ansatsuken

is a Japanese neologism used frequently in fictional works to describe any martial arts, martial art style or fighting technique that has been developed with the purpose of killing an opponent. The term is used interchangeably as well and the homophonous term is used when the martial art style or technique explicitly revolves around swordsmanship rather than barehanded combat.

Examples in fiction

*Hokuto Shinken from the ''Fist of the North Star'' franchise, which is described as an . The term ''ansatsuken'' has also been applied as well to other fighting styles in the series, particularly Nanto Seiken, Gento Kōken and Hokuto Ryūken (see ''list of fighting styles in Fist of the North Star'').
* Tenshū, Suichū and Chishū, the three sons of Zekū in ''Ironfist Chinmi'', are collectively known as the , as each of them are proficient in their own assassination styles: , and respectively.
* is a live-action feature film. It depicts the fighting style used by ''Street Fighter'' characters Ryu, Ken, Akuma and Gouken is described as a . Although ''Ansatsuken'' is a general term in Japanese, it has been used in the English language edition of ''Street Fighter: Eternal Challenge'' and other English-language ''Street Fighter'' media specifically as the name of Ryu and Kens fighting style which is heavily based on striking-based martial arts such as Karate and Kempo. Though not a mistranslation, it likely stems from a wrong understanding of the usage of the term when converted to the English media from the Japanese sources.
*Gen from the ''Street Fighter'' series employs two assassination styles, and .
* used by El Gado in ''Final Fight Revenge''.
* The in '' Lunar: Eternal Blue''.
* used by the Mysterious Warrior in the NES version of '' Double Dragon II: The Revenge''. In '' Double Dragon Advance'', this style is renamed and its now used by a group called the Five Emperors.
* The Japanese language edition of ''Avenger!'', the first book in the '' Way of the Tiger'' series, is titled .
* The character Myousai Kakouen in ''Ikki Tousen'' has been described as a .
* The character Kuzuki Soichiro in ''Fate/stay night'' uses a rare martial arts technique known as .
* '' Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple'' has "Satsujinken" as the main opposition to the protagonists. It's a principle followed by warriors who do not hold back in a fight and aim to kill their opponent, as they believe martial arts were created for this purpose.

See also

*Touch of Death

References

{{reflist

Anime and manga terminology
Martial arts terminology