The Swordsman (ATV TV Series)

The invincible Japanese Samurai travelling to China to seek out worthy challengers is a common theme found in Chinese Wuxia series and movies. In the wuxia TV series "Swordsman" made by Hong Kong ATV, Japan's #1 swordsman travels to China and easily defeats all his challengers until he comes across a legendary reclusive swordsman Yin Buk Fei. So basically we have Japan's #1 swordsman squaring off against China's top swordsman.



The Japanese samurai is played by Norman Tsui. He captured the mannerisms of the samurai perfectly in his role. Basically his character is trying to reach the highest level of swordplay and to become the #1 swordsman in all of China. To achieve this, he cuts of all emotional ties (including his wife and family) until he reaches a state of no emotion. He believes that having no emotions is the key to attain the highest level of swordsmanship. When you have no emotional distractions, you can focus all your energy into perfecting your techniques. On the other hand, his rival Yin Buk Fei (played by Damian Lau) believes that emotions such as love are important in one's swordsmanship. He claims that it is his love for his wife that gives him spiritual strength to overcome his foes. So we have a cold and emotion-less swordsman against a highly passionate one. Who's philosophy is right? Can the highest level of swordsmanship be reached when you have no emotions or can it be reached through passion? That is the entire theme of ATV's Swordsman series in a nutshell.