Bringemovies
← Browse Movies
Whipmaster: Ballad of Murder
TITLE DETAILS

Whipmaster: Ballad of Murder

1970-11-11 · 88 min · ★ 7.7

Action · Drama · History

Ryotatsu, the wayward Priest blinded by Shinkai, the Wicked Priest, has his own story in this ultra-violent tale from the era of the Meiji Reconstruction. When a woman leaves her blind son at the Monastery, Ryotatsu is forced to teach the boy how to cope as a blind person in old Japan. When he takes the child with him on the road to find the boy's mother, they run afoul of not only yakuza gangsters, but some corrupt army officers have been trying to sway public opinion against the Satsuma rebels by posing as members of Saigo Takamori's group. It's a bloody mistake for them to underestimate the strength of the Blind Priest, and he'll make them pay with their lives!

Open detail page

Trailers are previews, not full movies.

No authorized playback source configured. Use the legal watch options below.

Production details

Directors
Takashi Harada
Production companies
Toei Company
Countries
Japan
Status
Released

Top Cast

Bunta SugawaraBunta SugawaraBlind Priest Ryotatsu
Akiko KudōAkiko KudōMaya
Minoru ŌkiMinoru ŌkiBanri
Naruhiko UmechiRintaro
Bin AmatsuBin Amatsu
Meichō SoganoyaMeichō Soganoya
Takuzō KawataniTakuzō Kawatani
Utako KyōUtako Kyō
Tōru AbeTōru Abe
Kenji ImaiKenji Imai
Utae ShōjiUtae Shōji
Kyōichi SatōKyōichi Satō
Toshi Amatsu
Tomisaburō WakayamaTomisaburō WakayamaDr. Mitamura

Title information and images are supplied by TMDb. Explore our discovery guide for advice on comparing metadata and legal viewing options.

Where to watch

Availability provided by JustWatch via TMDb. Offers can change. Provider links are listed on TMDb; full playback requires a separately authorized source.

Availability not listed for this country.

Recommendations

Zatoichi: Darkness Is His Ally
★ 6.4
Zatoichi: Darkness Is His Ally1989Action · Drama

Older, wiser but still a wandering loner, the blind, peace-loving masseur Ichi seeks a peaceful life in a rural village. When he's caught in the middle of a power struggle between two rival Yakuza clans, his reputation as a deadly defender of the innocent is put to the ultimate test in a series of sword-slashing showdowns.

Zatoichi
★ 7.2
Zatoichi2003Action · Drama

Blind traveler Zatoichi is a master swordsman and a masseur with a fondness for gambling on dice games. When he arrives in a village torn apart by warring gangs, he sets out to protect the townspeople.

ICHI
★ 6.8
ICHI2008Action · Drama · History

Ichi is a blind entertainer that travels the countryside with her traditional Japanese guitar and walking stick. She’s in search for the kind man that brought her up as a child, but because of her beauty she encounters problems every step of the way. Fortunately for Ichi, she is also a gifted swordswoman and carries a lethal blade within her walking stick.

The Tale of Zatoichi
★ 7.3
The Tale of Zatoichi1962Action · Drama

The adventures of a blind, gambling masseur and master swordsman. Zatoichi targets a yakuza-controlled village, because war with a neighbouring town's smaller gang is brewing.

Fight, Zatoichi, Fight
★ 6.8
Fight, Zatoichi, Fight1964Action · Drama

Blind swordsman/masseuse Zatoichi befriends a young woman returning home with her baby. When gangsters mistake her for Zatoichi and kill her, Zatoichi determines to escort the baby to its father. He gains the reluctant help of a young pick pocket and together they travel to find the baby's father. But they do not reckon on the father's reaction to their arrival, nor on their own growing feelings for the child.

Sword of the Beast
★ 7.5
Sword of the Beast1965Action · Drama

Legendary swordplay filmmaker Hideo Gosha's Sword of the Beast chronicles the flight of the low-level swordsman Gennosuke, who kills one of his ministers as part of a reform plot. His former comrades then turn on him, and this betrayal so shakes his sense of honor that he decides to live in the wild, like an animal. There he joins up with a motley group who are illegally mining the shogun’s gold, and, with the aid of another swordsman, gets a chance not just at survival but to recover his name and honor.

Rurouni Kenshin Part I: Origins
★ 7.5
Rurouni Kenshin Part I: Origins2012Action · History

In 1868, after the Bakumatsu war ends, the ex-assassin Kenshin Himura traverses Japan with an inverted sword, to defend the needy without killing.

Harakiri
★ 8.5
Harakiri1962Action · Drama · History

Down-on-his-luck veteran Tsugumo Hanshirō enters the courtyard of the prosperous House of Iyi. Unemployed, and with no family, he hopes to find a place to commit seppuku—and a worthy second to deliver the coup de grâce in his suicide ritual. The senior counselor for the Iyi clan questions the ronin’s resolve and integrity, suspecting Hanshirō of seeking charity rather than an honorable end. What follows is a pair of interlocking stories which lay bare the difference between honor and respect, and promises to examine the legendary foundations of the Samurai code.

Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo
★ 6.8
Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo1970Action · Drama

Zatoichi treks to a village that has always been a favorite spot of his, only to discover that it’s become a living hell, plagued by feuding father and son yakuza as well as the younger crime boss’s bodyguard, scruffy, smart-mouthed, cash-hungry Yojimbo of legend.

Kagemusha
★ 7.8
Kagemusha1980Action · Drama · History

A feudal epic presenting the tale of a petty thief who is recruited to impersonate Shingen, an aging warlord, in order to avoid attacks by competing clans. The impostor becomes comfortable living his life among nobility, but his responsibilities to his station grow more demanding the longer he occupies it.

Zatoichi and the Chest of Gold
★ 6.9
Zatoichi and the Chest of Gold1964Action · Drama

Ichi travels to the village of Itakura to pay his respects at the grave of Kichizo, a man he killed two years ago. When some tax money is stolen while in transit to the governor he is accused and sets out to find the money and clear his name.

Samurai Marathon
★ 6.0
Samurai Marathon2019Action · Drama · History

When feudal lord Itakura Katsuakira decides to prepare his samurai troops for the onslaught of modernization by having them compete in a marathon, his independent-minded daughter Yuki secretly joins the race.

Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto
★ 7.2
Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto1954Action · Drama

Struggling to elevate himself from his low caste in 17th century Japan, Miyamoto trains to become a mighty samurai warrior.

Outrage
★ 6.9
Outrage2010Action · Drama

When a tough yakuza gangster is betrayed by his bosses, it means all out war. Bodies pile up as he takes out everyone in his way to the top in a brutal quest for revenge.

Blind Fury
★ 6.5
Blind Fury1989Action · Drama

A blind Vietnam vet, trained as a swordfighter, comes to America and helps to rescue the son of a fellow soldier.

Samurai Assassin
★ 7.3
Samurai Assassin1965Action · Drama · History

Japan, 1860. The men of the Mito clan, victims of the Ansei purge, anxiously prowl around the Sakurada Gate of Edo Castle with the intention of assassinating Naosuke Ii of Hikone, tairō of the Tokugawa shogunate and responsible for their misfortune.

Afro Samurai: Resurrection
★ 6.9
Afro Samurai: Resurrection2009Action · Drama

Afro Samurai avenged his father and found a life of peace. But the legendary master is forced back into the game by a beautiful and deadly woman from his past. The sparks of violence dropped along Afro’s bloody path now burn out of control – and nowhere are the flames of hatred more intense than in the eyes of Sio.

Inu-Oh
★ 7.5
Inu-Oh2022Drama · History

A cursed dancer and a blind musician — both ostracized by society — become business partners and inseparable friends as their larger-than-life concerts propel them to stardom in 14th century Japan.

Battles Without Honor and Humanity
★ 7.3
Battles Without Honor and Humanity1973Action · Drama

In the teeming black markets of postwar Japan, Shozo Hirono and his buddies find themselves in a new war between factious and ambitious yakuza.

Battles Without Honor and Humanity: Deadly Fight in Hiroshima
★ 7.3
Battles Without Honor and Humanity: Deadly Fight in Hiroshima1973Action · Drama

Repeatedly beat to a pulp by gamblers, cops, and gangsters, lone wolf Shoji Yamanaka finally finds a home as a Muraoka family hitman and falls in love with boss Muraoka's niece. Meanwhile, the ambitions of mad dog Katsutoshi Otomo draws our series' hero, Shozo Hirono, and the other yakuza into a new round of bloodshed.

Similar titles

Beautiful Mystery
★ 4.6
Beautiful Mystery1983Drama

Shinohara, a young bodybuilder, joins a para-military sect in northern Japan. His instructor, Takizawa, takes a liking to the new recruit. After an early “special” training session the two develop a lasting and loving relationship.

The Last Samurai
★ 7.6
The Last Samurai2003Action · Drama

Nathan Algren is an American hired to instruct the Japanese army in the ways of modern warfare, which finds him learning to respect the samurai and the honorable principles that rule them. Pressed to destroy the samurai's way of life in the name of modernization and open trade, Algren decides to become an ultimate warrior himself and to fight for their right to exist.

Zatoichi
★ 7.2
Zatoichi2003Action · Drama

Blind traveler Zatoichi is a master swordsman and a masseur with a fondness for gambling on dice games. When he arrives in a village torn apart by warring gangs, he sets out to protect the townspeople.

Ask This of Rikyu
★ 7.2
Ask This of Rikyu2013Drama · History

Sen no Rikyu (Ebizo Ichikawa) is the son of a fish shop owner. Sen no Rikyu then studies tea and eventually becomes one of the primary influences upon the Japanese tea ceremony. With his elegant esthetics, Sen no Rikyu is favored by the most powerful man in Japan Toyotomi Hideyoshi (Nao Omori) and becomes one of his closest advisors. Due to conflicts, Toyotomi Hideyoshi then orders Sen no Rikyu to commit seppuku (suicide). Director Mitsutoshi Tanaka's adaptation of Kenichi Yamamoto's award-winning novel of the same name received the Best Artistic Contribution Award at the 37th Montréal World Film Festival, the Best Director Award at the 2014 Osaka Cinema Festival, the 30th Fumiko Yamaji Cultural Award and the 37th Japan Academy Film Prize in nine categories, including Best Art Direction, Excellent Film and Excellent Actor.

Shaft's Big Score!
★ 6.1
Shaft's Big Score!1972Action · Drama

John Shaft is back as the lady-loved black detective cop on the search for the murderer of a client.

Inu-Oh
★ 7.5
Inu-Oh2022Drama · History

A cursed dancer and a blind musician — both ostracized by society — become business partners and inseparable friends as their larger-than-life concerts propel them to stardom in 14th century Japan.

You Only Live Twice
★ 6.6
You Only Live Twice1967Action

A mysterious spacecraft captures Russian and American space capsules and brings the two superpowers to the brink of war. James Bond investigates the case in Japan and comes face to face with his archenemy Blofeld.

Miss Hokusai
★ 6.7
Miss Hokusai2015Drama · History

A daughter is constantly overshadowed by her famous father, but she is determined to make her own mark in the world.

Pa-siyam
★ 7.5
Pa-siyam2004Drama

After their mother's death, her adult children gather in their family home to respect the funereal rite of "pa-siyam." Although they had originally thought she died of natural causes, they soon realize that a dark force in the home may have played a part in her demise.

Uzumasa Limelight
★ 6.8
Uzumasa Limelight2014Action · Drama

Fewer samurai films are being made, and the Uzumasa studio has fallen on hard times. One day, veteran "kirareyaku" (whose job it is to be felled with a sword by a film's star) actor Kamiyama is tasked with teaching sword action techniques to fledgling actress Satsuki. A few years later, the now-retired Kamiyama is visited by Satsuki, who has become a popular star.

Wood Job!
★ 7.4
Wood Job!2014Drama

After failing his university entrance exam, Yuki Hirano sets his eyes on the role of a forestry trainee. Setting off for training he doubts his decision many times, but eventually after passing the training course, he is sent to Kamusari Village for a year of work experience - where he becomes assimilated with the beauty of nature and the warm-hearted people of the village.

Not in Textbooks 5
Not rated
Not in Textbooks 52019Drama

A school romantic comedy about the cohabitation life of a popular high school girl in a class and a Japanese language teacher who is swayed by her in the fifth in the series "Not in Textbooks!". Aya Shirakaba, a high school girl who attends Otome High School, and homeroom teacher Arihiko Tairaku lived together at the command of the leader of Yakuza, the father of Aya. One weekend, Tairaku invites a longing colleague, Yayoi Satsuki, to date, which was also Aya's birthday. Aya learns that Tairaku is going to date May. Ayaka Morikawa, who plays Aya Shirakaba, and Ryouma Baba, who plays Arihiko Tairaku, continue to star in the series, while Moemi Katayama and Anna Hongo have played the role of May, who is now gravure idol Natsuki Sena.

Twittering Birds Never Fly: The Clouds Gather
★ 6.6
Twittering Birds Never Fly: The Clouds Gather2020Drama

In the hyper-masculine criminal underworld, a masochistic high-ranking yakuza and his newly-assigned bodyguard become increasingly drawn to each other.

Europa
★ 7.3
Europa1991Drama

In 1945 Germany, following the end of World War II, Leopold Kessler, an American of German descent, is hired by his uncle as a sleeping car conductor on the Zentropa train line. Leopold's wish is to be neutral to the ongoing purges of loyalists by Allied forces and do what he can to help a hurting country, but ultimately finds himself being used by both sides.

Buffalo '66
★ 7.1
Buffalo '661998Drama

Billy is released after five years in prison. In the next moment, he kidnaps teenage student Layla and visits his parents with her, pretending she is his girlfriend and they will soon marry.

Scent of a Woman
★ 7.8
Scent of a Woman1992Drama

Charlie Simms is a student at a private preparatory school who comes from a poor family. To earn the money for his flight home to Gresham, Oregon for Christmas, Charlie takes a job over Thanksgiving looking after retired U.S. Army officer Lieutenant Colonel Frank Slade, a cantankerous middle-aged man who lives with his niece and her family.

Poster unavailable
Not rated
Zōho kaitei Chūshingura1927Drama

The legendary tale of the forty-seven samurai and their mission to avenge the death of their master.

47 Vendettas
Not rated
47 Vendettas1953Drama

The legendary tale of the forty-seven samurai who seek vengeance against the man who caused their master's death.

Motorpsycho!
★ 6.0
Motorpsycho!1965Drama

A vengeful veterinarian and a grieving widow join forces to track down violent bikers after they commit heinous acts against their loved ones.

Gambler's Choice
★ 6.2
Gambler's Choice1944Drama

Professional gambler Ross Hadley owns a posh gaming establishment in the heart of 1910 New York. Hadley's main opponent is his childhood friend Mike McGlennon, who is determined to end his gambling activities.

Your favorites

Recently viewed

Watch

Choose an authorized server.

Full video from an operator-configured authorized source. Official trailers use a separate player. If a server fails, retry or select another authorized server.

Legal watch options

Official trailer

Trailer preview only. Press Play to start.

Privacy choices

Favorites stay in your browser. Movie images load from TMDb. YouTube trailers contact YouTube only after you allow external media and choose a trailer. Advertising consent, if ads are enabled, is managed separately by the operator’s certified CMP.

Privacy policy

After allowing external media, choose the trailer button to load its player.