I am well-versed in Japanese history. Japan is hardly the only place that’s prompted such passionate research from me; I have a degree in cultural anthropology for a reason. I just freakin’ love this stuff. So, when Onimusha: Way of the Sword revealed its protagonist is none other than the legendary samurai, Musashi Miyamoto, I grinned from ear to ear. It didn’t even occur to me at the time that I’d be joined by heaps of fellow Westerners in reacting in this manner, but clearly, Capcom knows what’s up.
Onimusha: Way of the Sword’s producer, Akihito Kadowaki, has recently revealed the real impetus for selecting Musashi for the game’s hero. As it happens, it wasn’t the original plan. Global consideration has compelled the swap to a perennially familiar name.
Marketing The Sword
The internationally-minded revelation comes by way of Automaton, whose staff attended a media press event with Kadowaki and director Satoru Nihei on the scene. Whilst the pair talked up the highly-anticipated revival of a beloved but long-dormant franchise, they discussed the project’s surprisingly low-key initial plan. “The main character was supposed to be a ‘nameless samurai’,” Kadowaki explained. “However, since we were aiming to expand to the global market, we wanted to make the most appealing parts of the game easier to convey.”
Kadowaki spoke with Nihei, and the plan shifted course to instead feature an historical name with such lasting impact that players across the world would pick up on the weight behind it. Musashi’s existence as a cross-cultural icon has reverberated through the ages. In modern times, the peerless warrior has appeared in a famous novel, a spectacular film trilogy starring the late great Toshiro Mifune, and more recently, a pair of Square Enix cult classics that I’d love to see remastered. OK, that last one isn’t technically Miyamoto at all. But the name is definitely a nod.
“We recognize him as an extremely popular figure. He appears as a character in numerous eminent works of fiction, and The Book of Five Rings, which he wrote, has been translated and is being read overseas. Anyone with even a little interest in Japanese culture and history has heard of the name Musashi Miyamoto at least once, and the devs at Capcom hoped that having the legendary samurai as the protagonist could make the title more approachable for new players outside Japan.” -Kadowaki
Oh, and speaking of Mifune, you might say he’s reprising his role. Capcom courted Mifune’s estate to ensure proper protocol before modeling Onimusha: Way of the Sword’s hero on the amazing actor’s likeness. (Previously, Mifune’s likeness had been utilized for the Onimusha anime, as well.)
