Expectations for this movie must have been especially high upon its initial release. Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo brings together beloved series star Shintaru Katsu and superstar Toshiro Mifune to face off in the roles that made each internationally famous. Katsu and his fellow filmmakers were surely aware of this momentous occasion for the movie is the longest of any entry in the series save for Katsu’s final Zatoichi feature in 1989. Although the film exhibits nearly all the great qualities of a series title and does briefly pit the two stars against one another, this is brought down a notch by overlong and routine filler clearly drummed up to keep these two screen icons busy.
Twenty episodes into this film franchise, Katsu had covered just about everything one could imagine in regards to a blind masseuse with a cane sword wandering from rural town to town during the late Tokugawa era. It’s business as usual when Ichi returns to a once-thriving town after three years to find that it’s become a dreary and exploited place ruled by the Kobotoke Clan and its petty leader Masagoro. However, Masagoro isn’t content for his father, a wealthy silk merchant named Yasuke Eboshiya, is hording a large stash of gold stolen by his brother, who is an official in Edo. In an effort to get the gold, Masagoro has hired a drunken, but skilled “yojimbo,” or bodyguard (Toshiro Mifune), who is eventually turned against Ichi when the blind swordsman tentatively joins Yasuke’s side. With the whereabouts of the gold unknown by all but one and a war soon to erupt between father and son over it, a deadly agent with a secret weapon named Kururya “The Nine-Headed Dragon” enters the fray with his own agenda. Caught in the crossfire is Umeno, a prostitute whom the yojimbo has taken a liking to, although he’s loath to admit it.
There is a lot going on here with historical relevance to the devaluation of currency by corrupt officials, undercover government agents with suspect motives, and battles between low-grade swordsmen. It’s enough that it threatens to push Ichi aside altogether as little more than a sightless observer. Appropriately, he does take on the role of fighting for the innocent bystanders, who are also Ichi’s only link to the town he knew three years prior. This includes the prostitute with the warm and inviting hands and the former town leader, who is now a broken old man reduced to carving statues to honor the dead he feels responsible for.
Shintaro Katsu is as agreeable as always in his role, especially in the film’s more humorous moments, such as when he imposes on the local sheriff by making the jail his home or when his memory of a tranquil bathhouse is abruptly shattered by raucous yakuza. His swordplay gets off to a rocky start after his cane sword is broken early on. Once replaced, the broken blade ends up in the hands of a simpleton who makes it his mission to protect the prostitute.
Toshiro Mifune appears in the film loosely in the persona he played in Akira Kurosawa’s Eastern Western Yojimbo (1961). Writer/director Kihachi Okamoto draws other connections in the setting of a town divided by two factions, fated to destroy each other. There are also similarities in the presence of a neutral blacksmith and a gun-totting villain. What’s notably missing is the raw intensity in Kurosawa’s work. It seemingly doesn’t take much effort for Mifune to step into the role of a scruffy, drunken bodyguard who openly mocks his young employer and toys with the affections of Umeno, the prostitute. He casually swaggers through action scenes, knowing full well that no one save for Ichi is his match. Even in regards to Ichi, he resorts to taking advantage of his blindness with a practical joke.
The swordplay action in this film is okay, but doesn’t rank anywhere near the best of the series. Mifune’s top opponent is more skilled with firearms than swords and Katsu simply gets to generically slice through groups of attackers. When the two do briefly fight each other, the encounter isn’t taken seriously. This is quite a contrast from Katsu’s grim encounter with Hong Kong kung fu star Jimmy Wang Yu in Zatoichi Meets the One-Armed Swordsman. But in my mind, Mifune wouldn’t stand a chance against Katsu in a serious onscreen encounter simply because Katsu had proven to be a far more skilled screen fighter, especially after years of honing his cane sword technique. in contrast, Mifune was a better actor than screen fighter and was by this point was past his physical prime.
As Katsu never strays far from his winning formula, Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo is an entertaining chambara film even though the rare meeting of these two popular characters is weakened by a convoluted plot and an inclination to keep the affair light-hearted. In the same year, Mifune and Katsu also starred together in Ambush at Blood Pass, a more serious swordplay film that also failed to make the most of its screen pairing.
by Mark Pollard
