It has been more than a decade since I first and last saw this movie, and it still haunts me. This whole trilogy of films, about two rival samurai in medieval Japan, is mythic. It even inspired me to write a poem-- which I will spare you. It is not just a male flick, either. The sub-plot about Otsu is very romantic, though in a non-feminist, self-sacrificial way. On the other hand, she is the only character who gets what she wants. She just has to wait through three movies to have it. Throughout the trilogy, Mifune plays the famous samurai Musashi Miyamoto who develops from an outlaw wild-man in the first movie to a mystic philosopher in this one. While his rival, Kojiro, possesses consummate skill, Musashi achieves, in this film, a graceful detachment which almost makes him resist the climactic sword fight. But swashbuckler fans need not worry because the final confrontation is spectacular.

This was, by far the best of the trilogy and a fine ending. It had less Samurai action that the other two, but it was much more inspiring.

Kojiro (Koji Tsuruta) thought himself the best in the land and sought a duel with Musashi (Toshirô Mifune). But Musashi wanted to devote his life to becoming a better person. he went back to the land that he rejected and became a farmer.

In the meantime, both Otsu (Kaoru Yachigusa) and Akemi (Mariko Okada) managed to find him. Can you imagine that scene? Feeling rejected, Akemi is made to betray Musashi to the brigands. The effort fails and Musashi accepts the duel with Kojiro.

The duel itself was magnificent but short. It was a fitting end to a film that featured outstanding cinematography and a compelling story of the drive to perfection.

The first two movies of the series "Miyamoto Musashi" and "Zoku Miyamoto Musashi: Ichijôji no kettô" were already ones that was very little wrong with but this movie is basically even a better one, one basically every front thinkable.

The movie its story flows way better, which is probably also due to the fact that lots of things finally get wrapped up in this movie and there also is more action to enjoy this time. By todays standards it perhaps is still a pretty slow movie to watch but still the pace and flow within this movie was something I wasn't quite expecting from this movie, especially since the first two movies weren't as fast going or well flowing as this one was. The movie really felt and also looked as if it got made by an entirely different cast and crew this time, while this of course was not the case. Perhaps it was due to the fact that "Miyamoto Musashi" and "Zoku Miyamoto Musashi: Ichijôji no kettô" got made almost back-to-back, while before this movie director Hiroshi Inagaki also had go on and directed a totally different movie, "The Lone Journey".

The fight sequences do not disappoint within this movie. This is basically what the entire trilogy was building up toward. It's end fight has become quite legendary over the years and is a beautiful looking done one.

The whole trilogy definitely benefits from the fact that it got shot in full color. It's natural environments and sets are all beautiful looking and its visual look is actually one of the reasons why the whole trilogy is liked so much and still quite popular to watch, over 50 years later now.

More of a 'modern' movie than any of its two predecessor and definitely better flowing with its story and characters, also definitely due to the movie its action. A perfect conclusion for the trilogy.

9/10

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