Zatôichi monogatari (1962)

Director:

Kenji Misumi

Writers:

Minoru Inuzuka (screenplay)
Kan Shimosawa (short story)

Release Date:

18 April 1962 (Japan)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Drama

Plot:

The adventures of a blind, gambling masseur who also happens to be a master swordsman. |

Plot Keywords:

Martial Arts | Gambler | Katana Sword | Sword Fight | Samurai

Cast

Shintarô Katsu	...	Zatôichi / Blind Man Ichi / Masseur Ichi
Masayo Banri	...	Tane / Tatekichi's sister / Seisuke's ex-lover
Ryuzo Shimada	...	Shigezô of Sasagawa / Sasagawa yakuza boss
Hajime Mitamura	...	Hanji of Matsugishi
Shigeru Amachi	...	Hirate, Miki
Chitose Maki	...	Yoshi / Hanji's wife
Ikuko Môri	...	Yutaka / Shigezô's wife
Michio Minami	...	Tatekichi / Tane's brother / Saki's lover / Iioka yakuza member
Eijirô Yanagi	...	Sukegorô of Iioka / Iioka yakuza boss
Toshio Chiba	...	Masakichi / Iioka yakuza member (as Toshirô Chiba)
Manabu Morita	...	Seisuke / Tane's ex-lover / Iioka yakuza member
Yoichi Funaki	...	Yogorô / Sasagawa yakuza member
Kinya Ichikawa	...	Mokichi / Sasagawa yakuza member
Eigoro Onoe	...	Rihei / Sasagawa yakuza member
Yoshito Yamaji	...	Yahei / Father of Tane and Tatekichi
Yukio Horikita	...	Kanaji / Sasagawa yakuza member
Ryuuji Fukui	...	Daihachi / Iioka yakuza member
Masayoshi Kikuno	...	A coolie
Hajime Koshikawa	...	A farmer
Akira Shiga	...	A dice-roller
Masashi Hamada	...	Iioka yakuza member
Kôichi Aihara
Hiroyoshi Nishioka	...	Iioka yakuza member
Gen Kimura	...	Sasagawa gambler spy
Taizô Sengoku	...	Ishichi / Sasagawa yakuza member
Noboru Taniguchi	...	Tomozô / Sasagawa yakuza member
Shingo Hosotani	...	Iioka yakuza member
Saburô Nagaoka
Katsuyoshi Baba	...	Iioka yakuza member
Yô Yuuki	...	Iioka yakuza member
Keiko Awanami	...	Saki / Tatekichi's lover
Kanae Kobayashi	...	Kane the Sasagawa innkeeper
Bonta Maru
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jun Katsumura	...	Iioka yakuza

Directed by
Kenji Misumi

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Minoru Inuzuka		screenplay (as Minoru Inuduka)
Kan Shimosawa		short story

Produced by
Ikuo Kubodera	....	executive producer
Ikuo Kubodera	....	planner

Original Music by
Akira Ifukube

Cinematography by
Chishi Makiura

Film Editing by
Kanji Suganuma

Production Design by
Akira Naito

Production Management
Mitsuru Tanabe	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Toshiaki Kunihara	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Iwao Otani	....	sound recordist

Camera and Electrical Department
Hironari Kato	....	lighting technician
Hiroya Katô	....	lighting technician
Yasuo Matsuura	....	still photographer

Music Department
Toshiki Nakamoto	....	natural music director

Other crew
Shohei Miyauchi	....	martial arts director

Production Companies

• Daiei Motion Picture Company

Distributors

• Chambara Entertainment (USA) (VHS)
• Daiei Studios
• Janus Films (USA) (subtitled)
• Siren Visual Entertainment (2005) (Australia) (DVD)

Also Known As:

The Tale of Zatoichi (USA) (video title)
Zatôichi 1 (Japan) (informal title)
Zatoichi: The Life and Opinion of Masseur Ichi

Runtime:

96 min | USA:95 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:M

Company:

Daiei Motion Picture Company

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Cinema Hong Kong: Kung Fu (2003) (TV)

Sombre and effective period drama

This is the first of more than 20 films featuring Ichi, a blind masseur-turned-swordsman in medieval Japan. Although he learned to wield a sword only to gain respect, Ichi finds his skill constantly in demand by criminal gangs. He's always reluctant to fight, and resorts to violence only with great reluctance and as a last resort. He prefers to make his living by practising his skills as a masseur and supplementing that income by conning greedy crooks who underestimate his gambling abilities.

In this first episode of a series that covered two decades, Ichi is hired by a gang leader to defeat a consumptive samurai who's been imported by a rival gang. The two swordsmen meet while fishing and become friends, but destiny has decreed they must fight each other, and only one will survive…

Fans of action movies may be disappointed with ZATOICHI MONOGATARI, because there's virtually no fighting for the movie's first hour. Instead, there's unusual emphasis on character development. Ichi himself receives much of the attention, and Shintaro Katsu (who also played the role in all the sequels) presents us with a subtle, complex portrayal of the reluctant mercenary. His scenes with the enamored sister of one of the gang members and with the mortally sick samurai are played with great sincerity without becoming sentimental. These two characters are also sensitively portrayed. Even many of the crooks are carefully established as individuals.

The climax won't disappoint action fans, though. Beginning with a flurry of gang skirmishes, frenetically edited to a throbbing score, it ends on a bitter and almost tragic note after the inevitable confrontation between the two protagonists.

Director Kenji Misumi embellishes the slow build-up with a succession of captivating black-and-white compositions and attention to period detail. A degree of pace is maintained by making scene transitions with cuts rather than dissolves. Sets are given visual depth by being framed with foreground objects. The camera is often positioned slightly above or below the characters' eye-lines. Very precise interior lighting creates interesting patterns on and around the actors. By contrast, the daytime exteriors are overly bright and tend to disrupt the mood.

Far from being a typical samurai movie, ZATOICHI MONOGATARI is an unusually somber yet effective period drama, and probably the best entry in the long series it inaugurated.