A thief steals her heart before stealing anything else — Edo's most wanted meets his match in a woman with nothing left to lose.
Aboard a ship connecting Kyoto and Osaka, Osan was pickpocketed by a sham blind biwa player. A man who looked like a merchant retrieved the wallet for her. Osan was a woman being sold off for the sake of her yakuza-like brother, Nin'kichi. The man in the guise of a merchant turned out to be the Rat Thief, Jirokichi, the infamous thief of Edo. Due to this chance encounter, the two ended up staying at the same hot spring inn. However, one morning, as Jirokichi was about to leave alone, Osan, with the intuition of a smitten woman, confessed she knew he was the famed Rat Thief.
Acting
Hasegawa's smoldering thief, Takamine's knowing eyes
Direction
Itō's rhythmic staging, each frame a woodblock print
Costume
The merchant disguise hiding everything and nothing
Director
Daisuke Itō
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Itō pioneered the 'chanbara' style but here subverts it — the sword is replaced by glances, the duel is seduction.
The 1952 release date matters: post-war Japan saw women like Osan trapped by new economic desperation, not just feudal duty.
JP
