Entertaining, although it does not contribute anything new to the genre. Acupuncturist Baian Fujieda has the same blood to kill cunningly at night and, the next day, offer consultations and even save lives. This type of moral contradiction has long since lost its power to delight as an anecdote rather than invite perplexity. Watanabe’s modus operandi also repeats the hackneyed custom of hired assassins who refuse to know the details of their victims, which are provided to them by the faithful Motojime.

The plot smacks of mystery and suspense rather than focusing on crime. A killer who is happy with his acupuncture and in love with the beautiful O-mon. For his next ‘job’, to eliminate the candle merchant Izuya, he has a mishap with the young samurai Kosugi, a sword expert who is also eager to kill Izuya because of the oath he made to O-naka, a prostitute from Senju. For a moment, the acupuncturist and Kosugi face off, assuming that Baian is Dr. Chubei Izuyama. Baian explains what he does and asks him to allow him, Baian, to kill Izuya. Izuya is not a salesman but a former samurai who also works as an assassin. Izuya uses poison to kill Lord Matsudaira Tadayuki, a lecherous man with no scruples who was tricked into accepting a huge gift in a box.

When he left, it was a beautiful woman, but he did not imagine that she, the gift, had poisoned the lord, killing him without leaving any forensic evidence. This woman is Izuya’s lover and is just as much of a murderer as he is. To make matters worse, she hates samurai. Finally, Kosugi corners Dr Izuya, but he turns out to be his younger brother Souhaku. He manages to get rid of his escort, but the cunning Souhake almost kills Kosugi if it weren’t for Baian’s darts.

For the final act, Baian prepares everything and sends a letter to Izuya’s wife. When she arrives at the dressing room, she is surprised by Baian, who stabs her in the back of the neck with the huge needle, but first asks her if her name is O-mino. Surprised, she asks him how he knows her name. After killing her, he waits for Izuya, and the whole film is resolved in less than three minutes after more than an hour of investigating the victim. In the end, the loyal Motojime pays him and thanks him for his artistic work but asks him why he broke his rule of never killing women. Baian replies that she was his younger sister, separated from him more than 30 years ago. The same blood runs through the veins of that murderer, he tells him, though not in a cheerful mood.