I have long immersed myself in Japanese cinema. Growing up with a father who introduced me to Eastern movies at a young age, by the time I was a teenager, Japanese (and Chinese) films became my favorites, continuing to this day. The Asian filmmaking style has a richness and patience that American films could rarely achieve. Even their action films were something special with many of them existing as artfully directed works to be studied; the Japanese samurai pictures being the strongest examples.
The samurai were actual historical figures whose tales lend themselves to myth. The bushido (the warrior code) and the way of the samurai made for legendary storytelling. Mostly taking place during the Tokugawa Shogunate period from 1603 through 1868, tales of Ronin, warring clans, and ‘lone gunslinger’-styled swordsman filled the screens in both deadly serious works and thrilling tales of action loaded with swordplay.
To honor the Samurai films that have been my companions for over 45 years (my dad showed me my first, Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai, at the age of 8), The Movie Revue is beginning “Samurai Saturdays”, a bi-monthly segment where I discuss some of my favorite samurai pictures and break down what endears them to me and why the “chanbara” (sword-fighting) films are important to the world of cinema.
Some may be serious, some may be blood-splattered fun, all will be gems!
Samurai Saturday begins with the blind swordsman Zatoichi, Japan’s most popular cinematic samurai hero who ruled the box office in over 25 features from 1962 through 1973. including a television show, comic books, and a 1989 return in the film Shintaro Katsu’s Zatoichi. In 2010, Junji Sakamoto directed Zatoichi: The Last with Shingo Katori taking on the role, as Shintaro Katsu died in 1997. In 2004, Takeshi “Beat” Kitano would direct and star in his entertainingly respectful and well-received interpretation, The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi.
By experiencing the Zatoichi film saga in full, one can journey through the changing landscapes of Japanese cinema. As the years went on, one can see the highs and lows of studios’ production techniques and chart audiences’ changing attitudes, which would see ups and downs for the Zatoichi series in terms of box office. The Zatoichi films never received the full-on cinematic respect that samurai films from directors such as Kurosawa, Kobayashi, and Okamoto received, but the appeal of the character grew stronger over the decades, reaching wider audiences outside of Japan and influencing American cinema and popular culture to this day.
We unsheathe Samurai Saturday’s inaugural blade with two of the best, 1962’s The Tale of Zatoichi and The Tale of Zatoichi Continues.
In The Tale of Zatoichi, the traveling masseuse/blind swordsman (the legend, Shintaro Katsu) makes his living by scamming gamblers, letting them beat him before turning the tables and taking all their money and forcing them to admit they cheated. Zatoichi is a wanderer who gets in the middle of feuding bosses, somewhat like Kurosawa’s Yojimbo, but in very different ways. Where Toshiro Mifune’s Sanjuro Kuwabatake is stoic, egotistical, and commanding, Katsu’s “Ichi” is more introspective and spiritual.
Wandering into the Yakuza turf war, Zatoichi befriends fellow samurai Hirate (Shigeru Aamachi) who has been hired on by one of the bosses, unfortunately putting them on opposite sides. Dignified warriors both, the two men know the meaning of honor and respect, bonding over their mutual admiration for one another. One of the best things about Minoru Inuzaka and Kan Shimozawa’s screenplay is the relationship between Hirate and Zatoichi. Their scenes and dialogue are crafted with depth and real emotion, giving weight to their inevitable final duel.
The film unfolds like a gangster thriller with double crosses and uneven allegiances until the finale where Zatoichi unleashes his skills against many foes, including the one man he does not wish to kill.
Directed by Kenji Misumi (who would direct five more Zatoichi pictures), The Tale of Zatoichi is a film rich in dignity, showing good men scarred by a bad world, with the blind Zatoichi able to “see” the beauty of the land and the folly of men better than those with sight.
Kazuo Mori’s The Tale of Zatoichi Continues, stylistically sets itself apart from the first film with a faster pace and even deeper subtext. Mori’s film pits Zatoichi against murderous samurai and shady prostitutes, while infusing the work with a moving reveal regarding the blind swordsman’s past. Shintaro Katsu’s real-life brother Tomisaburo Wakayama (who we will see later in the series, as he was the star of the Lone Wolf and Cub film series) plays Zatoichi’s brother Nagisa no Yoshira, a morally corrupt outlaw who drove a wedge between them long ago with an unforgivable betrayal.
The fight scenes are even stronger here, with our hero battling an army of swordsmen while the plot becomes rich in emotion. Zatoichi makes a pilgrimage to the grave of the samurai Hirate while earning the heart of the kind and beautiful prostitute Setsu (Yaeko Mizutani). The inclusion of Zatoichi’s love life (current and past) makes this one unique, rendering the lead character even more human and relatable for the audience.
With the sins of Zatoichi’s brother and his pain from having to kill the one man he wanted to call friend, the screenplay breathes with guilt and the emotional burdens of regret, as the drama hits as potently as the swordplay.
Shozo Honda’s camera captures the beauty of the landscape and grittiness of the town, as Ichiro Saito’s unique score weaves the different emotions through the story through perfectly placed music queues.
The Tale of Zatoichi Continues is an emotionally satisfying and thrilling entry into the exciting series, and a film that would set the distinctive tone for the rest of the series.
As the Samurai Saturday series continues, Zatoichi will return soon.
