Mariko Miyajima

To satisfy her lover's fetish for tattooed women, Akane agrees to have her body covered in eloborate tattoos by Kyogoro, an old craftsman. Kyogoro has developed a special technique, by which his assistant, Harutsune, keeps Katsuko's mind off the pain while Kyogoro does his work. After the work is done, Harutsune makes the shocking discovery of how Kyogoro mastered his technique.

A mysterious thief called "Yami no Kiba" (Fang of Darkness), who sneaks into the residences of the shogunate one after another and steals the shogun's treasures, has been shaking the public authorities. The identity of the thief is Ichibei, a medicine seller whose father was once killed by the shogunate, and his daughter Oasa. Ichibei had been seeking revenge against the official to avenge the death of his father, Sasajima Hyobu, who was a member of the Kurokuchi clan, the official ninja. He was also plotting to seize the gold orca of the Nagoya Castle keep, aiming at the Owari clan that had slain his father. ......

Ichibei teams up with Chief Jindayo of the Goomune (Japan’s gypsies’) in order to steal the shogunate’s solid gold statue of Ieyasu which might bankrupt the central government and complete his revenge against the Tokugawa by toppling them from the seat of power. Meanwhile a mysterious swordsman has entered the area while trying to keep his true identity secret. Will his bloody blade help or hinder Ichibei’s quest for retribution? Will their actions change the course of Japanese history?

Magistrate Toyama no Kin-san is ordered to catch the phantom thief Nezumi Kozo, who is robbing daimyo and wealthy townspeople. Under the name of Nezumi Kozo, there is a small wholesaler Jiro. And once Toyama and Jiro, when they were young, were comrades who spent all their time gambling and having fun with women in the Yushima Tenjin area...