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 "title": "The Famous Sword Bijomaru (名刀美女丸)",
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 "excerpt": "The Famous Sword Bijomaru (名刀美女丸, Meitō Bijomaru) is Kenji Mizoguchi's 1945 Shochiku jidaigeki about a swordsmith forging a blade for his beloved's revenge, released 8 February 1945, 67 minutes, black-and-white.",
 "snippet": "The Famous Sword Bijomaru (名刀美女丸, Meitō Bijomaru) is Kenji Mizoguchi's 1945 Shochiku jidaigeki about a swordsmith forging a blade for his beloved's revenge, released 8 February 1945, 67 minutes, black-and-white.",
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 "markdown": "# The Famous Sword Bijomaru (名刀美女丸)\n\n**The Famous Sword Bijomaru** (名刀美女丸, *Meitō Bijomaru*) is a 1945 Japanese period drama directed by [Kenji Mizoguchi](https://www.edgepedia.org/kenji-mizoguchi), produced by Shochiku Kyoto, and released on 8 February 1945, near the end of the [Pacific War](https://www.edgepedia.org/pacific-war).<sup>[1](https://www.allcinema.net/cinema/pdf/134853)</sup> It follows a young swordsmith whose broken blade disgraces his mentor, and who forges a new sword so that the mentor's daughter can avenge her father's death.<sup>[2](https://historica-kyoto.com/2020/films/shochiku/the-famous-sword-bijomaru/)</sup>\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Japanese title | 名刀美女丸 (*Meitō Bijomaru*); English titles include The Famous Sword Bijomaru<sup>[3](https://mubi.com/en/us/films/the-famous-sword)</sup> |\n| Release | 8 February 1945, Japan; produced by Shochiku (Kyoto), distributed by the state-run Eiga Haikyūsha<sup>[1](https://www.allcinema.net/cinema/pdf/134853)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[4](https://nfad.nfaj.go.jp/det.php?data_id=1791)</sup> |\n| Format | Black-and-white, 35 mm, 67 minutes, sound on densitiy film<sup>[4](https://nfad.nfaj.go.jp/det.php?data_id=1791)</sup> |\n| Key staff | Director Kenji Mizoguchi; script Matsutaro Kawaguchi; cinematography Shigeto Miki; production Masahiro Makino; planning Mitsuo Makino<sup>[1](https://www.allcinema.net/cinema/pdf/134853)</sup> |\n| Lead cast | Shōtarō Hanayagi (swordsmith Kiyone), Isuzu Yamada (Sasae), Ichijirō Ōya (Kozaemon Onoda), Eijirō Yanagi (swordsmith Yamato-no-Kami Kiyohide), Kan Ishii (Kiyone's junior fellow apprentice)<sup>[1](https://www.allcinema.net/cinema/pdf/134853)</sup> |\n| Genre | Period drama (jidaigeki) centered on the art of sword-forging<sup>[1](https://www.allcinema.net/cinema/pdf/134853)</sup> |\n| Availability | Mail-order rental on TSUTAYA DISCAS; not on major Japanese streaming services<sup>[5](https://filmarks.com/movies/31719/vod)</sup> |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Plot\n\nSet at the end of the [Edo period](https://www.edgepedia.org/edo-period), the story opens with Kozaemon Onoda, fencing master of the Kuwana domain, carrying a newly forged sword by his protégé, the young swordsmith Kiyone, as he guards a procession. Rioters attack, and the sword snaps at the base of the guard. Onoda is saved with help from the ringleader Naito but is ordered into confinement. On hearing of this, Kiyone attempts suicide but is stopped by Onoda's daughter Sasae, and he resolves to devote himself to forging a true sword.<sup>[2](https://historica-kyoto.com/2020/films/shochiku/the-famous-sword-bijomaru/)</sup>\n\nOnoda asks Naito to intercede for the lifting of his confinement; Naito demands Sasae in exchange, Onoda refuses, and Naito kills him. Kiyone throws himself into forging a sword for the dead Onoda and for Sasae, and one night, guided by a vision of Sasae in an eboshi cap, a single blade is born.<sup>[2](https://historica-kyoto.com/2020/films/shochiku/the-famous-sword-bijomaru/)</sup> Sasae then uses the sword to carry out her revenge.<sup>[3](https://mubi.com/en/us/films/the-famous-sword)</sup>\n\nA reviewer's synopsis adds the resolution: the man forges the sword for the woman he loves to avenge her father, and as the age of the samurai ends, he himself becomes like a sword, standing at her side to protect her.<sup>[8](https://filmarks.com/movies/31719)</sup>\n\n## Production context\n\nThe film was made in the final months of the Pacific War, when Japanese film production operated under strict government censorship and rationed raw film stock. According to the screenwriter Kaneto Shindo, Mizoguchi shot it quickly to earn a directing fee, and wartime film rationing left it with a running time of little more than an hour.<sup>[6](https://nanaelibrary.jpn.org/movie/nihon/1945_n.html)</sup> The National Film Archive of Japan holds a print of 5,993.1 feet, corresponding to 67 minutes.<sup>[4](https://nfad.nfaj.go.jp/det.php?data_id=1791)</sup>\n\nThe subject suited the times. The Kyoto Historica International Film Festival's notes explain that the [Japanese sword](https://www.edgepedia.org/japanese-sword) was regarded as the soul of the samurai and was a symbolic object for militarists, so depicting a swordsmith mastering his sacred craft was something the military authorities could praise. Mizoguchi, known for films about artistic disciplines, applied the directing methods he had developed in such films to the story of a young smith forging a blade as if tempering a pure soul, supported by the woman who loves him.<sup>[2](https://historica-kyoto.com/2020/films/shochiku/the-famous-sword-bijomaru/)</sup>\n\nMizoguchi was in a difficult professional position at the time: a joint Japan-China production project in Shanghai had collapsed, his artistic film *Danjūrō Sandai* had been poorly received, and he had lost the presidency of the Directors Guild of Japan when the wartime consolidation dissolved the organization. Producer Masahiro Makino and screenwriter Matsutaro Kawaguchi, a childhood classmate of Mizoguchi, mounted the project at Shochiku.<sup>[7](https://ofuna-cinema.com/meitoubijomaru/)</sup>\n\n## Cast and style\n\nShōtarō Hanayagi, who had played the lead in Mizoguchi's *[The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-story-of-the-last-chrysanthemums)*, stars as Kiyone; Isuzu Yamada, the leading actress of Mizoguchi's prewar films such as *Osaka Elegy* and *Sisters of the Gion*, plays Sasae. Eijirō Yanagi, Kan Ishii, and Ichijirō Ōya, like Kawaguchi, belonged to the Shinsei Shinpa theater company Hanayagi had founded in 1939.<sup>[7](https://ofuna-cinema.com/meitoubijomaru/)</sup> The film is noted for a rare instance of Yamada performing sword-fighting choreography, and for a double-exposure technique that is unusual in Mizoguchi's work.<sup>[5](https://filmarks.com/movies/31719/vod)</sup>\n\nDespite the constrained circumstances, the film retains Mizoguchi's characteristic long takes and full-shot compositions. One frequently cited scene follows Hanayagi crouching on the left of a starlit road as Yamada passes along a wall on the right, the fixed camera holding the composition until the two reunite.<sup>[7](https://ofuna-cinema.com/meitoubijomaru/)</sup>\n\n## Reception\n\nThe film has generally been rated low. The Japanese film review site Nanae's Library calls it a failure by Mizoguchi's standards, with thin characters and mannequin-like acting, while finding value in what it reveals about the film industry under wartime conditions.<sup>[6](https://nanaelibrary.jpn.org/movie/nihon/1945_n.html)</sup> The same review notes that the film dresses itself as a national-policy picture, with the spirituality of the sword and revenge in the name of loyalty, to pass the censors, while Kiyone's true motive, his love for Sasae, is conveyed to the audience in the closing embrace after the revenge succeeds.<sup>[6](https://nanaelibrary.jpn.org/movie/nihon/1945_n.html)</sup> A retrospective review argues that the low standing partly reflects the militaristic dialogue in which the smith concludes his sword must be forged \"for the land of the gods,\" and that Mizoguchi's visual style survives the wartime pressure intact.<sup>[7](https://ofuna-cinema.com/meitoubijomaru/)</sup>\n\nAggregated user ratings are moderate: Kinenote records an average of 65.0 points from 37 users,<sup>[9](https://www.kinenote.com/main/public/cinema/detail.aspx?cinema_id=68465)</sup> Filmarks 3.4 of 5,<sup>[8](https://filmarks.com/movies/31719)</sup> IMDb 6.6 of 10,<sup>[10](https://eiga-pop.com/movie/50360)</sup> and MUBI 5.7 of 10 from 53 ratings.<sup>[3](https://mubi.com/en/us/films/the-famous-sword)</sup> Some viewers single out the climactic swordfight and the film's tight three-act pacing within its 67 minutes.<sup>[8](https://filmarks.com/movies/31719)</sup>\n\n## Home video and availability\n\nShochiku Home Video released the film on DVD in an HD digital remaster of 67 minutes plus about 11 minutes of bonus material, including a leaflet with a commentary by the critic Tadao Sato and a feature in which Kaneto Shindo discusses Mizoguchi and his work.<sup>[11](https://ci.nii.ac.jp/ncid/BA82849861)</sup> As of the most recent listing, the film is available in Japan only as a mail-order DVD rental through TSUTAYA DISCAS and is not offered on major streaming services.<sup>[5](https://filmarks.com/movies/31719/vod)</sup>\n\n## References\n\n1. [名刀美女丸（1945）, allcinema](https://www.allcinema.net/cinema/pdf/134853)\n2. [名刀美女丸, 京都ヒストリカ国際映画祭](https://historica-kyoto.com/2020/films/shochiku/the-famous-sword-bijomaru/)\n3. [The Famous Sword Bijomaru (1945), MUBI](https://mubi.com/en/us/films/the-famous-sword)\n4. [名刀美女丸, 国立映画アーカイブ所蔵映画フィルム検索システム](https://nfad.nfaj.go.jp/det.php?data_id=1791)\n5. [名刀美女丸の動画配信サービス・視聴方法・サブスクまとめ, Filmarks映画](https://filmarks.com/movies/31719/vod)\n6. [日本映画レビュー──1945年, 海月衛 映画帖](https://nanaelibrary.jpn.org/movie/nihon/1945_n.html)\n7. [名刀美女丸（昭和20年）, 大船シネマ](https://ofuna-cinema.com/meitoubijomaru/)\n8. [名刀美女丸の作品情報・感想・評価・動画配信, Filmarks映画](https://filmarks.com/movies/31719)\n9. [名刀美女丸, KINENOTE](https://www.kinenote.com/main/public/cinema/detail.aspx?cinema_id=68465)\n10. [名刀美女丸, 映画ポップコーン](https://eiga-pop.com/movie/50360)\n11. [名刀美女丸, CiNii Books](https://ci.nii.ac.jp/ncid/BA82849861)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Drama and biographical films (individual works) › Drama films 1940s*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n",
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