Keiko Kitagawa to play the heroine in a new Shuhei Fujisawa screen adaptation

by Chris MaGee

Here's a news item for all of you who read Eric Evan's book review of Shuhei Fujisawa's short story collection "The Bamboo Sword and Other Samurai Tales" early in July. Of course Fujisawa's works ended up forming the basis of Yoji Yamada's critically-lauded Samurai Trilogy ("The Twilight Samurai", "The Hidden Blade", "Love amd Honor"), and now it looks like yet another Fujisawa adaptation is in the work, only this time with a female lead.

This new film, "Hana no Ato", tells the story of Ito, the daughter of a swordsmith who seeks revenge after the man she loves is forced to commit seppeku by the corrupt leaders of his clan. 22-year-old Keiko Kitagawa (above) will be stepping into the lead role of Ito, while Shuntaro Miyao will play her lover. "Hana no Ato" won't be anither Yamada film though. This time around Kenji Nakanishi, director of "The Blue Bird", will be caling the shoits behind the camera. Could be very interesting... "Hana no Ato" is being slated for a spring 2010 release.

Thanks to Tokyogrpah for this news.