Samurai II: Duel at Ichijoji Temple (1955)

Samurai II: Duel at Ichijoji Temple (Zoku Miyamoto Musashi: Ichijôji no kettô)
Directed by Hiroshi Inagaki
Written by Tokuhei Wakao and Hiroshi Inagaki from a play by Hideji Hôjô and a novel by Eiji Yoshikawa
1955/Japan
Tojo Company
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Never give a sword to a man who can’t dance. — Confucius [/box]

This is probably of most interest to lovers of kick-ass samurai sword fighting.

At the end of the last film, Musashi Miyamoto (Toshiro Mifune) had left his true love Otsu waiting on a bridge while he went off in search of the inner character to be a true samurai.  The movie doesn’t waste any time.  Miyamoto immediately takes on a famous older samurai armed with a kind of mace.  Then we find out that Otsu has been waiting by the bridge for three years.  She meets Akemi, the daughter of the evil mother from the last movie.  Akemi is longing for Miyamoto as well.

Akemi’s evil mother is trying to arrange a marriage between her daughter and Seijuro, the master of a famous martial arts school.  Miyamoto has already been picking off Seijuro’s students handily.  When Seijuro finds out that Atami’s heart belongs to Miyamoto, he becomes the samurai’s sworn enemy.  The film builds to a showdown between Seijuro and Miyamoto but not before Miyamoto must defeat an ambush by 80 of Seijuro’s disciples single handed.

This is not strong on characterization and I am not a swordplay aficionado so it’s not a great match for me.  It’s OK though and samurai action fans might love it.

Trailer – the murky print is also a feature of the DVD