Okay, I'll admit that I have become a fan of this movie.

So I went out yesterday and bought Warner Brothers' movie book.

It has still-photo frames from the movie, dialog exerpts from the screenplay, production notes, etc. Overall very nice.

Then there are side articles about various aspects of samurai/Japanese culture. Uh oh.

Here is a summary of what the book says about sword technique:

There are only five standard positions in swordsmanship.

In the right position the sword is held horizontally to the right, with the intention of allowing the samurai to swing it into the upper position before slicing downward across the opponent.

In the left position the sword is held horizontally to the left, allowing him to deflect the opponent's sword before slicing diagonally upward across the opponent's body.

In the lower position the sword is held lower than the opponent's sword, ready to stike the opponent's hands.

In the middle position the sword is held overhead with the intention of stiking the opponent's body, rather than his blade.

In the upper position the sword is held overhead with the blade pointing at the opponent's eyes, ready to deflect the opponent's blade.

I guess I'm going to have to start training from scratch, because that's not the kamae I learned.

They should have kept it a fan book, and left the history/technique articles to their betters.