it a testament to gosha incredible film make prowess that he be able to complete both hitokiri and his stunning masterpiece and goyokin and in the same year and 1969. and it a testament to how criminally underrate he remain for the general public ( compare to medium darling like the great akira kurosawa ) and that both hitokiri and goyokin have receive less than 500 vote between the two of them . shintaro katsu be okada izo represent mad dog killer and loyal to the tosha clan and their bos takechi and play by another genre stalwart and tatsuya nakadai . the tosha clan be part of a large alliance that support the emperor against the flailing shogunate . the historical backdrop be fairly accurate with japan increase political turmoil between imperialist and the tokugawa and the pressure by the west to end a 300 year social and political seclusion . it help a lot to know a thing or two about japanese history and what eventually lead to the meiji restoration and the abolition of the tokugawa shogunate and but it not essential by any mean . the movie be make primarily for a japanese audience so certain thing be take for grant but it flow very well for the uninitiated as well . a one would expect from a hideo gosha film in his golden year ( the late 60 ) the visual palette be breathtaking and the use of external and internal symbolism hide behind pictorial beauty . style however be never decorative for gosha it be always employ in the service of story . and speaking of story and hitokiri be dominate both literally and figuratively by the tortured main character izo okada . a most chambara protagonist and izo find himself in a moral double bind and torn between giri ( obligation ) and ninjo ( natural impulse ) although it take a while for him to realize what exactly his giri be . in the first half of the movie izo be try for social self advancement . lofty aspiration of social rank and marriage with an aristocrat daughter a great progression for someone come from a farmer background in the rigid social caste system of 19th century japan . the turn point for izo be when he realize at what cost self advancement come and the loss of identity and by consequence the loss of self . it be at that point that he undergo a very symbolic transformation from a famous swordsman of the tosha clan to a nameless drifter without past or future and torazo the vagrant . although not technically nameless and not a genre drifter in yojimbo mold and it be the loss of his former self and the cast off of ego and ambition and self dillusion that allow izo to see thing a they really be and redeem himself . hitokiri end ( which i would not reveal here ) in the best way any story can end represent both positive and negative with a deeply ironic twist that give izo the last laugh and a last sardonic remark in the face of death .