Otello (usually singing it in German). The Russian heroic tenor Ivan Yershov was a renowned pre-World War I Otello in his native country. His compatriot Arnold Azrikan achieved his greatest recognition as a dramatic tenor in Otello. For this performance he was awarded the Stalin Prize in 1946. Enrico Caruso was studying "Otello" when he died unexpectedly in 1921, thus thwarting the New York Metropolitan Opera company's plans to stage the opera as a new vehicle for its star tenor. Currently, Plácido Domingo has appeared in more video productions of the opera than any other tenor. Also, he has recorded the
Tameshigiri to the grain of the target. There are a number of swordsmen who have recently set records in the field of "tameshigiri". Mitsuhiro Saruta, founder of Ryuseiken, set the initial Guinness World Record for completing 1000 cuts (senbongiri) in 1 hour 36 minutes on September 20, 1998. In 2000, Russell McCartney of "Ishiyama-ryū" completed 1181 consecutive cuts without a missed attempt in 1 hour 25 minutes. Both Saruta and McCartney performed "senbongiri" using a "kata"-based approach as one of the criteria for their challenge. Isao Machii of Shūshinryū currently has the record for the fastest "senbongiri" performance of 36 minutes.