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Zatoichi (, Zatichi) (released in the US as The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi) is a 2003 Japanese Jidaigeki action film, directed, written, co-edited by and starring Takeshi Kitano ("Beat" Takeshi) in his 11th directorial venture.[2] Kitano plays the role of the blind swordsman.

The film is a revival of the classic Zatoichi series of samurai film and television dramas. It premiered on 2 September 2003 at the Venice International Film Festival, where it won the prestigious Silver Lion for Best Director award, and went on to numerous other awards both at home and abroad. It also stars Tadanobu Asano, Michiyo Okusu, Yui Natsukawa, Guadalcanal Taka, Daigoro Tachibana, Yuko Daike, Ittoku Kishibe, Saburo Ishikura and Akira Emoto.

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The film's plot follows a traditional theme, with Zatoichi (a blind swordsman) coming to the defense of townspeople caught up in a local yakuza gang war and being forced to pay excessive amounts of protection money. Meanwhile, Zatoichi befriends a local farmer and her gambler nephew and eventually offers his assistance to two geisha siblings (one of whom is actually a man) who are seeking revenge for the murder of their parents. The siblings are the only survivors of a robbery and massacre that was carried out on their family estate ten years ago. They soon discover the people responsible for the murders are the same yakuza wreaking havoc on the small town.

After slicing his way through an army of henchmen with his sword, Zatoichi defeats the yakuza's bodyguard, a powerful rnin, in a duel. Zatoichi later wanders into town and confronts the yakuza bosses, killing the second-in-command and blinding the elderly yakuza boss (who had been masquerading as a bumbling old waiter up until this point) after surprising him by opening his eyes. The film ends with a dance number led by noted Japanese tap dance troupe The Stripes, and Zatoichi walking down a trail and tripping over a rock, saying: "Even with my eyes wide open, I can't see anything."

Kitano revealed that he was approached by others to create the film, and therefore differed from his own techniques, following the common filmmaking process in order to please them and make a pure-entertainment film.[3]

This film marks Kitano's first collaboration with composer Keiichi Suzuki, ending an eleven-year streak with Joe Hisaishi. The director said he made the decision feeling that the film needed percussion-based music, and that Hisaishi is not a flexible composer, and also suggested that Hisaishi had become too expensive for him. Costumes were created by Kazuko Kurosawa.[4]

On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, Zatoichi had a approval rating of 87% based on 127 reviews and an average rating of 7.2/10. The website's critical consensus states: "Colorful, rich with action and wonderfully choreographed, Takeshi Kitano takes on the classic samurai character with his own brand of cinematic flair".[7] Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 75 out of 100, based on 33 critics, indicating "generally favourable reviews".[8]

Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian gave Zatoichi four out of five stars.[9] Jasper Sharp of Midnight Eye praised the film as "pure cinematic magic".[10] Allan Tong of Exclaim! said: "When Zatoichi is on screen, the film erupts with brilliant fury in unforgettable action sequences".[11] The Washington Post praised the film, while comparing it to Yojimbo, Sanjuro and Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance.[5]

Zatoichi (Japanese: , Hepburn: Zatichi) is a fictional character created by Japanese novelist Kan Shimozawa. He is an itinerant blind masseur and swordsman of Japan's late Edo period (1830s and 1840s). He first appeared in the 1948 essay Zatoichi Monogatari (), part of Shimozawa's Futokoro Tech series that was serialized in the magazine Shsetsu to Yomimono.

This originally minor character was drastically altered and developed for the screen by Daiei Film and actor Shintaro Katsu, becoming the subject of one of Japan's longest-running film series. A total of 26 films were made between 1962 and 1989. From 1974 to 1979, a television series was produced, starring Katsu and some of the same actors that appear in the films. Produced by Katsu Productions, 100 episodes were aired before the Zatoichi television series was cancelled.[1]

The seventeenth film of the Zatoichi series was remade in the US in 1989 by TriStar Pictures as Blind Fury, starring Rutger Hauer. A 2003 film was directed by Takeshi Kitano, who also starred as the title character. It was awarded the Venice Film Festival's Silver Lion for Best Direction. A stage adaptation of Zatoichi directed by Takashi Miike and starring Show Aikawa was filmed in 2007 and later released on home video. Zatoichi: The Last is a 2010 film directed by Junji Sakamoto and starring Shingo Katori.

Zatoichi at first comes across as a harmless blind anma (masseur) and bakuto (gambler) who wanders the land, making his living by ch-han (playing dice) as well as giving massages, performing acupuncture and even, on occasion, singing and playing music. Secretly, however, he is very highly skilled in swordsmanship, specifically Muraku-school kenjutsu and iaido along with the more general sword skills of Japan, as well as sumo wrestling and kyujutsu.

The principal recurring thematic formula of these films and the television series is that of the ever-wandering and sentimental drifter who protects the innocent and the helpless from oppressive or warring yakuza gangs, stops the worst of general injustice or predation and aids the unfortunate, and often, through no fault of his own, is set upon by ruffians or stumbles into harm's way.[citation needed] Zatoichi's saga is essentially one of an earthy but basically good and wise man almost always trying to do the decent thing, to somehow redeem himself and perhaps atone for past failings. Nevertheless, he believes himself instead to be a stained, corrupted and evil man, irredeemable and undeserving of the love and respect that some show and rightly have for him. This self-described "god of calamities" is routinely a magnet for troubles of one sort or another. Death is his only constant companion, as he pragmatically does not allow other people, especially those he loves or thinks highly of, to get close and stay there for long; such would lead to eventual tragedy. Death does seem, like a shadow, actually to follow an often reluctant Zatoichi almost everywhere he goes, and despite his mostly compassionate nature, killing appears to come entirely naturally to him.

A number of other standard scenarios are also repeated through the series: Zatoichi's winning of large amounts at gambling via his ability to hear whether the dice have fallen on even or odd is a common theme, as is his catching loaded or substituted dice by the difference in their sound. This frequently culminates in another set piece, Zatoichi's cutting the candles lighting the room and reducing it to pitch blackness, commonly accompanied by his tagline "Kurayami nara kotchi no mon da" (; roughly meaning "Darkness is my ally" or "Now we are all blind").

The original series of 26 films featured Shintaro Katsu as Zatoichi. The first film was made in 1962 in black and white. The third film, in 1963, was the first to be filmed in color. The 25th film was made in 1973, followed by a hiatus of 16 years until Katsu's last film, which he wrote and directed himself in 1989.

The original series of movies features other popular fictional characters of the genre on two occasions. Zatoichi Meets the One-Armed Swordsman (1971) connects with the Shaw Brothers series of Hong Kong-produced movies directed by prolific director Chang Cheh; and Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo (1970) features Toshiro Mifune as Imperial Shogunate Secret Agent Daisaku Sasa. This character resembles the title character of Akira Kurosawa's films Yojimbo and Sanjuro. The earlier films, in which Mifune's character used the pseudonym Sanjuro (30-year-old), are alluded to when Sassa is jokingly called Shijuro (40-year-old).

The first 20 films were produced and distributed by Daiei Film (except for the 16th film Zatoichi the Outlaw and the 20th film Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo which were produced by Shintaro Katsu's own company, Katsu Productions, and distributed theatrically by Daiei).

The last 6 films (and the TV series) were also produced by Katsu Productions. Distribution of these films was done by Dainichi Eihai (Zatoichi Goes to the Fire Festival, Zatoichi Meets the One-Armed Swordsman), Toho (Zatoichi at Large which Toho also co-produced with Katsu Productions, Zatoichi in Desperation, and Zatoichi at the Blood Fest), and Shochiku which released Katsu's last Zatoichi film in 1989. It was re-released (and retitled Darkness Is His Ally) in 2004, occasioned by the new 2003 Zatoichi film, Zatoichi, starring Takeshi Kitano, which Shochiku also released.

Chambara Entertainment/Video Action of Honolulu held the original VHS release rights to the Zatoichi film series numbers 1-20, though it only released some of them. Chambara eventually expired its North American release license. AnimEigo held the remainder of the VHS rights.[2]

In 1989, TriStar Pictures released a remake called Blind Fury, starring Rutger Hauer as a Vietnam War vet who is blinded, then taught to use a cane sword by a local tribe before returning home to America. This film is based on Zatoichi Challenged (1967), the 17th film in the original series.

In 2003, Takeshi Kitano wrote, directed and appeared in a new high-budget film featuring the character, Zatoichi. It premiered on September 3, 2003, at the Venice Film Festival, where it won the prestigious Silver Lion award, and went on to numerous other awards both at home and abroad. The soundtrack was composed by Keiichi Suzuki and the Japanese tap dance troupe The Stripes. Zatoichi discovers a small, remote mountain town that has been overtaken by a bullying gang that is extorting money from the townspeople. As Zatoichi seeks to liberate the town, he encounters a rnin seeking employment to pay for his ailing wife's needs, and two geisha who are seeking to avenge the murder of their parents, but he soon discovers that they are not what they seem to be. 006ab0faaa