Samurai Cowboy - Television Tropes & Idioms

Konnichiwa, pardner.

Something that has been popping up recently is a melding of The Wild West and Feudal Japan, even if the setting also takes place in the future or has Cattle Punk elements.

The earliest association between samurai and gunslinger tropes was probably Akira Kurosawa, who modeled several of his samurai films after American Westerns. Fittingly, two of these films were remade as actual Westerns* . Also, Ronin and The Gunslinger seem to occupy the same place in the stories of their respective cultures. Both walk the earth, duel rivals, fight bandits and defend the weak like an updated Knight Errant, making it only natural that the two characters should begin to blend together in an East-meets-West world. The fact that they're both iconic warrior-types of their respective nations is also a plus.

Note that a cowboy moving to old Japan, or a samurai or kung fu master moving to the Old West, does not count. This is about explicitly blending the two. Note that such situations often lead to this trope, but not always.

May be a result of wanting to justify the combination of Sword and Gun with Katanas Are Just Better and Revolvers Are Just Better

A Sub Trope of Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot.

Compare Street Samurai, The Gunslinger, Ronin, Sword and Gun, Space Western.

Examples:

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Anime & Manga

Andy, the crazy cowboy from the "Cowboy Funk" episode of Cowboy Bebop decides to become a samurai (complete with katana) at the end of the episode, after Spike beats him.
Gemini from Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love is a cowgirl — right down to having a super-effective horse. She also carries a katana, and was trained by an exiled samurai.
In the Captain Harlock spinoff Gun Frontier, the Old West incarnation of Tochiro is one of these. He shows some traits of this in other entries in the franchise like Cosmo Warrior Zero.
Gun X Sword which takes place on a Space Western planet where cowboys and mecha roam. The protagonist Van is a cowboy who wields a metallic cloth that can turn into a sword, with its hilt being a gun handle. Plus he pilots an Armor that uses a sword.
- In addition, his rival uses a gun that looks like a Japanese sword handle, with his two very long magazines kept in his belt, making it look like he's carrying a daisho.
The one-off antagonist Rai-Dei the Blade of the Gung-Ho Guns in Trigun is basically a samurai on a Wild West planet. He is treated as outrageous and insane. He dodges bullets. He wears a fringed leather vest with hakama and his katana can fire its blade if necessary.
- In the manga, he does all of this on rocket skates.

Comic Books

The Comic Book Shaolin Cowboy..
The titular character from the Comic Book Ninja Viking Cowboy is this, plus a Viking.

Film

Sukiyaki Western Django lives and breathes this trope.
Shanghai Noon merges Western tropes with kung fu action. At one point a character uses a sheriff's badge as a throwing star.
The Warriors Way deals with an Asian assassin who settles in the Old West and is ultimately tracked down by his past associates—essentially, it's Cowboys Versus Ninjas.
The Good, The Bad, The Weird, being a remake/adaptation of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly set in Manchuria.
Bunraku
The Charles Bronson film Red Sun is about a cowboy who must help a samurai (played by none other than Toshiro Mifune) recover a stolen sword.

Music

The main character in the Knights of Cydonia music video plays this trope to the T.

Video Games

Rising Zan The Samurai Gunman
Red Steel 2 currently provides the page image for good reason. The main character is a duster-wearin', sword-swingin', pistol-packin' hombre with a very nice hat.
Gemini Sunrise of Sakura Taisen
The appropriately named Samurai Western.
Yasha from Asura's Wrath has a bit of this going for him, especially in his theme song Wind.

Western Animation

The Avatar The Last Airbender episode "Zuko Alone," complete with a Showdown at High Noon. Though Zuko uses Chinese-style swords, the effect is the same.

Samurai

Bushido Index

Samurai In Ninja Town

Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot

Neoclassical Punk Zydeco Rockabilly

New Old West

The Western

Twilight Of The Old West