The Saga of Tanegashima

(1968)

★ 5.5 IMDb · 4 votes

Genres: Drama

Year: 1968

Runtime: 109 мин

Country: Japan

Director: 森一生

Cast: Rick Jason, 若尾文子, 東野英治郎, 藤村志保, 藤巻潤, 小池朝雄, 中谷一郎, 戸浦六宏, 五味龍太郎, Такэтоси Найто

Plot

Well before “Shogun” as warring clans were fighting for power throughout Japan, a Portuguese vessel ran aground off Tanegashima. Lord Tokitaka helped Captain Pinto repair his ship. The grateful captain offered the lord a gift--a matchlock musket—the first firearm ever seen in Japan. But like a great stone hurled into placid waters, this simple gift will start a revolution. Tokitaka tasks Kinbei, his greatest swordsmith, to copy this musket and build guns for Japan. While Kinbei struggles to forge Japan’s first musket, a great love blooms between Captain Pinto and Kinbei’s daughter Wakasa. But for Kinbei, to let Wakasa marry Pinto and go to Portugal is unthinkable. And as Kinbei creates Japan’s first matchlock factory, Lord Oda Nobunaga will seize upon firearms as the key to sweep all other clans before him, tearing a blood-soaked path of destruction through Japan.