The Challenge of Writing Samurai Sword Fights

It is difficult to write anything set in what could be called the samurai genre without eventually having to write a sword fight. Like a love scene in a romance, it is expected, yet it is also an open invitation for criticism. While offenders aren't at risk of receiving the equivalent of the Literary Review's Bad Sex prize, the challenges of writing a fight scene credible enough to avoid ridicule can be daunting. Today we're going to look at three examples of individual combat that appear in The Samurai Poet to explain my approach and inspirations. My approach is by no means definitive, but it may serve as a useful foil as you construct your own.

Spear vs. Sword

In Chapter 4, there is a duel fought between Ishikawa Jozan's father and his sword teacher. This is an important scene because it establishes the historical importance of the spear and challenges the popular notion of the sword representing a samurai's soul. Purists might object to the use of real weapons, but they were included to heighten the stakes and the drama of the scene. The fact it takes place in the dojo in front of all the students also happens to be my nod to the movie Sword of Doom. This is not the only homage to Japanese film in the novel, but I'll leave the pleasure of discovering the rest of them to you.

I deliberately wrote this scene in an overly technical manner as a swipe at the typical sword fight description I've read in far more books than I care to count, along the lines of, "He helplessly waved his sword in front of him. I parried and cut him down with a single stroke." I've always found it difficult to visualize this type of writing, and it has led me to question whether the author actually knew anything about sword fighting. Although I am far from a master, I learned enough basic principles from studying kenjo in Aikido that I felt comfortable writing a scene that could be acted out in the imagination. One early reader of the novel did call me on this extended scene; I took the feedback seriously, but ultimately decided to keep it intact, not least of which because it provides a context for the father's comment after the duel: "You should know that neither of us used as much as one tenth of what we know."

Never bring a sword to a spear fight

Staff vs. Staff

In Chapter 7 Ishikawa Jozan challenges his nemesis, Kunitora, to a duel before the latter departs on a new assignment. Rather than pit spear versus sword again, this gave me the chance to utilize some of my Aikido training with a jo (staff) versus jo battle. Introducing a common practice weapon such as the wooden jo injected an element of realism as the opponents were able to engage in a test of skill without serious risk of injury or death. After the technical scene in Chapter 4, I felt safe writing bouts that resolved more quickly while still being possible to recreate should one be so inclined. By de-emphasizing the details of the fight, I was able to focus on Jozan's interior battle as he realizes that his comrades are cheering for his opponent.

Spear vs. Sword & Spear

Chapter 15 is unsurprisingly one of the bloodiest chapters of the novel since it is constructed around the largest and last samurai battle in Japanese history (I'm discounting the Shimabara Rebellion of 1637 since only one side featured an organized samurai army). Ishikawa Jozan has charged into the bailey of Osaka Castle and surprised two enemies, one holding a sword, the other a spear. Jozan wields a spear himself and dispatches both opponents in short order. After all my complaining at the top about rushed fight scenes, what changed? I can assure you that it wasn't to manage my word count and no weapons are waved by anyone. My main purpose here was to show how quickly individual combat was often resolved during melees. There is scant historical evidence to suggest that noble samurai challenged opponents of equal skill to duels in the midst of heated battles. As one might expect, combatants simply fought the person in front of them, and mismatches were not uncommon. By resolving this fight in a single paragraph, I intended to show how random chance often factored into each samurai's success or demise during war. For readers who recall from the prologue Tokugawa Ieyasu's pointed remark about the youth of one of Ishikawa's victims, this scene closes that circle as well.

Final Thoughts

These are not the only incidents of combat in the novel, but I hope they give a sense of my approach and suggest some possibilities if you are considering writing a sword (or spear!) fight of your own. While there is a balance to be struck between believability and reader patience, it is equally important to know what purpose the sword fight serves as a part of the larger story. If writing about the fight becomes an end in itself, it might be time to reconsider its inclusion in the text.

Are you a writer or reader who would like to share your perspective? Comments are welcome below.