is a 1980 Japanese epic jidaigeki film directed by Akira Kurosawa. It is set in the Sengoku period of Japanese history and tells the story of a lower-class petty thief who is taught to impersonate the dying daimyō Takeda Shingen to dissuade opposing lords from attacking the newly vulnerable clan. Kagemusha is the Japanese term for a political decoy, literally meaning "shadow warrior". The film ends with the climactic 1575 Battle of Nagashino.

Plot

During the Sengoku period, in 1571, Takeda Shingen, daimyō of Kai province from the Takeda clan, meets a thief his brother Nobukado has spared from crucifixion due to the thief's uncanny resemblance to Shingen. The brothers agree that he would prove useful as a double, and they decide to use the thief as a kagemusha, a political decoy. Later, while the Takeda army lays siege to a castle belonging to Tokugawa Ieyasu, Shingen is shot while listening to a flute playing in the enemy camp. He orders his forces to withdraw and, before succumbing to his wound, commands his generals to keep his death a secret for three years. Meanwhile, Shingen's rivals Oda Nobunaga, Tokugawa Ieyasu, and Uesugi Kenshin puzzle over the reason for Shingen's withdrawal, unaware of his death.