The tale of Zatoichi (Zatôichi monogatari)

Japan, 1962

Director: Kenji Misumi

Scriptwriter: Minoru Inuzuka (based on Kan Shimozawa’s story)

Main actors: Shintaro Katsu (Zatoichi), Masayo Banri (Tane), Ryuzo Shimada (Shigezo)

Soundtrack: Akira Ifukube

Story

The blind masseur Ichi, who travels the roads of nineteenth-century Japan towards the end of the Edo period, arrives at a village where two yakuza clans are about to start a gang war.

Although he lacks the faculty of vision, Ichi (who has the other senses overdeveloped) is an excellent dice player and a master in the art of fencing. So much that his skill with the sword is capable of defeating in combat the majority of those who can see.

Once in the village, the itinerant blind swordsman wants to ask one of the local chiefs of the Yakuza, Sukegoro, for work. They know each other already. When his men inform him of Sukegoro´s absence, Ichi asks for permission to participate in their dice game. To the gangsters’ great surprise, the blind man wins, after which he prepares to retire following a brief verbal confrontation with the yakuza, who accuse him of cheating.

Two of the bandits follow Zatoichi with the intention of murdering him, but then boss Sukegoro appears, inviting Ichi to stay, and telling his men to welcome him as a guest.

Sukegoro knows the masterful qualities that the blind vagabond has as a warrior, and tries to get Ichi to perform sword tricks in front of him and another visitor. But Ichi, who is having a relaxing massage, says that his mastery of weapons “is not to be exhibited” (or in other words, that his faculties are not “to entertain” others; he is not willing to be a buffoon). Sukegoro is annoyed because he is not used to receiving refusals from those he considers “his inferiors”.

At the same time, in the pension of the Iioka clan where Ichi is housed, there is also the yakuza Tatekichi (or Tate), one of Sukegoro’s men, and his beautiful sister Tane. There is a conflict between the two, involving third parties, as Tane admonishes his brother for abandoning his girlfriend Saki after getting her pregnant, while Tate in turn urges his sister to return with her ex-boyfriend Seisuke (another yakuza friend of Tate).

Sukegoro lets Ichi know about the upcoming clash, which will take place against the rival clan, the Sasagawa. The boss wants to hire the blind man, and he accepts after cleverly getting Sukegoro to raise the payout from 3 to 8 mon.

One day, Ichi is fishing in the river when another fisherman appears with whom he engages in conversation; he turns out to be the ronin Hirate, a “failed” samurai from Edo, very fond of drinking and who has been hired as a mercenary by the Sasagawa. Both Ichi and Hirate become friends despite working for opposing gangs. Hirate is impressed by Ichi’s prodigious sensitive faculties: The blind man immediately perceives when a small fish has taken the bait. During the talk, the blind swordsman asks his interlocutor if he is ill… Hirate, surprised, replies that “he is not ill”, while repressing an incipient cough. Indeed, because of his way of breathing, Ichi has been able to realize that the samurai is seriously affected by some serious pulmonary or bronchial affection (which, as will be seen, makes him vomit blood, and which is surely the cause of his seeking comfort in alcohol…).

Another day the corpse of a young woman appears in the same river. This is Saki, Tate’s former girlfriend, whom he abandoned after making her pregnant. Although it is not clear whether it was suicide or murder (by Tate), the second possibility is more probable. (Shortly after the body was found, Ichi’s olfactory faculties reveal to him that Tate comes from meeting a woman; he emphatically denies it and is very nervous when the blind man mentions it). Tane, even believing that it was a suicide, blames his brother for the young woman’s death. Tate, for his part, seeks to force her to return to Seisuke, but she refuses, and seeks protection in Ichi.

Ichi and Hirate meet again some other time, to fish in the river and drink sake. Hirate, despite his illness and his dependence on alcohol, is (like the blind man) a great swordsman. Both are far superior to most men, and each of them is by far the most skilled warrior of the respective yakuza clan that has hired them. As the disgraced samurai says, gang warfare “already seems inevitable” and when it breaks out, “each of us will be on the opposite side”.

Shortly afterwards, Hirate collapses in the middle of a blood vomit and becomes unfit for the fight. The Iioka clan, upon learning this, decide that the time has come to launch the attack, as the Sasagawa are deprived of their best man.

The Sasagawa, for their part, are preparing for the confrontation, and let the sick Hirate know that they will use a shotgun against “the blind”, whose skill with the sword they are aware of. The shotgun will be “your substitute” says chief Shigezo to Hirate. Upon hearing this, the ronin replies that this is playing dirty, that he will not allow it, and begins with great effort to join, saying that he is willing to participate in the fight as long as Shigezo refuses to use the shotgun. The yakuza boss, surprised, agrees to that demand. A little later, Ichi (who was already willing to leave without participating in the confrontation) is informed about all this and decides to stay, going where the fight is about to take place. At that moment Tane arrives, asking him to take her with him, and declaring her love. Ichi, very moved, and in spite of feeling also attracted to her, rejects this; because he is, besides blind, a vagabond, a mercenary and “I could not make you happy…”. In addition, at that moment he is more concerned about the fate of his friend Hirate. While Tane tells him that he will wait for him at the exit of the village, Ichi leaves towards where the combat is taking place.

There, Hirate is already in the middle of a fight, and despite his illness, he is defeating the dozens of swordsmen of the Iioka clan who throw themselves at him. When Ichi arrives, Hirate is happy, and decides that he wants to die having a fight against someone like him, against a warrior of his category. Ichi, who would have preferred not having to fight him, accepts his comrade’s challenge, saying “he won’t make it easy”, and then the blind man takes out the sharp blade of his bamboo cane (which he uses as both a pod and a cane).

Finally, Hirota collapses and dies. Ichi deeply regrets it, but those of the Iioka clan rejoice and, provided with new encouragement, fiercely attack the enemies until the final victory.

The Sasagawa are defeated. Chief Sukegoro thanks Ichi for his intercession and when he prepares to offer him sake, the furious blind man, sombre because of the death of his friend and this pointless gang war, lets the yakuza leader know his anger and leaves the village definitively to continue on his way. He easily makes one of Sukegoro’s henchmen fall into the river, who was crawlingly trying to stab him in the back; and then climbs up a hill so as not to have to go through the exit road from the village, in order to avoid Tane, who was waiting for him there as he had announced.

Comment

This is the first in the series of films about the character, the original Zatoichi, on the basis of whose success the following sequels would later be made. Very good chambara with the great Shintaro Katsu in the main role. The film highlights the importance of friendship, loyalty and honor, as well as the conflict of the main character and his strong desire to overcome: Ichi is marginalized from society because of his blindness; this marginalization has pushed him to vagrancy and delinquency, but also to develop surprising skills, which have turned him into a great masseur, an expert in games of chance… and, thanks to hard training and great concentration, also in a master of fencing. So Ichi decided that he should compensate his blindness with other faculties.

Very good and very recommendable.

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