The Last Samurai

The Last Samurai is an American film by director Edward Zwick from 2003, a historical action drama set in Japan during the Meiji modernization. The leading roles are played by Tom Cruise, Ken Watanabe and Hiroyuki Sanada, who trained in Shorinji kempo and Kyokushin karate, where he earned a black belt, and was a student of Sonny Chiba at the Japan Action Club. The American veteran Nathan Algren (Cruise) is hired to train the new Japanese imperial army. In Japan he comes into contact with a traditional warrior clan, whose leader Katsumoto is played by Watanabe, and he learns Japanese culture and kenjutsu, swordsmanship with the Japanese sword. Sanada plays the swordsman Ujio. According to a reviewer from ejmas.com, who has practised martial arts herself for eighteen years, the training scenes resemble kenjutsu with wooden swords in pairs, not kendo. In her view the sword techniques look fairly credible, but the sounds of drawing the sword in the final battle contradict Japanese swordsmanship. Zwick studied Japanese history, cast Japanese actors and worked with language coaches. Filming took place mainly in the Taranaki region of New Zealand, where Mount Taranaki resembles Fuji, and also in Kyoto and Himeji. In Japan the film earned more at the box office than in the USA: according to the Japanese Wikipedia it was seen by 14.1 million viewers and it ranked first among films released in Japan in 2004. Ken Watanabe was nominated for an Oscar for a supporting role for playing Katsumoto, Tom Cruise for a Golden Globe.

Martial arts in this work

Fight choreography

Fights and training were led by stunt coordinator Nick Powell, who according to Kung-fu Kingdom competed for Great Britain in taekwondo and won silver with the British wushu team. Tom Cruise said his physical preparation took almost a year, that by his own account he did "various Chinese sword exercises" with Powell to strengthen his forearms and shoulders, and that he put on 25 pounds of muscle. Hiroyuki Sanada says he taught Cruise from the start to wear a kimono and hold a sword, in a very traditional way; the choreographer and fight coordinator were, in his words, Western, and he adjusted movements that seemed too Western. According to Sanada, the training scene and the rain battle with Cruise were always filmed over two days, the training smooth and controlled, the battle deliberately chaotic. A reviewer from ejmas.com judges that Powell must share the credit for designing the sword training and fight scenes with Sanada, whose work went uncredited.

Fact and fiction

The film does not depict one specific event but combines situations from the Boshin War, the Satsuma Rebellion and similar uprisings into one story. The Satsuma Rebellion lasted from 29 January to 24 September 1877 and was led by Saigo Takamori. It was triggered by the abolition of samurai privileges, including rice stipends, and the removal of weapons from arsenals; the government army deployed modern rifles and cannons. The character of Katsumoto is based on Saigo Takamori. Algren is very loosely based on the French officers Eugène Collache and Jules Brunet. Brunet came to Japan in 1867 as a military instructor, refused to leave after the fall of the shogunate and in 1869 fought for the Republic of Ezo at Hakodate; we did not find his participation in the Satsuma Rebellion in the sources. The historian Cathy Schultz points out that many samurai did not resist the Meiji modernization from unselfish motives, but because it threatened their position as a privileged warrior class.

People and martial arts

• Edward ZwickDirector
• Nick PowellFight choreographer· Wushu Taolu (real practitioner)
• Tom CruiseActor — as Nathan Algren· Koryu Bujutsu (portrays the art on screen)
• Ken WatanabeActor — as Katsumoto Moritsugu· Koryu Bujutsu (portrays the art on screen)
• Hiroyuki SanadaActor — as Ujio· Koryu Bujutsu (portrays the art on screen)
• Hiroyuki SanadaTechnical advisor

Awards

• Nominated · Academy Awards, Best Supporting Actor (Ken Watanabe) (2004)
• Nominated · Golden Globe, Best Actor (Tom Cruise) (2004)