Talk:The Sword of Doom

Ending

"The ending of the film is one of the most famous (and longest) sword fight scenes on film. The film ends abruptly to make a point about the eternal struggle of Good versus Evil."

No, I've heard that the source material goes on quite a bit more than what is shown in the film, and it probably ends appruptly because it isn't the entire story. They probably planned to make sequels. --Havermayer 03:19, 10 July 2005 (UTC)

• The "abrupt" ending of the film is due to the fact that it was originally intended to be the first part in a trilogy of films based on the historical novel by Kaizan Nakazato. As I mentioned in the article, the 41 volume novel encompassing 1533 chapters and over 5.7 million Japanese characters was considered as the largest novel in Japan until the publication of Sohachi Yamaoka's 40 volume serialized novel Tokugawa Ieyasu with 10 million characters which is considered as the longest novel ever written.--Cyril Thomas 19:44, 11 August 2007 (UTC)

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"Ryunosuke is first seen when he kills an elderly Buddhist pilgrim for no reason and with no apparent feeling. Later, he deliberately kills an opponent in a fencing competition that was intended to be non-lethal."

He kills the pilgrim because the pilgrim is praying for death. The pilgrim thinks he is a burden on his granddaughter's life and wants to die so that she can go on to other things. Also, Ryunosuke kills his opponent because the opponent uses an illegal technique that is meant to kill Ryunosuke. In the beginning of the film, Ryunosuke isn't evil so much as without morals. His incredible power drives him slowly insane and his insanity and disregard for all other human life certainly appears evil to those around him. That he is so disturbed by Takahashi's comments about an evil soul is a sign that he hasn't contemplated the fact that he might be evil until then. --Ghisteslwchlohm 15:20, 5 March 2006 (UTC)

• I'm with you on this Ghisteslwchlohm.

Ryunosuke kills his opponent because the opponent uses an illegal technique that is meant to kill Ryunosuke.

Got that right.

I think it's clear the old man doesn't really want to die, he's just making that prayer out of a sense that it's the pious thing to do, and Ryunosuke uses this as a flimsy excuse to kill for the sake of killing. And in the fencing match, my interpretation is that he kills his opponent purely because he knows he can get away with it. He knows the other man will be provoked into making an illegal attack, and so his lethal counter attack will be (somewhat) accepted. As for the "an evil soul is an evil sword" line, I've always wondered what the best translation of that is. I believe the implication is that "an evil soul means a sword (i.e. a skill at swordsmanship) that is imperfect (i.e., can be defeated). and Ryunosuke, knowing that he is evil, sees this as a declaration that he can and will be defeated. It would be interesting to get a native Japanese speaker's comment on the translation of that line. KarlBunker 16:20, 5 March 2006 (UTC)

I think that this article could use a lot of editing, but i dont know if it oculd be done without adding too much opinion, so maybe the article should discuss multiple viewpoints. heres an interesting essay to start out with as a reference (http://www.criterion.com/asp/release.asp?id=280&eid=405&section=essay)Deepfriedpuppys 03:17, 7 December 2006 (UTC)

Trivia

Mountain Pass

The Japanese original title, "Dai-bosatsu tōge" is a name of the real-life mountain pass, which exists in Chichibu Tama Kai National Park, Kōshū, Yamanashi prefecture. (If you understand Japanese language, see also 大菩薩峠.) Literally this name means "Great Bodhisattva (not Buddha but Bodhisattva) Mountain Pass".

Novel

Partially translated from 大菩薩峠 (小説) by ゐ, Nnh, さららゆら, DOERAX, のりたま et al. at 23h57, 2007-05-17 (UTC).

This film is based on a long and unfinished novel titled "Dai-bosatsu tōge" written by Nakazato Kaizan (中里介山, b. April 4, 1885-d. April 28, 1944). It was a serial story in several newspapers which has lasted for nearly thirty years, from 1913 to 1941. Nakazato wanted to describe human's Karma with this novel and called this work, "a Mahayana novel".

Films

Translated from 大菩薩峠 (曖昧さ回避) by ゐ and l-hi at 18h28, 2007-03-24 (UTC).

In Japan there's a dozen of films titled "Dai-bosatsu tōge".

Nikkatsu

1935-1936 (2 films)

starring Ōkouchi Denjiro (大河内傳次郎)

directed by Inagaki Hiroshi

Toei Company

1953 (a series of 3 films)

starring Kataoka Chiezō

directed by Watanabe Kunio (渡辺邦男)

1957-1959 (a series of 3 films, remake)

starring Kataoka Chiezō

directed by Uchida Tomu (内田吐夢)

Daiei Motion Picture Company

1960-1961 (3 films)

starring Ichikawa Raizo

directed by Misumi Kenji (三隅研次, two films in 1960) and Mori Kazuo (森一生, a film in 1961)

Toho

1966

starring Nakadai Tatsuya

directed by Okamoto Kihachi

Note: I put their family names first and then their given names. Compiled and (roughly) translated by HannaLi 00:32, 16 June 2007 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:SwordOfDoom.jpg

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BetacommandBot (talk) 08:26, 15 January 2008 (UTC)

A fair-use rational has been added. RedSpruce (talk) 11:21, 15 January 2008 (UTC)

Production Dates?

The Sword of Doom was an adaptation imposed on Kihachi Okamoto by Toho after the studio was dissatisfied with his film The Age of Assassins, a film completed in 1966 but only released in 1967

Sword of Doom was distributed by Toho and was released on February 25, 1966

This seems unlikely. Okamoto was forced to do this film based on the studio's reaction to another film he completed, and this film was filmed, edited and distributed in under 2 months (generously assuming he completed The Age of Assassins on January 1, 1966)? Can another source be found for the first statement as together these seem to be very unlikely.

It does seem tight, but I do know back then some films productions were like a factory assembly line. For example, looking at the list List of Japanese films of 1966, you see some directors somehow squeeze out 6 films in a year, some that are just just released a month from each other. So I'm not going to say that you are wrong or right, but from the film standards at the time, it seems possible (even if I can't quite imagine it!) Andrzejbanas (talk) 14:03, 21 April 2020 (UTC)