Edo, 1689. Severed heads are displayed as bundori, battlefield trophies, and the victims prove to be descendants of warriors connected to the murder of a powerful lord more than a century earlier. Sano Ichiro is ordered to stop the killings before panic and accusations divide the shogun’s government.
The investigation leads towards men whose political rank makes them nearly untouchable, including Chamberlain Yanagisawa. A female ninja, an ambitious young police officer and an eccentric morgue attendant complicate the search for evidence. Sano must determine whether the murders are revenge for an inherited crime or part of a present struggle for power.