In a fictional story about yakuza member Sahei there was a scene of a duel and the following phrase was used:
まさかこんな相手に斬られるような左兵衛ではございません。
Clearly it means "Sahei wouldn't lose to such an opponent". However when 〜ような modifies a proper name, to my ears it sounds like "he is not one of those named Sahei who would lose to such an opponent". Effectively splitting the 左兵衛-named people into two groups: one that would lose, one that would not.
I find the word order in the above sentence somewhat unusual and wonder if there was an implicit subject involved modified by 〜ような. I would write it:
まさか左兵衛はこんな相手に斬られるような人間ではございません。
Are the two sentences equal? Does the original make grammatical sense in contemporary Japanese? Is there any explanation for such word order (other than literary style, like the rhythm of a fight)?
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