Daibosatsu tôge (1960)

Daibosatsu tôge: Directed by Kenji Misumi. With Raizô Ichikawa, Kôjirô Hongô, Tamao Nakamura, Fujiko Yamamoto. The story follows the life of Ryunosuke Tsukue, an amoral samurai and a master swordsman with an unorthodox style.

“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 thatu0026#39;s set towards the end of Tokugawa Shogunateu0026#39;s reign about group of people that comes in contact with main character Ryunosuke Tsukue (Raizo Ichikawa). u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eRyunosuke 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.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIn a sword fighting match, he kills Monnojo Utsuki, but earlier, he rapes Monnojou0026#39;s wife Ohama (Tamao Nakamura) who came to beg for her husbandu0026#39;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 Monnojou0026#39;s friends, and must leave Sawai Village. Ohama decides to follow Ryunosuke. Monnojou0026#39;s brother Hyoma (Kojiro Hongo) also starts to chase Ryunosuke to avenge his brotheru0026#39;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 whou0026#39;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.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThis is the first of a trilogy, and thereu0026#39;re two more movies that follows. The novel is epic length so they couldnu0026#39;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 thereu0026#39;s no ending to this story. In the end, the story goes into fictitious realm that doesnu0026#39;t follow the actual history, and all the characters starts to wander various parts of Japan in the year 1868. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThis is one of the most edgiest samurai movie ever made, and itu0026#39;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.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eOut 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.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eOne of the must see samurai movies of all time, Daibosatsu Toge is one of the best movie ever made samurai or otherwise.”