Dai-bosatsu tôge (1966)

Director:

Kihachi Okamoto

Writers:

Shinobu Hashimoto (writer)
Kaizan Nakazato (novel)

Release Date:

1 July 1966 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drama

Plot:

Ryunosuke is a sociopathic samurai without compassion or scruples. When he is scheduled for an exhibition match at his fencing school...

Plot Keywords:

Samurai | Playing Footsie | Samurai Warrior | Violence | Playing Footsie While In Bed

Cast

Tatsuya Nakadai	...	Ryunosuke Tsukue
Yûzô Kayama	...	Hyoma Utsuki
Michiyo Aratama	...	Ohama
Yôko Naitô	...	Omatsu
Tadao Nakamaru	...	Isamu Kondo
Kei Satô	...	Kamo Serizawa
Kô Nishimura	...	Shichibei, Omatsu's 'uncle'
Ichirô Nakatani	...	Bunnojo Utsuki
Kunie Tanaka	...	Senkichi
Takamaru Sasaki	...	Ishinsai Nakamura
Ryôsuke Kagawa	...	Dansho Tsukue
Kamatari Fujiwara	...	Omatsu's grandfather
Eisei Amamoto		(as Hideyo Amamoto)
Akio Miyabe	...	Toshizo Ogata
Yasuzô Ogawa	...	Yohachi
Kyoji Hayakawa
Atsuko Kawaguchi	...	Okinu
Masanobu Oki
Kanzô Uni		(as Kanzo Uni)
Koji Kakiki
Hirohito Kimura
Shoji Kosugi
Shin Ibuki
Seishirô Kuno
Hiroyoshi Yamaguchi
Ko Tanaka
Yasuharu Okoyama
Kinnosuke Takamatsu	...	Old Pilgrim
Susumu Watanabe
Jiro Makino
Chigako Sono
Toshirô Mifune	...	Toranosuke Shimada
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Hiroshi Hasegawa
Tôru Ibuki
Ryû Kuze

Directed by
Kihachi Okamoto

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Shinobu Hashimoto		writer
Kaizan Nakazato		novel

Produced by
Sanezumi Fujimoto	....	producer
Kaneharu Minamizato	....	producer
Masayuki Satô	....	producer

Original Music by
Masaru Satô

Cinematography by
Hiroshi Murai

Film Editing by
Yoshitami Kuroiwa

Production Design by
Takashi Matsuyama

Sound Department
Hisashi Shimonaga	....	sound effects editor
Shin Watarai	....	sound

Camera and Electrical Department
Tsuruzo Nishikawa	....	lighting technician
Jun Yamazaki	....	still photographer

Production Companies

• Takarazuka Eiga Company Ltd.
• Toho Company

Distributors

• Toho Company (1966) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Toho Company (1967) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• Criterion Collection, The (2005) (USA) (DVD)
• Criterion Collection, The (USA) (laserdisc)
• Home Vision Entertainment (HVE) (1995) (USA) (VHS)
• Home Vision Entertainment (HVE) (2005) (USA) (DVD)
• Madman Entertainment (2006) (Australia) (DVD)

Also Known As:

Daibosatsu Pass (literal English title)
Le sabre du mal (Japan) (alternative title)
The Sword of Doom (USA)

Runtime:

119 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Germany:16 | Singapore:NC-16

Company:

Takarazuka Eiga Company Ltd.

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: Study the sword to study the soul, you fool... an evil mind makes an evil sword.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Exhumed (2003) (V)

Awesome swordplay. Intense drama.

Imagine Nakadai's murderous Onosuke from Yojimbo; then raise the level of his single-minded purpose an order of magnitude to the fated dancer of The Red Shoes and you get a vague idea of Ryunosuke, a psychopathic samuari hunted by the righteous and villainous alike. Hiroshi Murai's gritty B& W photography is awesome; and the choreography and staging of the swordfighting sequences are far and away the most rivetting I've ever seen (and I think I've seen most of them) -- not romantically stylized as in Inagaki's Samurai Trilogy -- something like the subtlety of Kurosawa meets the textured action of John Woo. The characters are intense and memorable. The final freeze frame may put you in mind of Butch Cassidy. You'll never forget it.