Trailer
Plot summary
In 1874, Sayo gives birth to a daughter in a women's prison and names her Yuki after the falling snow. Four criminals had murdered her husband and son a year earlier, and three of them had raped her; she stabbed one to death and was imprisoned for life. She seduced the men she could reach in order to conceive this child, and her last words ask that the girl be raised to take vengeance on the three survivors. Yuki trains as a sword fighter under the priest Dōkai and becomes an assassin known as Shurayuki-hime. She turns to Matsuemon, who leads a network of street beggars, and asks him to trace her mother's remaining tormentors; his information points her toward Banzō Takemura, a gambler in debt whose daughter Kobue works as a prostitute.
Cast
- Shinichi Uchidaas Shirô Kashima
- Kaoru Kusudaas Otora Mikazuki
- Mayumi Maemuraas Young Yuki
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Lady Snowblood (1973)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- According to Meiko Kaji, Quentin Tarantino made the cast and crew of Kill Bill watch DVDs of Lady Snowblood during filming breaks.
- Screenwriter Norio Osada showed his first draft to Kinji Fukasaku, who told director Toshiya Fujita that he would make the film himself if Fujita was not willing; Fujita immediately relented.
- Yuki's sword was made from duralumin and weighed about 1.5 kg, and swinging it repeatedly hurt Meiko Kaji's arm.
- Meiko Kaji took the part because she wanted to work again with director Toshiya Fujita, with whom she had built a rapport at Nikkatsu, and she had tired of the Female Prisoner Scorpion films and of violent exploitation roles.
- The studio Toei initially tried to stop Meiko Kaji from taking the role, though she later returned there to make her final Female Prisoner Scorpion film, 701's Grudge Song.
- When the film was announced in Kinema Junpo in February 1973 with Toshiya Fujita as director, the announcement revealed that Kazuo Koike, writer of the original manga, preferred 小川知子 for the title character.
- Meiko Kaji was contracted to sing the theme song "Shura no hana" (The Flower of Carnage), which was later re-used by Quentin Tarantino in Kill Bill.
