11 Samurai

The film is set in November 1839, during the final decades of Japan's Tokugawa shogunate. The retired Shogun's youngest son, Lord Nariatsu, crosses into the neighboring Oshi fief, while he's hunting. Confronted by the Clan Lord Abe Masayori for trespassing in his lands of Oshi, Nariatsu kills him in a fit of pique and rides home. The Oshi fief retainers appeal to the Shogun's Council of Elders for justice. Not wishing to embarrass the Shogun's Tokugawa Clan, Chief Secretary Mizumo rewrites the event with Clan Lord Abe in the wrong and Lord Nariatsu defending himself. For this "attack," the Oshi fief is to be abolished at the end of the month, and the lands will be given to Lord Nariatsu as compensation.
Angered by this gross injustice, Chief Retainer Tatewaki approaches childhood friend, Sengoku Hayato, and asks him to avenge their Lord's murder. Hayato agrees to assemble a small band of loyal samurai.