Kurosawa’s first purely Japanese film since Dodes’ka-den is a story of Shakespearean scope: in order to confuse the enemy, a disreputable thief (Nakadai) is employed as the double, or kagemusha, of a clan leader who later dies. When the deception is uncovered, he is thrown out and wanders the countryside like a pariah. The majestic pace, court intrigues, and ritual lend a tragic and human stature to the tale as Kurosawa’s splendidly colorful recreation of sixteenth-century Japan—with its red sunsets, vivid rainbows, multi-colored flags, and dream-like, slow-motion battle scenes—delivers epic grandeur.