Product Description

Accused of stealing, Zatoichi is pursued by friend and foe alike. In this installment of The Blind Swordsman series, Ichi must prove his innocence, expose the real culprits, retrieve the
gold and reconcile his accusers’ anger. And if the odds were not stacked high enough, Ichi is hounded and challenged by a maniacal, bullwhip yielding Ronin who finds Ichi’s status as a low ranking blind masseur and master swordsman as an affront to his class and profession.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #25768 in DVD
• Brand: Image Entertainment
• Released on: 2003-04-29
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Color, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: Japanese
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 83 minutes

Customer Reviews

One of the best of the series
Actually I think this is far better than the previous Zatoichi outings. Visually it's a stunning film that ranks among the great action films of all time but could be hung as stills in any art museum. Hokusai & Hiroshige influences abound.

Yet best of all is the unforgettable character Zatoichi himself. Shintaro Katsu created an everyman/superhero who had no equal, at least in western culture. A squat, homely, bandy-legged self-deprecating blind man full of humor & humility & an abundance of spirituality. And could he make that sword dance.

These movies have no equal. Each one is as perfectly made as any movie can be. I used to go see them when they first appeared in the theaters of San Francisco & Los Angeles Japanese neighborhoods. I still love them every bit as much now.

Can't miss with a hard drinking highly skilled swordsman
As always, this movie gives you all you want in the zatoichi vein, the emmotional women, the amazing swordsmanship, and the numerous opportunities for Zatoichi to display the character that lasted him thru so many movies. Mixed up in the search for a lost chest of gold, thieves, and crooked goverment officials, Zatoichi saves the day in his unsual manner. Not quite as good as the first ones but still worth the price

I finally decided get into the zatoichi series
I actually decided to watch lone wolf and cub first but am going to have to sneak a few more of these in.

I guess I thought it was Chang Cheh who introduced us to these types of movies but I can see now that some of my favorite movies ever like one armed swordsman are just good ripoffs of Zatoichi. This guy is wher it started. Well, the wong fei-hong movies come first in terms of martial arts, but Zatoichi has to be the first person on screen you could really look up to because of the heroic deeds that he does. Not just doing the good deeds, but the way he slices through everybody is beautiful. Being a kung fu fan I need a good final fight but wasn't really expecting one with how old this is but was pleasently surprised.

I can't believe I thought it was the chinese that started all this, but I was way wrong. When Shintarô Katsu hit the screen, he may not have been the first but was far and away the best for it's time. THE JAPANESE EVEN SEEM TO HAVE INVENTED TEH OPENING STAGED FIGHTING SEQUENCES!!!

The movie is anamorphically widescreened and when they say the picture is remastered Home Vision Entertainment is not lying one bit.

So I have to say that my first Zatoichi experience was breathtaking, funny, touching, and very exciting.