At one time, Toei’s plain period films were very popular. Those films were supported by the star system. But this system became too old, and the novelty of Kurosawa Akira’s Yozinbo (1961) and Tsubaki Sanjuro (1962) disclosed the fiction of Toei’s period films. After that, Toei’s plain period films became unpopular.

Around that time, the “Yagyu Books of Military Arts” series started. Until the fourth installment, they were plain period films. But from the fifth work, the stories became serious and the sword fights became realistic. And group fights were emphasized. This series revealed various experiments in period cinema.

Seventeen Ninja (1963) and Thirteen Assassins (1963) were epoch-making because of the many nameless people that fight desperately in those films. But the stars still hardly became dirty.

Konoe Jushiro starred in Ninja Hunting (1964) and Jubei’s Assassinative Sword (1964). In those films the group fights finished in the middle stage, and in the climax Konoe fought desperately against the powerful enemies. Especially in Jubei’s Assassinative Sword the fight between Jubei and his enemy Makuya Daikyu is one never found in previous period films. Because Konoe was a second-class star, he was active in the group period films.