healed. An epilogue states that in 1844 May, the Shogun and his government covered up what really happened, announcing that Naritsugu died on that journey from illness. Twenty-three years later, the Tokugawa Shogunate would be overthrown in favor of the Meiji Restoration. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「13 Assassins」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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