As the opening credits roll, an abbreviated version of Ogami Ittō's (Tomisaburô Wakayama) past as Shogunate Decapitator and his wife's murder by ninja are seen, with Daigorō (Akihiro Tomikawa) providing the narration.
Ogami chooses to fight his way to freedom with Daigorō, only to have his path blocked by the leader of the Yagyu clan, in charge of the Shogun's spies and assassins.
The self-titled "Supreme Ninja", a female (Kayo Matsuo), receives orders from the Shogun to kill Ogami and Daigorō.
Junai nevers succeeds in injuring any of the women, but continues to fight as long as possible as various of his body parts are removed, until the final coup de grace.
Ogami is asked to kill Lord Kiru (the Shogun's brother), and in return he will receive a thousand pieces of gold.
Daigorō goes in search of water for his father, finally bringing it back in his mouth, then takes some food offerings from a roadside shrine, leaving his jacket in honorable exchange.
In the ensuing inferno, the 'Masters of Death' tell Ogami that they recognize him, but that they will not attack him...as long as he makes no move against them and Lord Kiru, and then leave him.
Other English dub actors: Shogun Assassin is a combination of two Japanese films, predominantly that of Baby-cart at the River Styx (1972) and 12 minutes of Sword of Vengeance.
When released in the United Kingdom by the Vipco video tape label in 1983, Shogun Assassin's extreme violence almost caused it to be banned in the UK by the Home Office.
From contemporary reviews, Vincent Canby of The New York Times, wrote Shogun Assassin "is as furiously mixed up as What's Up, Tiger Lily?"
and that outside "the little-boy's narration, the movie's not much fun once you've gotten the picture, which is that of a tubby, outcast samurai wandering the length and breadth of Japan, pushing an antique baby carriage that contains his tiny, remarkably observant son.
"[5] John Pym (Monthly Film Bulletin) found that "the impetus of the original director's intention seems somehow to have been turned round by having the story related from the point of view of the uncomprehending Daigorō", whose narration he compared to that of Linda Manz's Days of Heaven).
Thus, we never really learn why the samurai's wife is murdered; and such scenes as the one in which the headsman compels his son to make a fateful choice between a sword and a pretty raffia ball go for nothing.
"[2] The review concluded that "the swordplay is of a high, non-exploitative order, and what narrative elements remain—the fire of the ship, for example—are handled with admirable vigour".
[2] From retrospective reviews, Stuart Galbraith IV of DVD Talk said, "A radical reworking of not one but two Japanese movies combined into a single action-filled extravaganza, Shogun Assassin floored audiences with its dream-like, poetic action and pressure-cooker bloodletting.
"[6] Tim Lucas (Sight & Sound) described Houston's version as an "ingenious and deeply imagined reinterpretation also turns out to be a conspicuous example of a beloved grindhouse experience that was in fact rewritten, [rescored] (by Mark Lindsay of Paul Revere and the Raiders) and disembowelled in the cutting room"[7] Dialogue excerpts from the film have been sampled in hip-hop music, with samples from the film being prominently featured in several songs from the 1995 album Liquid Swords by GZA.