Shin Zatôichi: Yabure! Tojin-ken (1971)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Director:

Kimiyoshi Yasuda

Writers:

Kan Shimosawa (story)
Takayuki Yamada (writer)

Release Date:

13 January 1971 (Japan)

Genre:

Drama | Action | Adventure

Tagline:

A legendary figure in Japan is Zatoichi - the blind masseur with healing hands and a swift sword.

Plot Keywords:

Katana | Quarry | One Armed Man | Reverse Footage | Samurai

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Shintarô Katsu	...	Zatôichi
Yu Wang	...	Wang Kong
Watako Hamaki	...	Sen
Michie Terada	...	Yone
Koji Nambara	...	Kakuzen
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Toru Abe	...	Boss Toubei
Katsutoshi Akiyama
Yuutaroo Ban
Yi Chang	...	Shamo
Yuuji Hamada
Tokue Hanazawa
Seishirô Hara
Tsutomu Hashimoto
Shirô Itô	...	Stooge
Tadashi Iwata
Masato Kagawa
Jun Katsumura	...	Toubei yakuza
Kanae Kobayashi	...	Shige
Goro Kumon
Gen Kuroki
Yuzou Kusakawa
Noritake Matsuda
Shinsuke Minami	...	Henoichi
Shoji Mori
Junjiro Niida
Osamu Okawa
Hitoshi Omae
Jun Ôsugi
Takamaru Sasaki
Koichi Sato	...	Yakuza
Jun Satomi
Mitsuo Totsuka	...	Kame
Ling Wang	...	Yumay (as Su Lin)
Ichirô Yamamoto

Also Known As:

The Blind Swordsman Meets His Equal
Zatôichi 22 (Japan) (informal title)
Zatoichi Meets His Equal
Zatoichi Meets His Match
Zatoichi Meets the 1-Arm Swordsman
Zatoichi Meets the One Armed Swordsman
Zatoichi and the One Armed Swordsman

Runtime:

94 min

Country:

Japan | Hong Kong

Language:

Japanese | Mandarin

Color:

Color (Daieicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Australia:PG (DVD rating) | Australia:M

Company:

Daiei Motion Picture Company

Trivia:

The last Zatoichi film produced by the Daiei Motion Picture Company (which had went bankrupt). Toho Company took over the films for the rest of the decade (along with Shintarô Katsu's own Katsu Productions, which coproduced the films since 1967).

Movie Connections:

Follows Zatoichi tekka tabi (1967)

Japan's Top Action Character meets Hong Kong's Top Action Character

An interesting meeting of action film genres at a time when one was ebbing into the twilight and the other just starting to go. It would be only a few more years before the chambara genre peters out (but not before some more great films are made) and mostly moves to television. The wuxia (swordplay) genre (where the One Armed Swordsman comes from) split off into the kung fu genre which hits it's stride with the coming of Bruce Lee's "Big Boss" and Wang Yu's self-directed "One Armed Boxer" (no relation to the swordsman), the same year this Zatoichi film is released. The great years of kung fu cinema were just around the corner.

Wang Kong (the One-Armed Swordsman) arrives in Japan to find a temple where a Japanese monk has invited Wang Kong to live. Unable to speak Japanese at all, Wang Kong chances upon a traveling Chinese family of entertainers who have made Japan their home. A husband, wife and young boy, they like Japan better then China. Accompanying Wang Kong to the temple the four encounter a procession of samurai transporting specially prepared abalone destined for the Shogun. Everyone must get off the road and let the procession pass or suffer dire consequences. Unfortunately, the little Chinese boy runs after a kite and is set upon by a sword swinging samurai. The mother protects her child but at the cost of her life, the father is killed too. Agast at the cruelty of the samurai, Wang Kong jumps in and kills a number of them. The little boy runs off and is separated from Wang Kong who retreats from further battle. The samurai decide to kill all the innocent people who witnessed the scene and blame the carnage on the "crazed Chinaman". Zatoichi comes upon the frightened child and decides to take care of him. Later the fugitive Wang Kong meets Zatoichi but the two have a really hard time communicating and Wang Kong is very suspicious of Zatoichi's motives. Of course this being a Zatoichi film, an evil yakuza gang gets involved and you know what's going to happen to them.

The first thing that strikes me is how different the One-Armed Swordman films were from the Zatoichi films in terms of sophistication. The HK films of the time were still very stagy in look and acting where the Japanese films were well versed in film techniques and acted in a more natural manner. I am not a great fan of Chang Cheh's "One Armed Swordsman" but many people really like it and it deserves it's significance in film history. It was also apparently very popular in Japan.

This particular outing with the character is arguably the best produced One-Armed Swordsman film with actor Wang Yu as the character. There are a few issues with the film, the most serious is that the producers assumed that you already know Wang Kong is missing an arm and fights with a broken sword. Anyone unfamiliar with the backstory is going to be confused but the film will still be watchable. Second, the highly refined and excellent sword choreography for Zatoichi really makes the faithful but stagy non-weapon kung fu for Wang Kong look not so good. The kung fu sword work comes off fine however. The Japanese producers were very respectful to the One-Armed Swordman mythos and kept the character true to the original film.

The film, while not the absolute best of the Zatoichi series, is very good and touches on a number of issues. There are colorful characters the liven up the film and you will not be wasting your time watching. Recommended.