is a

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

neologism A neologism Greek νέο- ''néo''(="new") and λόγος /''lógos'' meaning "speech, utterance"] is a relatively recent or isolated term, word, or phrase that may be in the process of entering common use, but that has not been fully accepted int ...

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 is a Japanese manga series written by Buronson and illustrated by Tetsuo Hara. It was serialized in Shueisha's ''shōnen'' manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' for 245 issues published from 1983 to 1988 and initially collected in 27 ''t ...

'' 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 A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...

. It depicts the fighting style used by ''

Street Fighter , commonly abbreviated as ''SF'' or スト (''Suto''), is a Japanese media franchise centered on a series of fighting video and arcade games developed and published by Capcom. The first game in the series was released in 1987, followed by six ...

'' 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 (; ; Okinawan pronunciation: ) is a martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tii'' in Okinawan) under the influence of Chinese martial arts, particularly Fuj ...

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 ''

'' 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 is a 2003 side-scrolling beat-em-up released for the Game Boy Advance. It was published by Atlus and developed by Japanese studio Million. It is a remake of the 1987 arcade game ''Double Dragon'' and incorporates elements from its sequels and h ...

'', 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 The Way of the Tiger is a series of adventure gamebooks by Mark Smith (author), Mark Smith and Jamie Thomson (author), Jamie Thomson, originally published by Knight Books (an imprint of Hodder & Stoughton) from 1985. They are set on the fantasy ...

'' 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.

References

{{reflist Anime and manga terminology Martial arts terminology

Examples in fiction

See also

References