Bandits approach a mountain village, but their chief decides to spare it until after the harvest because they had raided it before. The plan is overheard by a farmer. Three farmers ask Gisaku, the village elder and miller, for advice. He declares they should hire samurai to defend the village. Since they have no money, Gisaku tells them to find hungry samurai.
After little success, the group watch Kambei, an aging but experienced rÅnin, rescue a young boy who had been taken hostage by a thief. A young samurai named KatsushirÅ asks to become Kambei's disciple. The villagers then ask for help, and after initial reluctance, Kambei agrees. He recruits old friend ShichirÅji and, with KatsushirÅ's assistance, three other samurai: the friendly, wily Gorobei; the good-willed Heihachi; and KyÅ«zÅ, a taciturn master swordsman whom KatsushirÅ regards with awe. Although inexperienced, KatsushirÅ is selected because time is short. Kikuchiyo, a man who carries a family scroll that he claims makes him a samurai, follows the group despite attempts to drive him away.
On arrival, the samurai find the villagers cowering in their homes, refusing to greet them. Feeling insulted by such a cold reception, Kikuchiyo rings the village alarm bell, prompting the villagers to come out of hiding. The samurai are both pleased and amused by this, and accept him as a comrade-in-arms. Slowly the samurai and farmers begin to trust each other as they train together. KatsushirÅ forms a relationship with Shino, a farmer's daughter, who had been masquerading as a boy for protection from the supposedly lustful samurai. However, the six samurai are angered when Kikuchiyo brings them armor and weapons, which the villagers most likely acquired by killing injured or dying samurai. Kikuchiyo retorts that samurai are responsible for battles, raids, taxation and forced labor that devastate the villagers' lives. By so doing, he reveals his origin as an orphaned farmer's son. The samurais' anger turns to shame.
Three bandit scouts are spotted. Two are killed, while another reveals the location of their camp. Against the wishes of the samurai, the villagers kill the prisoner. The samurai burn down the bandits' camp in a pre-emptive strike. Rikichi, a troubled villager who helps the samurai, breaks down when he sees his wife, who had apparently been kidnapped and made a concubine in a previous raid. On seeing Rikichi, she walks back into her burning hut. Heihachi is killed trying to save Rikichi, whose grief is compounded.
When the bandits finally attack, they are confounded by new fortifications, including a moat and wooden fence. Several bandits are killed according to Kambei's plan. As the bandits enter the village singly, they are hunted down and killed by groups of farmers armed with bamboo spears. Gisaku refuses to abandon his mill on the outskirts of the village and perishes with his family, who tried to save him. A lone baby is rescued by Kikuchiyo, who breaks down in tears, as it reminds him of his own childhood.
The bandits possess three Japanese matchlock firearms. KyÅ«zÅ ventures out alone and returns with one. An envious Kikuchiyo abandons his postâand his contingent of farmersâto bring back another. He is chastised by Kambei because, while he was gone, the bandits killed some of his farmers. The bandit chief attacks again, and Gorobei is slain. That night, Kambei predicts that, due to their dwindling numbers, the bandits will make one last all-out attack. Meanwhile, KatsushirÅ and Shino's relationship is discovered by her father. He hits her until Kambei and the villagers intervene. ShichirÅji calms everyone down by saying the couple should be forgiven because they are young and that before any battle, passions can run high.
The next morning in a torrential downpour, Kambei orders that the remaining thirteen bandits be allowed into the village. As the battle winds down, their leader, armed with a gun, enters the women's hut, from where he shoots KyÅ«zÅ. An enraged Kikuchiyo charges the hut; he is shot, but kills the bandit chief before dying.
The three surviving samurai watch as the joyful villagers sing while planting their crops. Kambeiâstanding beneath the funeral mounds of his four dead comradesâreflects that it is another pyrrhic victory for the samurai: "In the end we lost this battle too. The victory belongs to the farmers, not to us."
Who burn down the bandits' camp?
The samurai