The Sword of Doom

Original title: Dai-bosatsu tôge

IMDb RATING

7.9/10

12K

YOUR RATING

Toshirô Mifune, Yûzô Kayama, and Tatsuya Nakadai in The Sword of Doom (1966)

Through his unconscionable actions against others, a sociopath samurai builds a trail of vendettas that follow him closely.

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Samurai Action Drama

Through his unconscionable actions against others, a sociopath samurai builds a trail of vendettas that follow him closely.Through his unconscionable actions against others, a sociopath samurai builds a trail of vendettas that follow him closely.Through his unconscionable actions against others, a sociopath samurai builds a trail of vendettas that follow him closely.

Director
- Kihachi Okamoto
Writers
- Shinobu Hashimoto
- Kaizan Nakazato
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.9/10

12K

YOUR RATING

Director
- Kihachi Okamoto
Writers
- Shinobu Hashimoto
- Kaizan Nakazato
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

Trivia
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 a lengthy Japanese novel. Nakazato Kaizan's 41 volume historical novel focused on the Edo period in Japanese history when the shogunate collapsed and a new government arose that revolved around the Emperor. It was the longest novel in Japan - encompassing 1533 chapters and over 5 and a half million Japanese characters - until the publication of Sohachi Yamaoka's serialized novel "Tokugawa Ieyasu", which is reportedly the longest novel in any language.

Quotes
Toranosuke Shimada: The sword is the soul. Study the soul to know the sword. Evil mind, evil sword.

Connections
Featured in WatchMojo: Top 10 Samurai Movies (2016)

User reviews83

Review

Featured review

One of the Most Underrated of Samurai Films

"The Sword of Doom" is one of Tatsuya Nakadai's best performances. His best in my opinion was in the role of Hidatora in Kurosawa's "RAN." Tatsuya is an unusually sensitive actor compared to other actors of his generation who seemed to spit out their lines. His facial gestures and body movement conveyed as much as words at times.The film contains one of the most memorable scenes ever shot; the fight pitting Toshiro Mifune against some 20 assassins in a snow storm borrowed by Quentin Tarantino for "Kill Bill." It is a moving narrative and at times Tatsuya reminds me of Marlon Brando in his early films in his moody performance.

It is too bad the trilogy was never finished. This was to be the first film of the trilogy which is why it leaves much of the story untold. One would have to consult the original work by the author in order to follow the story to its conclusion.