Zatoichi Meets the One-Armed Swordsman

Kimiyoshi Yasuda's 1971 film brings together the Japanese Zatoichi series and Hong Kong's One-Armed Swordsman. The blind masseur Ichi notices something troubling on the outskirts of town and finds that the people he suspects are the Chinese martial artist Wang Kang and his young attendant. The two heroes first become friends and then face each other, through a language barrier and a misunderstanding. What is genuinely interesting is the production history: two different endings were shot, one for Japan and one for Hong Kong, and in each country's version its own hero wins. The same event was recut to two different nationalist readings. The meeting of Jimmy Wang Yu and Shintaro Katsu was an event for genre audiences. The language barrier is used as a real dramatic element inside the story. Who it's for: viewers following the Zatoichi and Hong Kong martial arts series. Who it's not for: anyone looking for one consistent version, or who will object to one of the two heroes being put in the wrong.