NEW YORK -- The myth of the Japanese sword, which Quentin Tarantino plays to the hilt in the film "Kill Bill," has several origins: There was a religious connection. The manufacture of the blade was linked to Shugendo, a form of nature-worship that held that rough physical training is essential to enlightenment.
There was the Japanese propensity to pursue anything, even sword-brandishing, as a means of attaining "the way."
There was Bushido, which, in equating honor with death, found the very means of death in the sword. Edward Zwick deploys this ideal in "The Last Samurai."