The way of the samurai was resurrected last week when a mysterious, as yet unidentified passenger pulled a full-length samurai sword to break up a fight on a Phoenix light rail train.
According to KTAR, the fight broke out around 2 a.m. on Oct. 6th near Central Avenue and Camelback Road (although the video was uploaded to Youtube on October 13th.) In the videotape, already a viral hit, two younger males appear to jump another male, kicking and punching him repeatedly in the head.
Suddenly, a white male in a baseball cap and headphones appears on the right hand side of the video, an unsheathed katana sword pointed steadily at the attackers.
Juan Vargas was taping the incident just inches from the samurai vigilante. "I was like, 'What the hell, who carries a sword?'," Vargas told Fox 10.
"As soon as that guy pulled out the sword, everybody was like,'Whoa'. It got really quiet and everybody was like 'Okay..okay, I guess don't do nothing to get him mad or don't upset him," he said.
As the Daily News points out, the dangerous martial arts weapon is generally not seen on public transportation. But " whether the man is a true master of Bushido — the code of the samurai — or simply someone who has seen one too many Akira Kurosawa films is a moot point. After all, his intimidation tactic worked."
As the sword-wielding passengers inches forward, the two men who instigated the attack flee the light rail car.
Although the incident was not immediately reported to local law enforcement, the incident is currently under investigation by Valley Metro Rail and Phoenix Police, KTAR reported.
Passengers seemed to be generally supportive of the wannabe warrior.
"There's no accidents and, he was totally there for a reason," one passenger told ABC 15. "And I feel like, hey you know dude, wherever you are, rock on!"
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