Kimiyoshi Yasuda

Adventures of Zatoichi

Adventures of Zatoichi

The blind swordsman wanders into a town to celebrate the New Year. There, he befriends a young woman whose father has gone missing; as he tries to help her find him, he becomes entangled in a web of corruption and a series of tragic twists of fate. Returning director Kimiyoshi Yasuda and screenwriter Shozaburo Asai masterfully weave together a variety of narrative threads and tonal registers, all while playfully tweaking the conventions and motifs of the series.

Film Info

  • Japan
  • 1964
  • 86 minutes
  • Color
  • 2.35:1
  • Japanese

Available In

Collector's Set

Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman

Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman

Blu-ray Box Set

9 Discs

$159.96

Adventures of Zatoichi
Cast
Shintaro Katsu
Zatoichi
Eiko Taki
Osen
Miwa Takada
Saki
Mikijiro Hira
Gounosuke
Kichijiro Ueda
Boss Jinbei
Akitake Kono
Gorota Kajima
Koichi Mizuhara
Kamazo
Ikuko Mori
Hanokama
Credits
Director
Kimiyoshi Yasuda
Produced by
Shozaburo Asai
Original story by
Kan Shimozawa
Screenplay
Shozaburo Asai
Cinematography
Shozo Honda
Edited by
Hiroshi Yamada
Original music
Taichiro Kosugi
Art direction
Shigeru Kato

Current

Tony Rayns on the Meaning of Zatoichi
Tony Rayns on the Meaning of Zatoichi

Asian-cinema expert Tony Rayns unpacks the significance of Zatoichi’s name and the strict social hierarchy that the character so gleefully upends.

On the Road with Zatoichi
On the Road with Zatoichi

He massages, he gambles, and he’s great with a blade. Who is this blind swordsman, anyway?

By Geoffrey O'Brien