Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart at the River Styx – Kenji Misumi, 1972
Kozure Ōkami: Sanzu no kawa no ubaguruma / “Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart at the River Styx”
Japan, 1972
Director: Kenji Misumi
Script: Kazuo Koike, Goseki Kojima
Starring: Tomisaburo Wakayama (Itto Ogami), Akihiro Tomikawa (Daigoro), Kayo Matsuo (Sayaka Yagyu), Akiji Kobayashi (Ozuno)
Story
In the scene that serves as a prelude to this second part of the Lone Wolf saga, the fugitive ronin Ogami and his son Daigoro are attacked by two swordsmen. But the former kaishakunin defeats them without difficulty. Before dying, one of the assassins tells him that it will not help him to hide, because the Yagyu clan has power all over Japan; sooner or later they will finish him off…
After the titles of credit, Ogami Itto and his “cub” arrive at a village, where they stay in a boarding house. The owner of the inn is a bit skeptical at the beginning when he sees the ronin appear, because he thinks he is a poor wanderer, who will not have money to pay and who can cause problems. When the innkeeper tries to tell him, with a false courtesy, that they have no free rooms, Ogami gives him a package with 500 ryo (we assume that’s a lot of money) to keep in a safe place while he’s staying there. Then suddenly the innkeeper’s attitude changes and he is extremely helpful…
Meanwhile, Ozuno of the Kurokawa clan (allied to the Yagyu) is sent by Retsudo to contact Sayaka, the beautiful but extremely dangerous head of a group of assassins. Sayaka belongs to a branch of the Yagyu clan. She is part of the Akashi-Yagyu, and when she is informed that Ogami has killed two important members of her clan in Edo in a duel, and that he has dared to challenge the Yagyu, she bursts into a rage and promises the emissary that she and the ninjas she commands will defeat the Lone Wolf, as Retsudo has ordered. Ozuno says to be very careful with Ogami and his sword, “never let your guard down”, for he was the official kaishakunin and is a master of the Suio style… Sayaka bursts out laughing madly, for she is convinced that no one is superior in the martial arts and that no one masters combat techniques better than her female team of deadly ninjas. To prove it, she tells Ozuno that the best of her men “try to get to the garden” (trying to dodge her assassins, who are standing by the door to the garden). The one chosen by Ozuno prepares to do what he is asked to do, jumps up with several turns in the air, but is intercepted by the women. He keeps trying to get to the gate, but each time Sayaka’s ninjas cut off parts of his body (now they cut off his fingers, now one of his hands, his nose, a foot…) – When Ozuno’s man gets to the gate (without having reached the garden) he is nothing more than a mutilated wreck. The overwhelmed envoy of the Kurokawa clan is now sure that Sayaka’s ninja women are up to the task.
For their part, father and son continue “the road to hell” after having rested in the boarding house. The system followed by those who wish to hire the services of the Ogami as a mercenary is as follows: They place the image of a furious god on the outside of a temple. Thus, when the ex-executioner passes by, he knows that they want to entrust him with a job and makes a sign with stones on the floor indicating where they can find him.
That way, he is contacted by Ichibe Hirano, the spokesman for the Awa clan. The Awa control a province that has achieved great wealth and prosperity thanks to the discovery of an indigo dye. But the central power of the Shogunate wants to take over the secret of the elaboration and application of the valuable dye. For this reason, agents in the service of Edo have instigated a rebellion among the peasants of the province, to spread chaos by way of pressure. The top leader of the revolt, Chuzaemon Makuya, escaped from the territories of the Awa clan and is heading to Edo, to reveal the secret of indigo to the authorities there. To prevent the shogunate from taking advantage of his business and expropriating the assets of his clan and province, Hirano asks Ogami to kill Makuya before he reaches Edo. But Ogami must be on the alert, for Makuya is travelling with three fearsome bodyguards; the Hidari brothers. Each of them masters a specific fighting technique: one the iron fist, the other uses a spiked baton and the third a metal claw. Ogami is informed of the route to be followed by those who on this occasion must be sent to hell…
Continuing on the road, Ogami and his son are attacked several times by nimble and skilful women (the assassins in the service of Sayaka Yagyu), who when they approach father and son pose as peasant women cleaning turnips, acrobats performing a function or pilgrims; to draw and throw their weapons at the moment when Ogami and Daigoro approach… But the ex-kaishakunin, with his Suio style, defeats them all. Only Sayaka herself survives, and flees for the moment.
Soon after, the mercenary ronin and his little boy are attacked by the men of the Kurokawa clan. Ogami also defeats them, leaving only three alive (including the leader Ozunu). But during the uneven contest, the ronin has been seriously injured. Bloody and wobbly, he arrives at night pulling the cart into a haystack. There he lies down to try to recover. Little Daigoro is aware of what is happening and takes care of his father.
Meanwhile, Sayaka and Ozunu, whose clans have been severely depleted, discuss how to eliminate the Kozure Okami… Ozunu comes up with the idea of kidnapping his son Daigoro. Initially Sayaka finds this proposal to be cowardly and crawling, but she finally accepts, as “Ogami Itto cannot be defeated by normal methods”…
Commentary
The second part of “Lone Wolf and Cub” was also directed by Kenji Misumi. We appreciate here many memorable sequences, and a great poetic (as well as philosophical) charge in both the narrative and the visual. There are moments of hyperbolic violence (with blood gushing out) and also others of great tenderness, like when Daigoro wants to help his wounded father who is semi-conscious and lying in a haystack. The little boy walks to the nearby lake, drinks water from his mouth and brings it to his father. He also brings him something to eat, which he has taken from an offering to a Buddha image on the road. But since the boy is already aware that this is something sacred, he does not want to just take the food, which would be tantamount to “stealing”, and takes off his jacket to leave it there as “payment”… Also noteworthy is the scene where, after the fire on the boat, Ogami and Daigoro arrive ashore with Sayaka (Kayo Matsuo), who has been disarmed and reduced by Ogami. Once inside a shelter, father and son undress by taking off their wet clothes; after which Ogami pounces on Sayaka, apparently with the intention of raping her… but he only wants to take off her wet clothes as well and have the three of them join their bodies to warm each other… In the end, the tough and cold Sayaka, chief of the ninja killers and a member of the Yagyu clan who laughed like a psychopath at her first appearance, no longer has any intention of killing Itto Ogami…
Just as Kamisori Hanzo (played by Shintaro Katsu) has installed all kinds of traps in his house to prevent his enemies from catching him, Ogami has also placed various defensive devices on Daigoro’s cart.
Mention should also be made of the scene in the desert (so reminiscent of the Italo-Western), where Ogami Itto faces the three tremendous brothers who escort Makuya.
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