The Tale of Zatoichi continues (Zoku Zatôichi monogatari)
Japan, 1962
Director: Kazuo Mori
Scriptwriter: Minoru Inuzuka (based on Kan Shimozawa’s story)
Main actors: Shintaro Katsu (Zatoichi), Yaeko Mizutani (Setsu), Masayo Banri (Tane), Tomisaburo Wakayama (Yoshiro)
Soundtrack: Ichiro Saito
Story
Zatoichi (Shintaro Katsu), the famous and prodigious masseur and blind swordsman, has arrived in a new region after the adventures narrated in the first film. After confronting some arrogant soldiers, who throw him into the water when they discover him in the boat in which they were crossing a river, he is hired to massage the head of a samurai detachment. However, while he is doing this work, he indiscreetly discovers a secret of the lord (“I had never had a client like this one…”), so the samurai will persecute him with the intention of killing him.
At the same time, ronin Yoshiro (Tomisaburo Wakayama) and one of his men are there. These men coincide with Zatoichi in the inn where he is staying, but they do not talk with him. In the place there are also three prostitutes, who talk to each other about the “masseur whom the samurai are looking for to kill”. Zatoichi, who hears and understands that he is being referred to, is thus alerted; and he invites the women to a round of sake as a token of gratitude. He befriends one of them, the youngest and most attractive, who reminds him by the voice of an old girlfriend who left him when he became blind. The girl is also attracted to Zatoichi, and agrees to spend the night with him. The ronin Yoshiro tries to buy her services, but she refuses, pointing out that she already has a client. Shortly after, Zatoichi retires with the girl to a cabin, and a squadron of samurai arrives looking for him. No one at the inn denounces him, no one claims to have seen him, but Yoshiro learns the mysterious blind man is being looked for.
Yoshiro’s head has also been given a price. The taciturn wandering ronin is called to the presence of one of the local chiefs, who lets him know that he knows his identity and the crimes of which he is accused: Looting, robberies, murders… Yoshiro is an ex-samurai turned gangster. The local chief says he won’t hand him over to the authorities, but expels him from the village. The ronin and his trusted man pack their things and leave. But the chief instructs one of his employees to follow both of them closely with a view to capturing them by surprise, in order to collect the reward.
Zatoichi and the girl have spent the night together, and the next morning they wake up in a cabin on the beach. A troop of about twenty samurai arrive with the intention of killing him. The brave and experienced blind man confronts his enemies with determination and above all with the swift movements of his thin sword, which moves as fast as lightning, cutting and cutting the adversaries three by three. Finally, after destroying the attackers without suffering a single scratch, the remaining four or five samurai flee to the beach in terror. Zatoichi bids farewell to his friend and leaves for the Joshoji temple, to pay his respects to the tomb of his friend Hirate, who was forced to die in combat a year before <see the first part, “Zatôichi monogatari” (1962), by Kenji Misumi>.
Yoshiro, for his part, warns that they are being followed. He discovers the spy sent by the local chief, and neutralizes him with an accurate katana strike. The blind masseur arrives at Joshoji’s temple, and once there he prepares to pray together with the monks who sing Buddhist chants. Not far from that place lives Tane <see the first part, “Zatôichi monogatari”>, who is now engaged to another man, but has not forgotten the courteous and heroic Zatoichi. When Tane learns that his former protector is close, and that he is in danger because military detachments are looking for him without pause, she decides to meet him at the temple to warn him of the danger.
Zatoichi is on his guard. But before the samurai chasing him, Yoshiro and his men arrive. We learn that Yoshiro and Zatoichi knew each other from the past… because they are brothers. Despite their kinship they do not have good relations. Zatoichi’s old girlfriend left him to escape with her brother Yoshiro; however it is the latter who for some incomprehensible reason holds more grudges against the other, and not the other way around as would be expected. Yoshiro says he wants to kill Zatoichi, and both get into a fierce fight. Yoshiro’s helper escapes when he sees the samurai approaching, who also persecute them. This time Zatoichi has an opponent to his measure. His brother is as skilled with the sword as he is, with the advantage that he has not lost his sight. If Zatoichi was able to quickly get rid of four or five enemies at a time with two lightning fast sword strokes, this is not the case with Yoshiro, whose talent and mastery of the sword is comparable to his own. The ronin succeeds in wounding Zatoichi in the hand, but shortly after, in the struggle, the blind man’s weapon penetrates Yoshiro’s flesh, just at the moment when the samurai arrive with the intention of seizing both fugitives. When the military detachment arrives, Zatoichi helps his badly wounded brother to escape from the place, and both throw themselves to the river from a bridge managing to elude the mutual persecutors.
Once in security, Zatoichi is dedicated to healing Yoshiro’s wounds, but he expires the next morning. The alliance between the samurai and the yakuza of the local chief who were trying to hunt down both brothers is considered dead, believing that they have drowned in the river. But Chief Sukegoro and his men are astonished when they learn that Zatoichi has managed to survive, and thirsting for revenge, the blind man rushes at them in the final scene, which ends hastily….
Comment
Second part of a long line of films with the mythical blind masseur, hardened gambler and wandering swordsman Zatoichi as the protagonist. The actor who gives life to the character is, once again, the great Shintaro Katsu. The director of this second part is not Kenji Misumi, but another director (Kazuo Mori). The sequel to “Zatoichi monogatari” (shot the same year, 1962) is not at the same level as the original. There are some gaps in the story; for example, it is never quite clear why the samurai want to kill Zatoichi (What is the secret that the masseur has discovered about the lord? It must be such a big secret that not even the spectator has the right to know… The only thing we are taught is that the gentleman laughs frantically because of the tickling he gets from Zatoichi’s massage). Nor do we know why Yoshiro (who does not appear in the first part) wanted to kill his brother. The girl Zatoichi knows in the tavern, the prostitute who falls in love with him and reminds him of his ex-girlfriend, looks like she is going to become his companion, but she disappears abruptly towards the middle of the footage and nothing about her is ever heard of again (perhaps she will return in a next film of the saga?).
In any case, Zoku Zatôichi monogatari’s viewing is a good opportunity to see Shintaro Katsu and Tomisaburo Wakayama (Zatoichi and Yoshiro, repectively), two greats of the sixties and seventies chambara, who were also brothers in real life.
Get Shintaro Katsu´s Zatoichi: Complete guide to all movies HERE!