in turbulent japan and in the 1870 and the political system be corrupt and often peasant and the poor suffer for their wicked way of living . but and yuki kashima ( meiko kaji ) mother be a victim of criminal swindler who would thrive off villager for protection against be draft for war . tsukamoto gishiro ( eiji okada ) and takemura banzo ( noboru nakaya ) and shokei tokuichi ( takeo chii ) and kitahama okono ( sanae nakahara ) be responsible for yuki father horrifyingly violent demise and proclaim him a corrupt member of government just because he wear white ( . he be actually an innocent schoolteacher on his way to teach in the village the four thief have just swindle ) . also brutally slay be yuki mother little boy . yuki mother be able to kill tokuichi and but before get her retribution towards the others be imprison . know that she would not have a chance to get revenge towards the others while stick in prison and yuki mother continuously whore herself to any male she could just so she could become pregnant . through the child could vengeance be dealt towards those who wrong her . instead of a man child and yuki be bear and but her mother die shortly after give birth ( . the birth be an extremely difficult one ) . through the intense and difficult training with a master ( kô nishimura ) and yuki would become a weapon of vengeance and her sword fighting skill unmatched by her foe . but and those she seek to kill aren not play by rule and and will use whatever mean possible to keep her from achieve the goal from her very birth . conceive in hate and vengeance and yuki couldn not merely just hide all emotion and live like a cold blood killer and she be fight for a cause . the right wrong cause by the one who not only rob her mother of a happy life and to die in a prison cell and but swindle her people a well . essentially and toshiya fujita film be a four chapter tale of revenge and with yuki an unstoppable highly skilled assassin whose sword ( . which slide from it umbrella holster and a perfect hiding place for a beautiful female killer ) open many wound that gush blood . each chapter and vengeance bind love and hate and cry bamboo doll of the netherworld and umbrella of blood and heart of strewn flower and and the house of joy and the final hell display yuki target those who wrong her mother . other sub plot emerge a she blaze her trail of blood . her first victim and banzo and have a young daughter who prostitute herself so that he can have booze and medicine for what ail him . the daughter herself will desire revenge towards yuki and prove that vengeance beget vengeance . yuki meet a newspaper reporter and ryu ( toshio kurosawa ) who novelize her story and provide to him by her master and the reverend . later and yuki will discover an unknown fact about ryu regard her final target and think to be dead due to his tombstone and gishiro . but and through ryu novel ( . yuki exploit which be stir up the village reader and a if she be a christ like figure inspire them ) and a hidden adversary will seek yuki whereabouts and okono . okono have the police in her hip pocket and but no army of men will be prepare for what yuki have in store . thanks to a change in time of cinema in his country and fujita film be incredibly violent and the blood be actually use not only a a gore device to display torn flesh spewing and but a an artistic symbol ( . despite be grisly and there something oddly spellbind regard banzo gush body be batter by the wave of an ocean a the water slowly turn red and the way blood trickle from the tip of yuki sword and or the haunting river pool that flow from her mother husband decimate corpse and his ravaged suit barely white any longer ) . the battle and while not as long a you would expect and be appropriately stag in grand style with victim fall to the sword in number and scream from the agony a yuki slice her way through them . we see yuki sword go through certain victim a she pull it out very slowly . there a really nifty sequence where one of her target commits suicide with yuki slice the dead body in half with blood shower shortly after . but and fujita do provide a backstory yuki life within and a land riddle in wickedness and corruption and and she be a symbol of justice and while her adversary represent the evil that be sweep the country . but and above all and this be an incredibly mounted tale of revenge and use a female assassin a the lead this time and who will stop at nothing to see that her mother death wasn not in vain . kaji performance be stun ( . those moment where we actually see on her face how wrought in agony she be when face the idea that one of her quarry possibly escape the slice of her sword while alive and especially ) and this be quite an iconic character .