Zatoichi's Cane Sword

Zatoichi arrives in Tonda, a town taken over by gangsters. At a rigged gambling table he uses one of his own methods and wins eight ryo. The gang's men try to kill him and it escalates from there. There is an old blacksmith in the town called Senzo; when he takes Zatoichi's cane sword in his hands he recognises it as the work of his own master. In the same look he sees something else: the blade has reached the end of its life and will break the next time it is used. Zatoichi has to settle accounts in the town knowing that. Kimiyoshi Yasuda directs, with Shintarō Katsu as Zatoichi as always. Ninety-three minutes. One of the best-loved entries in the series; the fact that the sword will break loads the whole tension of the film onto a single scene.