Tokuzo Tanaka

Zatoichi’s Vengeance

Zatoichi’s Vengeance

Zatoichi encounters a dying man, who asks the itinerant masseur to deliver a bag of money to his young son; he agrees to fulfill the request, finding the boy in a village terrorized by criminals. This is the first entry to scrutinize the swordsman’s methods, as a blind monk confronts Zatoichi about his violent approach to problem solving and Zatoichi finds the child turning to the same bloodstained path.

Film Info

  • Japan
  • 1966
  • 82 minutes
  • Color
  • 2.35:1
  • Japanese

Available In

Collector's Set

Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman

Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman

Blu-ray Box Set

9 Discs

$159.96

Zatoichi’s Vengeance
Cast
Shintaro Katsu
Zatoichi
Shigeru Amachi
Kurobe
Jun Hamamura
Blind priest
Gen Kimura
Tamekichi
Koichi Mizuhara
Joshuya
Mayumi Ogawa
Ocho/Oshino
Kei Sato
Boss Gonzo
Credits
Director
Tokuzo Tanaka
Produced by
Ikuo Kubodera
Original story by
Kan Shimozawa
Screenplay
Hajime Takaiwa
Cinematography
Kazuo Miyagawa
Edited by
Kanji Suganuma
Original music
Akira Ifukube
Art direction
Yoshinobu Nishioka

Current

Tony Rayns on the Meaning of Zatoichi
Tony Rayns on the Meaning of Zatoichi

Asian-cinema expert Tony Rayns unpacks the significance of Zatoichi’s name and the strict social hierarchy that the character so gleefully upends.

On the Road with Zatoichi
On the Road with Zatoichi

He massages, he gambles, and he’s great with a blade. Who is this blind swordsman, anyway?

By Geoffrey O’Brien