SYNOPSIS: Tatsuya Nakadai and Toshiro Mifune star in the story of a wandering samurai who exists in a maelstrom of violence. A gifted swordsman—plying his trade during the turbulent final days of Shogunate rule—Ryunosuke (Nakadai) kills without remorse, without mercy. It is a way of life that ultimately leads to madness.
| Ryunosuke Tsukue | Tatsuya Nakadai |
| Toranosuke Shimada | Toshiro Mifune |
| Hama | Michiyo Aratama |
| Hyoma Utsugi | Yuzo Kayama |
| Omatsu | Yoko Naito |
| Kamo Serizawa | Kei Sato |
| Shichibei | Kô Nishimura |
| Bunnojo Utsugi | Ichiro Nakatani |
| Isami Kondo | Tadao Nakamaru |
| Director | Kihachi Okamoto |
| Executive producers | Sanezumi Fujimoto, Kaneharu Minamizato and Masayuki Sato |
| Screenplay | Shinobu Hashimoto |
| Based on the novel by | Kaizan Nakazato |
| Cinematography | Hiroshi Murai |
| Editing | Yoshitami Kuroiwa |
| Music | Masaru Sato |
By March 14, 2005
Kihachi Okamoto’s The Sword of Doom is likely to strike the innocent viewer as an exercise in absurdist violence, tracking the career of a nihilistic swordsman from his gratuitous murder of a defenseless Read more »
By January 15, 1996
If Akira Kurosawa is the John Ford of Japanese samurai dramas, then The Sword of Doom director Kihachi Okamoto is the samurai film’s Sam Fuller. A specialist in action films, with a particulat accent Read more »
February 14, 2011
In a nostalgic piece for the New York Times, editor and journalist Wendell Jamieson has revealed his true love: samurai films. He describes a time when he and his childhood pals would frequent the late Bleecker Read more »
