Members of the Aikawa (cat lover) clan offer to pay a ronin to kill the opposing Yonezawa (dog lover) clan to assassinate their dog, but nothing ever happens, nor is attempted to happen, with the dog.
Dead fish are seen being cooked and sold in parts of the film, but you don't actually see them die. Cats, dogs, and fish are present throughout the film, and none of them are harmed.
The Yonezawa (dog lover) clan pays a ronin to kill the Aizawa (cat lover) clan's cat. It appears that the ronin does slaughter the cat, with traces of what seems to be blood, and is shown to apparently be buried. However, it turns out that the ronin did not kill or harm the cat in any way, and only made it appear as if it was killed. The cat remains unharmed throughout the film.
A girl who appears to be in her teens is frequently whipped and yelled at by her sister. The girl is constantly wincing in fear when in the presence of her sister.
There are no horses seen in the film, and no horses are seen being killed. The cat's primary source of food is discovered to be horse meat, which may be somewhat discomforting to those who are sensitive to the idea of horses being used as a source of meat.
The main character is revealed to be a former kaishakunin, a type of samurai who beheads condemned samurai after they commit a type of suicide called seppuku, or harakiri. A flashback is shown to him attempting to behead a samurai who is going through a seppuku ritual, but he is unable to bring himself to do it and gets discharged. No visible death happens, as this is a family film.
When the main character fakes slaughtering the cat, there appears to be blood splattered on the floor. It's unknown whether it was real blood or not, as the cat, nor the main character, were harmed.
While there was no real death on screen, a young aspiring samurai frequently mentions that his father was murdered, and he seeks to avenge him by killing his murderer.
A girl and a boy are shown in a small closet, hiding from a samurai clan. They aren't discomforted by the tight space, but it might be discomforting to ones with intense claustrophobia. The village and the main character's home are also very small and packed tightly.
The main character is shown drinking sake excessively in a couple of scenes. All this results in is him falling asleep in the restaurant he drinks at. Another character who is a guard constantly seems to be drunk and is shown to frequently drink. His drunkenness leads him to grab a woman's hand as she begs him to let go, but he lets go and never does anything to physically harm anyone out of drunkenness.
There are mentions of ghosts due to prevalent Japanese folklore, such as bakeneko and the idea that a murdered father's soul cannot rest easy unless he is avenged. Despite the mentions of ghosts, there are no actual ghosts shown.