With The Wanderers [Matatabi], happily, the evident need for an internationally saleable gimmick had led Ichikawa to a … congenial model in the Hong Kong kung-fu phenomenon, from which he borrows not the 'martial art' itself, but the blandly invincible hero and the nonstop string of gymnastically stylised fights. The notion of a battle in which hordes are formally defeated without a blow being noticeably struck obviously appeals to Ichikawa's sense of the absurd; and he battens gleefully on to the formula, with swords flashing and striking apparently of their own volition out of the darkness as in An Actor's Revenge, and punctuating shots of spurting blood now and again indicating that even games have their consequences. (pp. 55-6)

With its gradual revelation of formalities to be observed, and the minutely calculated variations in the levels of hospitality offered in different houses (as well as assorted social reactions from...