| Shinobi: Heart Under Blade | |
| Screenplay: | Kenya Hirata |
| Starring: | Yukie Nakama Joe Odagiri Tomoka Kurotani Erika Sawajiri |
| Director: | Ten Shimoyama |
| Distributor: | Shochiku |
| Language: | Japanese |
| Country: | Japan |
| Cinematography: | Masashi Chikamori |
| Editing: | Isao Kawase |
| Music: | Tarō Iwashiro Ayumi Hamasaki |
| Runtime: | 97 minutes |
| Gross: | $11,987,868[1] |
Shinobi: Heart Under Blade is a 2005 Japanese romantic drama film directed by Ten Shimoyama and written by Kenya Hirata. It is an adaptation of Futaro Yamada's novel The Kouga Ninja Scrolls, although the characters are highly altered. It depicts the clash between two ninja clans, Iga and Kouga, and the fated love between Gennosuke (Kouga) and Oboro (Iga). The film's theme song was "Heaven" by Ayumi Hamasaki.
The film was released by Shochiku on September 15, 2005. On February 6, 2007, Funimation released the film on home video in the North America. The contents of the DVD is a 2-Disc Set with the main movie available in Japanese and an English dub. The 2nd Disc contains Special Features and making-ofs. All of the films are subtitled in English.
Set immediately after the Japanese Sengoku period, Iga and Kouga, two mercenary clans have been waging a vendetta against each other over hundreds of years. Around 1614, Tokugawa Ieyasu, the ruler of Japan and the founder of the Tokugawa Shogunate, perceives the threat posed by the two clans. Attempting to consolidate his reign, he deliberately stirs up their feud by inviting the clans to choose their five best warriors to fight to the death. Designated as the leaders of the two clans respectively, Kouga Gennosuke (Joe Odagiri) and Oboro (Yukie Nakama), who have secretly married, are unwillingly embroiled in the political plot. Hence, they have to make a difficult decision.
Initially, being peaceful and knowing the preciousness of life, they try their utmost to prevent this meaningless and brutal fight by questioning the shogunate's motives. After the deaths of all their comrades, however, they gradually accept their fate. In the last fight, Kouga Gennosuke chooses not to defend himself and allows his lover Oboro to kill him, thus letting the clan of Iga "win". Meanwhile, Ieyasu sends his armies to exterminate the ninja villages. To accomplish Gennosuke's hope of saving them, Oboro implores Tokugawa Ieyasu not to destroy the villages and, as a show of her sincerity, blinds herself, thereby destroying her most powerful weapons, her eyes (which possess a deadly technique called . Moved profoundly by Oboro, Ieyasu withdraws his armies and issues an injunction to protect the ninja villages. For generations hence, the villages live peacefully.
The list of six top ninja of Iga and Kouga, along with other characters.
The film was successful financially in Japan earning roughly 11 million US dollars. Shinobi won both best actor and best new actress awards at both the Kinema Junpo Awards and Yokohama Film Festival.