 Pre-credits, in Zatoichi on the Road aka Zatoichi's Fighting Journey (Zatoichi kenka-tabi, 1963), our hero Ichi (Shintaro Katsu) uses his canesword to put out the candle, evening the fighting odds in a gambling den in which an attempt was made to cheat him.
It has little to do with the story that will unfold, but it sets the right mood, & tells a lot about the character.
Having reached the fifth episode, all that was needed was an iaido fast-draw over a crooked dicing mat to remind audiences that this is one blind man who can't be taken advantage of.
The story is a variant of the one that recurs in the greater majority of Zatoichi films & television episodes, yet done with exceptional vigor & conviction.
Low-ranking yakuza Kisuke has been sent by the oyabun (gang boss) known as Hikozo of Domoya (Shosaku Sugiyama), to bring Ichi to his territory as an invited guest.
 But a price has been put on Ichi's head by Boss Tobei of Shimozuma (Sonosuke Sawamura), a rival oyabun pitted against the Domoyas over territory.
Boss Tobei has additionally sent a strong yakuza, Jingoro of Misaki (Ryuzo Shimada), on the mission of making sure Ichi never arrives to assist the Doyama gang, adding one more excuse to keep the swordplay coming.
Encountering three impoverished ronin & a woman travelling together, the three masterless samurai attempt to strong-arm Ichi & Kisuke.
Soon after there are no more samurai to accompany Ohisa (Reiko Fujiwara). One of the fallen ronin had been her husband, so she might justifiably hold a grudge against Ichi, though she callously seems scarcely to care.
 A dying man encountered along the way begs Ichi to save Omitsu (Shiho Fujimura, a delicate beauty of a great many chambara classics, & frequent co-star with Raizo Ichikawa) who is pursued by violent men.
She stabbed a would-be rapist in his face with her hair-ornament. Her attacker was a samurai lord who got seriously ticked off about it. He wants her captured or killed. But if she can reach Edo, she'll find refuge, as her father is a rice merchant backed by the Kaga Clan.
She's the story's "good" girl, hence annoyingly helpless & greatly in need of just such protection, despite that she had at one point work up enough gumption to stab a lord.
By contrast, the "bad" girl newly widowed by Ichi can take care of herself, & though she seems nonchallant about the death of her husband, Ichi hasn't heard the last from her by a long shot.
 Ichi promises to help Omitsu reach Edo. She of course will fall in love with him along the way, as girls have a tendency to do.
Most girls frankly would be apt to fall for Ichi, despite that he is blind & scruffy with a blind guy's terrible table manners. After all, he's also heroic, sensitive, & on second glance rather good looking for a stout fellow. And despite a stooped humble demeanor, there's no denying, in the long run, he's definitively the alpha male.
And a young woman's romantic fantasy can easily imagine he'd provide a better option in life than their actual fate is apt to be.
Ichi always dumps the girls who fall for him, because he knows that a life on the road is no life for a woman.
But one wonders if he wouldn't be more apt to reciprocate devotion if less needy women would fall for him, someone who might be able to contribute more to the relationshipm rather than turning out to be someone for bad guys can use to undermine Ichi's well being.
 Between keeping simpering Omitsu safe from would-be kidnappers & killers, & defending himself from men out to kill him, scarcely any more plot than that is required to keep the action quotient high.
On the Road is set truly "on the road" rather than in some yakuza-harrassed village like most Ichi episodes, which gives it a different tone than most episodes. At every step of the way there's danger.
At the very moment the two rival bosses are preparing for their gangs' battle, Ichi overhears a monk saying what a good thing it would be if both sides just killed each other off.
It's not really good boss vs bad boss this time around, as Boss Hikozo of Doyama had only hoped to trick Ichi into a visit so he'd have no choice but to fight in his behalf on the basis of obedience traded for a night's lodging.
Too bad for Hikozo he didn't stop to consider that a man like Ichi would not be so strong if he were that easily fooled.
 Ichi shows up at at Boss Hikozo's gang headquarters mainly because he feels obligated at least to report the unfortunate death of Kisuke along the road.
If he doesn't agree to spend the night, he won't incur the obligation Hikozo had hoped to impose on Ichi by pretending a friendly interest in him.
It does mean a disappointed Hikozo might attempt something rash against Ichi for refusing.
Ichi would just as soon let them do as the monk had sugested & just wipe out each other while Ichi stays out of things.
But the Shimozuma gang captures Omitsu to manipulate Ichi out of a fighting on Hikozo's side, not knowing he never intended to do so.
 Snatching Omitsu was a mighty big mistake on on the part of Boss Shimozuma (Sonosuke Sawamura), for now Ichi has no choice but to get involved in order to insure the threatened young woman's safety.
Ohisa (Reiko Fujiwara), whom Ichi widowed, has personally put some of this mischief into motion, having joined aims with Jingoro of Misaki.
However, she begins to have guilty qualms about what she has done. When Omitsu is in greater trouble than Ohisa ever intended, she sets out with unexpected heroic intent to save the girl herself.
 When it comes down to the big climactic fight, Ichi kills & kills & kills with swift & monstrous power.
He first takes down the Doyama gang, so that Boss Hikozo greatly regrets trying to fool the blind swordsman. He then turns on the Shimozuma gang who equally regret kidnapping Omitsu.
There's a truly precious moment when the Shimozuma gang feels that, whatever the losses, they have been victorious against the Doyama. That's when Ichi's demonically scowling face proves sufficient to scare off the survivors.
On the Road is one of the strongest feature film episodes about the hero of a thousand slayings, early enough in the long-running series to still be searching for authentic variations on a theme.
Anyone who started with the very first Zatoichi film & worked their way up to number five in a short period of time might not yet feel ready to take a break from them, as they just get more & more exciting, & not yet tiresome.
At some point, though, it becomes essential to take a break from these films, to start again at a later date. For they do eventually begin to seem too similar one to the next if over too short a time.
copyright © by Paghat the Ratgirl
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