Koji Yakusho and Koichi Sato to star in 47 Ronin film 'Saigo no Chushingura'

Some have called it Japan's 'national legend'. The story of the 47 Ronin has been told in numerous mediums but the last time it was ever told on the big screen was back in Kon Ichikawa's 1994 film, Kon Ichikawa's 47 Ronin, but that is about to change and we will have a new Chushingura film by 2011 titled
Saigo no Chushingura.
.
Kiyoshi Kurosawa staple Koji Yakusho, who coincidentally is starring in another samurai film, Takashi Miike's Thirteen Assassins, and Koichi Sato [The Shonen Merikansak, The Magic Hour and Sukiyaki Western Django] will lead the cast.

Based on a 1994 novel by Shoichiro Ikemiya which was previously adapted to an NHK drama in 2004, the new film stars Yakusho and Sato as two survivors of the raid. Yakusho's character, Senoo Magozaemon, is an "unworthy samurai" who flees the night before and goes into hiding, establishing himself as a pariah. Meanwhile Sato's character, Terasaka Kichiemon, is a loyal retainer who's secretly ordered to escape the raid by the leader of the Forty-seven Ronin, Oishi Kuranosuke, in order to relay the facts of the incident for the sake of posterity. Filming of "Saigo no Chushingura" will begin in Kyoto on November 8, with a release planned for January 2011.