Pssst, want to check out Moeyo-ken in our new look?
Information
- A.k.a.
- The Blazing Sword
- Year
- 1966
- Runtime
- 91 min.
- Director
- Hirokazu Ichimura
- Genre
- Action
- Rating *
- 6.4
- Votes *
- 15
- Checks
- 9
- Favs
- 1
- Dislikes
- 0
- Favs/checks
- 11.1% (1:9)
- Favs/dislikes
- 1:0
Top comments
-
monty
AKA The Blazing Sword
Many films have been made about the Shinsengumi, the organization that fought to support the Tokugawa Shogunate even after it had fallen & the cause was completely lost. Hijikata Toshizo, an important member of the Shinsengumi, is traditionally (& as an historical exaggeration) portrayed as rather demon-like.However, Moeyo-ken attempts to give Hijikata a human dimension that makes him comprehensible, if still not exactly a good fellow. He was a peasant who rose to the status of a hatamoto samurai.
The story shows him using a legs- & knee-cutting sword style very wildly, which would cripple anyone he failed to kill outright. Though it is not actually stated, there seems to be an underlying sentiment - as in Okamoto's Sword of Doom (1966) - that the sword reflects the soul. Thus, Hijikata's swordsmanship, like his spirit, has cruelty to it. 11 years ago