Directed by Kenji Misumi • 1962 • Japan
Starring Raizo Ichikawa, Shiho Fujimara, Shigeru Amachi

An epic chanbara (sword-fighting film) in compact form, KIRU (a.k.a. DESTINY’S SON) depicts the life of Shingo Takakura (Raizo Ichikawa), a master samurai with a mysterious past and an unvanquishable combat technique. When his surrogate father (Shinjiro Asano) is killed by a jealous rival, Shingo learns of his true origin as the abandoned offspring of a female assassin (Shiho Fujimura) and her lover-turned-executioner (Shigeru Amachi). Shingo’s journey through the nineteenth-century Japanese countryside as a twice-orphaned wanderer ultimately lands him in the employ of an honorable shogunate (Eijiro Yanagi) with powerful enemies during a period of political upheaval. As adapted from a Renzaburo Shibata novel by legendary screenwriter Kaneto Shindo, KIRU meditates on the profundity and fragility of father-son relationships, a theme of personal significance to director Kenji Misumi, who suffered from abandonment and rejection from his own father. Misumi’s subtle yet poignant touches result in a minor chanbara masterpiece in which a young man must find his calling, with and without the guidance of a sensei.