Toshirō Mifune as Musashi Miyamoto a.k.a. Takezo

Koji Tsuruta as Kojiro Sasaki

Kaoru Yachigusa as Otsu

Mariko Okada as Akemi

Kurôemon Onoe as Takuan

Michiko Saga as Omitsu

Takashi Shimura as Court official

Minoru Chiaki as Sasuke the boatman

Takamaru Sasaki as Omitsu's father

Haruo Tanaka as Kumagoro the horse thief

Kichijirō Ueda as Priest Ogon

Ikio Sawamura as Innkeeper (uncredited)

Nakajirō Tomita as (uncredited)

Sonosuke Sawamura as (uncredited)

Michiyo Kogure as Yoshino (uncredited)

Akihiko Hirata as Seijuro Yoshioka (uncredited)

Minosuke Yamada as (uncredited)

Sōji Kiyokawa as (uncredited)

Masako Sakurai as (uncredited)

Yutaka Oka as (uncredited)

Tominosuke Hayama as (uncredited)

Kumeko Otowa as (uncredited)

Yaeko Izumo as (uncredited)

Noriko Honma as (uncredited)

Tateo Kawasaki as (uncredited)

Fumindo Matsuo as (uncredited)

Ren Yamamoto as (uncredited)

Fuminori Ōhashi as (uncredited)

Haruko Toyama as (uncredited)

Hideo Shibuya as (uncredited)

Katsumi Tezuka as (uncredited)

Keiichirō Katsumoto as (uncredited)

Shirō Tsuchiya as (uncredited)

Masao Masuda as (uncredited)

Yu Agetsu as (uncredited)

Senkichi Ōmura as (uncredited)

Shōichi Hirose as (uncredited)

Kenjin Iida as Jotaro (uncredited)

Mitsuko Mito as Oko (uncredited)

Sachio Sakai as Matahachi Honiden (uncredited)

Eijirō Tōno as Baiken Shishido (uncredited)

Kokuten Kōdō as Old Priest Nikkan (uncredited)

Haruo Nakajima as (uncredited)

Etsuo Saijo as (uncredited)

Daisuke Katō as Toji Gion