This Video Shows How Star Wars Was Influenced by the Samurai

The inspiration for a galaxy far, far away may have come from the land of the rising sun.

In a video uploaded to YouTube Wednesday, CineFix argues the case for the Japanese origins of Yoda, Jedi and even the droid armies of Star Wars: Episode I.

Image source: YouTube

George Lucas was heavily influenced by the samurai films of Japanese director Akira Kurosawa, the argument goes, and Lucas incorporated elements of those samurai films into his space opera.

Lightsaber battles were modeled on sword fights, stormtroopers and Darth Vader were dressed in armor similar to samurai, and even the word "Jedi" could have come from a Japanese term: "jidai," a term used to describe the historical drama genre into which many samurai films fell.

Image source: YouTube

Watch the whole thing here (content warning: coarse language):

(H/T: Gizmodo)

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