The Samurai (1962)

The Duel (10x13)

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Kongo leaves a note in a boat instructing Shintarō and Tonbei to use it to cross the river (they are on the road to Odawara). Meantime Tarōbō persuades some of the other ninja to kill Kongō. They divert Shintarō and Tonbei and steal the boat. Tarōbō disguises himself as Shintarō in order to lure Kongō on to the boat where they ambush him. He is badly outnumbered but manages to hold his own until he is shot with a musket and falls into the water and disappears. He is found by the shore when Oboro who is a nun and Shūsaku who is staying at the convent are out gathering flowers. They take him back to the convent where he is treated by a doctor but the other ninja have arrived and demand he be handed over. Oboro and Koshinjo (the abbess) refuse. Shūsaku manages to get word to Shintarō so when the ninja break into Kongō’s room the figure in the bed turns out to be Shintarō. Shintarō despatches the ninja but then is confronted by a very weak Kongō who challenges him to a duel. Kongō collapses before it really starts. The next morning Tonbei awakes in the convent to the nuns’ sutra-chanting to find a note from Shintarō saying he was embarking on a journey and did not know if he would ever return or what where he was going Tonbei, Shūsaku , Koshinjo and Oboro run down to the shore and see Shintarō standing in a boat being rowed by Kongō, heading out to sea.