Yamada Asaemon, The shogun's executioner receives many strange requests from the condemned--a woman who bequeaths her severed locks to her beloved, a gardener who ask for the "beheading" of a chrysant
The shogun's sword tester and executioner--the o-tameshiyaku--is a position of great prestige requiring consummate skill. While the feared and respected Yamada "Decapitator" Asaemon holds the post, an
Yamada Asaemon has been trained since childhood in the way of the sword. Now, the feared "Decapitator Asaemon" tests swords and performs executions at the shogun's behest. Asaemon is the last stop for
