Several years ago, around 2004, I discovered Samurai Chambara (sword fighting) Films with nearly everyone's usual introduction- Akira Kurosawa. He'd been named a heavy influence on some of my favorite film-makers and my (future) wife introduced me to The Seven Samurai. I'd never seen such an epic and masterful tale of honor, loyalty, respect, duty, and dignity. And while I had seen the American Western remake, The Magnificent Seven, it truly did pale in comparison to the original. And so began a fascination with Chambara films-
Zatoichi is a blind swordsman and part of the Yakuza tradition during the Edo period of Japan. He makes his living as a masseur and/or as a gambler. He carries a cane sword and his flashing blade is often quicker than the eye can follow. He is a skilled warrior- and an often cheerful and unassuming champion to the downtrodden. Thematically, Zatoichi is about a flawed and sentimental hero trying to bring justice in a world threatened by corruption and tyranny.
Oh, and there are 26 films in the series.
And a television series.
And two additional films made several years after the original actor's passing...
And a live stage show directed by Takashi Miike.
I spent the month of July viewing 25 of the films, currently streaming on the Criterion Collection streaming service. That's 25 of the original films... 1989's "Zatoichi, Darknless is his only Ally" was unavailable. This last film also had a lot of very negative associations- the films villain, played by Shintaro Katsu's son, had accidentally killed a man during filming when a prop sword was mistakenly replaced with the real thing.
The Twenty Five original films are too staggering a task to review one after the other and that was not my intent when I undertook the task. They all follow similar formulas and features the same actor playing the role all 25 times, with several plots borrowing liberally from one another. Zatoichi delivers children to absent parents some distance away after the untimely death of one parent a number of times, helps maidens' pay off their family debts to the corrupt yakuza or government official, and usually befriends another skilled swordsman that he will face in a climactic battle toward the film's climax. The formula itself isn't bad, despite it's occasional repetition. In fact, it's often charming and comforting to know that Zatoichi is getting into the same bowl of trouble again and again.
Shintaro Katsu is a skilled performer who has a bit of a reputation as a bit of a "bad boy' in Japanese Cinema. The son of a Kabuki performer, Katsu was classically trained as a Shamisen player, and it was the influence of his blind teacher that acted as the inspiration for his performance as the folk hero of the series. He was the focus of a documentary on Japanese film making, where an American in Japan followed three Directors with vastly different styles in order to show-case the direction of that regions film industry. Katsu Productions was started when Daiei Studios shut down.
Zatoichi starts with "The Tale of Zatoichi" and never really finds an ending- though the twenty-fifth film in the series would see Zatoichi return to the town of his birth and have him defend it from a child-hood friend in "Zatoichi's Conspiracy". Notable films for me have been "Zatoichi's Flashing Sword", "Fight, Zatoichi, Fight", "Zatoichi and the Chess Expert", "Zatoichi's Cane Sword", and "Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo".
"Zatoichi Challenged" also served as a basis for the American remake, "Blind Fury" in which Rutger Hauer plays a blind swordsman who lost his vision during the Vietnam conflict.
But my favorite in the series, and it's saying a lot, is "Zatoichi at the Fire Festival" in which the Blind Swordsman goes against another Blind Yakuza boss. It is one of the most intense, brutal, and exciting films in the long-running series and places the swordsman in peril. He is betrayed, lured into various traps, and the scheme is clever. Zatoichi's reputation finally catches up with him and he is not as underestimated as he had been in previous films.
Zatoichi is a treasure to Japanese cinema and Katsu is a charismatic wonder in the role. Take advantage of the opportunity wherever and whenever it arises to catch some of these beautiful Chambara films.
FULL LIST:
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