Samurai meets Spaghetti Western

I watched Kihachi Okamoto's "Kiru! (Kill!)" on DVD again last night.
I should start listing this 1968 film starring Tatsuya Nakadai among my Top 10 movies, because it really is one of my favorites.
Okamoto pokes fun at the jidai geki -- "Japanese period film" -- in general and the chambara -- "sword fight" -- genre in particular.
He uses obviously stereotyped characters to great effect. Nakadai's character Genta, for example, is such a supreme fighter he can eliminate foes with an umbrella and disarm a master swordsman by swinging a rope.
Beyond Okamoto's satire, however, is just an entertaining film that draws much inspiration from Spaghetti Westerns. Which is ironic itself, because Spaghetti Western filmmakers such as Leone and Corbucci drew inspiration from the chambara of Kurosawa and other Japanese directors.
The who-influenced-whom puzzle can get rather complicated, so I usually just pay attention to the film. "Kiru! (Kill!)" never lets me down.