

After the fall of the Tokugawa Shogunate, there was a series of battles fought while the former supporters of the Tokugawa shogunate retreated to the north where they actually started a sovereign nation that was recognized by more than one European country. Survivors of the Shinsengumi were among the followers of Enomoto Takeaki who took them to the northernmost island of Ezo where they fought their final battle at the star shaped fort, Goryokaku. The Japanese Civil Wars fought in the name of the emperor signaled the complete end of the feudal system and Japan’s entry into the modern world as those brave samurai tried to halt progress and learned that the age of modern warfare and weaponry had passed them by. Swords were no match for rifles and cannons, nor was any man a match for the power of the imperial flag. Japanese loyalty to the emperor has long defined the nation and culture despite the changing times.
Ratings
3.5
Cast

Kōtarō Satomi
Takeaki Enomoto

Isao Natsuyagi
Kondo Isami

Yukiyo Toake

Tetsuya Watari
Toshizo Hijikata

Yuko Asano

Hisaya Morishige

Masahiko Tsugawa
Katsu Kaishu

Hiroshi Tachi

Tomokazu Miura

Hironobu Nomura

Takayuki Sakazume

Morio Kazama

Masatoshi Nakamura

Takahiro Tamura

Hiroshi Fujioka

Go Wakabayashi

Tetsuo Ishidate

Kaori Takahashi

Takehiro Murata

Eiichiro Funakoshi

Raita Ryu

Hideo Takamatsu

Yoshie Minami

Mieko Yuki

Teruhiko Saigō

Yuki Matsumura

Taisaku Akino
Eitarō Matsuyama
Shōji Ishibashi

Tappei Shimokawa

Miyoko Akaza

Claude Ciari

Masumi Okada

Teruhiko Aoi

Takayuki Godai
Shogen Nitta

Hirotaro Honda

Yoshiko Kuga
Masakazu Arai
Yoshiro Ichikawa

Takashi Inoue

Hirokazu Inoue

Gō Ibuki
Shinichi Uchida
Seiji Endō

Ryuji Katagiri

Kuniomi Kitani

Hiroyuki Kinoshita
Kozo Kotani

Shunji Sasaki

Jinya Sato

Takaya Shimoyama

Jiro Shirai

Masaaki Daimon
Kenji Takaoka
Crew
Screenplay
Music
Cinematography
Editor
Director
Details
Release Date
1988-12-30
Runtime
290 min
Original Language
Japanese
Languages
Japanese
Production Companies
Nippon Television Network Corporation
Countries
Japan
Genres
Action
History
Drama