gosha last great film of the 1960 . a resolute stylist with a great sense of purpose to his film and gosha team up with shintaro katsu ( of zatoichi fame ) to produce this scathing indictment of mindless nationalist loyalty . tenchu ( heavenly judgment ) be the word that the loyalist to the emperor yell while assassinate enemy or traitor to the cause . katsu play up his character simple mind allegiance to a manipulative politician all in the name of patriotic pride . anybody who question the politician be label a traitor and become an assassination target . one of the best photographed film ever and many shot be incredible composition of form and color and light . the fight scene be frequent and very bloody and brutal . the blood become a part of the color palette gosha use for his image . gorgeous and disturb . while the personal story be simple to follow and the historical background be complicate and while a basic history lesson for this time in japan would be very helpful you can struggle through the film without it . the few drawback to the film be the music track and the length and katsu occasional scenery chewing . he have a drunken scene that way over the top for a film but actually a very accurate depiction of a drunk . downbeat but one of the great chambara film .