“Blade of the 47 Ronin” is supposed to be a sequel to 2013’s “47 Ronin”. However, the film is far from doing justice to its prequel. It tries to connect to its predecessor using the motif of descendants but is unable to establish the flavor that “47 Ronin” provided us with. “47 Ronin” had a certain authenticity in its atmosphere and narrative that was based on the Samurai, not to mention an awesome cast. But all that “Blade of the 47 Ronin” has are sword fights for the sake of a plot that, even with its effective narrative, fails to appeal. That being said, let’s delve into what happens in “Blade of the 47 Ronin”.
Spoilers Ahead
What Happens In The ‘Blade of the 47 Ronin’ Film?
Lord Arai of the House of Arai seeks help from Hirano, a witch, to fight the villainous witch, Yurei (Dan Southworth), who intends to destroy all Samurai. (Yurei is the descendant of Mizuki, the witch who served as Lord Kira’s aide. She was killed by Kai, one of the original 47 Ronin.) The only way to stop him is the Tengu sword, and he knows it. So it is imperative that they stop him from getting his hands on it. The sword was split into two, namely the Warrior sword and the Witch Blade. Arai has the Warrior Blade, while Hirano has the Witch Blade. If the blades are united, they will be able to kill Yurei and fulfill the prophecy that says that “the Blade of the 47 Ronin, fortified by magic and valor, will be yielded by a true descendant to defeat an evil born from the past.” So only Arai can kill Yurei, him being the last descendant of the 47 Ronin (he is the descendant of Chikara Oishi, son of Oishi Yoshio, of the original 47 Ronin who fought the forces of the evil Lord Kira and received an honorable death). Unfortunately, during the meeting, their house is attacked by Yurei’s men, and Yurei kills both Hirano and Arai. But Yurei, through his powers, realizes that Arai wasn’t the last descendant. There is one more.
The other lords, namely Lord Okoro, Lord Maeda, Lord Shinshiro, Lord Niko, and Lord Ikeda, meet in Budapest to decide what to do next. Shinshiro (Mark Dacascos) says that the Record Keeper has had a vision of a young American woman who had the Warrior Blade in her hands. This seems to say that she, too, is a descendant of the 47 Ronin. While some lords aren’t convinced, others, including Shinshiro, believe that the American woman needs to be found and told about her true Ronin past. Shinshiro’s second-in-command, Onami (Teresa Ting) (Shinshiro found her as a baby and raised her as his own; her ancestry is not known), with help from a guy named Reo (Mike Moh), a Ronin (excommunicated by Shinshiro), traces down the girl, Luna (Anna Akana), and after saving her from a bunch of Yurei’s men, tells her of her significance in the present scheme of things. While Luna isn’t at all interested in the samurai story she just heard, she decides to listen to them just for the sake of it. They find out from the Record Keeper, Dash (Nino Furuhata) that on the next blood moon, which is in 5 days, Yurei will unite the two blades, forming the Tengu sword, which will unleash the full power of his dark magic. Thus begins Luna’s training under Onami, Reo, and Aya (Chikako Fukuyama), so that she can defeat Yurei by using the Tengu sword. However, later on, Luna is contacted by Yurei, who tells her that she is like him, a witch. She, too, then realizes that she has powers like Yurei but denies the thought that she is indeed a witch. Having already stolen the witch’s sword, Yurei then manages to get hold of the warrior sword by tracking Luna, who had received the location of the sword from Dash before he was killed by Yurei’s men. With both swords in his possession, he only has to wait for the blood moon night. Meanwhile, Yurei kills Lord Shinshiro while his wards kill Dash and Aya.
On the night of the blood moon, Yurei unites the two swords into the Tengu sword, but before he can claim his full powers, he and his men are attacked by Shinshiro, along with Reo, Onami, Aya, Luna, and Lord Niko (Dustin Nguyen), a close friend of Shinshiro. At one point, Luna even manages to stab Yurei with the Tengu sword, but nothing happens. This proves that what Yurei had told her was right. She is a witch and not a Ronin descendant. But if not her, then whom? When Luna throws the Tengu sword towards Onami to keep it away from Yurei’s hands, Onami catches it, and the sword starts to glow. This reveals that Onami is the last descendant of the 47 Ronin. She beheads Yurei, thereby bringing an end to his evil forces. Onami is then declared the new Lord of the House of Arai.
Ancestry And Adoption
In “Blade of the 47 Ronin”, we find that Onami, and not Luna, was the last descendant of the original 47 Ronin. Shinshiro found her as a baby and raised her, and trained her as a samurai without knowing her ancestry. Basically, the most significant character is an adopted child. This is something that “47 Ronin” also portrayed. In it, Kai (Keanu Reeves) was adopted as a young boy by Lord Asano. And Kai is the most significant character in the film. Kai killed the witch Mizuki, whose descendant is “Blade of the 47 Ronin” ‘s Yurei, who is killed by Onami. This is how two adopted kids, Kai and Onami, are connected. Can she be Kai’s descendant? There is a possibility that is promising. After all, Kai did have a relationship with Lord Asano’s daughter Mika. And Mika, fearing that her child would be killed, as its father was a half-breed and was also unaccepted by many (but we must remember that he was declared a samurai by Oishi Yoshio), gave it away to someone else for safekeeping, and the baby eventually landed in Lord Shinshiro’s arms.
The Tengu Sword
In this film, the Tengu Sword is formed out of the fusion of the Witch Sword and the Warrior Sword. But in “47 Ronin,” Tengu was the name of a forest where Kai and Oishi, along with their co-ronins, went to get new magical swords to fight Lord Kira and his men. The Tengu Forest is where Kai was raised by demons before he escaped and was found by Lord Asano. So the Tengu Sword has two interpretations of its name. It is called Tengu due to its far-fetched yet clear connection with demonic powers (witchcraft) since demons lived in the Tengu Forest. Or it could be that both the Witch Sword and the Warrior Sword were built by the demons in the Tengu forest. In the latter case, it would mean that the demons, or at least some of them, knew the risks of the Witch Sword and made the Warrior Sword counteract the Witch Sword’s effects. There is another suggestion. The Warrior Sword can also be Kai’s sword, the one with which he killed Mizuki. This justifies Onami wielding the Tengu Sword. It is up to us to choose the way we want to interpret it, but each of these is equally effective.
‘Blade of the 47 Ronin’ Ending Explained: What Happens To The Tengu Sword?
At the end of the film, we see Lord Niko introduce Lord Onami to Lord Okoro and Lord Maeda at the Order meeting; the others are dead. The film ends with Onami mentioning the first order of business, the Tengu Sword. This might mean that the third potential part of the 47 Ronin franchise will explore the Tengu Sword and its past and how it came into being in the first place. We shall also learn more about the demonic inhabitants of the Tengu Forest.
“Blade of the 47 Ronin” is a 2022 action thriller film directed by Rou Yuan.
