A few questions regarding the martial arts...

Rating: Null/10 (24 April 2004)

Hi,
I enjoyed Kill Bill although I have a few questions regarding the references to the martial arts used in the film...
1) Hattori Hanzo was a renowned Ninja who lived late 1800s, Ninjas were a lower class to the Samurai, most of which were assassins and spies. They disregarded honour ( in most cases ) in favour of getting a job done, they also did not respect the Katana like the Samurai did. Why is Sonny Chibas character called Hattori Hanzo? To me ( probably due to my lack of understanding ) calling the character Hattori Hanzo is a pretty weak reference, as the character in the film is so unlike the real person...
2) How does The Bride become so efficient with the Katana? ( although saying that the sword does look to heavy for Uma but that's beside the point! ) All we have seen so far is that Chinese dude Kung Fu master training her. Again probably due to my lack of understanding but how can a Chinese Kung Fu master teach a Japanese sword art? ( ie Kenjutsu ) Its stupid!!!
3) Not a martial arts question but doesn't Bushido teach that if your master ( ie Bill ) wants you out of the picture you GET out of the picture! ie. become a ronin or cut your stomach open? Seppeku was a common thing in Japan during the days of the Samurai( or so we are told ) and if the Bride had any sense of honour or being a Samurai she should have either taken her own life or just left things alone. This being a revenge picture choosing the Samurai code of honour to base the Brides actions on is just plain wrong. Anyway, if she knew anything about the Samurai code of Honour she should have gone straight for Bill and taken control of the Vipers herself. If the other members had any sense of honour ( O-Ren for example, as she makes such a song and dance about being a Samurai ) they would have followed the Bride.
4) What has Bruce Lee got to do with anything? Why do the Yakuza sport Kato masks? Why does the Bride sport a yellow track suit? So far we have seen no Kung Fu or Gung Fu in the film, so why reference Bruce Lee? Aside from being a massive star in the Martial Arts genre Bruce Lee has nothing to do with what we see in Kill Bill, again it just seems like a weak reference based purely on Lee's star factor.
5) O-Ren mocks the Bride trying to be like a Samurai, Silly white girl trys to fight like a Samurai... Isn't O-Ren half Chinese? Samurai are Japanese families, O-Ren was not born into a Samurai family... neither was the Bride... so isn't O-Ren playing Samurai like the Bride? ( if I type Samurai one more time ill explode )
There's loads more questions I have but Iv ranted on long enough.
Cheers,
Chris