(Taikoki). "Taking advantage of the fluid political situation in Japan in the sixteenth century, when the nation was embroiled in civil wars, ambitious men of humble birth scrambled to positions of power. Hideyoshi Toyotomi (1536-98) rose to power as Nobunaga Oda's right-hand man and, after Oda's death at the hands of Akechi, completed his master's goal of unifying Japan. How Hideyoshi achieved power is the subject of this film.
"At first he joins a band of marauders (the ‘bandits' who attack the village in Kurosawa's Seven Samurai) but, opportunistically, he searches for a victorious general to serve (samurai means ‘one who serves') and hitches his wagon to the meteoric Oda. Hideyoshi rises to the rank of general but when, in a crucial battle, Hideyoshi requires more men than Oda can send, he seeks out his first master, the maverick chieftain, and convinces him that by siding with Oda he will serve his own ends. The marauder general puts himself and his forces at Hideyoshi's disposal, and they defeat the attackers. The film ends with Hideyoshi being conferred a distinguished name by Oda and taking possession of his first castle into which he welcomes his mother.
"Osone's skill as a director of battle scenes and large-scale sets is evident from the opening when, under the credits, an army on the march in the rain descends a curving mountain path and the wheels of carts mire in the mud. Kokichi Takada, a popular period film actor, plays Hideyoshi; Koshiro Matsumoto (who played Akechi, the man who killed Oda in My Master-My Enemy) now plays Oda; and Isuzu Yamada plays Hideyoshi's mother." --Frank T. Motofuji