Plot

The first film interpretation of the legend of Jiraiya, a shape-shifting ninja with the transform into a gigantic frog or toad. First recorded in 1806, the story also involves Tsunade-hime, a princess empowered with slug magic, and Orochimaru, an evil sorcerer who uses snake magic. a classic striking episodes feature Jiraiya's batrachian magic against the ophidian powers of Orochimaru, a classic confrontation of good and evil in such kabuki production as Kawatake Shinshichi II's Jiraiya Goketsu Monogatari (1892), starring Ichikawa Danjuro VIII), which was in turn based on a book series of the same name, published from 1839 on-wards and partly illustrated by Kunisada, who modelled the hero Jiraiya after kabuki actor Onoe Kikugogo III. Like many classic kabuki dramas, Jiraiya Goketsu Monagatari was perfectly suited to the phantastic film format. With Jiraya Goketsu Tan-Banshi, Yoshizawa not only stages the cinematic inauguration one of Japan's most popular heroes, but also sowed the seeds of a ninja film sub-genre which explode into life three years later.—BGP