Sanjūrō Kuwabatake / Sanjūrō Tsubaki / Daisaku Sasa / Yojimbo

Tropes about the nameless ronin are listed on this page.

Iori Isaka

Played By Yūzō Kayama

The nephew of Chamberlain Mutsuta. He gets caught up in a political conflict after he realizes that his uncle is captured by Superintendent Kikui.

• Entertainingly Wrong: Isaka correctly deduces that Vice-Chamberlain Kurofuji and provincial steward Takebayashi are corrupt and decides to report his suspicious to his uncle. His uncle refuses to take action, which leads Isaka to the incorrect conclusion that his uncle is in cahoots with the vice-chamberlain and the steward.
• Kissing Cousins: His cousin Chidori talks about the time she fell asleep on Isaka's arm after rolling around in the hay.
• The Leader: Downplayed as Sanjuro is the real leader of the group after he decides to help Isaka and company, but Isaka is the clear second-in-command when Sanjuro isn't around.
• Only Sane Man: When his friends argue about Sanjuro's allegiance, Isaka makes the correct judgement of trusting Sanjuro. He also shushes his aunt and cousin after they shout since they are in the house next to Kikui's base.
• Reckless Sidekick: Isaka is very determined to rescue his uncle, so his emotions often get the better of him. Luckily for him, Sanjuro and Isaka's aunt are able to curb his recklessness.

Isaka's followers

Played By: Akira Kubo, Hiroshi Tachikawa, Yoshio Tsuchiya, Kunie Tanaka, Tatsuyoshi Ehara, Akihiko Hirata, Kenzo Matsui, and Teruhiko Hari

The other eight samurai who support Isaka in his mission to save his uncle, the Chamberlain.

• Bumbling Sidekick: Hilariously, the Sidekicks screw up Sanjuro's plan to infiltrate the enemy by getting themselves captured by Hanbei.
• The Dividual: While Isaka gets his own individual characterization, the other eight samurai have the same portrayal as rash, inexperienced warriors.
• Have You Told Anyone Else?: The nine samurai at the beginning of the movie are cluelessly waiting for the villain's agents to arrive and murder them. Fortunately for them, their chatter wakes Sanjuro up and he decides to save their silly asses.
• Horrible Judge of Character: Before the beginning, the group of young samurai incorrectly identify the corrupt official in the clan, and plan to root him out. This would have played out perfectly for the actual corrupt official if a certain nameless ronin hadn't been eavesdropping.
• A House Divided: When Sanjuro joins Kikui's forces to act as The Mole, the young samurai get into a fierce debate about Sanjuro's loyalties, which almost brews up into an actual fight.
• Idiot Hero: It's implied that Sanjuro only helps them because he thinks they are too inexperienced to deal with Superintendent Kikui and his army.

Mutsuta's Immediate Family

The family of Chamberlain Mutsuta.

• Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: Mutsuta's wife is an attractive middle-aged lady whereas the Chamberlain himself is referred to as a "scarecrow." The Chamberlain himself recounts an encounter where, as he was riding by, someone said of him that "the rider has a longer face than the horse."

Chamberlain Mutsuta

Played By: Yūnosuke Itō

Isaka's high-ranking uncle.

• Boring, but Practical: Originally, he wanted to gather evidence of Kikui's corruption before exposing the traitors, but his nephew winds up ruining this idea.
• Determinator: Kikui subjects Mutsuta to Cold-Blooded Torture to force Mutsuta to be his scapegoat, but Mutsuta doesn't give in.
• Distressed Dude: Superintendent Kikui captures him to pull off a political coup.
• Heroic Self-Deprecation: He knows that he isn't the most handsome guy and occassionally pokes fun at his own appearance. After he is liberated, he admits that it was his fault for not gaining his nephew's trust.
• Number Two: He is in charge of a clan during the daiymo's absence.
• Ugly Hero, Good-Looking Villain: He has a horse-like face whereas his opponent Superintendent Kikui is good-looking.

Mutsuta's wife

Played By: Takako Irie

Isaka's aunt.

• Damsel in Distress: Kikui's forces capture her and her daughter.
• Eternally Pearly-White Teeth: Inverted. Her teeth are dyed black, which was a popular fad in Edo Japan.
• Hypocrite: Self-acknowledged. Before she criticizes Sanjuro's violent methods, she admits that said violence is what saved her in the first place and that perhaps she isn't the best person to criticize him.
• Women Are Wiser: Mutsuta's wife is more sensible than most of the male characters, save for Sanjuro and Mutsuta, and she is the only character that Sanjuro actually respects.
• Yamato Nadeshiko: She isn't much of a combatant and stays in the sidelines while Sanjuro and the other men do the fighting, but she never expresses any fear at any point even when she is in danger.

Chidori

Played By: Reiko Dan

Isaka's cousin.

• Damsel in Distress: Kikui's forces capture her and her mother.
• The Pollyanna: She is very cheerful despite the fact that a hostile politician and his army are looking for her.
• The Smart Girl: Chidori is the one who comes up with the idea to use camellias as a signal to invade Kikui's base.

Superintendent Kikui's Army

To pull off his political coup, Superintendent Kikui has allied himself with various samurai and other corrupt officials.

• Co-Dragons: Vice-Chamberlain Kurofuji and provincial steward Takebayashi are the most important members after Kikui himself. Hanbei is considered inferior to both Kurofuji and Takebayashi in terms of position, but he still is the leader of Kikui's soldiers.
• Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: Downplayed. Kikui and his men act similarly to the yakuza from the first movie, but as politicians, they need to rely more on subterfuge and strategy to get what they want because they can't outright execute people in public.
• The Coup: They want to overthrow the Chamberlain because he knows too much about their misconduct.
• Realpolitik: Their main motive in getting rid of the chamberlain is a pragmatic one: they don’t want to lose their positions of power.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Takebayashi is more panicky while Kurofuji is calmer.

Superintendent Kikui

Played By: Masao Shimizu

The lead conspirator.

• Beauty Is Bad: He is a conventionally handsome man, which is why Isaka and his followers mistakenly believe him to be a good person.
• Better to Die than Be Killed: After his scheme is foiled, he commits harakiri to die with honor.
• Big Bad: The primary antagonist of the movie.
• Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: To Ushitora from Yojimbo. Both are the leaders of powerful organizations, but Kikui is undoubtedly the bigger threat as he is a cunning politician who commands an actual army of samurai whereas Ushitora is a yakuza leader who can only recruit criminals and the occasional ronin. As a result, Sanjuro doesn't bother fighting Kikui who is almost always surrounded by an army of warriors, not to mention that assassinating Kikui does no good in rescuing the chamberlain since the other conspirators will just complete Kikui's plans in his stead. On the other hand, Ushitora's gang is small enough for Sanjuro to defeat in a single battle. Ushitora also dies fighting Sanjuro whereas Kikui instead commits suicide.
• Evil Counterpart: To Mutsuta the chamberlain. Both are the highest-ranking officials in their factions, but Mutsuta is a fair and humble leader whereas Kikui is a corrupt megalomaniac.
• Frame-Up: Mutsuta becomes aware of Kikui's corruption, which results in Kikui capturing Mutsuta to frame him for Kikui's crimes.
• Karmic Death: Kikui planned to have Mutsuta commit harakiri after framing him, but after Sanjuro and his allies rescue Mutsuta, Kikui himself commits harakiri.
• Non-Action Big Bad: Never goes into combat any point, other than torturing Mutsuta.
• The Strategist: Kikui is able to prevent the protagonists from gathering allies by informing the local clan that Mutsuta is a corrupt official and that his followers will attempt to break him out. Furthermore, he tries to lure the protagonists in a trap with some decoy palanquins.
• The Unfought: Sanjuro never directly fights Kikui nor does he ever meet him face to face.

Vice-Chamberlain Kurofuji

Played By: Takashi Shimura

The vice-chamberlain. He is a member of Kikui's inner circle.

• Hoist by His Own Petard: Kurofuji's house is used as the base of operations for Kikui's army. Unbeknownst to them, the protagonists are camped out at the neighboring house, which is how they figure out the chamberlain is held prisoner at Kurofuji's home.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: When Sanjuro's reinforcements arrive, he considers fighting them off at first but ultimately decides to surrender.
• The Stoic: Generally is cool-minded, especially when compared to the twitchier Takebayashi.

Provincial-Steward Takebayashi

Played By: Kamatari Fujiwara

The provincial steward. He is a member of Kikui's inner circle.

• Character Tics: Takebayashi is often seen pacing up and down when he is nervous.
• Nervous Wreck: Downplayed. He is mostly stable but occasionally overreacts to benign events like falling flowers.
• Pragmatic Villainy: Takebayashi criticizes Kikui's wrongful arrest of some cavalrymen not because it was unethical but because Takebayashi didn't want to create more enemies amongst the locals.
• Properly Paranoid: He is the first to realize that Sanjuro is the enemy as the nameless ronin forgot a certain detail about Komyo Temple when lying to Kikui.

Hanbei Muroto

Played By: Tatsuya Nakadai

Kikui's retainer. He is indisputably the best warrior in Kikui's army.

• Affably Evil: He respects Sanjuro's swordsmanship and wants to befriend him.
• Alas, Poor Villain: While evil, Hanbei isn't too different from Sanjuro as they are both manipulative men, and Sanjuro doesn't find any joy in killing Hanbei.
• The Brute: The best fighter in Kikui's army.
• Card-Carrying Villain: He admits Kikui is a rotten fellow with zero ethics but also freely acknowledges he himself isn't any better.
• Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: To Unosuke, Tatsuya Nakadai's previous character in Yojimbo. While Unosuke is a gun-slinging gangster, Hanbei is a sword-slashing samurai. While Sanjuro shows disdain for Unosuke, he is more respectful of Hanbei.
• Dragon Ascendant: Invoked. He has no real loyalty to Kikui and plans to betray the superintendent once the business with the chamberlain is finished. Sanjuro ruins this plan by exposing Kikui's political scheme first.
• Evil Counterpart: Of Sanjuro. Both are skilled, unscrupulous samurai who exploit their employers albeit expressed in different ways: Sanjuro is interested in money whereas Hanbei wants a promotion in status. However, Sanjuro is unwilling to harm the innocent to get what he wants unlike Hanbei.
• Foil: To Sanjuro. According to a samurai's bushido, becoming a Rōnin was considered a shameful loss of status, and any samurai who was demoted to a ronin was expected to commit suicide to maintain his honor. Whereas Sanjuro is fine with his lowly ronin rank, Hanbei is not and decides to fight Sanjuro to regain his honor.
• Honor Before Reason: Justified. Hanbei recognizes that he may lose his life fighting Sanjuro, but according to bushido code, ronin like he and Sanjuro are expected to commit suicide after losing their samurai staus, so he was already a dead man after losing his daimyo's respect.
• Hypocrite: He was planning on backstabbing Kikui, but he gets angry when Sanjuro deceives him.
• Iaijutsu Practitioner: He is a quick sword-fighter capable of taking on multiple opponents. In the final duel against Sanjuro, Hanbei demonstrates his superior speed by drawing his blade first.
• It's Personal: After Kikui's defeat at Sanjuro's hands renders Hanbei a disgraced ronin, Hanbei decides to fight Sanjuro to earn back his self-esteem.
• Noble Demon: When Sanjuro bargains with Hanbei not to attack Isaka and his followers if he kills Sanjuro, Hanbei immediately agrees since his grudge is directed solely at Sanjuro.
• One-Man Army: He single-handedly beats Isaka and three other samurai in a fight and captures them.
• Samurai: He is a proper samurai serving a daimyo. He then becomes a ronin after the protagonists expose him as one of the traitors.
• Sheath Strike: He uses his scabbard to knock out Isaka and three other samurai.
• Tell Me How You Fight: In contrast to the ronin Sanjuro, Hanbei is a traditional samurai who fights in an orthodox manner. This is what leads to his defeat to Sanjuro as he was unable to anticipate Sanjuro's unconventional reverse-grip draw.
• Worthy Opponent: Sanjuro admits he didn't want to fight Hanbei because he believed Hanbei to be the better fighter.