13 Assassins

In the year 1844 of the Edo Period, as the Tokugawa Shogunate is in decline, the sadistic Lord Matsudaira Naritsugu of Akashi rapes, tortures, mutilates and murders nobles and commoners at will. He is shielded because the Shōgun is his half-brother. Sir Doi Toshitsura, the Shōgun's Justice Minister, realizes that when Naritsugu ascends to the Shogunate Council, civil war will break out between the Shogun and the many daimyos Naritsugu has offended. Then, the daimyo of the Mamiya clan publicly commits seppuku as an extreme protest against the Shogun's refusal to punish Lord Naritsugu, who has personally murdered the Daimyo's entire family. When the Shogun still insists upon Naritsugu's promotion, Sir Doi seeks out a trusted older samurai, Shimada Shinzaemon, who served under the former shōgun, and secretly hires him to assassinate Naritsugu. However, Naritsugu's loyal retainers, led by Hanbei, an old contemporary of Shinzaemon, learn of the plot by spying on Doi.