Zankuro Matsudaira (Ken Watanabe) is a low-grade vassal of the Tokugawa Shogun, forced to moonlight as a bodyguard and executioner to make ends meet. He also has a drinking problem, an overeating mother, and a propensity to protect the oppressed, all of which eat into his finances. His confident mother Masajo (Kyoko Kishida) is the descendant of a famous family of shogunate retainers and a mistress of the pen and sword, who regards her son as a failure.
Side Job
The Two Bodyguards
Sister Comes Home
The Mystery of the Blue Skin
Voluntary Imprisonment
I am the Shogun
The Master of Waste
A Mysterious Killer
Crescent Scarred Hatamoto
Blade of the Immortal
Hakkenden: Legend of the Dog Warriors
Samurai Champloo
Samurai Deeper Kyo
The Tree In Sunlight
The Man of Five Rings
Laughing Under the Clouds
Samurai 7
Nobunaga the Fool
Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress
Samurai Girl
Nobunaga Concerto
Samurai Sensei
Kagerou no Tsuji
Meiji Gekken: 1874
The Heike Story
A Samurai's Sorrow
Shōgun
Mitsumei: Kangetsu Kasumigiri