His sword is sharp, swift an for hire. 500 pieces of gold will buy his services and once he accepts a commission, the fate of his target is sealed! His name is Ogami Itto, the former Shogunate executioner. After the evil Yagyu Clan frames him for heresy and murders his wife, Ogami roams the Japanese countryside with his son Daigoro and a crude wooden baby cart as the paid assassins known as...Lone Wolf and Cub!

Five retainers of the Kuroda clan seek out Ogami to enlist his aid in saving the Clan. But first, they must ensure that he is capable of helping them. Each in turn seeks out Ogami. If the Lone Wolf can defeat them, then with their dying breaths they will explain his mission - and give him 1/5 of his fee.

Lord Kuroda has retired and his true successor is his son, young Lord Matsumaru. However, Kuroda is so besotted with his mistress that he decides their daughter should succeed him. He imprisons his son, and is raising his daughter as a boy. Jikei, a high priest trusted by Kuroda, has been given a document that details the Lord's plans.

Unfortunately for the Kuroda Clan, Jikei is a spy, and he sets off to deliver the incriminating document to the Yagyu, thus ensuring Kuroda's demise. Only Ogami Itto has the skill to kill Jikei and recover the document before it reaches the hands of the evil Lord Yagyu Retsudo.

After receiving the document, Ogami learns his mission is not quite finished. The only sure way to ensure the rightful succession is to kill Lord Kuroda, his mistress and their daughter. But, in order to reach the demented Lord, he must confront and slay Lord Kuroda's loyal retainers - the same men who, knowing it meant certain death, hired Ogami to save their Clan!

With a mix of Rambo-like thrills and mediaeval James Bond style antics, this moving yet austere tale about an honourable warrior, betrayed by his masters and forced to slay a whole roomful of guards - not to mention an entire troop of lancers - certainly is electrifying stuff! A considerable achievement, this film uses absurdly comical, engagingly inventive, highly emotive action sequences to produce wholly significant moments of visual poetry. Witness the underwater fight scene, as viewed by the boy from his cart afloat on the river; there's a lot of splashing about but we are uncertain of what's going on until the lone survivor resurfaces, followed by several corpses and a great wash of redness that spreads around them. Tellingly, not a single word is spoken about this, or any other event in the film, between father and son. This is magnificently illustrative stoicism.