on another man, despite his immense skill. They then go to find Kazamatsuri and rescue Koharu. While Mizoguchi stalls Kazamatsuri, Heishirō takes Koharu aside and says he will marry her if Mizoguchi wins. Kazamatsuri fights Mizoguchi, who only draws his sword after his opponent destroys his wooden sword. He then disarms Kazamatsuri near a cliff. Kazamatsuri, admitting defeat, commits suicide by jumping off the cliff. Heishirō and the others go to the bottom, where there is no sign of Kazamatsuri's body, but Koharu spots the stolen sword at the bottom of the river, where Heishirō retrieves it. Flash forward one year. Heishirō has married Koharu, the sword is restored, and Mizoguchi is now an official in Heishiro's clan. Cast Morio Kazama as Hanbei Mizoguchi Mitsuru Fukikoshi as Heishirō Inukai Tomoyasu Hotei as Rannosuke Kazamatsuri Tamaki Ogawa as Koharu Mizoguchi Mari Natsuki as Okatsu Taketoshi Naitō as Kanzen Inukai Kei Tani as Kagemaru Fumiya Fujii as Ryūnosuke Kuzumi Naoyuki Fujii as Shintarō Suzuki Ken Osawa as Tadasuke Kurosawa Hiroshi Kanbe as Gosuke Ryōichi Yuki as Ninja Hayabusa Akiko Monou as Ninja Akakage Tarō Maruse as Sakyōnosuke Kajii Yūji Nakamura as Samejima Cultural references The film has a number of inside jokes and allusions. For example, the stolen sword that is at the center of the plot was a personal possession of Toshiro Mifune, the star of many of Akira Kurosawa's samurai films. One of Heishiro's closest friends is named Kurosawa. Samurai Fictions opening titles, in which samurai performing kata are silhouetted against a red background, were referenced in blue & black in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill Vol. 1. Also, Tarantino used Hotei's famous instrumental track "Shin Jingi Naki Tatakai" ("Battle Without Honor or Humanity" – the title of a classic yakuza movie by Kinji Fukasaku, a major influence on Tarantino) as background music for Kill Bill Vol. 1. Hotei played Kazamatsuri in Samurai Fiction and composed its soundtrack. Licensed products A variety of licensed products were released from the video editions (DVD/LD/VHS), to the original soundtrack (CD), to Samurai Foto, a portfolio collecting 300 pictures taken from the motion picture. SF episode one Hiroyuki Nakano envisioned Samurai Fiction as the first episode in a "SF" entitled series. The films would be only vaguely related, in terms of plot or characters as Nakano wanted to explore a number of genres. However, only a second feature film has been made, Stereo Future in