KAGEMUSHA [THE SHADOW WARRIOR] 185
Kazuo Miyagawa, had to drop out due to failing eyesight brought on by diabe-
tes. He was replaced by Takao Saito and Masaharu Ueda (supervised by Asakazu
Nakai). Next, Kurosawa and his composer, Masaru Sato, parted ways after intrac-
table disagreements over the film’s score. Sato was replaced by Shinichiro Ikebe.
Then Shinaro Katsu, Japan’s leading comic actor for whom Kurosawa wrote the
starring roles of Shingen and the thief, quit or was fired (accounts vary) on the
first day of shooting. Stage actor Tatsuya Nakadai was hired to replace Katsu.
Though disrupted by a typhoon and by Nakadai falling off his horse and spend-
ing time in the hospital, the nine- month shoot in 1979 went only a week or so
over schedule. For the climactic Battle of Nagashino, Kurosawa had to anaesthe-
tize dozens of horses to simulate their having been slain on the battlefield; he had
only a half- hour to shoot the battle’s aftermath before the horses started to wake
up. Assembling a rough cut from daily rushes as he went along, Kurosawa com-
pleted the film’s final cut just three weeks after the shoot ended.
Plot Summary
During Japan’s Sengoku, or “Warring States,” period (c.1467– c.1603), Takeda Shin-
gen (Tatsuya Nakadai), daimyō (i.e., feudal warlord) of the Takeda clan, meets
with his brother Nobukado (Tsutomu Yamazaki) and an unnamed thief (also played
by Tatsuya Nakadai) whom his brother has saved from certain death using the
thief’s remarkable resemblance to Shingen. The brothers decide that the thief could
be an asset, as he could be used as a double for security purposes or could prove use-
ful as a kagemusha (a po liti cal decoy). Later, Shingen’s army lays siege to a castle of
rival warlord Tokugawa Ieyasu (Masayuki Yui). One eve ning, on a visit to the battle-
field, Shingen is shot by a sniper who has been tracking him. Before dying from his
wound, he orders his army to withdraw and tells his officers that his death must
remain a secret for three years. Meanwhile, unaware that he is dead, Shingen’s
rival warlords— Oda Nobunaga (Daisuke Ryû), Tokugawa Ieyasu (Masayuki Yui),
and Uesugi Kenshin (Eiichi Kanakubo)— ponder the meaning and consequences
of Shingen’s withdrawing his army. Nobukado brings the thief to Shingen’s offi-
cers, suggesting that the thief serve as a kagemusha and thus act as Shingen. How-
ever, Shingen’s officers feel that the thief cannot be trusted, so he is released. The
Takeda leaders dispose of Shingen’s remains in Lake Suwa. Tokugawa sees the
disposal of the remains and deduce that Shingen has perished. The thief overhears
the spies and offers to work as a kagemusha for the Takeda clan. They accept. The
spies follow the Takeda to their home, but are surprised to find the kagemusha
acting as Shingen. Mimicking Shingen’s every mannerism, the thief effectively fools
the spies, Shingen’s retinue, Takeda Katsuyori’s son, and even Shingen’s own grand-
son. During the clan council meeting, the kagemusha is instructed to listen to all
of the generals until they reach an agreement and then simply agree with the gen-
erals’ recommended course of action and move to dismiss the council. Shingen’s
son, Katsuyori (Kenichi Hagiwara), is bitter about his father’s lengthy, posthumous
deception, as it puts a hold on his own inheritance and rise in the clan leadership.
In 1573, the Tokugawa and Oda clans assault the Takeda lands, and Katsuyori
defies his general and initiates a counterattack. During the Battle of Takatenjin
(1574), the kagemusha rallies the soldiers and leads them to success. Becoming