After 1966’s “Zatoichi’s Pilgrimage”, the altogether fifteenth installment of the popular series revolving round the blind masseur with the incredible sword skills sees the return of seasoned director Kimiyoshi Yasuda, who previously helmed “Zatoichi on the Road” as well as “Adventures of Zatoichi”. Along with many other creative minds who have shaped the series, giving each episode a unique style and also at times another piece in the overall image the audience has received of the character played by Shintaro Katsu, Yasuda has given his features an interesting blend of following the formula but also questioning the roots of the protagonist, which is also due to the script written by Ryozo Kasahara with regard to “Zatoichi’s Cane Sword”. In many ways, this installment might even be regarded a companion piece to the previous entry by Kazuo Ikehiro considering it revolves around the question of how much of Zatoichi...
- 1/11/2021
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
Director Kazuo Ikehiro, now on his third and final Zatoichi film, and lead star Shintaro Katsu attempted something different with this, the fourteen entry in the Zatoichi series. They roped in superstar director/screenwriter Kaneto Shindo, who had by then already made the hit productions “The Naked Island” and “Onibaba” and would go on to make “Kuroneko” two years later, to write the script for Ichi’s new adventure, in an attempt to bring some freshness to the series.
The reluctance to kill that Zatoichi showed in the previous films, and particularly in “Zatoichi’s Vengeance”, the one that immediately preceded this, has turned into full-blown repentance as he decides to take a pilgrimage to the 88 Temples in Shokiku. Before he embarks on the pilgrimage, he asks but one thing of God: to not make him have to kill again, necessarily or unnecessarily. God, as it turns out,...
The reluctance to kill that Zatoichi showed in the previous films, and particularly in “Zatoichi’s Vengeance”, the one that immediately preceded this, has turned into full-blown repentance as he decides to take a pilgrimage to the 88 Temples in Shokiku. Before he embarks on the pilgrimage, he asks but one thing of God: to not make him have to kill again, necessarily or unnecessarily. God, as it turns out,...
- 1/3/2021
- by Rhythm Zaveri
- AsianMoviePulse
In the same year of “Zatoichi and the Chest of Gold”, director Kazuo Ikehiro would make his second installment within the hugely popular “Zatoichi”-franchise. He would return to the series with “Zatoichi’s Pilgrimage” in 1966 leaving his brand in the series of films with what may as well be the most spiritual film of the whole franchise. As with his previous film, in “Zatoichi’s Flashing Sword” Ikehiro took a rather banal story and turned it into another quite entertaining film, starring Shintaro Katsu who, by that time, was undeniably linked to the character of Zatoichi and enjoyed the success it brought him, as indicated by his gain in weight, a subject of some jokes in the film.
At the beginning we see the familiar scene of Zatoichi being chased by a couple of yakuza after cutting down their boss. Eventually he is shot, but later...
At the beginning we see the familiar scene of Zatoichi being chased by a couple of yakuza after cutting down their boss. Eventually he is shot, but later...
- 3/28/2020
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
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