ZATOICHI #16
Directed by Satsuo Yamamoto • 1967 • Japan
Zatoichi arrives in a town where a gambling house is kidnapping its poor, debt-ridden patrons. A rival establishment moves to pay those debts and free the peasants, but this second house’s seemingly altruistic boss is actually laying the groundwork for a ruthless money-grabbing scheme. The sixteenth ZATOICHI film is the first effort from its star’s own Katsu Productions, and it is one of the series’ most daring, with its complex characters, subversive social themes, and moral outrage.
Up Next in Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman
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Zatoichi Challenged
ZATOICHI #17
Directed by Kenji Misumi • 1967 • JapanA dying woman begs Zatoichi to reunite her son with the father he has never met, but when the blind masseur searches for the man, he discovers that he has been forced by a local yakuza boss to pay off his gambling debts in an unusual way: by p...
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Zatoichi and the Fugitives
ZATOICHI #18
Directed by Kimiyoshi Yasuda • 1968 • JapanThe wandering swordsman finds himself in a small village that serves as hideout for a band of fugitives who control the town officials and enforce brutal slave labor in the local silk mill. This lean and mean entry is packed with coldheart...
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Samaritan Zatoichi
ZATOICHI #19
Directed by Kenji Misumi • 1968 • JapanHired by a yakuza boss to eliminate an accused debtor, Zatoichi fulfills his task, only to witness the victim’s sister paying the owed amount minutes later. When the crime lord tries to possess the woman along with the cash, the blind swordsma...
