Zatôichi kenka-tabi

Plot synopsis:
Ichi is being taken to Doyoma, all expenses paid by an employee of Doyoma crime boss Hikozo, on the promise of just meeting with Hikozo, no obligation to do anything. On the way his guide is killed by Hikozo's rivals who overheard Ichi and his guide at a tea house. Ichi kills them including the husband of Hisa, a woman who watches the short fight. She tells him this when he asks and they part coolly.
At night he encounters a group of samurai looking for a girl. They leave and Ichi discovers the man they have just mortally wounded. He asks Ichi to protect a girl named Mitsu, the girl for whom the others are looking, and escort her to Edo (the capital, nowadays called Tokyo) where her family can protect her. He finds the exceptionally well-dressed girl hiding in a nearby shed. Ichi kills two men who come into the shed looking but another man escapes. Sometime during their travel Mitsu reveals that she is being hunted because she stabbed the local lord in the face with her hairpin when he tried to rape her.
They reach an inn where Hisa is also staying with Jingoro, the man who hired Hisa's husband. Confessing to be low on cash, Ichi asks the proprietress if she can ask if anyone wishes for a massage so he can earn money to pay for the accommodation. Jingoro accepts so he can find out about Ichi. Ichi orders Mitsu not to leave their room. While giving the massage Hisa, whose presence Ichi detected, leaves the room. When asked if he is Zatoichi, Ichi denies this and says Zatoichi is a fool for having learned the sword as now people always want to kill him. Ichi senses the man going for his sword, he grabs it, wraps the sageo (cord around the sheath) around the handle so it can't be used and throws it across the room.and then gives a very hard massage for which he charges a huge amount. Meanwhile, Hisa has talked to Mitsu and convinced her of Ichi's ill intent. Hisa leaves with Mitsu.
At the palanquin service, Hisa's insistence on haste alerts Tomegoro, the owner, who decides there is money to be made by taking the girl himself and he orders his men to cast Hisa out. Ichi finds Hisa in the street and learns that Jingoro works for Boss Tobei Shimozuma. Claiming to be there to give a massage, Ichi goes to the travel boss and asks about Mitsu but they try to throw him out. After this failure and a show of swordsmanship they return Mitsu to him. Back at the inn Ichi chastises Mitsu and reveals his hurt feelings that she mistrusted him. She apologises and flies into his arms.
The next day the group of samurai are on the road looking for the girl with orders to kill her from their lord which one of them questions. While eating lunch Mitsu says she is happy for her hardships as without them she never would have met Ichi. As she reaches to wipe food from her face he violently grabs her hand and tells her to stay still and then despatches the three samurai who charge at them. Arriving at the next town Mitsu asks him to come with her so she can meet her family and when he is reluctant she gets him to confess that if he doesn't leave her now he will be unable to ever let her go which pleases her before he says he is joking. Even as she is sitting in her palanquin she begs him to visit.
Sitting on a boat Ichi overhears that the two bosses are going to fight as Boss Hikozo has arrived home. Tomegoro goes to Doyama to see Hikozo and find Ichi and kidnap Mitsu. Ichi arrives at Hikozo's house. Hikozo asks Ichi for help and Ichi demurs, claiming false pretences, and Hikozo eventually offers the huge sum of 20 gold ryo which Ichi accepts as below his usual 30 only because of who they will fight. The young man, Matsu, who serves Ichi sake reveals he loves a girl named Mitsu.
Hisa and another man waylay Mitsu on the road and take her to Boss Tobei. They plan to use her to control Ichi. Hikozo launches a dawn raid by boat and Shimozuma drags Mitsu out against Hisa's protests that taking a girl to a fight is wrong. Tobei lets Mitsu call out and orders Ichi out of the fight and he concedes, even to the point of returning his money and conferring with Tobei about killing the two bosses on the other side which is Tobei's main objective.
Ichi starts the fight and in the confusion manages to isolate Tobei with Hikozo and Tomegoro and he kills all three. Other men arrive and flee in panic when Ichi faces them. He returns to the main street and when confronted by Matsu tells him to leave. Mitsu is unharmed, apparently with Hisa's help, and flies into Ichi's arms again. Tobei's men arrive in force with Jingoro, whom Ichi says deserves to die, and threaten Ichi. He gives money to Matsu to take Mitsu to the ferry. As they leave he calls them back and almost returns to her her kerchief which she dropped before he sent here away the first time but he changes his mind. Her then kills Jingoro and any man who approaches.
Waiting on the road Matsu realises Mitsu is the girl that Ichi talked about fondly and that by giving them money Ichi was signalling that he wouldn't be with them. Ichi is seen walking off alone again.

Tags: cult, murder

Review:
One Angry Blind Man. This movie had some great sword-fighting sequences, as well as the usual beautiful (but kinda stupid) young woman falling for the blind gambler.
I think that the most compelling sequence, though, is where he rescues the young hostage without drawing a sword.
There is something about the transformation of the humble blind man to angry, sarcastic avenger that is compelling.
It reminds me of those few Columbo episodes where the detective tips his hand early in the episode, for some reason.This movie would be an excellent introduction to the series..
Crescendo of Provocation.
This was the fifth Zatôichi film in just two years.
It's been a while since I saw the last one in the series, but they're great fun.
Simpler than the previous films, and also far more conventional as an action-adventure, "Zatôichi kenka-tabi" ('Zatôichi on the Road', 1963) stays true to its name, although it could've been called 'The Road To Edo' as well: a road movie of chasing and hiding, of fighting and fleeing to fight again; hide and seek, and pretense.
The film greatly picks up in between the fights during the scene at the inn, which is well-made.
And it is this sense of, well, it's not predictability because that sounds negative...
let's say 'familiarity', that makes it so easy for the viewer to jump right into it – we know where it comes from and where it goes.It's become a running joke by now to have Zatôichi evade fighting, only to be eluded to a situation where he has to fight.
He think he's only on a trip to Edo, while he's taken there to help out at a clan fight.
The film is a crescendo of provocation until Zatôichi finally unsheathes his sword.
This, of course, makes the films work in the long run: we need a sympathetic character, and having a character who would run around killing people for pleasure doesn't really cut it here.
Yet there is a genuinely tragic undersong here: he doesn't search for trouble yet the trouble finds him, and still he is looking for trouble, as he says in the film, by having learnt to fight with the sword.
My favourite moment is the one with the white sunshades on the slope, and Zatôichi running with the children in imitation of the ending of "Det sjunde inseglet" (1957), the other one is the Kurosawan climax.I do wonder when we're going to have a decent villain, though..
Female power meets gloomy tension.
Zatoichi on the Road is the fifth entry in the franchise and the third movie released within one year.
In my opinion, this movie is the best of the franchise since the charismatic first film that really established everything one appreciates about the blind samurai who uses his head cleverly and his hands quickly.
Zatoichi is being taken to a distant town by a caring employee who wants the blind masseur to meet his boss for reasons that are still unknown to the blind masseur.
However, the two men get ambushed by a group of samurai who turn out to be opponents of the boss Zatoichi is supposed to meet.
The employee is killed but Zatoichi survives and meets the widow of one of the attackers who is going to become an important antagonist.
Zatoichi travels on and meets a dying old man who got attacked by a group of samurai.
He helped a young woman who attacked her own master who was trying to rape her.
The dying man asks Zatoichi to escort the young woman back to her family in the capital.
Zatoichi is unable to refuse a dying man's last wish and protects the young woman on his way towards the capital.
However, the widow of the samurai Zatoichi killed and several associates want to kidnap the young woman to harm Zatoichi.
Zatoichi ends up being caught in a rivalry between the clan who wanted to hire him for a fight and the clan who attempted to assassinate him.
Zatoichi realizes both sides only want to use him for their own purposes and turns against both clans while his main objective remains to bring the young lady back to safety.There are several elements that make this movie stand out.
First of all, the film features less characters with clearer objectives than the confusing predecessor.
Secondly, the movie includes two intriguing female characters.
The first is the cool vindicative widow who wants to see Zatoichi dead.
The second is the desperate and naive girl who is tracked down by her master's samurai and who really needs Zatoichi's help in order to survive.
It's refreshing that the screenwriters didn't try to plug a dramatic love story here as Zatoichi treats the young lady like a caring father and even approaches the sinister widow with respect.
Thirdly, the movie constantly builds up tension due to several dramatic kidnappings, short but poignant fight sequences and an epic showdown in an abandoned town that positively recalls some samurai classics like Korusawa's Yojimbo.In the end, Zatoichi on the Road convinces with its quick pace, solid dose of tension and interesting characters, especially the two important female characters which are quite unusual for samurai flicks of that time.
Fans of Asian martial arts films should be familiar with this film and collectors and followers of the Zatoichi franchise might see this film as one of the best in the series..
Zatoichi on the Road (1963).
I really disliked this one.
When you see how generic the title "Zatoichi on the Road" is (doesn't he travel around in every movie?), you immediately get the feeling that this particular entry in the franchise is going to be bland and generic.
And well, it ended up to be just that.
The only things you can gather from this movie is that little kids during the Edo period were d*cks because they loved to mock blind people as it seems, and we also learn what Zatoichi's favorite fruit is (which I'm not going to reveal so that you have a reason to watch the film).The storyline to this film is a bit too reminding of Kurosawa's Yojimbo, which came out two years prior, and the similarities especially get apparent during the final showdown scene where the two rivaling yakuza clans are shown each on one side of the town.
The main girl in this episode is unfortunately a screaming damsel in distress, but surprisingly there's no romance between her and Zatoichi.
Most of the film is carried by a sluggish pace, which is occasionally broken by a short action scene, usually without build-up.Even on the technical scale is the film a massive step down from the previous episodes.
Although the sword-fighting scenes gradually improve as the series go on, it is kinda stupid seeing someone be brutally cut up by a katana, only to face the camera in his dying breath to reveal that his clothes are neither torn nor bloody.
I guess this movie was made during the time when real katanas were used on set, but some of its contemporaries nevertheless had awesome fight scenes, so I don't know.
The visuals are quite lifeless this time.
The movie is mostly shot in pitch black night settings and whenever it's daytime, it has a stunningly boring gray-to-brown color palette.
Even the music seems too intrusive at several turns.Highlight of the movie: the cold opening where Zatoichi kicks ass swiftly and with style, also finding time to throw a killer one-liner, "Darkness is my ally." It's a shame that the rest of the film doesn't live up to the 30-second intro..
Chivalry is tested.
When Zatoichi accidentally met an unknown dying man, who asked him to save an unknown maiden, he felt obligated.
He didn't even have to promise.
Time and again, he did everything in his power to save the maiden in several occassions.
But when he took side on a feudal quarrel, he found himself choosing between which one to honor better:  The request of a dying man or the contract he made with one of the gang leaders.
You've guessed what he opted.
Modern gangsters may have a different code of ethics..
Masterful samurai among the masterless (those hapless choppers who should have remained so).
Fierce fighter, but humble, deferential to a fault, carefully rewards goodness only when he cannot be thanked, protective of innocents --- much like our finest cowboy heroes (Shane, Coop in Noon, Clint).My wife likes The Shield for the same reasons she likes Hollywood's version of Cosa Nostra: protect the innocent, swiftly and without recourse punish the guilty.If Michael Corleone ran the justice system, would O.J. be playing golf?
Would the beaten, threatened common-law wife be turned away from the police station with "until he actually kills you, the ACLU won't allow us to do anything?" Just saw the first sequel episode, #2.
The print I found appears to be a crude chop job by Janus Films, that marketer having rudely hacked off the correct ending..
Ichi in control.
This being the fifth entry in the Zatoichi series, the series has taken on an expected form.
Once again, Zatoichi finds himself in the middle of a gang war and tries to do the right thing.
The right thing in this case is to spirit a young maiden back to safety in Edo and away from a rapacious samurai.Zatoichi is firmly in control in this entry of the series.
This is not always the case.
But here, Zatoichi is comfortable, confident, and intimidating.
Both gangs treat Ichi with the utmost respect (at least to his face) because of his fighting prowess.
This fact is punctuated in the scene where Ichi tries to get the gang war started by asking the other side to send up a challenger to fight one on one.
There are no takers!The young maiden is lovely Mitsu (Shiho Fujimura).
It's easy to see how Ichi falls for this cute, helpless maiden.
Although in the end, Ichi doesn't think he is good enough for her, because she is the daughter of a wealthy merchant.Each good entry in the series has one or two scenes which are unforgettable.
For me, the dragonfly scene in On the Road is unforgettable.
A lovely moment of a spring day turns suddenly violent for only a few seconds and then peace is restored.
How many times do we see villains leap at Zatoichi when he has fallen or is on the ground?
That turns out to be a fatal mistake!Overall it's a good entry in the series.
It's good to see Ichi get some respect and the love of a charming lady.
It's sad to see him march off by himself at the end of the film.
Why Zatoichi, why?.
one of the best of the original Zatoichi series.
I love the Zatoichi movies, though I have found that because they made so many and the plots tended to blend together so often, it is hard to distinguish them apart.
I would give all of them about the same score of a 7 or an 8--with a few exceptions (the return of the original in 1989 was a TERRIBLE and depressing movie, while the new Zatoichi movie starring Beat Takeshi is probably the best of any Zatoichi movies).So why have I picked this one?
Well, because it stands out a little from the rest in that it's a little better and more engaging.
How Zatoichi defeated BOTH rival gangs at the movie's conclusion was spectacular and exciting to watch.
In other words, he doesn't just beat ONE group of enemies, but two.
So, if you want to see a Zatoichi flick, this is a good one to try.