Ninja in the Dragon's Den

Ninja in the Dragon's Den is a 1982 Hong Kong martial arts film written, choreographed and directed by Corey Yuen in his feature film directorial debut, and starring Conan Lee, Hiroyuki Sanada and Hwang Jang Lee.

Plot
In Japan of the Tokugawa Ieyasu period, a young ninja named Genbu wantonly kills samurai and other government officials, leaving his clan to face the blame. When they hunt him down, Genbu and his wife Akane sail to China both to escape their wrathful kinsmen and for Genbu to complete his revenge by finding the last man he holds responsible for his father's death.

That man, Fukusa, leads a peaceful life as a mirror maker under the name of Uncle Fu. He has a young protégé, Sun Jing, a smug martial artist who constantly tries to prove himself by taking up every opportunity to fight. Jing also constantly teases his lecherous servant Chee and takes few things very seriously. When he sees his surrogate father attacked, Jing immediately rushes to his aid, but after several clashes he finds out that he and the ninja are evenly matched.

It is revealed that Genbu's father was not killed by his clan members; he died as a hero in a rebellion instead. Ashamed of his own cowardice in escaping to China years before following that attempted uprising, Fu makes peace with Genbu. But before their final encounter, Fu took poison to restore his honor by his own death. Fu asks Genbu to kill him in order to spare him the last agony, which promptly leads to a misunderstanding between Genbu and Jing. The two battle each other to the top of Jing's family temple and eventually settle their differences just in time to face The Magician, a spiritual boxer whose son Jing has insulted in the course of the movie.

The film ends with Jing and Genbu killing the Sorcerer, with some unwitting assistance from Akane and Chee. The latter promptly tempts fate by claiming the better part of the credit for this victory, prompting Genbu and Jing to teach him a lesson.

Cast

 * Conan Lee – Sun Jing
 * Hiroyuki Sanada – Genbu
 * Tai Bo – Chee
 * Hiroshi Tanaka - Fukusa/"Uncle Fu"
 * Kaname Tsushima – Akane
 * Hwang Jang Lee – The Magician
 * Kwan Yung-moon – Sanchiro
 * Ma Chin-ku
 * Tien Feng
 * Wu Jiaxing
 * Chen Chin-hai
 * Cheung Chung-kwai
 * Chin Lung
 * Ho Hing-nam
 * Alan Lee Hoi-hing
 * Ng See-yuen
 * Peng Kang
 * Wang Yao
 * Wei Ping-ao – Doctor in Clinic (Chee's father)
 * Yukio Someno – Monk

Reception
As of December 2019, the film holds a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 76% based on 277 reviews. Reviews specifically praise the film's dynamics, its unusual story, and its theme song.

DVD release
On March 25, 2002, DVD was released by Hong Kong Legends in the United Kingdom in Region 2.