Nathan Algren is an American hired to instruct the Japanese army in the ways of modern warfare, which finds him learning to respect the samurai and the honorable principles that rule them. Pressed to destroy the samurai's way of life in the name of modernization and open trade, Algren decides to become an ultimate warrior himself and to fight for their right to exist.

A woman calling herself Princess Oryu enters the woman's prison. She is Kasumi, the daughter of the famous magistrate, Ooka Echizen, who slowly after hearing each of the prisoner's stories begins to realize the mystery that lies behind what it could be a big conspiracy.

A lavish retelling of the true story of the final voyage and ultimate destruction and sinking of the battleship Yamato, Japan's greatest flagship during the Second World War.