Corrected entry: The last samurai battle in Japan took place in 1600 at Sekigahara and the last significant military action of any sort was during the Shimabara rebellion of 1637. So by the time the events of this film take place, the samurai have not fought or even seen a battle for over two hundred and fifty years. Yet, in the film, they are as skilled at large scale battle tactics as any 16th century army. These tactics take decades of experience and practice to get even approximately right and no amount of "sword swinging" in the fields can substitute for real combat in a good old bang-up war. Twelve generations of samurai had come and gone and the only military action they had seen was as police officers and bodyguards. No wonder they lost.
Joe Moldovan
8th Jul 2004
The Last Samurai (2003)
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Correction: While the last great battles may have been a long time ago, the discipline of the samurai still made them enemies to be reckoned with. Also, as the 1900 Chinese Boxer Rebellion proved again later: even the greatest courage and hand-to-hand fighting skill is hardly a match against massive modern firepower.