The Tale of Zatoichi (1962) June 25th, 2023

The Tale of Zatoichi begins as a story of two rival yakuza clans. One hires an ailing ronin as their protector and the other hires the famous blind swordsman Zatoichi as their champion. These defensive moves are made in secret as rumors flow between the two camps about each man’s prowess with the blade. In The Tale of Zatoichi we see the story of two down on their luck master swordsmen forced to fight each other despite their mutual respect and admoration like a feature length version of the swordfight between The Dread Pirate Roberts and Iñigo Montoya atop the Cliffs of Insanity.

An otherwise slowburning drama, The Tale of Zatoichi‘s triumph is in that relationship between the two rivals. Eventually the two clans come to blows as a war breaks out and both men are pushed to fight. Zatoichi refuses but the other, a tuberculosis stricken man named Hirate Miki, forces the confrontation ensuring he’ll die with honor at the blind swordsman’s hand. Afterwards, the griefstricken Zatoichi leaves town, on to his next adventure.

The Tale of Zatoichi is probably the least violent chanabra I’ve seen with Zatoichi fighting only twice. The viewing expereience is not impeded by this lack of action as the worldbuilding and wonderful show-not-tell examples of Zatoichi’s high honor and virtue fill out the first in this 25 film series. These exceptional examples of film storytelling make up for lacking the exciting camera work and cinematography you may’ve come to expect from genre staples like Seven Samurai or Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance. Nevertheless The Tale of Zatoichi is a wonderfully dramatic treat in a genre known for excessive violence and bloodshed.