Japanese Actor Killed By Prop Samurai Sword

It’s often said that theaters are haunted, and now it appears that another soul was lost too soon while pursuing a career in live theater. This tragedy comes to us from Japan, where a Japanese actor was killed by a prop samurai sword while in rehearsal for a play.

The late actor, named Daigo Kashino, was 33 years old at the time of his death. Kashino was reportedly in rehearsal for a jidaigeki play, which is a genre of theater, film, and television in Japan that focuses on sword swinging and the time and life of Samurai culture.

While all of the actors in jidaigeki are using prop swords, quite a bit of fight and sword choreography go into each of these productions. Prop swords can still typically do some damage, and it clear that the properties utilized in Daigo Kashino’s production were more than capable of causing bodily harm.

CNN is showing that Daigo Kashino’s fellow cast members reportedly heard the late actor’s groan of pain before finding him impaled by a prop samurai sword in the stomach. While the company members found Kashino hunched over in pain, apparently none of the cast or crew actually saw the incident that caused this injury.

Daigo Kashino was rushed to a local hospital after he was found hunched over, but unfortunately he would succumb to his injury and pass away while in the medical facility.

Because there were no witnesses to Kashino’s injury, foul play is not being ruled out. Local law enforcement will be doing an investigation as to the possible criminal aspect of the actor’s tragic death. It is indeed strange that nobody from the cast or crew saw the incident, so there is a possibility that an outside person may have infiltrated the rehearsal and attacked Kashino, or even a company member could be responsible.

Daigo Kashino’s tragic death marks the second time in recent memory that an actor was killed while during a live theater production. An Italian actor named Raphael Schumacher was the victim of a tragic accident earlier this month. In a performance of an experimental theater piece in Pisa, Schumacher’s character was to be hanged. During the performance an audience member, who happened to be a medical graduate student, noticed that the noose around the actor’s neck was too tight. She quickly sprang to action and attempted to lower Schumacher, but the lack of oxygen to the brain caused a coma. Tragically, he would be declared brain dead while at a local hospital. The Schumacher incident has resulted in a handful of individuals being investigated for manslaughter.

Our thoughts go out to both Daigo Kashino and Raphael Schumacher’s families at this time. Tragedies of this nature will hopefully bring awareness to the safety concerns in live theater events moving forward.