The great Japanese film actor Toshiro Mifune made his first foray into TV acting in this 1968 black-and-white miniseries, co-produced by Toho Pictures, but he would move to TV in a big way in the 1970s. Here he plays Jiro Funayama, a swordsman during the Warring States period of 1560, whose family was killed by a corrupt warlord and he seeks revenge, picking up random unemployed swordsmen, and one ninja, along the way. There's a lot of location photography and a steady pace of swordfighting action against some formidable opponents in the two 48-minute episodes I've seen, in both of which Mifune has to also rescue a damsel-in-distress. The actor is his usual staunch, grim self, beautifully played as always, complemented by comic relief provided by some of the other characters. There's not much info about this series in English on the web nor is there an entry for it under its Japanese or English titles in "The Dorama Encyclopedia: A Guide to Japanese TV Drama Since 1953," the only reference book I've seen in English covering Japanese TV shows. Toho star Akira Takarada (GOJIRA) leads the guest cast in the second episode but I don't know if he appears in any later segments.
