Azumi (あずみ) is a 2003 Japanese jidaigeki film directed by Ryûhei Kitamura and starring Aya Ueto, Yuma Ishigaki, Shun Oguri, Hiroki Narimiya, Takatoshi Kaneko, Eita, Shogo Yamaguchi and Joe Odagiri.
Their task is to finish off Toyotomi Hideyoshi's three allies: Nagamasa Asano, Kiyomasa Kato and Masayuki Sanada, to prevent an outbreak of a new civil war.
Azumi is discovered as a little girl kneeling without visible emotion next to the body of her dead mother by Gessai and his entourage of young students.
She is then raised by him in the martial skills of sword fighting and the art of assassination in a secret mountain area with no interactions with the outside world.
Therefore, out of the ten students only five will be qualify to proceed with the mission: Azumi pairs with and is forced to kill Nachi, her closest friend.
Although Azumi kills Magamasa Asano, she is taken back by his dying words, questioning why a young beautiful girl is a cold-hearted killer.
After his assessment, Kanbei enlists help from three rogueish brothers who, eventually confuse Yae's circus troupe for the assassins as they were told that the group had one girl with them, slaughtering them all until Hyuga, Azumi, and Nagara arrive.
Kanbei then sends his monkey-like henchman Saru to make a deal with the insidious and narcissistic mercenary named Bijomaru Mogami, previously imprisoned and under constant guard.
As the group returns to the village with the survivor Yae, they find one of their comrades extremely sick, due to accidentally getting hit with a poison dart from their assassination of Kato.
During the battle, Bijomaru uses psychological warfare in addition to swordplay as he explains to a frightened Hyuga that his sword does not contain a hand-guard since he has never had to defend another's blow.
Saru, uncomfortable and sicken with this lack of respect for another warrior, finishes Hyuga off as an act of mercy, and confronts Bijomaru as well as prevent him from killing Yae.
Just as they begin to get comfortable during their journey, a band of brigands finds them as they sleep, and attempts to gang rape the young women.
The master is captured and placed on a cross in anticipation of Azumi's arrival, and Ukiha dies attempting to kill Bijomaru.
She then proceeds through the compound, wreaking havoc enough to attract and impress Bijomaru, who cannot control his own bloodlust and decides to warm up by attacking the common mercenaries while Kanbei and Kato escape to sea.
Azumi then releases her dying master from the cross and he uses his last breath to tell her to abandon their mission and go live her life, away from violence and war.
[6] Awards: In the sequel, directed by Shusuke Kaneko and set immediately after the final events of the first film, Azumi and her remaining partner Nagara are stalked by the men of a warlord she recently assassinated.