The Sword of Doom

The Sword of Doom (Dai-bosatsu toge in the original) is a Japanese jidaigeki film directed by Kihachi Okamoto in 1966, made by Takarazuka Motion Picture and Toho. It is based on the novel by Kaizan Nakazato, of which it adapts only the opening part. The main character is Ryunosuke Tsukue, played by Tatsuya Nakadai, a samurai and master swordsman with no moral restraint. He kills a Buddhist pilgrim and later, in a sword match, faces a man whose wife he had earlier forced into an affair. According to Japanese Wikipedia, the story runs from a tournament of sword schools on Mount Takao to the relocation of the group that gave rise to the Shinsengumi from Edo to Kyoto in the Bunkyu era. The historical figures Isami Kondo and Kamo Serizawa appear in it; English Wikipedia describes the Shinsengumi as a semi-official police force of ronin on the side of the Tokugawa clan's rule, which resorted to murders and assassinations. Martial arts appear in the film as swordsmanship with the katana. English Wikipedia describes Ryunosuke's style only as unconventional and says that he almost never shows emotion, whether he is killing or at home with his lover and son. The second swordsman character is the master Toranosuke Shimada, played by Toshiro Mifune; he states the principle that the sword is the soul, that whoever wants to know the sword must study the soul, and that an evil mind means an evil sword. We have not been able to document in any source a specific school of swordsmanship or a named stance for any of the characters.

Martial arts in this work

Origin

The source is the novel Dai-bosatsu toge (The Pass of the Great Bodhisattva) by Kaizan Nakazato. According to English Wikipedia, it was serialized for another three decades; by the author's death in 1944, 41 volumes had appeared and the work remained unfinished. According to Japanese Wikipedia, Okamoto's film adapts only the first three volumes. The novel had already been filmed earlier: in 1935 as a two-part film by Hiroshi Inagaki, in 1953 in three parts by the director Kunio Watanabe, in 1957–1959 in three parts by the director Tomu Uchida and in 1960–1961 in three parts by the directors Kenji Misumi and Kazuo Mori. According to English Wikipedia, the proposed sequel to the 1966 film was never made.

People and martial arts

• Kihachi OkamotoDirector
• Tatsuya NakadaiActor — as Ryunosuke Tsukue· Koryu Bujutsu (portrays the art on screen)
• Toshiro MifuneActor — as Toranosuke Shimada· Koryu Bujutsu (portrays the art on screen)