Zatoichi Goes to the Fire Festival

Zatoichi Goes to the Fire Festival
Directed by Kenji Misumi
Produced by Shintaro Katsu
Hiroyoshi Nishioka (asst. producer)
Written by Shintaro Katsu
Takayuki Yamada
Kan Shimozawa (story)
Starring Shintaro Katsu
Reiko Ōhara
Masayuki Mori
Tatsuya Nakadai
Music by Akira Ifukube
Isao Tomita
Cinematography Kazuo Miyagawa
Edited by Toshio Taniguchi
Production
company
Distributed by Dainichi-Eihai (1970, Japan)
The Criterion Collection (2013, USA)
Release date
  • 12 August 1970 (1970-08-12)
Running time
 96 minutes
Country Japanese
Language Japan

Zatoichi Goes to the Fire Festival (座頭市あばれ火祭り) is a 1970 Japanese Chambara film directed by Kenji Misumi and starring Shintaro Katsu, who also produced and co-wrote the script. It is the twenty-first of a series of films featuring the blind swordsman Zatoichi. The main character is based on a fictional character, a blind masseur and swordmaster. He was created by novelist Kan Shimozawa and set during the late Edo period (1830s and 1840s).

Synopsis

During his wanderings, Zatoichi comes across with a group of people connected with an infamous Yakuza boss, known as "Dark Lord" Yamikubo. Yamikubo is blind like Ichi, but he is indeed evil, and rules with an iron fist a great region of lands and towns who pay tribute to him. After Zatoichi tries to help a woman who has been bought at a "mistress auction" organized by one of Yamikubo's henchmen, the Dark Lord uses the beautiful Okiyo, his protégé, as a spy who must seduce and take Ichi his shikomi-zue (cane sword) away. But shortly after meeting him, Okiyo falls in love with Ichi and refuses to carry out her mission. Yamikubo then devises another way of drawing the blind swordsman close and kill him during the famous "Fire Festival", which Zatoichi decides to attend despite the danger involved.

Cast

References

  1. ↑ "Zatoichi Goes to the Fire Festival". The Criterion Collection.


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