Yellow Fangs 1990

In a bitter winter at the tail end of the Taisho era, a mountain village at the edge of a northern country faces a disturbing pattern: bears strike again and again, and many of the assaults end with the loss of women to the predators. A tough matagi group, emerging from a remote place called Eagle Talon, ascends the snowbound slopes to hunt the threat, led by Kasuke. They believe the culprit is Akamadara, a man-eating bear that once tormented their village and surrounding communities. Akamadara’s hunger, they reason, grew as mining and development destroyed natural habitats, inviting further tragedy as progress marches on.

During a recon patrol, Eiji Haiyaku, Hiroyuki Sanada, spots a bear and raises his hunting rifle, ready to fire. But fate intervenes when a young woman armed with a hunting dog finishes off the bear first. The beast is not Akamadara. The woman is Yuki, Mika Muramatsu, Eiji’s childhood friend, whom he hadn’t heard from since her parents and younger brother were killed by Akamadara a year earlier. Yuki had sworn revenge, defied the village rule that forbids women from entering the mountains, masked herself as a man, and chased Akamadara on her own.

While the matagi are deep in the mountains, Akamadara resumes its raids on the village. With women evacuated, Kasuke abruptly reorganizes the plan, deciding that each matagi member should hide in a separate spot to spring a coordinated ambush on the bear. The unexpected arrival of Yuki at Eiji’s hut shakes the odds: she urges him to use her as bait, risking everything to draw Akamadara into the trap they’ve designed. The predator strikes, attacking Eiji’s hut as Yuki anticipated, and in a tense confrontation the two strike at the bear with their spears, their hands taking the blows as both are wounded in the process. The silent, wintry landscape becomes a theater of courage, tactical patience, and a personal vendetta that fuels their fight against a creature born from a deeper conflict between nature and human encroachment.