It is set during the last days of the Shogunate. Saheiji (played by comedian Frankie Sakai) seeks to outwit the inhabitants of a brothel in order to survive in straitened times. A group of samurai meanwhile seek to destroy any foreigners that cross their path.
The three films focus on the travels of the kindly yakuza boss Kunisada Chūji. The existing print begins with Chuji on the road, fleeing the law while taking care of Kantaro, the son of a dead friend. He leaves Kantaro with Kabe Yasuemon, an honorable local boss, but is shocked to find out that his own men have been committing robberies using his own name. Angry, Chuji hits the road and eventually settles in another town, assuming another name and working as a clerk for a sake brewery. Okuma, the daughter of the brewer, falls in love with Chuji, but he ignores her. When he saves her brother from trouble with the Otozo gang, his identity is revealed and the police close in. Okume kills herself and Chuji flees, but the palsy he had been suffering from worsens and he is finally caught. His henchmen, however, succeed in rescuing him and bring him back to his home village. Unable to walk and confined to bed, Chuji is hidden in a storehouse. His woman, Oshina, discovers that one of his men has betrayed him, but it is too late. Despite the valiant efforts of his men to hold off the police, Chuji is finally arrested by the authorities.
Japon, automne 1573. Le Château d'Odani du clan Azai est assiégé par l'armée d'Oda Nobunaga. Trois soldats du camp assiégé connaissent des fortunes diverses. Sasa Hayatenosuke ne peut se résoudre à faillir à son devoir malgré les suppliques de Kano, la femme qu'il aime. Hayatenosuke promet de tout faire pour survivre à l'affrontement à venir et confie Kano à Tachibana Jurota un soldat un peu couard qui ne veut pas mourir au combat et tous deux s’enfuient du château la nuit précédent la bataille décisive. Le lendemain l'armée du clan Azai est défaite, Kagami Yakeiji est fait prisonnier mais parvient à tuer son geôlier et à s'enfuir. Sasa Hayatenosuke est quant à lui blessé au combat. Il est recueilli et soigné par Oryo, qui avec son père est à la tête d'une bande de pillards qui dépouille les soldats tués au combat.
Following Takezo's (Toshiro Mifune) capture by the Buddhist priest Takuan Sōhō, and stay in Himeji Castle. Takezo is granted his samurai name 'Musashi Miyamoto.' and leaves to search for enlightenment, leaving two messages for Otsu: "Soon I will be back" and "Forgive me." He goes to learn the way of the samurai and find those who will help him learn. But his first duel is with a challenger with a chain and a sickle who he fights and wins. After years on the road establishing his reputation as Japan's greatest fencer, Takezo travels to Kyoto. The now married Matahachi and Oko are settled there with Akemi. Otsu, having heard a rumor that Takezo is in Kyoto, has also travelled there to look for him. He meets Otsu who is in love with him but he tells Otsu he must follow what he loves more than her, the sword of the samurai.
Takezo (Musashi) abandons his life as a knight errant. He's sought as a teacher and vassal by Shogun, Japan's most powerful clan leader. He's also challenged to fight by the supremely confident and skillful Sasaki Kojiro. Takezo agrees to fight Kojiro in a year's time but rejects Shogun's patronage, choosing instead to live on the edge of a village, raising vegetables. He's followed there by Otsu and later by Akemi, both in love with him. The year ends as Takezo assists the villagers against a band of brigands. He seeks Otsu's forgiveness and accepts her love, then sets off across the water to Ganryu Island for his final contest.
Les Chroniques Martiales du clan des Yagyû, un parchemin primordial pour garder la paix, ont été volé par le maître d'armes du clan Nabeshima poursuivi par Jûbei Yagyû. Tasaburo, ninja Kasumi de l'école Kage, s'interpose mais le maître d'armes est assassiné par Jûbei, et le parchemin est récupéré par la Pincesse Yû du clan Ryûzôji. Celle-ci pense ainsi avoir trouver un moyen de rétablir son clan dissout. Mais Tasaburo doit à tout prix récupérer le parchemin pour son clan qui ne souhaite que respecter la justice du pays...
Ce film raconte l'histoire vraie d'un groupe de samouraïs qui sont devenus rōnin (samouraïs sans chef) après que leur daimyō (seigneur féodal) Asano Naganori ait été contraint de commettre un seppuku (suicide rituel) pour avoir agressé un fonctionnaire de la cour, Kira Yoshinaka, qui l'avait insulté. Après avoir soigneusement préparé leur plan pendant plus d'un an, ils exécutent un assaut audacieux sur le domaine de leur ennemi juré et exigent leur vengeance, sachant qu'ils seraient eux-mêmes forcés de partager le sort de leur Seigneur pour expier leur crime.
Au Japon, Komaki, guerrier exemplaire et poète de grand talent, est doté d'un nez disproportionné, n'ayant d'égal que son grand coeur. Il est fou amoureux d'une jeune femme qui ne voit en lui qu'un ami. Ne désirant que son bonheur, il entreprend alors d'aider un autre à gagner son amour à travers la poésie.
The plot is set about a decade after the battle of Sekigahara. Toshiro Mifune's character, Mohei is a contumacious wandering samurai with his very own point of view. He arrives in the city of Osaka to look for new beginning. As a background, unfolds a conspiracy of the Toyotomi clan to stop Lord Ieyasu Tokugawa's ambition for personal domination of Japan.
Nine young samurai, including his nephew, believe that the lord chamberlain, Mutsuta, is corrupt after he tore up their petition against organised crime and said maybe he himself was behind the crimes. One of them tells the superintendent of this and he agrees to intervene. As the nine meet secretly at a shrine and discuss their problem, a ronin (Mifune) emerges from another room where he has been resting. The ronin has overheard their plans, and suggests that the superintendent is in fact the real corrupt official. While at first the samurai are insulted by his claims, they soon find themselves surrounded by the superintendent's men, proving that he was correct. The ronin hits a few of the attackers and bluffs their leader into leaving, taking only a small amount of money in reward to buy food because he is starving; however, after realizing that Mutsuta and his family must now be in danger, he decides to help the samurai bring down the corrupt officials.
The blind masseur Zatoichi is hired by yakuza gang-leader Sukegoro (Eijiro Yanagi) as he thinks that war is inevitable with the rival yakuza Shigezo (Ryuzo Shimada). Zatoichi has a distinguished reputation as a swordsman and Sukegoro thinks he is money well spent. Shigezo responds by hiring a ronin of similar repute, Miki Hirate (Shigeru Amachi). Ichi is a meek and humble man who is commonly underestimated by most men, and looked upon suspiciously. His being a masseur, which was a position of low regard in feudal Japan, merely increases the hostility that is shown towards him. They even try to take advantage of his blindness in a gambling den, but from early on it is clear that Zatoichi draws strength from his disability.
One year after the first film, Zatōichi travels back to the town near the Joshoji Temple, to pay respects at the grave of Hirate, the samurai he killed. Three brigands attack Zatōichi while he dries his clothes, and are despatched by a one-armed swordsman. Later that day, Zatōichi is hired to massage a powerful lord who, unbeknownst to all but the lord's highest retainers, is insane. Zatōichi observes the nobleman's unstable mental condition, and the retainers decide to kill him. Zatōichi defeats the first three attackers, and retires to a restaurant. The attack having failed, the lord's men hire local yakuza (gangsters) to finish the job. Learning of this, Zatoichi remarks to himself that he would have kept quiet if they had just asked him to do so.