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THE TALE OF ZATOICHI

I grew up on cowboy and samurai films, and have featured both in this blog.

  • Can catch a fly with chopsticks.  So did Miyamoto Musashi.
  • Set in the late Edo period, 1830's and 1840's.
  • Shintaro Katsu, actor, made 26 Zatoichi films from 1962 to 1989.

I was recently watching TCM, which played the very first Zatoichi film, The Tale of Zatoichi, which was made in 1962.  Thought it was entertaining, and was curious, so went to Rotten Tomatoes and was astounded to see it rated at 100/87.  

So I just had to learn more about this series and found the following.

  • Shintaro Katsu originated the role and played in all 26 of them.
  • #25 was the 1973 Zatoichi's Conspiracy.  
  • Then in 1989, after 16 years, Zatoichi:  Darkness is His Ally, which had a RT audience rating of 90, even higher than the first.  And if you click on that link, you indeed still can watch this entire film.
  • In 2003 came Zatoichi, written, directed, co-edited and starring Takeshi Kitano. Received excellent 87/88 RT scores.

I thus got even more interested in researching everything about Zatoichi.

  • Zatoichi is a fictional character, his name is a conflation of Zato-No-Ichi, which translates to Ichi the Masseur, which he also was.
  • He supposedly lost his sight as a child through illness.
  • However in the 1500's, there was a renowned swordsman, Toda Seigen, who began training as a swordsman, but soon became blind.  
  • He developed a short sword skill technique using a cane sword made of wood.
  • Lived a long life.
  • Shintaro Katsu was born in 1931 and passed away in 1997 at the age of 63.
    • Comes from a family of kabuki and acting stars.
    • Had a troubled personal life.
    • Heavy drinker and several brushes with the law over drug use, including in Hawaii for marijuana.

The 26 Zatoichi films, ranked by Collider.  Here are all of them.  Click on any one to read the details.  Now you can search for them, as they are scattered through all of the streaming channels.

List of Zatoichi Films 

Main Series (1962-1989)



























TV Series (1974-1979)


Spin Offs (2003-2010)



Rotten Tomatoes ranked all the Zatoichi movies.  The highest rated was The Tale of Zatoichi Continues with a score of 100.  The LOWEST was Lone Wolf and Cub...and Sword of Vengeance.  Both were an excellent 83.  If I later locate where they can be seen, return over time to see which ones I found.

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