Shin Zatôichi monogatari: Kasama no chimatsuri (1973)

Director:

Kimiyoshi Yasuda

Writers:

Yoshi Hattori (screenplay)
Kan Shimosawa (story)

Release Date:

15 April 1974 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drama

Plot Keywords:

Martial Arts | Zatoichi | Character Name In Title

Cast

Shintarô Katsu	...	Zatôichi / Blind Man Ichi
Yukiyo Toake	...	Miyo
Eiji Okada	...	Shinbei of Hitachiya
Kei Satô	...	Magistrate
Yoshio Tsuchiya	...	Superintendant Shobei
Shirô Kishibe	...	Ruffian
Rie Yokoyama	...	Yuri / Lily
Tatsuo Endo	...	Boss Iwagoro (as Tatsuo Endô)
Takashi Shimura	...	Sakubei
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Naoyuki Asahina
Tamoisu Fujiharu
Ryuuji Fukui
Takamori Gen
Yuuji Hamada
Kuniko Ishii	...	Virgin farmgirl
Hiroshi Kanda
Masayoshi Kikuno
Goro Kumon
Nobue Matsuoka
Yuzo Miyashita
Tokio Oki
Yuko Ota
Osamu Sakai	...	Gen
Shoroku Shimada
Teiko Takeda
Yûsaku Terajima	...	Yahei
Saburo Ukida
Mitsuo Watanabe
Takeshi Yabuchi
Satoko Yamamura

Directed by
Kimiyoshi Yasuda

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Yoshi Hattori		screenplay
Kan Shimosawa		story

Produced by
Shintarô Katsu	....	producer
Ikuo Kubodera	....	planner
Hiroyoshi Nishioka	....	producer (as Kôzen Nishioka)

Original Music by
Akira Ifukube

Cinematography by
Chishi Makiura

Film Editing by
Yoshiharu Hayashi

Production Design by
Seiichi Ôta

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Masao Kobayashi	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Masao Oosumi	....	sound

Camera and Electrical Department
Eiichi Ootani	....	still photographer
Shôzô Saitô	....	lighting technician

Production Companies

• Katsu Production Co. Ltd.
• Toho Company

Distributors

• Toho Company (1973) (Japan)
• Rising Sun Producitons (1974) (USA) (theatrical) (subtitled)
• AnimEigo (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Artsmagic (UK) (DVD)
• Artsmagic (UK) (VHS)
• Madman Entertainment (2006) (Australia) (DVD) (as "Zatoichi's Conspiracy ")
• Nihon Eiga Satellite Broadcasting (2007) (Japan) (TV)

Other Companies

• Screen Time Images  DVD menus and authoring
• Screen Time Images  audio restoration
• Screen Time Images  film restoration
• Screen Time Images  film transfer

Also Known As:

A New Tale of Zatoichi: Blood Festival of Kasama (informal English title)
The Blind Swordsman's Conspiracy
Zatôichi 25 (Japan) (informal title)
Zatoichi at the Blood Fest (UK) (video title)
Zatoichi's Conspiracy

Runtime:

88 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:MA

Company:

Katsu Production Co. Ltd.

Trivia:

Not only the last Zatôichi film produced by Toho Company Ltd., but also the last of the "old school" Zatôichi films.

Movie Connections:

Follows Yojimbo (1961)

you can try, but you can never go home

After a 23 year absence, Zatoichi returns to his home town to find that few remember him. But in the end the village residents will have much to remember him by.

Of course Zatoichi is in a sentimental mood. There is a funny scene where Zato mistakenly thinks that the town has set up a big banquet in his honor and he frets over how to greet his guests and thank them. There is a touching scene where Zato comes across a Jizo (Buddha) statue along side a road where he used to play as a child. Jizo is missing his stone head, so Zatoichi gets on hands and knees to find the missing head. In the end he finds the head and replaces it on Jizo's shoulders. Zato visits the grave of his 'aunti' who breast fed him and offers sake (taking a nip himself :) ).

The second half of the film is fast paced and has an interesting story. It's a story of greed and the story is being sown by Zatoichi's childhood friend, who has returned to the village at the same time as Zatoichi. Their confrontation is predictable, but Zatoichi takes out a host of yakuza to eventually confront his childhood friend. Overall, it's a compelling story and has a lot of good action.

So this film marks the 25th film in a period of 12 years. It's interesting that the series pauses at this point. The next film (and last) will be released in 1989. I would rank Zatoichi Conspiracy higher than several of the earlier films in the series, but the Japanese public must have had enough by this point. Good work Katsu!