Kimiyoshi Yasuda

Zatoichi’s Conspiracy

Zatoichi’s Conspiracy

Everything comes full circle when Zatoichi returns to his hometown. Unfortunately, he finds that a childhood friend has become a feared crime lord, keeping the locals in debt and bilking them of their rice. Capping off Zatoichi’s feature film era before he made the transition to television in 1974, this chapter is suffused with melancholy, closing the series on a note of seriousness and emotional heft that it has well earned.

Film Info

  • Japan
  • 1973
  • 88 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

$139.96

Zatoichi’s Conspiracy
Cast
Shintaro Katsu
Zatoichi
Yukiyo Toake
Omiyo
Takashi Shimura
Sakubei
Eiji Okada
Shinbei
Kei Sato
Magistrate
Yoshio Tsuchiya
Shobei
Rie Yokoyama
Yuri
Tatsuo Endo
Boss Iwagoro
Credits
Director
Kimiyoshi Yasuda
Produced by
Shintaro Katsu
Produced by
Hiroyoshi Nishioka
Original story by
Kan Shimozawa
Screenplay
Yoshiko Hattori
Cinematography
Chikashi Makiura
Edited by
Yoshiharu Hayashi
Original music
Akira Ifukube
Art direction
Seiichi Ota

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