When I saw BOSE AR audio glasses for the first time, Zatoichi (座頭市 Zatōichi) is the first thing that came to my mind. How fun would it be to have a sword-fighting experience with only spatial sounds? Let’s find out.
The most recent reincarnation of this character is probably Issho, a marine admiral in One Piece known as Fujitora. Besides being blind and a skilful swordsman, he looks exactly like the Zatoichi actor in the original series without the scars.
According to Wikipedia, Zatoichi is a master in Iaido 居合道(いあいどう) – a Japanese martial art that emphasizes being aware and capable of quickly drawing the sword and responding to a sudden attack. This is a bonus narrative that supports what I want to do with BOSE AR.
Interesting history behind 座頭市破れ！唐人剣 :
[Zatoichi Meets the One-Armed Swordsman ] One-Armed Swordsman was a fictional character created by Shaw Brothers Pictures in Hong Kong back in the days. The character design was inspired by the model of Zatoichi – a master swordsman with a grave disadvantage. Shaw Brothers push the empathetic factor further by having the one-armed swordsman look after a brutally orphaned child. One-Armed Swordsman was a major hit and the Japanese company behind the Zatoichi franchise was interested in making a cross-over together.
However, in 1971, the United Nations General Assembly voted to admit the People’s Republic of China (mainland China) and to expel the Republic of China (Taiwan). This was the same year the production of the film started. The film was finished but never released in Hong Kong nor Taiwan because of the trade tariff and boycotts of Japanese products after the expulsion.
ZVP – Zatoichi V.S. Predator. This is another exciting cross-over I found on the internet, especially Zatoichi’s lightsaber.
I started to explore the possibility of building the game out. Interestingly, this game showed up on the research horizon – ズバズバ ブレード (Zuba Zuba Blade, 2002). It is a plug-and-play TV game from the past. The game comes with two katana shaped game controllers and they are beautifully made. Wonder if I can turn it into a lightsaber for Zatoichi?
Found an impressive project on Arduino lightsaber soundboard by sidlebj : https://github.com/sidlebj/ECE387Final/wiki
Ordered the parts and mapped the wiring to Fritzing with my needs,
atuline’s shimmery LEDs is mesmerizing:
https://gist.github.com/atuline/a5c0128d7d55a00f8fbfe050419f3d23#file-lightsaber-ino-L36
Who would’ve known, this chip came out at the perfect timing!
SABERCORE LIGHTSABER SOUNDBOARD
VIRIDIAN CRIMSON FUSION
https://www.makeyourownchip.com/store?fbclid=IwAR0Wl0GlwXSJ_ICElN6lrxFR8WwXonvrGEGT-Xidu8gYXTLb6RtVyS-EmUM
Nano Biscotte Sound Module V4
https://www.thecustomsabershop.com/Nano-Biscotte-Sound-Module-V4-P806.aspx
