Sword of Penitence (懺悔の刃, Zange no yaiba) is a 1927 Japanese silent film written and directed by Yasujirō Ozu.

[1] Sakichi, who has just been released after five years in prison, is telling his younger brother Ishimatsu that he intends to turn his back on crime when an acquaintance of theirs, Genshichi, bursts in.

Oyae's father refrains from condemning him as a thief and even gives him more money to enable him to make a new start in life.

Sakichi goes home and is packing his belongings with the intention of returning to his native village when Genshichi arrives and demands a share of the money.

The badly injured Ishimatsu makes his way to Sakichi's house, which is then surrounded by a party of constables led by Manabe.

The film's plot was summarised in the Japanese movie magazine Kinema Junpō 「キネマ旬報」 (1 October 1927).

The same magazine's review of the film (21 November 1927) points out that it owes much of its plot to American movies, including Kick In (directed by George Fitzmaurice in two versions, 1917 and 1922; Japanese title The Collapse of Civilisation [Bunmei no hakai]「文明の破壊」) and Les Misérables (1917, directed by Frank Lloyd).