History of Sword fight

An essential part of period drama

Sword fight is an act in which actors use their bare hands and feet or weapons during fighting scenes in plays, movies, and TV dramas. The historical development of killing techniques can be divided into five periods: the pioneering period, the development period, the standardization period, the innovation of killing techniques, and the post-Kurosawa period.

The pioneering period refers to the period from 1896 to the early 1920s when movies were introduced to Japan. The starting point of period films was the transcription of Kabuki stage performances, and Sword fight were also imitations of Kabuki “Sword fight” . In such a situation, Matsunosuke Onoe won the hearts of many audiences by adding kills at a tempo far removed from Kabuki.

The development period refers to the period from the 1920s to 1945. During this period, it was influenced by the speed and reality of Shinkoku-geki sword fighting without the use of serious weapons, foreign films with acrobatic movements that moved vertically and horizontally, and the introduction of dance-like choreography.

The standardization period refers to the 1950s, the heyday of Toei period dramas. Half of the stars of Toei’s heyday were pre-war stars who had mastered kabuki-like dance movements, so their kills naturally had a strong dance element. Akira Kurosawa’s period dramas changed this trend, and Kurosawa created a realistic sword fighting style in which slashes made sounds and blood flowed.

The post-Kurosawa period refers to the period after 1962, but it basically only repeats the innovations in sword fight that Kurosawa made.

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