Asian Drama

July 1590, Odawara. Toyotomi Hideyoshi's army had surrounded the Odawara Castle for over three months, hoping to conquer this last obstacle to his dream of the country's unification.

Standing at the gate of the castle, a lone man facing the menacing guards shouted out: "Do not throw your lives away. Treasure living!". Not long after, the castle gates opened and the reigning lord surrendered. The name of that man is Kuroda Kanbee. An excellent military strategist, he worked hand-in-hand with Hideyoshi to unify the country.

Kanbee's family had fled to Harima, and were relatively poor. As the protege of Kodera Masamoto, Kanbee was very much trusted and relied upon by his lord liege. However, Kodera was suspicious of Kanbee's father, Mototaka, thinking that he was trying to usurp his power. One day, Kodera decided to match-make Kanbee with the daughter of Kushihashi, another one of his vassals. Kushihashi's son, who was of the same age as Kanbee, intensely disliked Kanbee and objected to the match. Since this was the order of Kodera, they had no choice but to marry the youngest daughter, Teru, to Kanbee. On Kuroda clan side, in order to assuage their lord liege's suspicions, Mototaka decided to step down, and made Kanbee the head of the clan. Kanbee was but 22 years old. Kanbee and Teru were married, and they were blessed with a son soon after, but when many years had passed and yet Teru couldn't seem to conceive a second child, Kanbee decided to adopt the young children of his vassals as his proteges who became known as "Kuroda's warriors".

When Kanbee turned 30, a revolutionary young lord was slowly laying siege to all the various shogunates, aiming for a unified Japan. Harima became the place where the clash between Oda and Mori Terumoto was set. Kanbee was very attracted to Oda's unification plans, and had gone to Gifu Castle to meet up with him. There, he became acquainted with Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and soon became Hideyoshi's right-hand man, marking the birth of Gunshi Kanbee.

In February 1972, five members of the Japanese Red Army lock themselves up in a mountain lodge in Karuizawa called Asama Sanso, taking the wife of its proprietor hostage. Sassa Atsuyuki (Koji Yakusho) of the National Police Agency is put in charge by his chief (Makoto Fujita), and rushes to the scene. The case is supposed to be resolved in a few days, but the police do not get permission to use guns, and in addition, there is the severe cold and continuous antagonism between the Metropolitan Police Department and the Prefectural Police, making things extremely complicated. On the tenth day, in an attempt to force a breakthrough, they eventually use a wrecking ball that is operated with a crane truck to break down the outside wall of the lodge, then start to charge in. However, the crane breaks down halfway through, hampering the continuation of this strategy and the ranks fall into confusion. After the head of the riot police sacrifices his life, Sassa takes his place at the forefront and continues the siege. Under his command, the riot police finally raids the room where the kidnappers are. The radicals are all arrested on the spot, and the hostage is safe and unharmed.