Kimiyoshi Yasuda

Zatoichi and the Fugitives

Zatoichi and the Fugitives

The wandering swordsman finds himself in a small village that serves as hideout for a band of fugitives who control the town officials and enforce brutal slave labor in the local silk mill. This lean and mean entry is packed with coldhearted villainy and rough justice, but it finds its heart in the great Takashi Shimura (Ikiru), who plays a kindly country doctor caught up in a violent world.

Film Info

  • Japan
  • 1968
  • 82 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

Zatoichi and the Fugitives
Cast
Shintaro Katsu
Zatoichi
Takashi Shimura
Junan
Kayao Mikimoto
Oshizu
Kyosuke Machida
Ogano Genpachiro
Yumiko Nogawa
Oaki
Hosei Komatsu
Boss Matsugoro
Shobun Inoue
Kumeji
Jotaro Semba
MInokichi
Jutaro Hojo
Genta
Koichi Mizuhara
Sennosuke
Credits
Director
Kimiyoshi Yasuda
Produced by
Ikuo Kubodera
Original story by
Kan Shimozawa
Screenplay
Kinya Naoi
Cinematography
Kazuo Miyagawa
Edited by
Kanji Suganuma
Original music
Hajime Kaburagi
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