Nemuri Kyôshirô burai-hikae: Mashô no hada

The Ninth film in The Sleepy Eyes of Death series is titled A Trail of Traps and that is an accurate description of the film.

Kyoshiro Nemuri is approached by a man in charge of confiscated Christian artifacts to guard a golden statue of the Virgin Mary being taken from Edo to a wealthy dye maker in Kyoto as a gift. The harried man in charge of delivering the statue is worried. The vicious Black Finger Cult who worship Diablo (Satan) is determined to steal the statue en route. The man in charge of the statue promises Nemuri money and women. Nemuri requests only one thing, a night with the man's virginal daughter. The father although taken aback agrees, saying a lot for the world the film takes place in. Nemuri has another reason for going to Kyoto. He is rumored to have a sister living there.

Most of the film takes place on the road. There are several stops along the way, many, but not all, of these are traps by the Black Finger Cult. These little vignettes keep the viewer interested throughout the journey. No one knows what will happen next (my two favorites involve a hot spring and a dying designer of loaded dice). The film builds to a fitting finale where Nemuri has to face off against various villains before challenging the leader of the Black Finger Cult (a half-breed like Nemuri) to a duel. A Trail of Traps stands as a better than average entry in the series and is a nice return for director Kazuo Ikehiro, who directed the best entry in the series thus far, Sword of Seduction (aka Kyoshiro Nemuri at Bay).