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Shwing! And the gibs paint a lovely picture in the moonlight.
"Now, Superstar Funana, we will retreat to opposite ends of the arena. We will run at each other. We will pass the other in mid-air. And fifteen seconds later, you will burst into blood."
Two enemies of nearly equal skill meet, about twenty yards apart. They may be ninja or samurai. They observe each other from a distance. The aspect ratio is widescreen, letterboxed if the show is shot in 4:3. They stand at opposite ends of a very wide, low-angle shot.
On cue — sometimes triggered by an outside event, such as a slowly falling flower petal touching the ground — they break into a sprint toward each other, leaning far forward, hands on weapons. Each character is shown in a frontal shot from the other's perspective.
Reaching critical distance, they leap. Each is shown leaping in a closeup, probably from the waist down, although the leap is simultaneous.
The characters move past each other in midair, weapons drawn, but no weapon strikes are shown. This happens in slow motion. They face forward and do not look back. Alternately there is the sound of steel on steel, but events pass too quickly for the audience to see what happened.
Both characters land in a crouching position. They are shown in a shot from the front of one character, with the other in the background. This shot is usually shown for both characters.
A beat goes by.
One character falls to the ground, dead. Sometimes in pieces. The other stands.
Note: it is also incredibly common to have a beat go by, one character (99% of the time the hero) falls to one knee as if he has been hit, and then have the other character fall over dead. In Real Life, kendo kata #7 ends this way. Another common subversion involves revealing both combatants to have been injured (or killed).
An increasingly favoured method of ending the final fight in a movie already heavy on well-orchestrated brawls.
Contains some Truth In Television, even if embellished.
Swordplay equivalent to Showdown At High Noon. One use of the Flash Step. Probably implies a One Hit Kill.
Examples
Anime and Manga
- Lone Wolf And Cub. Regularly.
- Valkyria Chronicles does this once in the battle between Selvaria and Alicia. Despite the fact that Selvaria was winning for most of the battle.
- Tenchi and Kagato's final clash in Tenchi Muyo. They actually both get hit. But Tenchi's sword somehow cancels Kagato's normal regenerative powers, and his armor blocks Kagato's blade.
- They were both bisected. Tenshi's newfound powers allowed him to regenerate instantly.
- And the ship was cut in half also.
- The Tenchiverse was rife with this trope, taking it to absurd levels. It was practically the national pasttime. This trope could be renamed "The Tenchi Cross."
- Most of the duels in Revolutionary Girl Utena end this way, after quite a bit of preliminary sparring.
- Any number of battles in The Hakkenden.
- Samurai Champloo played it straight in the fourth episode and painfully subverted it in a later one — as Mugen approaches two people who betrayed him, one reaches for his sword; Mugen cuts him down without even stopping.
- The second instance is made even more badass by the fact that Mugen had recently been blown up and recovered, half-drowned, from the ocean almost a full day later, and after all that still limped after them less than an hour after regaining consciousness while using his sword as a crutch. Despite all that, the guy is gibbed instantly and repeatedly before he can to anything more than put his hand on his sword.
- In one of the last episodes of Samurai Champloo, Jin and the swordmaster Kariya Kagetoki charge each other dramatically and attack without even looking back. In a flashback later in the episode, Jin is seen plummeting to the waters below while Kariya nonchalantly sheathes his sword.
- In One Piece, the finale in the fight between Sanji and Mr. 2 Bon Clay was this - though they had no weapons save for their feet.
- Was also done during Zoro's battles with Mihawk, T-Bone, and Mr. 1.
- Happens to an even greater extreme in a match between Brook and Ryuuma - both characters are so adept at launching attacks faster than the eye can follow that they do so while appearing to walk casually past each other.
- Subverted in one of the theatrical films for The Slayers — what falls to pieces is not Lina's opponent, but Lina's opponent's cheap-ass wicker armor and wooden sword.
- Also parodied in the first Slayers TV series, when Zelgadis fights Dilgear. Neither can be hurt by normal swords.
- Also subverted in Seishoujo Senshi Saint Valkyrie — Yuuki wins one of these in the first episode by stealing a pair of pink panties from the jacket pocket of the Monster Of The Week.
- Considering that the non-leaping non-ninja version of this phenomena is essentially the most extreme form of Iai or Battoujutsu, it's rather surprising that Rurouni Kenshin doesn't make heavy use of the technique; whenever Kenshin uses a battou attack, the location of the weapon in his opponent is clearly shown. That may have something to do with the fact that being a blunt weapon, he's not exactly capable of cleaving enemies to pieces.
- Except when using Amekakeru Ryu No Hirameki, in which case it was always a double lens flare. We saw the immediate after effects, but never the sword physically connecting. Given the nature of the attack, this is justified.
- This trope is (ab)used in Trust and Betrayal OVA, where Kenshin was still willing to kill.
- Outlaw Star does this frequently, although usually after a long battle. Subverted in episode five when Aisha doesn't collapse as expected, shattering the blade instead, because it turns out she is Made Of Iron
- This is done at least twice in the original Dragonball, though with fists and feet instead of swords. First, Goku faces off barehanded against Yamcha's "Wolf Fang Fist." Later, capping off his match against Jackie Chun at the World Martial Arts Tournament (after a series of ridiculous events have already transpired such as blowing up the moon) Goku has a single stroke jump-kick faceoff with Chun. And loses to Chun, who is really Master Roshi in disguise, because Roshi's legs are longer.
- Parodied mercilessly earlier in the same Tenka Ichi Budokai, during Jackie Chun and Krillin's match. They rush each other, there's a flash of action too fast for the eye to follow, and they land... and Krillin collapses. But since the audience (and the announcer) missed it, they pantomime the entire event all over again, for the audience's benefit, with running commentary on the dozens of techniques and attacks they used in that split-second rush.
- Most battles in Bleach end this way. After a few episodes of monologuing, taunts, releasing zanpakuto and explaining their abilities, flashbacks, Superpowered Evil Sides, random philosophy, and building up one's Battle Aura, Ichigo and his opponent inevitably agree that they're too injured to continue for much longer, and so have to end the fight in a single strike.
- In his fight against Kenpachi Zaraki, this results in a draw, as they both suffer near-fatal wounds. Each loses consciousness believing the other has beaten him.
- Happens between Ichigo and Jin Kariya at the end of the anime Bount arc.
- In Yu Yu Hakusho, Hiei and Shigure fight to the death for Mukuro's edification. Both deal out lethal wounds too quickly to spot, and have a keel-over moment afterwards. Of course, Mukuro revives them both, and even ends up falling in love (sorta) with Hiei.
- Hiei also pulled this trope out much earlier, in the battle against Seiryuu of the Four Saint Beasts (in the manga, anyway; the anime extended the fight by a few minutes, though Seiryuu still went down faster than the other three beasts).
- A non-sword version of this trope occurs in the Battle Frontier season of Pokemon: at the end of the battle between Charizard and Articuno, both Pokemon hit each other with one last attack. Charizard falls to the ground, while Articuno lands seemingly unharmed. The referee begins to declare Articuno the winner, but Charizard manages to struggle back to his feet. Then Articuno suddenly collapses.
- In an earlier episode, Meowth has a Single Stroke Battle with a Persian involving an incredibly long and drawn out beat.
- Parodied in a duel between an Electabuzz and Scyther. After a lengthy buildup, the two charge at each other, the action freezes at the point of contact... and both fall, having run headfirst into each other.
- Brock's Croagunk is involved in one against a Politoed in an episode of DP.
- The final move between Ash's Grovyle and Norman's Slaking.
- Hellsing did this in a scene decidedly not drawn from the manga during the battle between Alucard and Anderson. Subverted in that Alucard doesn't actually win the showdown, but that hardly matters.
- Setsuna in Mahou Sensei Negima suggested she and Negi do this to finish their match in the Tournament Arc seeing as they only had 15 seconds left in the match.
- in Fate/stay night Saber and Assassin end their fight with a Single Stroke Battle.
- In Digimon Adventure 01, Wargreymon has one of these with Mugendramon(Machinedramon). Wargreymon charges at Mugendramon who just makes a dismissing sound and raises his metal claw. They strike simultaneously, and end up standing back to back for a second, then Wargreymon reverts back to Koromon and a cut appears on his face. Mugendramon looks back and gloats, but Koromon says he won't lose because all his friends are backing him up. The camera cycles through all of said friends, and then Mugendramon falls to pieces while groaning in disbelief. Single Stroke Battle powered by The Power Of Friendship
- Parodied in Ranma ½. Happosai wants Ranma to wear a one-piece Playboy Bunny outfit. Ranma wants to beat him up in righteous anger (and also because his mother is in the next room, waiting to meet him for the first time.) They lunge at each other, cross fists, land in a crouch... and Happosai collapses, knocked out. But Ranma's entire outfit has changed into a schoolgirl's sailor uniform, which Happosai dressed him in without Ranma even noticing.
- One of these occurs in the first episode of Real Bout High School between Ryoko and the last member of the Amateur Ninja Club. Ryoko wins.
- Signum and Zest of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha finish their duel with this. Signum won of course, since by the time they did this, she had reduced Zest to his fists after chopping his weapon in two.
- In the 22nd episode of Macross Frontier, Alto and Ozma somehow manage to pull this off, even though both are flying Humongous Mecha that fire energy beams. They charge at each other in their respective space-planes, and fire at each other as they barely avoid collision, and follow this trope closely by only showing the results a few seconds afterwards. They both suffer damage, though only Alto is crippled.
- Zoids, of all things, does this between the Liger Zero and the Berserk Fury in their first fight. They jump at each other clash bright light we can't see... the Liger lands on its gut with a noticeable cut on its shoulder but quickly gets back up. The Fury lands on its feet with a cut across its chest, both turn around, ready for round two.
- Claymore's cast of hot chicks with swords pull these off on a regular basis. Best example? When confronted by an execution squad of six Claymores, #1 ranked Teresa takes them all out at once this way.
- In the Soul Eater anime: the third and final showdown between Black☆Star and Mifune ends like this.
- The new Fullmetal Alchemist anime has Fuhrer King Bradley pull of a pair of these in the first few episodes, apparently slicing up enemies too quickly to be seen by the viewer.
- Episode 15 has a variation in Scar's fight with the Silver Alchemist. The Silver Alchemist isn't killed by Scar's attack, but his prosthetic leg shatters, causing him to fall into the water and drown.
- Or, rather, fall into the water and then has his face exploded by Scar.
- This pretty much happens in the Cloud fight durring the Ring Conflict arc of Katekyo Hitman Reborn. Mosca flies at Hibari of the Absurdly Powerful Student Council, and it looks like he might be in trouble. But unsurprisingly for him, Hibari one-shots him and can't even walk away fast enough before he turns to attack Xanxus. Granted, Mosca was a Caped Mecha who ran on the power of a Nice Old Man who loves puppies, and is a Mafia Boss at the same time. And it was playing dead. All apart of Xanxus' Xanatos Gambit .
- In Black Blood Brothers, when Jiro fights Auguste.
- The fight between Shirahime (Sai) & Suzuka (Hatoko) in Angelic Layer. Suzuka loses.
- Happens at least a couple of times (with unarmed fighters, though) in the Saint Seiya anime; also, the first to fall to the ground is the one who actually survives.
- A non-lethal version of this occurs in Utawarerumono when Nawunga tests out Karula's skills in battle.
- Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle the anime was about to set up one of these between Kurogane and Seishiro when they are stopped at the last moment by Mokona. Just as well too because both characters had Plot Armor and neither could die, being that Kurogane is a main character in Tsubasa and Seishiro's last battle is destined to be against Subaru in X1999.
- "Ginga: Nagareboshi Gin" and all it's sequals are known to do this, in tune with the idea that ''The dogs are like Samurai. For example.
- Ital wins most of his fights this way in Genesis Survivor Gaiarth.
- Although This Is A Drill and not a sword, the way the Giga Drill Breaker from Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann goes off - Gurren Lagann passes through the victim, swings its right arm back while retracting the drill, followed by the victim exploding - is stylistically identical to the archetypal Diagonal Cut Single Stroke Battle.
- The climax of the final battle between Heero and Zechs in Gundam Wing is one of these... in giant robots with light sabers!!!
- The fight between Afro Samurai's father and Justice ends with one of these coupled with a Diagonal Cut... with the winner using a revolver. It is not until the last episode that we learn Justice has a hidden third arm with a blade.
- In Yu-Gi-Oh 5Ds, Mizoguchi's Samurai Deck has a trap, Pause of the Certain Kill, that turns battle between monsters into this. It even has Miyamoto Musashi and Sasaki Kojiro in the illustration.
ComicBooks
- Usagi Yojimbo, lives and breathes this trope... although considering how much it owes to Lone Wolf and Cub, along with the classic samurai films, that's hardly surprising.
- The last issue of Robin's solo title has Tim Drake being challenged to a duel to the death by his teacher, Lady Shiva. They meet, and have what looks like one of these, after which Tim is stumbling, with three broken ribs, while Shiva is standing triumphantly. Then, Shiva collapses, and Tim explains that he slipped her a paralytic poison, activated by a heightened heart beat, before she even made the challenge.
- The duel between Scott Pilgrim and Roxanne is a direct Shout Out to Ninja Gaiden.
Film
Literature
- Played seriously in David Weber's Flag in Exile, where Honor Harrington has to face a traitorous nobleman in a Trial By Combat.
- Since the book is set two thousand years in the future, it makes a point of explaining that the fighting style in question was recreated on the lost colony in question from an ancient copy of the movie The Seven Samurai. Honor isn't quite sure what a movie is...
- Moreover, the narration makes it clear that said style of fighting, being based on a movie, is made of many exaggerated and showy maneuvers. Honor, having been in real combat, uses this to her advantage.
- Technically, it's a two stroke duel in Honor's case: The first cut would've been fatal anyways, but then she turns around and decapitates him before he has a chance to react to the first cut. Overkill is an Honor Harrington specialty in duels.
- The final battle in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is a magical variant of this trope. Harry and Voldemort circle each other. Harry explains that the horcruxes are gone, Voldemort is mortal, and he's doomed to lose the fight ahead. Harry's words lay out how hopeless the situation is and offer Voldemort a chance at salvation. Voldemort scoffs at the offer, the two each cast a single spell, Voldemort's wand flies from his hand, lands in Harry's, and Voldemort drops dead on the floor.
Live Action TV
Videogames
- Baiken's Instant Kill from Guilty Gear is a classic Single Stroke Battle, concealed by a paper screen. (After the beat, there's a splash of blood onto said screen as the blow takes effect.)
- Sora in Kingdom Hearts II can initiate a reaction command when fighting a Samurai nobody. When pressed, everything else on the screen freezes as Sora and the samurai take stance. There are even cherry blossoms fluttering over their heads. After about 2 or 3 seconds, the words "The End" appear in one of your (now empty) command boxes. You have to get to and click on "The End" in time to win the face-off. Regardless of who wins or loses, the two opponents suddenly strike each other, the screen goes white for a second, and the victor is shown behind the victim with their weapon drawn as the opponent recoils with pain.
- After fighting Luxord in the World That Never Was, the battle ends when Luxord tries to put up a wall of cards around himself, but Sora just sprints right at him and slices through the cards (and Luxord) with one swing. Cue Sora's Ass Kicking Pose.
- At the end of the "YMCA" level of Elite Beat Agents, a ship captain engages in this against a pirate skeleton. The level "La La" also uses it, as a white blood cell (portrayed as a nurse) fights a virus this way... several times. Yes, it's a weird game.
- Not to be outdone, the "Julia ni Shoushin" level of Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan 2 features a Single Stroke Battle between two rival barbers. The winner shaves the kanji for "loser" into his opponent's head.
- Naturally, this is also the ending to one of the multiplayer scenarios— the vampire and the yeti do this, and depending on which player played better (or maybe they tied, it's surprisingly common), one (or both) of them falls down in defeat.
- The opening to the NES game Ninja Gaiden features such a scene. It plays out almost exactly as the scene described in the main article.
- Its arcade predecessor, featuring Ryu versus one of the hockey-mask Mooks. The Continue screen is just as dramatic.
- Capcom's cutesy arcade fighting gameSuper Gem Fighter Minimix features the ninja Ibuki from Street Fighter 3. One of her Supers in this game was to dash at the enemy (All kitted out for it, too!): contact results in a single stroke that slices the enemy into tiny cubes (it's all very cartoonish).
- Parodied in the Samurai Kirby minigame where Kirby and his opponent dress up as samurai and attack each other with silly weapons such as paper fans and frying pans.
- Except for Meta Knight, who you attack with your sword. He's damn near impossible to beat, as well.
- A version of this appears in Soul Calibur III, just before the penultimate battle in story mode (regardless of which character is played or the story path). Siegfried and Nightmare square off in the cutscene, swing their swords simultaneously, there's a one-second beat, then one of them falls over. Which one survives to fight the player depends on which character you are playing at the time: good characters fight Nightmare, evil ones fight Siegfried. If you have chosen either of those characters, you simply fight the other.
- Also, playing vs matches with health set to 0% can do this, handy for farming the vs match total count.
- In the awesome manga adaptation of Rockman X2, X is challenged to a duel by Flame Stag, who previously lost a duel and is itching for revenge. Stag, having received an upgrade from the Big Bad, and X, who has been blinded, rush past each other in a dormant volcano. X is then shown bleeding (oil?), while Stag is completely unharmed. X then crumples to the ground. Of course, there's no way X is going to lose here, and Stag suddenly bursts into flames, due to some crazy close-range tampering by X earlier when passing by. The Irony is that had Stag not been upgraded, he might have been able to contain the damage.
- The PS 2 game Shinobi carries this to its logical conclusion: upon defeating an opponent, a timer would start to count down at the bottom of the screen, and each time another opponent was defeated the timer would start over. Meanwhile, the protagonists magical vampiric katana would glow, with the glow intensifying with each successive kill, and the damage inflicted by an attack also increasing. When all goes well, every enemy in an area is killed within the fairly limited time available, at which point the camera flashes to each defeated enemy in turn before returning to the protagonist (in a suitably cocky victory pose, sword sheathed), at which point every enemy would simultaneously slide apart. Also, several boss fights are effectively impossible without the extra damage potential that comes from killing six monsters in seven seconds.
- The Odin summon from various Final Fantasy games would randomly kill all on-screen enemies (or would simply deal a good chunk damage to a single foe). The Final Fantasy VIII version follows the trope to a T (except for Odin being mounted). Appropriately, Odin's unexpected death in that game at the hands of Seifer came in the form of a one-stroke battle as well.
- Odin and Raiden show up in Final Fantasy VI, but Cyan is capable of doing this by himself, and without magic. His top-level Swordtech skill has him charge across the field of battle with his sword out, leap back to his original position, flourish his blade, and (hopefully) watch all the enemies on the field fall to pieces. He can even kill ghosts with that move.
- VII has a "Flash" command obtainable by increasing the level of the "Slash-All" materia. Flash instantly kills all enemies...but only if "Death" attacks are allowed by them.
- Similarly, in Breath of Fire 2, Jean's "Chop" wiped out all enemies.
- Vergil of Devil May Cry 3 has this as a special attack - his "Rapid Slash" move consists of charging straight ahead and drawing his katana. Half a second later, anything that was in his path gets cut to pieces.
- Also used plot-wise:Vergil and Dante end up finishing their last confrontation in demon world this way,providing almost spot-on example of the trope
- After replaying that cutscene dozen-odd times, this troper is convinced that there is a variation to the trope, as Vergil swinged his sword in such a way that it couldn't even possibly connect (Nero couldn't have made such a mistake, so it had to be intentional), making it single-sided single-stroke.
- This shows up a lot in Samurai Warriors. Notable instances of the trope are the endings for Ranmaru Mori, Mitsuhide Akechi, and Oda Nobunaga.
- The closely related Dynasty Warriors series also has a few examples, such as Guan Yu's death in DW5.
- The Mortal Draw technique from The Legend Of Zelda: Twilight Princess is an on-demand Single Stroke Battle. Link has to have his sword sheathed and not targeting his intended target to pull it off, but in most cases, as the instructor says, "the Mortal Draw deals death."
- Read: It works on mooks. Doesn't kill the armored lizards let alone dark nuts. So much for armor not mattering.
- It also works on mini-bosses; once you've used whatever item you need to stun them and expose their weakpoint, you can use the Mortal Draw to finish them quick.
- It really verges on Useless Useful Spell in all honesty. The instruction specifically states that 'there is no counter' along with 'the mortal draw deals death'. It's VERY strongly suggested that it ALWAYS kills the target. Trick being there are several enemies that can BLOCK it outright (No counter right?) and most of the others you'd want to use it on, it simply does (VERY) high amounts of damage rather than killing them. But everything you really, really, really want to one hit kill... it doesn't, in direct contradiction of the instruction you get when you unlock it. And not just bosses either.
- The first trailer for No More Heroes features Travis and Helter Skelter in a Single Stroke Battle. Travis wins, and Helter either collapses, or has his head removed, depending on the trailer version. "Your shining armor and fine words won't get you anywhere!"
- Tekken Tag Tournament: The ending cutscenes for Yoshimitsu and Kunimitsu begin the same way, with them engaging in this. Whoever the player used wins against the other.
- In the Samurai Shodown games, the player has the ability to break their POW gauge in order to allow an Issen attack, which effectively describes this trope, but it's generally seen as a cheap attack. Issen will do more damage to the enemy the less damage your character has, and will do almost a 3/4 of the maximum health when only a sliver of health is left for your character. If both characters use Issen, the battle will usually end in a draw.
- One of the Samurai Shodown 64 games resolved draws using this trope. Also one of Ukyo Tachibana's desperation attacks from that era was an issen-like attack. Genjuro also can use it in one of the crossover games he appears in.
- The Bushido Blade series may do this trope the best for video games. Any attack can be fatal, so while some battles involve extensive parrying or countering, others end with a single, perfectly placed stroke.
- Jin and Hakumen from Blaz Blue have the Yukikaze move *
Jin gets it in Continuum Shift, if you're playing Calamity Trigger and about to say "I don't see shit, captain". , which follows a counter. Yeah, they're the same person... sort of, why do you ask?
- The third mission of Vanguard Bandits features a duel between Kamorge and Faulkner that ends this way. There is also a move called the Wind Strike, which essentially allows players to do this to enemies.
- In Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, one of Zack's memories of Sephiroth triggered by the DMW involves him doing this to a monster. Of course, it's Cutscene Power To The Max.
- Tekken 3. Yoshimitsu's move "Yoshimitsu Blade" is a nasty two-handed whack in the stomach with the hilt of his energy sword. However, if the target happens to be running at full pace towards you, Yoshi quickly turns the sword upwards at the end of the move and runs the poor sap through, dealing heavy damage.
- God Hand: The Daisy Cutter God Reel move looks like this. Gene blows the target into the air, slides past it, then punches his fists together, causing an explosion.
Webcomics
Web Original
- Outright abused in Ree v. Seth, parts two and three, when the trope starts as usual. All of Ree's demons fall off, and she congratulates her opponent. He informs her that she probably shouldn't be in the tournament, then tells her she won. Then he basically explodes blood. The artist even lampshades it in the description.
- Bunny Kill just can't get enough of these. Part 3.2 has a grenade-vs-blade standoff.
Western Animation
- Occurs twice in the second Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series, first during a duel between Leonardo and the Shredder in the show's first season, the second in a duel between posthumous character Hamato Yoshi and rival turned evil Yukio Mashimi in the fourth.
- Used often in Samurai Jack, though one example stands out. A race of mountain-dwelling rock people drive their entire culture towards the creation of a sword of incredible power. It is frozen in a block of ice after being molded out of hard crystals and molten slag, tempered by dragon fire and hammered by dozens at once, sharpened on a grindstone powered by starving boars with meat hanging in front of them running on a treadmill, has runes written on it by a druid, who calls down lightning to strike it. It crackles with lightning as we see it cut through solid stone as if it were butter. A gladitorial competition is held to find the mightiest of their warriors, who is sent to face Jack with the sword. Jack cuts the sword in half without even breaking his stride.
- Used by Asajj Ventress to take care of the last fighter in the battle that introduces her, and the nearest thing to an actual threat to her, in Clone Wars.
- Used without swords in the fourth-season finale of Jackie Chan Adventures. Two of the best fighters in the show both charge Tarakudo at the same time, in mid-air...and both of them are knocked to the ground completely beaten a second later, with Tarakudo landing on his feet completely unharmed.
- GI Joe: Resolute has this with Snake-Eyes vs a random mook. The mook had an assault rifle. I think we all know what happened. Subverted later when he does the SSB with Storm Shadow and neither fall.
Real Life
- Supposedly, this is how Miyamoto Musashi defeated Sasaki Kojirō.
- Historically Kojirō then proceeded to attack again from on the ground, until Musashi stoved in his ribcage with an oversized bokken. Said oversized bokken was carved from an oar Musashi picked up while traveling to the island where the duel took place. It should also be noted that the duel counts as a Crowning Moment Of Awesome for both men: Musashi, beating the toughest swordsman he ever faced, and Kojirō, proving he could stand toe-to-toe with the greatest swordsman who ever lived. Interested tropers can read up on the whole thing at Kojirō's wikipedia article.
- The fleche, a fencing move, works like this. It's basically a way to make a running attack relatively gracefully. The point of the move is that the referee will halt the match and allow both fencers to reassume their stance if one fencer passes the other without scoring, solving the obvious problem that if you miss you're going to end up in a bad position. Sabre fencers especially became notorious for turning matches into jousting contests until the fleche was banned for that sword.
- There's also a rather well known (in fencing circles anyway) picture of two fencers attempting simultaneous fleches and running straight into each other. It's probably the sport's Crowning Moment Of Funny.
- Iaido is an art that teaches cutting an enemy in the act of drawing your sword, among other skills, and most actual Japanese sword arts center around killing or maiming an opponent in a One Hit Kill.
- Replace swords with lances, and this trope is how medieval jousts worked. Even the subversions are the same.
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