The Tale of Zatoichi Continues

A year ago Zatoichi killed Hirate in a duel. He had respected the man. Now he returns to that village to visit his grave. He stays at an inn on the road. A group of men there are escorting a traveller; the man is a lord's relative whose mind is disturbed, and so he is being moved in secret. Zatoichi notices, and because he has witnessed it he becomes a target. There is a local gang in the same district. And one man knows him: his own brother. There is an old matter between the two of them. Kazuo Mori directs. Shintarō Katsu plays Zatoichi; Yoshie Mizutani, Masayo Banri and Tomisaburō Wakayama are in the cast. It is a Japanese production, made in 1962. The film is the second in the Zatoichi series, which eventually ran to more than twenty films. Tomisaburō Wakayama was Shintarō Katsu's elder brother in life and plays his brother in the film. It is in black and white and is short; the series was produced quickly in those years. The matter it treats is not being able to escape the past; Zatoichi always arrives at the same result. The narrative does not show its lead as faultless; he gambles and he cheats. The fights are short and hard; once the sword is drawn it finishes quickly. The same structure repeats through the series: the traveller arrives, sees an injustice, intervenes and leaves. Its limit is scale; the narrative is simple, the characters thin, and the ending conventional. Who it is for: viewers who like Japanese sword films and the Zatoichi series. Who it is not for: it is old, short, and the narrative simple.