The Tale of Zatoichi

Zatoichi is a blind masseur who also uses a sword, which nobody expects. He arrives in a town and lands in the middle of a fight between two gangs. One side hires him. On the other is a samurai dying of consumption: Hirate. The two meet and take to each other. Both know they are the swords of opposing sides. Kenji Misumi directs. Shintaro Katsu plays Zatoichi. The source is a story by Kan Shimozawa. This is the first of the twenty six Zatoichi films. The character became one of the longest running heroes in Japanese cinema and Katsu played him for more than twenty years. The tone of the first film differs from the later ones. There is little action; the narrative is given to the relationship between the two men and the politics of the town, the fights are short and the outcome is sad. Zatoichi's blindness is built not as a disability but as a form of knowledge; he works by sound, touch and distance. The idea is where honour lies. The man of the samurai class dies and the masseur lives, and the narrative takes on the difference of class directly. The image is black and white and widescreen. Who it is for: viewers who like Japanese period film and serial hero narratives. Who it is not for: there is little fighting for anyone expecting action, the pace is slow, and the narrative stalls towards the end.