5 Zatoichi Samurai Film Reviews! AKA The Zatoichi Fan Post

Other Samurai Posts
Short Reviews of MANY Samurai Films! AKA The Toshiro Mifune Fan Post

The Samurai movie marathon continues!

I’ve written a few more super quick Samurai film reviews, which are sort of haphazardly arranged to include lots of fun facts I’ve learned while obsessing over Samurai films. Really though, everything we’ve watched lately is Zatoichi, so just assume everything in here is going to be about him. We’ll be watching him for a while, as he was featured in 26 films from 1962-1989 and a 100 episode TV series in the 70s. John only has the first four films in it though, so we need to figure out how to access all the others here soon.

By the way, the main character’s name is simply Ichi. “Zato” refers to the lowest ranking in the Todoza, which was a guild for blind men (there actually was a different guild for blind women). Edo society was HIGHLY socially stratified with little to no opportunities to change your career or life really, so Zatoichi’s title reflects that. This social stratification is a recurring theme throughout the films. Ichi is basically one of the lowest ranking members of the society, partly as a result of and in addition to his blindness, which is a big reason why his skill with the sword always surprises everyone. In addition, during the Edo period, technically only men in the samurai class were allowed to carry swords, but this wasn’t enforced very well. As a result though, Ichi always uses a cane sword, which he keeps hidden within the cane until he really needs it.

The first two Zatoichi films are in black and white, and MANY of the characters wear very similar outfits and have very similar hairstyles, so frankly, both John and I really struggled to tell some of them apart. It got much easier in the third film and later when the color in the outfits, skin, and hair helped distinguish characters more.

One of the most common haircuts you see in Zatoichi is the chonmage, which features a shaved top of the head and long sides that are tied into a topknot at the back of the head. Like every other yakuza character in the films I’ve seen so far seems to have this haircut. The nice thing is that you can always tell the major protagonist/non-yakuza antagonist characters apart, as they usually seem to have a full head of hair, like Ichi.

Oh! So “yakuza” as its used in the films means “gangster.” Apparently the term actually originates from a traditional card game called Oicho-Kabu. I briefly tried to understand the rules of this game so I could explain it in more depth but quickly gave up – basically, tl;dr – “Ya-ku-za” is made up of the three numbers which create the worst possible hand that can be drawn in the game.

On to the actual little film reviews! *** Indicates my favorites!

1. The Tale of Zatoichi (directed by Kenji Misumi, April 1962)

Since we already watched “Zatoichi meets Yojimbo” and I seriously loved Zatoichi in it, we went back to try to watch all the other ones. This is the first one!

Blind masseur Ichi is hired by the leader of a gang, as he thinks that he’s about to have to go to war with his rival. Rival gang leader hires a ronin (unemployed samurai) named Miki Hirate. Hirate and Ichi meet unexpectedly while fishing and form a very sweet friendship; they later do everything they can to NOT actually fight in the gang war so they can avoid hurting each other, but circumstances turn against them and they do end up wrapped up in it. In the process, Ichi meets the beautiful Otane, who desperately wants to get away from her current gangster partner.

I do love the many ways Ichi fools people into thinking he’s easy pickings and then outsmarts them all. I’ve now watched five of his movies and so far, they all start with a variation on “people underestimating Ichi and getting shown up hilariously.”

Zatoichi is amazing and his samurai friend Hirate are also wonderful, but the underlying story is pretty basic gangster fighting for most of it. I’ve seen a few films with the “brilliant swordsman/samurai outsmarts one or more gangs” setup before (yojimbo and zatoichi meets yojimbo come to mind) and I really thought this was going to go the same way, but I was saddened to see it end tragically instead, as both Ichi and hitare are instead caught up in the gang violence unwillingly, just in their efforts to save each other, and end up having a tragic ending. Ichi survives but is horribly sad at the end of it all.

This film also introduces the recurring Zatoichi character Tane, who will appear three times total. I love that she’s this strong woman who chides her brother for his bad behavior, refuses to go back to her gangster partner, and tells Ichi that she loves him and will follow him anywhere. /swoon/ Of course this film is from 1962 Japan so we don’t get a kiss or anything, but at least Ichi has an OPTION of a fantastic romance.

Stylistically: every once in a while they do these very quick camera zoom-ins that are...very odd. And over dramatic. They have occasional discordant chords in the musical soundtrack that have a similar effect.

2. The Tale of Zatoichi Continues (Directed by Kazuo Mori, October 1962)

One year after the events of the first Zatoichi film, Ichi travels back to pay respects at the grave of Hirate. He accidentally discovers a powerful lord’s unstable mental condition while giving him a massage; his retainers decide to kill him to keep him quiet about their lord’s insanity. After their attack fails, they hire gangsters to hunt Ichi down. Ichi defeats everyone per usual and gets back to Hirate’s grave, where gangsters find him and attack him en masse. Otane, who is now about to be married to a local carpenter, learns that Ichi is in town and runs to warn him. A mysterious warrior who’s appeared throughout the film ends up revealing himself as Ichi’s brother, who ran off with the woman Ichi loved. Further complications ensue and everyone cries at the end.

I was surprised at how short this one was – only 72 minutes. This one was good but had some pretty big visual and plot comprehension problems for me and John? Like, we only caught two big key points of the film by reading the Wikipedia article about it afterward (that one of the character only had one arm and that the noble lord was supposed to be insane). It’s a little annoying to watch a film closely and then just…not even slightly understand WHY everyone’s trying to kill Ichi or WHY this other character keeps referring to himself as “crippled.”

There is also some SUPER soap opera-y music at times in here that’s just really distracting.

I was delighted to learn that Zatoichi character Shintaro Katsu’s actual brother Tomisaburo Wakyama played Ichi’s brother in this film. He would go on to play Ogami Itto, a different warrior character, in the six Lone Wolf and Cub samurai films (which is apparently all about a samurai wandering around fighting people while pushing his baby son around in a pram all around the countryside – and I DESPERATELY need to see this now).

This is another one with an unexpectedly sad ending that breaks your heart a little.

Also Ichi actually got laid in this film and I actually cheered because Y’ALL, the hero NEVER gets any proper happy romance in a samurai movie and it drives me NUTS.

3. The New Tale of Zatoichi (Directed by Tokuzo Tanaka, March 1963)***

Ichi travels back to his old village and reunites with his former sensei, Banno, and Banno’s younger sister Yayoi. It becomes apparent that Banno is involved with a group of bandits and is committing crimes around the village. Yayoi confesses her love for Ichi and asks him to marry her. Ichi is completely amazed by this and agrees to turn around his life for her, but alas, Banno is utterly furious at Ichi, a mere zato in caste, even considering the idea of marrying a samurai’s daughter. Chaos ensues.

Oh this one broke my heart so beautifully. This is the most compelling story so far, with Ichi reuniting with numerous people he’s known for many years. His usual Ichi shenanigans at the beginning actually result in him helping a good many people after they got robbed, which is nice.

This is the first one in color and it is CINEMATIC AS FUCK, y’all. Just so pretty. Also the music in this one is MUCH IMPROVED from the weird soap opera-y music of the first two films.

The romantic scene between Ichi and Yayoi is so gloriously acted, y’all. His unbelieving and rapturous expression at her declaration of love is so beautiful, which is why it makes it even more sad when her brother immediately throws him out of the house.

There’s also a really great scene where a man trying to avenge his brother’s death challenges Ichi to a fight right after he agrees to change his ways, and Ichi and Yayoi beg for the man’s mercy, as Ichi does not want to fight any more. He ends up actually being very merciful to Ichi. It’s beautifully compelling and reminds me a lot of the scene in Kill Bill where Beatrix begs an assassin to leave right after she discovered she’s pregnant, which makes her want to change her life (which I’m sure is very deliberate, as Tarantino based a SHIT ton of Kill Bill off of samurai cinema).

4. Zatoichi The Fugitive (Directed by Tokuzo Tanaka, August 1963)***

This is another shorter Zatoichi film – only 86 minutes. However it actually has a more complex plot than many of the other films, as all the different little bits and characters are woven together more tightly than the previous three.

Ichi kills a young yakuza man he has never met when he attacks him, in order to get the monetary reward for his mother. He then journeys to meet the man’s mother Maki, offering her an apology and some money, which he claims was from her son. Though Maki accepts Ichi as honorable, her son’s comrades decide to avenge his death by killing Ichi (they’re also pissed because Ichi defeated several people in a sumo match). While staying at an inn in town, Ichi comes across Otane, the woman he loves from the first two Zatoichi films. She is now with a quick-tempered ronin named Tanakura, and refuses to be around Ichi, as she feels too ashamed at the depths to which she has fallen.

The innkeeper’s daughter Nobu is in love with the young man set to inherit the local yakuza’s banking position, but her father does not approve, seeing the young man as weak. The yakuza tell the young man he must kill Ichi or he will lose his position. He sets a trap for Ichi by claiming that Otane was taken hostage, but this only results in LOTS of people that are not Ichi dying, including Tane.

There are a few really beautiful relationships in this film that I haven’t seen as often in other samurai films. Ichi develops a very mother-son relationship with Maki, despite actually being the killer of her son, and a really sweet brotherly relationship with Nobu. He’s also very understanding of Nobu’s lover trying to kill him and basically tells him to get his shit together at the end.

This film has an underlying theme of people striving for a past which is lost forever: the innkeeper and his daughter Nobu yearn for their previous wealth, Otane yearns for who she was when she was younger, before she got caught up in crime, and the young lover yearns to live up to his family’s position in the Yakuza, even though it’s not what he really wants for himself. It’s really well done.

There’s a scene at the beginning in a festival area that’s just really gorgeous, lots of color and rainbow and festivities. It’s paralleled at the end when a heartbroken Ichi dances somewhat maniacally down a path to some music in the background, a single festival decoration rolling near his feet.

I’m literally never going to be okay with Tane’s end. :(

5. Zatoichi meets Yojimbo (Directed by Kikachi Okamoto, 1970)***

[This was in my original post but I’m putting this in here too so all the Zatoichi reviews are together!]

This film is utterly ridiculous but hilarious. Zatoichi is a blind master swordsman/masseuse (because that’s a thing in Japan apparently) and this is the TWENTIETH film starring him. He’s a very mild mannered character who’s basically Japanese Daredevil, with insane fighting skills and heightened sense that he uses to bring justice to the world. Mifune plays a “yojimbo” (bodyguard) who is similar to his grumpy samurai character with hidden heart of gold in Yojimbo/Sanjuro, but distinctly different. Basically, Zatoichi goes back to his hometown and found that LOTS has changed, as the townspeople are all afraid of a local gang. The plot is a bit complicated, and features a money skimming scheme from the government mint, but basically Zatoichi and Yojimbo constantly are trying to kill each other, drink together, or outsmart the gang together. Hilarity ensues in many many ways. (starring the glorious Toshiro Mifuno)