Ninjas snuck into my life through two entertainment events. First was their role in the Japanese based James Bond movie You Only Live Twice. Bond (played by Sean Connery) gets trained by a group of Ninjas for a dangerous mission against Blofeld’s secret rocket base inside a volcano. The second time I saw Ninjas was on the original Shogun miniseries. The mysterious assassins covered in black snuck into a royal castle to kill. I became so fascinated with Ninjas in the mid-80s, I created Stick Ninja which was basically a stick figure with a black head and two white eyes. There wasn’t too much to the character besides the cute name and the joke that he could turn invisible by turning sideways since he’s 2-D. I thought I knew a lot about ninjas. What I didn’t know at the time was that there was a classic Japanese film series about Ninjas that wasn’t on the shelf at North American Video. Shinobi was a series of 8 films from Daiei that starring Raizo Ichikawa. They were based off the novels of Tomoyoshi Murayama that made Ninjas hot in the ’50s and ’60s. Shinobi (Limited Edition) brings together the first three films in the series that tell the epic tale of the legendary Ishikawa Goemon.
Shinobi: Band of Assassins aka Shinobi no Mono (1962 – 105 minutes) takes us to feudal Japan when the island nation was ruled by various kingdoms. Ishikawa Goemon (Raizô Ichikawa) is part of a Ninja colony. They make their living being hired by the various kingdoms to be their assassins and spies. Oda Nobunaga (Lone Wolf and Cub‘s Tomisaburô Wakayama) is in the process of conquering other kingdoms. This is not good since Nobunaga doesn’t use Ninjas and they’re losing clients. The Ninjas need to stop his unification process. The General of the Ninjas wants Goemon stay at headquarters to work with him and not go out to kill. He’s thrilled to be working so close to the General until things get uncomfortable. Turns out the General doesn’t have much time for his wife. She intends to get her womanly needs met through Goemon. Their affair ends in a disaster. The General gives him an offer to leave the Ninjas and go to a nearby city to operate as thief. He’s supposed to split his loot with the Ninja community. He’s also expected to figure out a plan to assassinate the brutal Nobunaga at his castle. There’s plenty of intrigue, backstabbing and stealth in the film. Tomisaburô Wakayama is so wicked and sadistic in the role of the man who wants all of Japan. Raizô Ichikawa gives a fine performance of a character who goes from eager to serve to disillusioned at what’s happening around him.
Shinobi: Revenge (1963 – 94 minutes) is the second half of the film. After Goemon uncovers what’s really going on in his Ninja community, he still wants to be done with dealing with Nobunaga. He puts away his stealth fighting ways and finds himself happily married with a baby. But his past catches up with him and bad things happen that tear apart his peaceful existence. He has break out his black outfit, mask and throwing stars on a mission to snuff out Nobunaga’s dreams of controlling all of Japan. Can one Ninja change the course of history?
Shinobi: Resurrection (1963 – 86 minutes) opens with Goemon escaping his fate from the end of the second movie with Ninja trickery. Everyone in Japan swears he’s dead. Hidden in a Buddhist Temple, Goemon plots to take out the new ruler Hideyoshi Toyotomi as revenge for everything including trying to turn him into a lobster dinner. He wants this ruler to suffer like he did in the second film. Toyotomi is busy with his plans to load soldiers on boats and conquer parts of Korea and China. He’s also got some problems at home involving family matters. Little does he know the “ghost” of a Ninja is coming for him.
The three movies are full of action and power plays. There’s a fight scene that features flaming ninja throwing stars. Who knew you could set them on fire before flinging them? The Oriental Import store at Cary Village Mall never used that as a selling point in their weaponry display case. There’s a real understanding of what the Ninjas were all about during feudal Japan in the Shinobi titles besides guys who really liked to dress in black.
Ishikawa Goemon is considered the Robin Hood of Japan because he helped the common folks while trying to assassinate major figures. If you’re intrigued by Ninjas thanks to the new mini-series of Shogun, you’ll be entertained by this trio of films. While this contains less than half the films released under the title Shinobi, this boxset contains the complete Ishikawa Goemon saga. The other five Shinobi films feature Raizo Ichikawa playing Kirigakure Saizo. If I’d seen Shinobi: Limited Edition back in the ’80s, I might have had better storylines in the Stick Ninja comic strips.
The Video is 2.35:1 anamorphic for all three films. The 1080p black and white transfers are rich. You can see a bit more of the ninjas lurking in the shadows. The Audio is Japanese DTS-HD MA 2.0 mono. The mix is solid so you don’t hear anything except creeping feet. The movies are subtitled in English.
Shozo Ichiyama (14:05) allows the program director of the Tokyo International Film Festival to give details of both director Satsuo Yamamoto and Shinobi series. Turns out the director mostly dealt with contemporary films and not that many period pieces. He had a Yamamoto retrospective that let people see the various films he made without ninjas. He originally worked at Toho (home of Godzilla). We learn how he moved to Daiei and ended up with Shinobi. Ultimately we discover why he didn’t direct Shinobi Resurrection.
A Brief History of Japanese Ninja Films (18:11) has Mance Thompson get into the history of the Ninja. There’s vintage silent footage of an early Ninja character. He gives us sense of how the stealth warriors became dominate on the screen. We’re taken all the way to a Chuck Norris film.
Toshiaki Sato (14:18) is a film historian who gives us the biography of Raizo Ichikawa. The actor got his start in Kabuki theater. He got into film and found himself doing well. His career didn’t last long as he died in 1969 of cancer. It’s a rather messed up tale of how doctors worked in Japan during that time.
Trailer Gallery includes Shinobi: Band of Assassins (2:19), Shinobi 2: Revenge (2:19) and Shinobi 3: Resurrection (2:31). We get to see the tension and Ninja action.
Booklet with essays by Jonathan Clements on the Shinobi no mono series and Diane Wei Lewis on writer Tomoyoshi Murayama.
Six Postcards suitable for framing.
Radiance Films present Shinobi: Limited Edition. Directed by Satsuo Yamamoto and Kazuo Mori. Screenplay by Tomoyoshi Murayama and Hajime Takaiwa. Starring Raizo Ichikawa, Tomisaburo Wakayama, and Ayako Wakao. Boxset Contents: 3 movies on 2 Blu-ray discs. Rating: Unrated. Release Date: May 28, 2024.
