Satan's Sword

Based on a long running (and unfinished) novel by Kaizan Nakazato that ran on various newspapers (Miyako, Mainichi, and Yomiuri to be exact) from 1913 to 1941, Daibosatsu Toge (The Great Bodhisattva Path) is a story that's set towards the end of Tokugawa Shogunate's reign about group of people that comes in contact with main character Ryunosuke Tsukue (Raizo Ichikawa).

Ryunosuke Tsukue is a swordsman in his 30s who was born in the village of Sawai near by Daibosatsu Toge. His father ran a sword fighting school and he himself is a master of the Kogen Ittoryu sword fighting style. He is totally selfish and pitiless, and when he was young, he used to go out to the path to cut down innocent passer by with his sword. One old man he cut down was the grandfather of Omatsu (Fujiko Yamamoto) who he will come in contact with later in his life.

In a sword fighting match, he kills Monnojo Utsuki, but earlier, he rapes Monnojo's wife Ohama (Tamao Nakamura) who came to beg for her husband's honor by not accepting the match (because it was obvious that her husband will lose). But because he killed Monnojo, he gets targeted for assassination by Monnojo's friends, and must leave Sawai Village. Ohama decides to follow Ryunosuke. Monnojo's brother Hyoma (Kojiro Hongo) also starts to chase Ryunosuke to avenge his brother's death. He goes to Edo (old name for Tokyo) and joins Shinsengumi (which was like a vigilante police force), and has a child Ikutaro with Ohama. He tries to assassinate Ryunosuke Shimada who's a teacher of Hyoma, with his colleagues but for the first time, loses. This confounds Ryunosuke, and he gets into a quarrel with Ohama, and kills her. He then heads out to Kyoto and is asked by the head of Shinsengumi, Kamo Serizawa to join them, but due to the memory of killing Ohama, Ryunosuke goes into hallucination, and in delusion he swings his sword wildly where he is seen by Hyoma and Hyoma challenges him to a match.

This is the first of a trilogy, and there're two more movies that follows. The novel is epic length so they couldn't fit all the story into single movie. Daibosatsu Toge has been made into movies five times since 1935. The novel itself was never concluded. It ended when its author died, so there's no ending to this story. In the end, the story goes into fictitious realm that doesn't follow the actual history, and all the characters starts to wander various parts of Japan in the year 1868.

This is one of the most edgiest samurai movie ever made, and it's that way because of the character of Ryunosuke. He absolutely cares for no one, and with his ability to kill, makes him one destructive instrument to himself and people around him. Raizo Ichikawa who played Ryunosuke (twice as he also played the part in the previous release of this movie) himself had a very short life dying at the age of 37.

Out of all, versions, this movie has the most beautiful women playing the parts. Tamao Nakamura was great as Ohama/Otoyo. It was a year before she married Shintaro Katsu who played the original Zatoichi the blind swordsman. Fujiko Yamamoto who played Omatsu was always renowned for her beauty. All these casts makes this an exceptional movie to watch.

One of the must see samurai movies of all time, Daibosatsu Toge is one of the best movie ever made samurai or otherwise.

My missus, who is Japanese, tells me that Raizo Ichikawa was a very big star around the time this film was made. Well, I can't say he does much for me. In fact, I think his mostly minimal acting style is one of the reasons that this film, first of a trilogy, is fairly uninteresting.

The effeminate yet deep-voiced Raizo plays a swordfighter with superb skills in the slashing department but minimal skills in relationships. A lot more could have happened than actually did, and it took quite a long time about it. The main enjoyment of this picture is some of the great costumes, period interior decorating and architecture and scenery. The other two films are better, but only slightly.

The story follows the life of Ryunosuke Tsukue (played by Raizo Ichikawa), an amoral samurai and a master swordsman with an unorthodox style. 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. This latter act forces him to leave his home town, but not before he fights his way through an ambush, killing perhaps a dozen samurai in the process. To make a living, Ryunosuke joins the Shinsengumi, a sort of semi-official police force made up of ronin that supports the Tokugawa shogunate through murder and assassinations. 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. Ryunosuke slowly descends into complete insanity in the final 15 minutes and the movie ends on a cliff-hanger note with a duel that isn't materialised.

OK first things first, this is a Kenji Misumi picture, so it can't be all that bad. But in the same time it's obvious that Misumi here is still learning the ropes, his directing pretty much by-the-numbers, even though flashes of the brilliance he would show in consequent years are still evident. He was a contract director for Daei at the time, before the studio's bankruptcy. He would go on to craft perhaps the best series in the cinema's history, Lone Wolf and Cub. Here we see his early steps in the genre, totally bloodless in case you're wondering. I believe the first movie to introduce the arterial spray we all love is Kurosawa's Sanjuro that came out two years later.

Now if you came all the way here to read this review, you should already be familiar with Kihachi Okamoto's masterpiece, Sword of Doom, from 1966. Okamoto's Daibosatsu Toge (as is the Japanese title) is a remake very faithful to the original. Going against every remake rule, it is also superior in every aspect. Raizo Ichikawa is not a patch on Tatsuya Nakadai, one of the most imposing actors I have ever seen. Everything from the b/w cinematography to the acting to the swordfights to the plot is three or four scales above in Sword of Doom. Misumi's earlier version comes very short by comparison. However if you HAVE seen Sword of Doom and you're a chambara fan, you could do a lot worse than check out Misumi's Satan's Sword.. Okamoto's remake follows Misumi's picture to the hilt, most scenes are almost identical in how they play out. Imagine Gus Van Sant's shot by shot remake of Psycho and you're close.

OK now that we've got that out of the way, let's see what this one has going for it. Raizo Ichikawa leaves a lot to be desired (especially because one cannot help but picture Nakadai in the same role), but the movie is fairly entertaining, the swordfights are quite good (although there's no blood I repeat) and Misumi's exterior photography is good. The most important reason to get Misumi's Satan's Sword trilogy though is to see the story of Ryunosuke Tsuke evolving in the next two sequels. Okamoto's Sword of Doom was supposed to have sequels which never materialised, so if you were miffed by its abrupt ending, here's your only chance to see the conclusion of Tsukue's tragic story.

Overall not an essential chambara entry by any means, but Sword of Doom and fans of the genre will be pleasantly entertained.

This was perhaps one of the worst Japanese samurai movies I've ever watched. The storyline was heavily patched and segmented, very uninteresting most of the time. Guy with a katana sword with somewhat nonchalant stance which scared most of his opponents and frightened them to death. Then when in close combat, all his opponents seemed to be just so slow to cut him, everybody just purposedly a step slow to allow him to cut them. It just looked so staged to compy with the screenplay, but just looked so stupid. Then at the betting game, the loser new comer young woman had to be stripped down every time when somebody won, what a ballony! Like the western poker game played by man and woman, the loser woman got to strip down until naked? WTF? It also looked more clueless in the later part, suddenly a bunch of assassins tried to ambush an opponent? How this twist was developed was completely beyond my comprehenshion. I was so clueless but even so, I just felt extremely bored to watch on. This so-called Satan's sword or swordmanship simiply just a worthless exeggeration. A big Zzzz.

Satan's Sword (or Daibosatsu Toge, The Great Buddha Pass) is based on a very long, unfinished series of books published in Japan (all unread by me). These books have been adapted a few times to the screen. The best known in the west is Sword of Doom, starring Tatsuya Nakadai and, in a supporting role, Toshiro Mifune. Although that film is easier to find (and has a Criterion Collection blu-ray release), I preferred this trilogy of films starring Ichikawa Raizo.

The first film introduces the rather long list of characters. At the film's heart is Ryunosuke Tsuke, the anti-hero of the series. Ryunosuke enters the film by cold bloodedly murdering an old man travelling on the Great Buddha Pass. Why does Ryunoskue do this? He likes to kill people. Next, the wife of a samurai competitor comes to see Ryunosuke , begging him to throw their upcoming match, so her husband can rise in the clan. Ryunosuke sexually assaults the woman and deliberately kills her husband in the duel. That is just the type of man he is.

This first entry packs a lot of plot into 105 minutes. In addition to Ryunosuke and the dead samurai's widow, the film features Hyoma, the vengeance seeking brother of the samurai Ryunosuke killed. There is also O-Matsu, the young woman who was travelling with the old man Ryunosuke murdered on The Great Buddha Pass. In addition, the film features some political intrigue involving groups loyal to the shogun and other groups rebelling against the shogun. I do not know much about Japanese history, so some of the intricacies were lost on this viewer. The film certainly has more plot than swordplay and even ends on a cliffhanger in mid-action.

Satan's Sword has two big strengths. First and foremost is Ichikawa Raizo. I have admired the actor ever since I saw him as Kyoshiro Nemuri in the later Sleepy Eyes of Death/Son of the Black Mass movies. Few actors play a smug, anti-hero better. Ryunosuke Tsuke is a horrible person, yet the viewer cannot take his eyes off of him, thanks to Ichikawa Raizo's intense screen presence. The film's second strength is its colorful photography. Director Kenji Misumi has a wonderful eye for color and composition.

The first entry in this Daibosatsu Toge adaptation may seem a little slow for those looking for action. The film features a couple of good swordfights, but it is mostly a drama. However, the film looks nice and Ichikawa Raizo is wonderful.