Zatoichi 24: Zatoichi in Desperation (1972)

Shintaro Katsu’s second-to-last Zatoichi feature film, before he took his blind swordsman act to the small screen, is somewhat unique in that it features Katsu in the director’s chair for the first time and possibly as a result, it’s also one of the darkest entries in the series.

Titles leading up to Zatoichi in Desperation increasingly became live-action cartoons with superhero Ichi taking on Yojimbo (Toshiro Mifune), Hong Kong’s One-Armed Swordsman (Jimmy Wang Yu) and generous helpings of bawdy humor and stylized action. That’s not to say that the very notion of a blind man traveling the countryside and out-dueling every opponent he meets wasn’t far-fetched to begin with. But having been ever pushed further back into the shadows towards the end of this film cycle was the tragedy of Zatoichi. Earlier in the series, varying episodes focused not only on his killing prowess, but also his humbling status as a blind man, his inability to escape the weight of being an outcast yakuza, his reluctance to share his burdens with others, and his frequent failures to make everything right with the world.

For Katsu’s directorial debut (and only one of two directing credits including 1989’s Zatoichi) he seemingly felt compelled to remind his audience just how screwed up and ineffectual Ichi could be when he wasn’t swinging his cane sword or rolling dice. The story begins as Ichi’s encounter with Nobu, an aging shamisen player on a decrepit rope bridge, turns to tragedy when his effort to offer her some money causes the woman to fall to her death. Driven by the need to make restitution to her family, Ichi takes the musical instrument to a brothel in Choshi that the woman had mentioned in hopes of finding her daughter. What he finds is Nishikigi (Kiwako Taichi), the brothel’s most popular attraction and a worldly woman of little conscience, who casually brushes off news of her mother’s death.

Ichi hustles a local gambling joint to collect enough money to buy out Nishikigi. But the prostitute is more frustrated than happy about this act of benevolence, for Ichi shows no genuine interest in making her his woman, while she secretly pines for the affections of Ushi, a low-ranking yakuza she has been carrying on an affair with.

All the while, the surrounding coastal fishing village is being openly harassed by Boss Mangoro (Asao Koike) and his yakuza thugs, who are forcing local fishermen into gambling debt in order to destroy their boats and force them to work for a new fishing operation run by the yakuza. Ichi is destined to cross swords with Mangoro and his men when they attempt to collect a bounty on his head. Ichi faces his darkest hour when Mangoro threatens to kill Nishikigi unless he hands over his cane sword.

There is an aspect of isolation that dominates this episode. One of the things that always stretched the premise of a blind swordsman protecting the innocent was Ichi’s almost supernatural ability to casually hook up with those in greatest need and sniff out trouble. That’s not the case here, where he lets his other senses become as useless in spotting the plight of others as his blindness. All of his attention is lavished on Nishikigi, who might possess some humanity within her, but it’s been buried deep by years of selling her body. Yet in the same brothel lives a mere 14-year old girl named Kaede (Kyoko Yoshizawa), who remains unspoiled by her surroundings and along with her homeless younger brother Shinkichi, is in desperate need of rescuing. Ichi has a brief encounter with her, but his single-minded desire to save Nishikigi blinds him even further to the suffering around him. This is shown even more starkly later on as Nishikigi silently leads Ichi past the burning fishing boats and despondent fishermen nearby. Ichi ultimately pays a hefty price for his blind devotion to Nishikigi that nearly renders him a cripple, as well as sightless.

Visually, Zatoichi in Desperation displays some inventiveness on the part of Katsu and his cinematographer. They use a number of stylish overhead shots and one unique shot from beneath a rope bridge. Perhaps to emphasize the film’s dreary tone, heavy rain is often used. In past episodes Ichi has cursed the rain, not only for the discomfort it brings to a frequent traveler, but also for the noise that dulls his sense of hearing. However, his battle with the film’s leading swordsman Kamijo takes place in a loud torrential downpour and it seems to have no diminishing effect on Ichi’s ability to anticipate his opponent’s movements. This suggests that Ichi’s real emphasis as a first time director was more on story development than fleshing out action. As further proof, the first fight we see Kamijo engaged in has him doing little more than swinging his sword about like a baseball bat. Even so, Ichi’s final confrontation with Mangoro and his men is about as satisfyingly bloody and violent as any fight in the entire series, even if it isn’t the most technically brilliant. There is also a nice touch added in his first encounter with Kamijo. In the blink of an eye, the two men exchange a series of moves in their head before passing each other by. This effectively taps into the proper idea of Japanese swordsmanship being primarily a struggle of the mind.

At first glance, Zatoichi in Desperation seems less cohesive than other episodes, with the central plot floundering in a swirl of unresolved and disparate storylines. But I interpret the subplots Ichi has little direct contact with concerning the 14-year old girl doomed to a future life of prostitution and the exploitation of the working class by government-sponsored criminals to be a sign that Katsu was looking beyond the manga qualities that had come to dominate the series. Katsu paints a much larger and darker world for Ichi to inhabit, large and dark enough for a blind man to get lost in if he weren’t Zatoichi.