Japanese historical fantasy. There is an old Japanese saying: "The Sword is the soul of the Samurai." What does this truly mean?
Yukitora is an impoverished ronin (masterless samurai) who struggles to raise his two children after the death of his wife. He has to make a devastating decision when his daughter sells herself to a brothel to raise funds for her brother, who is desperately ill. Sakura is a wandering swordswoman. She has survived indescribable horrors in her youth when her father was murdered. After avenging her father's death, she has engaged in the warriors' path of seeking to better her skills and find meaning in her life. Hidemasa is a young samurai, orphaned and seeking guidance. Banzaemon, the chief retainer of the domain, seeks to be kind to commoners, but he has secret lusts within him. What happens when these four warriors seek to learn the true secret of a sword's soul?