This one shrinks you down and dares you to keep up. Chibisuke is a bonze the size of a thumb with ambitions the size of the capital, and the film knows exactly how funny and how humiliating that combination is: his big career break is dancing in a Cabinet minister's open palm, a party trick dressed up as advancement. Then the trip to Shimizu turns, the mountain devil comes for the princess, and the whole thing becomes a war of attrition fought by someone who can only win through surprise, hitting and vanishing and hitting again because a fair fight is not on the menu. The horn of plenty payoff, that sudden stretch into a strapping young man, lands because you watched him earn every inch. Old folktale, ruthless little engine underneath.

A tiny Buddhist monk with big ambitions sets out for the city, hoping to rise in the world. Chibisuke is small enough to dance in a man's palm, and his performances win over a Cabinet minister, who takes him on as a retainer. One day Chibisuke travels with a princess to Shimizu, and a mountain demon attacks her along the way. Striking the creature with one surprise attack after another, the little monk finally overcomes it. The demon leaves behind a horn of plenty, and with it Chibisuke grows into a strapping young man. The film is a lighthearted retelling of the Japanese legend of Issun Boushi, the thumb-sized hero who comes to Kyoto and defeats an ogre that frightens full-sized men.