 |
Naruto Castle, in Awa province on the island of Shikoku.
The elderly daimyo Hosokawa Tsunekuji, great-grandson of an
Emperor, sits alone in his audience hall. His thoughts drift
to earlier days when, in his prime, he had saved a boy's life.
A boy who would one day become the Divine Emperor. Hosokawa
remembers a day a decade later, when he watched that boy,
then a man, ascend the throne of his honoured ancestors in Kyoto to
take his place as Son of Heaven.
But now that young Emperor is dead, apparently having died in his
sleep. The Emperor's young son and heir is in the daimyo's care,
having been travelling with his mother when word came of the
Emperor's death. The eldest Imperial Princess, a strong-willed
woman of 19, has seized control of Kyoto through her weak-willed
husband, and now seeks to exile her brother and thus elevate
herself to the Imperial Throne. The Princess' army is marching,
but the typhoon season has halted travel across Naruto
Straits. The lords of Shikoku need to raise an army in support of
the true Son of Heaven, the boy Emperor. Messengers are being sent to
all
the daimyo of Shikoku, requesting them to bring their troops to the aid
of daimyo Hosokawa in Naruto Castle.
Five samurai of daimyo Hosokawa's retinue are chosen to deliver a
set of messages. Whether they will be able to raise the troops in time,
only the kami might know, and they remain silent.
A single session, cinematic adventure for 5 honourable samurai, set in
the turmoil of feudal Japan.
|
