Sneha Girap (Editor)

The Sword of Doom

Updated on
Edit
Like
Comment
Share on FacebookTweet on TwitterShare on LinkedInShare on Reddit
8
/
10
1
Votes
Alchetron8
8
1 Ratings
100
90
81
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
Rate This

Rate This

Director
  
Initial DVD release
  
March 15, 2005

Duration
  

Language
  
Japanese

8/10
IMDb

Genre
  
Action, Drama

Music director
  
Masaru Satoh

Country
  
Japan

The Sword of Doom movie poster

Release date
  
February 25, 1966 (1966-02-25)

Based on
  
Dai-bosatsu toge by Kaizan Nakazato

Writer
  
Shinobu Hashimoto (screenplay), Kaizan Nakazato (novel)

Cast
  
(Ryunosuke Tsukue),
Yûzô Kayama
(Hyoma Utsuki), (Ohama),
Yôko Naitô
(Omatsu),
Toshir? Mifune
(Toranosuke Shimada),
Tadao Nakamaru
(Isamu Kondo)

Similar movies
  
Jupiter Ascending
,
The Last Samurai
,
Pitch Perfect 2
,
Frozen
,
Yojimbo
,
Fifty Shades of Grey

The Sword of Doom (大菩薩峠, Dai-bosatsu Tōge, "The Pass of the Great Buddha"), is a jidaigeki film released in 1966. It was directed by Kihachi Okamoto and stars Tatsuya Nakadai. It was based on the serial novel of the same title by Kaizan Nakazato.

Contents

The Sword of Doom movie scenes

Evil sword the sword of doom music video ft wu tang clan triumph instrumental


Plot

The Sword of Doom wwwgstaticcomtvthumbdvdboxart60414p60414d

The story follows the life of Ryunosuke Tsukue (Tatsuya Nakadai), an amoral samurai and a master swordsman with an unorthodox style. Ryunosuke is first seen when he kills an elderly Buddhist pilgrim who he finds praying for death. He appears to have no feeling. Later, he kills an opponent in self-defense in a fencing competition that was intended to be non-lethal, but became a duel after he coerced his opponent's wife to have sex with him in exchange for throwing the match and allowing her husband to win. His opponent finds out about the affair prior to the match, and is shown giving his wife a notice of divorce. His rage at Ryunosuke during the match causes him to take an illegal lunging attack after the judge proclaims a draw, and Ryunosuke, the better swordsman, parries and kills him with one stroke of his bokken. Ryunosuke flees town after killing the man, and cuts down many of the dead opponent's clansmen who attack him as he is leaving. His opponent's ex-wife asks to go along with him. To make a living, Ryunosuke joins the Shinsengumi, a sort of semi-official police force made up of rōnin that supports the Tokugawa shogunate through murder and assassinations.

The Sword of Doom The Sword of Doom 1966 The Criterion Collection

Through all his interactions, whether killing a man or at home with his mistress and their baby son, Ryunosuke rarely shows any emotion. His expression is fixed in a glassy stare that suggests a quiet insanity.

The Sword of Doom Review The Sword of Doom Next Projection

Eventually Ryunosuke learns that the younger brother of the man he killed in the fencing match is looking for him, intent on revenge. He plans to meet this young man and kill him, but before the duel can take place, two events occur that shake his confidence. In a botched assassination attempt, he sees another master swordsman, Shimada Toranosuke (Toshiro Mifune), in action, and for the first time he doubts that his own skill is truly unbeatable. That same night, Ryunosuke's mistress, horrified by his unremitting evil, tries to kill him in his sleep. He kills her in the gardens, to the ominous cries of their sleeping child inside the house, and flees without keeping his appointment to duel with his pursuer. Later he rejoins the gang of assassins at an oiran house in the Shimabara district of Kyoto. There, in a quiet (and he is told, haunted) room, he starts seeing the ghosts of all the people he has killed. Further, he is haunted by the words of Shimada: "The sword is the soul. Study the soul to know the sword. Evil mind, evil sword." The final blow comes when he realizes that the apprentice oiran sent to entertain him is the granddaughter of the pilgrim he murdered at the film's beginning.

The Sword of Doom The Sword of Doom Bluray

With this realization, Ryunosuke appears to descend into complete insanity. He starts slashing at the shadows of the ghosts that surround him, and then begins attacking his fellow assassins, who seem to number in the hundreds. Ryunosuke kills dozens of gang members in the burning courtesan house as they gradually wear him down with what few wounds they can inflict. Finally it appears that Ryunosuke will surely be killed; bleeding and staggering, his face contorted in rage, he lurches forward, raises his sword once more, and the film ends; a freeze-frame catching Ryunosuke in mid sword-slash.

Ending

The Sword of Doom The Sword of Doom Kihachi Okamoto 1966 Criterion CloseUp

The film's abrupt ending leaves many plot elements unresolved. The film originally was intended to begin a trilogy of films, based on the historical novel of the same name by Kaizan Nakazato. That 41-volume novel encompassed 1,533 chapters and over 5.7 million Japanese characters—considered the largest novel in Japan until the publication of Sohachi Yamaoka's 40-volume serialized novel Tokugawa Ieyasu. The filmmakers wanted to complete the story in later sequels, but these were never made.

Cast

The Sword of Doom Sword of Doom 1966 Yes I Know

  • Tatsuya Nakadai as Ryunosuke Tsukue (机 竜之助, Tsukue Ryunosuke)
  • Michiyo Aratama as Ohama (お浜)
  • Yuzo Kayama as Hyoma Utsuki (宇津木 兵馬, Utsuki Hyoma)
  • Yoko Naito as Omatsu (お松)
  • Toshiro Mifune as Toranosuke Shimada (島田 虎之助, Shimada Toranosuke)
  • Ko Nishimura as Shichibei (七兵衛)
  • Ichiro Nakaya as Bunnojo Utsuki (宇津木 文之丞, Utsuki Bunnojo)
  • Kei Sato as Kamo Serizawa (芹沢 鴨, Serizawa Kamo)
  • Tadao Nakamaru as Kondo Isami (近藤 勇, Kondo Isami)
  • Atsuko Kawaguchi as Okinu (お絹)
  • Yasuzo Ogawa as Yohachi (与八)
  • Ryosuke Kagawa as Dansho Tsukue (机 弾正, Tsukue Dansho)
  • Kunie Tanaka as Senkichi (浅吉)
  • Takamaru Sasaki as Ishinsai Nakamura (中村一心斎, Nakamura Ishinsai)
  • Akio Miyabe as Hijikata Toshizo (土方 歳三, Hijikata Toshizo)
  • Shōji Ōki as Okita Sōji (沖田 総司, Okita Soji)
  • Kyōji Hayakawa as Tōdō Heisuke (藤堂平助, Todo Heisuke)
  • Kamatari Fujiwara as Omatsu's grandfather
  • Kinnozuke Takamatsu as old pilgrim
  • References

    The Sword of Doom Wikipedia
    The Sword of Doom IMDb The Sword of Doom themoviedb.org


    Similar Topics