Director: Junichi Yasuda
Lightning strikes a wandering swordsman in feudal Japan and hurls him more than a century and a half forward, dropping him squarely in the middle of a working film set.
What is A Samurai in Time about?
Shinzaemon Kosaka is a low-ranking samurai in 1867 when a sudden storm knocks him unconscious mid-duel. He wakes up on a soundstage in present-day Kyoto, surrounded by cameras, crew, and actors dressed exactly like him. Mistaken at first for an eccentric extra, he is quietly absorbed into the crew of a jidaigeki television production, where his real swordsmanship makes him a curiosity on set. As weeks pass, Shinzaemon has to reconcile his old code of honor with a modern industry that treats his entire way of life as costume and choreography. He befriends a veteran stunt performer nearing the end of his career, and their unlikely partnership becomes the emotional spine of the story as both men wrestle with what it means to be seen as obsolete.
Cast & crew
Makiya Yamaguchi anchors the film as Shinzaemon, playing the stranded samurai with a straight-faced sincerity that lets the fish-out-of-water gags land without mocking him. Norimasa Fuke, Yuno Sakura, and Rantaro Mine round out the film crew he lands among, with Yoshiharu Fukuda and Ken Shonozaki appearing as fellow performers on the fictional production within the story.
Context & significance
Director Junichi Yasuda built the film on a modest independent budget, and it became a sleeper word-of-mouth hit in Japanese theaters through 2024 before drawing wider international festival attention. The story doubles as an affectionate look at the vanishing craft of Japanese period-drama sword choreography, a discipline the film treats with real respect even as it plays the time-travel premise for laughs.
Where & how to watch
A Samurai in Time streams on K-Time with a Farsi dub and Farsi subtitles, so viewers can follow the crew banter and the sword-fighting sequences either way. Reading this page requires nothing; watching the film itself only needs a free K-Time account login.