Ikusa Gami

Work Overview

"Ikusagami" (Netflix English title: Last Samurai Standing) is a Netflix original live-action drama (6 episodes) based on the novel of the same name by Shōgo Imamura. It was released worldwide simultaneously on November 13, 2025. Junichi Okada served as lead actor, producer, and action planner. The screenplay was written by Michihito Fujii, Kento Yamaguchi, and Risa Yashiro, and the directors were Michihito Fujii, Kento Yamaguchi, and Tōru Yamamoto. Production was handled by Office Shirous.

The Sword Abolition Edict and the Loss of Swords

The story's starting point is the Sword Abolition Edict (Haitōrei) of the Meiji era. Issued in Meiji 9 (1876), this edict banned the wearing of swords except for those wearing formal ceremonial dress, military personnel, and police officials, among others. It denied the privilege of carrying swords, which had been a symbol of samurai status. Meiji 11 (1878), the setting of this work, is a point "ten years after the era of glorious samurai ended," and the protagonists, still forbidden to carry swords, are on the verge of losing their reason for being.

The 292 former samurai gathered at Tenryū-ji temple in Kyoto are forced to take part in a game in which "the last one left alive receives a prize of 100,000 yen." The rule is to head for Tokyo while fighting over wooden name tags, but in reality it becomes a life-or-death struggle.

Depiction of Sword Schools

The work refers to a sword school called Kyōhachi-ryū. The protagonist, Shūjirō Saga, is a formidable swordsman known by the epithet "Kokushū the Man-Slayer," yet he harbors a psychological barrier to drawing his sword.

Historical Background

The Sword Abolition Edict issued after the Meiji Restoration (1868) stripped the samurai class of the symbolic rights it had established during the Edo period. Swords were more than mere weapons; they were symbols of the samurai's spirit, status, and pride, and their abolition meant the fundamental dismantling of the class system. Set against this historical rupture, the work directly portrays the theme of "samurai stripped of their swords."

Reception

It reached No. 1 on the Netflix Weekly Global Top 10 (Non-English TV) and became a hit, entering the weekly Top 10 in 88 countries and regions. Netflix Japan has also confirmed that a second season is in production. Junichi Okada's action scenes have been highly praised, and the series is positioned as an important work in Netflix's international rollout of Japanese original period dramas.