Mori Kojiro, a member of the Akō Ronin, fails to identify Kira Kozukenosuke before their attack and is publicly banished by Ōishi Kuranosuke. Ōishi later apologizes privately, revealing that Kira has a decoy and assigning Mori a secret mission to kill the real Kira if necessary. Devastated, Mori finds solace with Okame, a local bar owner. After the ronin avenge their master, Mori, believing their mission complete, plans to leave his samurai life for Okame. However, Terazaka Kichiemon reveals that Kira was not killed but fled, and the decapitated man was a decoy. Mori decides to complete his mission and hunt down the real Kira.
A samurai answers a village's request for protection after he falls on hard times. The town needs protection from bandits, so the samurai gathers six others to help him teach the people how to defend themselves, and the villagers provide the soldiers with food.
Blind traveler Zatoichi is a master swordsman and a masseur with a fondness for gambling on dice games. When he arrives in a village torn apart by warring gangs, he sets out to protect the townspeople.
The film is set in Kyoto at the end of the Tokugawa period, when there is a fierce clash between the supporters of the Emperor, who are fighting for the overthrow of the Shogunate, and the Shinsengumi squad, who are chasing them. Suddenly, a mysterious masked warrior appears, on a white horse he is called Tengu from Mount Kurama and he opposes the Shinsengumi.
In feudal Japan, during a bloody war between clans, two cowardly and greedy peasants, soldiers of a defeated army, stumble upon a mysterious man who guides them to a fortress hidden in the mountains.
Iwane Sakazaki returns to his homeland and gets caught in the middle of an incident that results in the tragic death of two of his best friends from childhood. He decides to leave his domain, parting with his fiancée Nao, and becomes a vagrant masterless samurai with nothing more to lose. Iwane drifts to Edo, filleting eels during the day and working as a bodyguard at night for Imazuya, a reputable money exchanger. He gradually wins the trust of the people around him because of his mellow nature, the chivalrous way he treats everyone with courtesy, and his skills of swords. One day, he learns that Imazuya is being targeted in a conspiracy to sabotage a new monetary system implemented by the government, and Iwane decides to protect the people who have given him support.
Orphaned Kiku was raised at a Buddhist temple and learned theatrical arts and martial arts as a child, which were used to put on stage productions to raise money for the temple, but also to display young lads who were essentially for sale to the highest bidder. When Kiku gets fed up with how the temple uses the orphans and wants to leave he gets accused of a double murder and has to flee for his life and liberty.
After six exiles return to Edo, four are mysteriously killed. Two survivors, Kosuke and Kingo, lead a search to uncover a hidden motive behind the murders.
A spree of murders in the city targets peddlers and komuso monks, all killed in the same method. Dobu investigates after a ronin's death with a unique clue.
Mondosuke ventures alone into the land of Nagasaki. There, he encounters young lady named Kinue, the daughter of Nagasaki's former magistrate office constable, Shusuke Kaneko. Monsuke has received information that Shusuke has been captured on charges of embezzlement, prompting him to head to the magistrate's office. However, the arrival of the Chief Inspector, Shigehide Ogiwara , obstructs Monsuke's actions.