A Samurai in Time

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As the Edo period wanes in the mid-19th century, samurai KOSAKA Shinzaemon (YAMAGUCHI Makiya) draws his blade against his rival on the streets of Kyoto. But as the fight begins, sudden lightning strikes… and when Shinzaemon awakens, something is different. He’s been sent forward through time onto the set of a 21st-century period drama!

He is lost, afraid and alone in a familiar-yet-unfamiliar world, but assistant director Yuko (SAKURA Yuno) soon finds something for him to do: his skill with the sword makes him a perfect candidate for an extra in their TV show. So Shinzaemon begins a new life as a kirareyaku­, an actor specialising in pretending to die in battle, and slowly finds his way forward in his strange new reality.

A Samurai in Time is a smart, crowd-pleasing comedy centring around a man with a great sense of obligation, and more: behind the laughs, it expertly blends thoughtful character study, sharp cultural observations and a heartfelt tribute to the declining jidaigeki (period drama) industry.

©MIRAIEIGASHA

Screening as part of the Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme 2025, under this year's theme Am I Right? Justice, Justification and Judgement in Japanese Cinema