Rurouni Kenshin

Rurouni Kenshin is a Japanese live-action film directed by Keishi Otomo, released in 2012. It adapts the manga of the same name by Nobuhiro Watsuki, which ran in the weekly Weekly Shonen Jump from 1994 to 1999. Watsuki took part in the screenplay: he co-created the first half, reviewed the later parts and left the final revisions to the director. Warner Bros. Pictures Japan released the film in Japanese cinemas on 25 August 2012, and it was shown in more than sixty countries in Europe, Latin America and Asia. The story is set in the Meiji era, in the source work in 1878, eleven years after its start. Kenshin Himura, a former hired assassin nicknamed Battosai, wanders the country as a swordsman, protects people and has sworn never to kill anyone again. His vow is symbolised by the sakabato, a reverse-blade sword, and other fighters repeatedly put it to the test in the story. At the heart of the film is fighting with the Japanese sword. The sword school that Kenshin masters in the story is fictional, but the character has a real model in Kawakami Gensai, one of the assassins of the bakumatsu period. The fights were designed by action director Kenji Tanigaki, who came up through Hong Kong action cinema. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the choreography is fast and furious and the sword fights show Battosai's abilities well. It was followed by the sequels Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Inferno and Rurouni Kenshin: The Legend Ends (both 2014) and Rurouni Kenshin: The Final and Rurouni Kenshin: The Beginning (both 2021).

Martial arts in this work

Fight choreography

Action director of the film was Kenji Tanigaki (born 1970). He has worked in Hong Kong cinema since 1993 and from 1995 was part of Donnie Yen's stunt team. Takeru Satoh, the lead actor, underwent intensive sword training, which ran in parallel with filming. We have not been able to document in the sources how long he trained or in what style. At the first Japan Action Awards in 2013, Tanigaki won the award for best stunt coordinator. He also directed the action in the sequels, up to Rurouni Kenshin: The Final (2021).

Fact and fiction

Kenshin Himura was modelled on Kawakami Gensai (1834–1872), a late-Edo samurai and one of the four best-known assassins of the bakumatsu period, nicknamed hitokiri. Only a single killing is demonstrably documented for Gensai: on 12 August 1864 he killed Sakuma Shozan with one stroke during a joint ambush. Other murders attributed to him are disputed. The vow not to kill and the reverse-blade sword are features of the film and comic-book character; we did not find them in the sources on Gensai. Likewise, the sword school Kenshin uses in the story is fictional and does not correspond to any documented school of Japanese swordsmanship.

People and martial arts

• Keishi OtomoDirector
• Kenji TanigakiAction director
• Takeru SatohActor — as Kenshin Himura· Koryu Bujutsu (portrays the art on screen)

Awards

• Nominated · Sitges Film Festival, Best Motion Picture (2012)
• Won · Japan Action Awards, Best Stunt Coordinator (Kenji Tanigaki) (2013)