ZATOICHI #9
Directed by Kimiyoshi Yasuda • 1964 • Japan
The blind swordsman wanders into a town to celebrate the New Year. There, he befriends a young woman whose father has gone missing; as he tries to help her find him, he becomes entangled in a web of corruption and a series of tragic twists of fate. Returning director Kimiyoshi Yasuda and screenwriter Shozaburo Asai masterfully weave together a variety of narrative threads and tonal registers, all while playfully tweaking the conventions and motifs of the series.
Up Next in Samurai
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Zatoichi’s Flashing Sword
ZATOICHI #7
Directed by Kazuo Ikehiro • 1964 • JapanThe blind swordsman is shot and nursed back to health by kind strangers. He soon discovers that his saviors are caught between sparring crime lords; bound by honor, Zatoichi stays to ensure their safety. Along the way, we learn more about the ...
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Bandits vs. Samurai Squadron
Directed by Hideo Gosha • 1978 • Japan
Tatsuya Nakadai stars as a vengeful ex-samurai commanding a gang of outlaws in an attack on the castle of his former master.
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Assassin
Directed by Masahiro Shinoda • 1964 • Japan
Masahiro Shinoda's Assassin (aka Ansatsu) was the director's first period film - but it is hardly set in the "safety" of a past era, as its story, of a masterless samurai (Tetsuro Tamba) making his way amid the chaotic aftermath of Commodore Perry's fo...
