Zatoichi

Zatoichi (座頭市 Zatōichi) is a fictional character featured in one of Japan's longest running series of films and a television series set in the Edo period. The character, a blind masseur with masterful skill with a sword, was created by novelist Kan Shimozawa (子母澤寛, Shimozawa Kan). This originally minor character was developed for the screen by Daiei Studios and actor Shintaro Katsu, who created the screen version. A total of 26 films were made from 1962 to 1974, with the 26th film being released in 1989. From 1972 to 1974, a television series of the same name was made. 112 episodes were aired before the "Zatoichi" tv series was cancelled.[1]

The iconic popularity of the character has been responsible for much that is good in Western cinema and television-- post-1962. The character had direct influences on all Chinese martial arts film directors, inspired a number of Western characters such as Lieutenant Columbo or the "Kung Fu" series, and was remade in America in 1990 (by TriStar Pictures) as "Blind Fury", an action-comedy starring Rutger Hauer in the title role. This was a remake of film number 17 of the series. Zatoichi has always been synonymous with only Katsu. The only other actor to portray Zatoichi in Japan, in a 2003 remake, is Takeshi Kitano.

Character

Zatoichi seems to be only a harmless blind anma masseur who wanders around the country. Making his living by gambling as well as giving therapeutic massasges and performing music; however, he is also highly-skilled in swordsmanship, specifically iaijutsu and is equally skilled in the general sword skills of Japan, as well as Sumo wrestling. He does not carry a traditional katana, instead using a well-made shikomizue (cane sword). Shikomizue were generally straight lower-quality blades which could not compare with regular katana, but as revealed in Zatoichi's Cane Sword, his weapon is superior since he discovers in this film that his sword blade was forged by a master bladesmith.

A recurring theme of the films and television series is Zatoichi protecting the innocent from oppressive and/or warring yakuza gangs, and general injustice. His fighting skill is incredible, even more so considering he grips the sword in an inverse manner; this combined with his sometimes inexplicably keen ear, nose and proprioception renders him a capable surprise attacker. He is ambidextrous, which completes his skills as a martial artist and detective. He is quite capable with a traditional katana, as seen in Zatoichi's Vengeance.

The character's name is actually Ichi. Zatō is a title, the lowest of the four official ranks within the Tōdōza, the historical guild for blind men. (Thus zato is also Japanese slang for a blind person.) Ichi is therefore properly called Zatō-no-Ichi ("Low-Ranking Blind Person Ichi", approximately), or Zatōichi for short. It is also a play on words: "Sa" or "za" is a combinative word for "master"; "to" is likewise for "sword"; and "ichi" means "one"; therefore, an alternate translation might read "First Sword Master", or perhaps "Master of the Unique Sword Style". Giving massages was a traditional occupation for the blind, since blind persons and masseurs were on the lowest societal level, no better than beggars because in Japan it was common to think of the blind as being also retarded or perverted.

The original series of films

The original series of 26 films featured Shintaro Katsu as Zatoichi. The first film was made in 1962 in black and white. The third film, in 1963, was the first to be filmed in color. The twenty-fifth film was made in 1973, and there was a pause of some 16 years before Katsu's last film, in 1989, which he wrote and directed himself.

The original series of movies features other popular fictional characters of the genre on two occasions: Zatoichi and the One Armed Swordsman (1971) connects with the Shaw Brothers series of Hong Kong produced movies directed by prolific director Chang Cheh. Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo (1970) features Toshiro Mifune playing a character named Sassa who vaguely resembles his role as Sanjuro from the Akira Kurosawa films Yojimbo (lit. "bodyguard") and its sequel Sanjuro.

The series has also had wide spread influences on non-Japanese films. The 1989 film Blind Fury featuring Rutger Hauer as a blind swordsman in contemporary America is based on the screenplay of Zatoichi Challenged (1967, the 17th film in the series of 26).

Zatoichi is one of several fictional blind heroes with superhuman fighting skills, and while predated by such American characters as the pulp fiction and comic book heroes The Black Bat and Doctor Mid-Nite respectively, is followed by the likes of Daredevil. The 1970s television series Kung Fu also featured the blind Shaolin priest Master Po (played by Keye Luke).

List of original films

No.	Title	Year	Japanese	Romanization	Director
1	The Tale of Zatoichi	1962	座頭市物語	Zatōichi monogatari	Kenji Misumi
2	The Tale of Zatoichi Continues	1962	続・座頭市物語	Zoku Zatōichi monogatari	Kazuo Mori
3	New Tale of Zatoichi	1963	新・座頭市物語	Shin Zatōichi monogatari	Tokuzo Tanaka
4	The Fugitive	1963	座頭市兇状旅	Zatōichi kyōjō-tabi	Tokuzo Tanaka
5	On The Road	1963	座頭市喧嘩旅	Zatōichi kenka-tabi	Kimiyoshi Yasuda
6	Zatoichi and the Chest of Gold	1964	座頭市千両首	Zatōichi senryō-kubi	Kazuo Ikehiro
7	Zatoichi's Flashing Sword	1964	座頭市あばれ凧	Zatōichi abare tako	Kazuo Ikehiro
8	Fight, Zatoichi, Fight	1964	座頭市血笑旅	Zatōichi kesshō-tabi	Kenji Misumi
9	Adventures of Zatoichi	1964	座頭市関所破り	Zatōichi sekisho-yaburi	Kimiyoshi Yasuda
10	Zatoichi's Revenge	1965	座頭市二段斬り	Zatōichi nidan-giri	Akira Inoue
11	Zatoichi and the Doomed Man	1965	座頭市逆手斬り	Zatōichi sakate-giri	Kazuo Mori
12	Zatoichi and the Chess Expert	1965	座頭市地獄旅	Zatōichi jigoku-tabi	Kenji Misumi
13	Zatoichi's Vengeance	1966	座頭市の歌が聞える	Zatōichi no uta ga kikoeru	Tokuzo Tanaka
14	Zatoichi's Pilgrimage	1966	座頭市海を渡る	Zatōichi umi o wataru	Kazuo Ikehiro
15	Zatoichi's Cane Sword	1967	座頭市鉄火旅	Zatōichi tekka-tabi	Kimiyoshi Yasuda
16	Zatoichi the Outlaw	1967	座頭市牢破り	Zatōichi rōyaburi	Satsuo Yamamoto
17	Zatoichi Challenged	1967	座頭市血煙り街道	Zatōichi chikemuri-kaidō	Kenji Misumi
18	Zatoichi and the Fugitives	1968	座頭市果し状	Zatōichi hatashijō	Kimiyoshi Yasuda
19	Samaritan Zatoichi	1968	座頭市喧嘩太鼓	Zatōichi kenka-daiko	Kenji Misumi
20	Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo	1970	座頭市と用心棒	Zatōichi to Yōjinbō	Kihachi Okamoto
21	Zatoichi at the Fire Festival	1970	座頭市あばれ火祭り	Zatōichi abare-himatsuri	Kenji Misumi
22	Zatoichi Meets the One Armed Swordsman	1971	新座頭市・破れ！唐人剣	Shin Zatōichi: Yabure! Tōjin-ken	Kimiyoshi Yasuda
23	Zatoichi at Large	1972	座頭市御用旅	Zatōichi goyō-tabi	Kazuo Mori
24	Zatoichi in Desperation	1972	新座頭市物語・折れた杖	Shin Zatōichi monogatari: Oreta tsue	Shintarō Katsu
25	Zatoichi at the Blood Fest aka Zatoichi's Conspiracy	1973	新座頭市物語・笠間の血祭り	Shin Zatōichi monogatari: Kasama no chimatsuri	Kimiyoshi Yasuda
26	Shintaro Katsu's Zatoichi	1989	座頭市	Zatōichi	Shintarō Katsu

Notes:

The English title is not a direct translation of the Japanese title.
The 14th film in the series is available as a legal Region 1 DVD with English subtitles at [2] The film is also available as a legal Region 2 DVD, without English subtitles, in Japan, and on Region 2 UK DVD with English subtitles, as part of a box set or individually.
- Both the Region 2 single UK DVD and the four-disc box set (Zatoichi Box Set 2, by Artsmagic) actually contain Zatoichi at Large from 1972, instead of Zatoichi's Pilgrimage, under the wrong title and with noticeably lower image quality than other titles in the set.

The television series

The television series of Zatoichi ran for four seasons, with Shintaro Katsu in the lead role:

26 episodes, in 1974
29 episodes, in 1976
19 episodes, in 1978
26 episodes, in 1979

Production companies

The majority of the films were produced by Daiei Motion Picture Company: from the first film, The Tale of Zatoichi, to the 22nd film, Zatoichi Meets the One Armed Swordsman, released in 1971 when Daiei went bankrupt. However, starting with Zatoichi the Outlaw in 1967, Shintaro Katsu's own company, Katsu Productions, coproduced the films (as well as producing the TV series and his last Zatoichi film). After Daiei was out of commission, Toho Company took over the films in 1972 starting with Zatoichi at Large, the 23rd film, until Zatoichi at the Blood Fest in 1973, the 25th (and the last "old school") film. Shochiku distributed Katsu's last Zatoichi film in 1989, as well as the new 2003 Zatoichi film starring Takeshi Kitano.

Home Vision Entertainment (not Criterion as is often misstated) was granted United States distribution rights to the original Daiei films (except for the 14th), and has released them on DVD. AnimEigo has released seven of the films on DVD: Zatoichi the Outlaw (1967), Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo (1970, incorrectly listed by AnimEigo as © 1965), Zatoichi at the Fire Festival (1970, as Zatoichi: The Festival of Fire), Zatoichi Meets the One Armed Swordsman (1971), Zatoichi at Large (1972), Zatoichi in Desperation (1972), and Zatoichi at the Blood Fest (1973, as Zatoichi's Conspiracy). Media Blasters (under their Tokyo Shock label) has released the 1989 film and (as of February 7, 2007) the first season (26 episodes) of the TV series.

The parodies

1979 saw the release of the great Monty Python team's "Yellowbeard the Pirate". One of the characters (played by John Cleese, Harvery "Blind" Pew) is a Zatoichi homage. Takeshi Kitano did a brief and hilarious parody of the character in his 1999 film "Kikujiro", which was a 'double-remake': of the 1986 film "Dutch" and one of the original Zatoichi films. In "The Wicked Priest" (1968), the first of a series of 5 films, Katsu's real-life brother Tomisaburo Wakayama does a hilarious and almost frightening impression of Zatoichi.

In other works

The character of Zatoichi is paid homage to in the character of Zato-Ino (also known as "the Blind Swordspig") in Stan Sakai's long-running anthropomorphic comic series Usagi Yojimbo. This iteration of the character uses his keen sense of smell to find his way and to combat his enemies.

The Crimson Bat film series was a rip-off, with a blind young lady named O-Ichi, played by Yoko Matsuyama, as the sword-wielding hero. This series of films was unversally panned at the time, only three films were produced and the producers were chastised for stealing from the Ichi charcater.

Blindman was a spaghetti western variation on the formula, starring Tony Anthony in the Zatoichi role.

The 1989 movie Blind Fury starring Rutger Hauer was inspired by the Zatoichi films and television series. In this movie Hauer plays a blind Vietnam War veteran trained to use a sword cane in battle.

In the episode of The Boondocks television series "Granddad's Fight", Huey trains his grandfather believing his blind opponent (who uses his cane as a weapon) is a master of martial arts like Zatoichi, even making his granddad watch some ultra-violent scenes from the movies to demonstrate his point.

A character called Zato-1 appears in the first two installments of the fighting video game series Guilty Gear; he uses a parasitic beast to gain powers, at the cost of his sight. His name is a pun: the number 1 can be pronounced ichi in Japanese.

At the very end of the film Resident Evil: Extinction, a sign reading "Zatoichi Square" is seen in devastated and zombie-infested Tokyo.

In Quentin Tarantino's 2007 film, Death Proof, Jungle Julia Lucai calls Stuntman Mike "Zatoichi" for not having seen a billboard clearly in his line of sight.

The 2003 film

In 2003, Takeshi Kitano produced a new high-budget Zatoichi film, called simply Zatoichi (座頭市 Zatōichi).

In this remake, Zatoichi discovers a small, remote mountain town that has been overtaken by a bullying gang that is extorting money out of them. As Zatoichi seeks to liberate the town, he encounters a ronin seeking employment to pay for his ailing wife's needs, and two geisha who are seeking to avenge the murder of their parents, but he soon discovers they are not what they seem to be.

The soundtrack features contributions from Keiichi Suzuki (formerly of the Moon Riders) and The Stripes.

External links

Zatoichi (2003) at IMDb
Zatoichi's Musical Journey (CDs of the original film music) - Volumes 1 2 and 3
The Momii Company's Zatoichi site—a commercial site selling Zatoichi on VHS and DVD, with good information on the series
The Digital Bits' DVD Review Index - Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman on DVD
Zatoichi No Eigamono—synopses of the first sixteen Zatoichi films
Zatoichi region 2 disc mix-up—review of the infamous Artsmagic box set