Zatoichi and the One-Armed Swordsman

Zatoichi and the One-Armed Swordsman (Japanese: 新座頭市・破れ！唐人剣, Hepburn: Shin Zatōichi: Yabure! Tōjin-ken, lit. 'New Zatoichi Break! Chinese Sword') (Chinese: 獨臂刀大戦盲侠; pinyin: Dú bì dāo dàzhàn máng xiá), also known as Zatoichi Meets the One-Armed Swordsman and The Blind Swordsman Meets His Equal, is a 1971 Japanese-Hong Kong chambara / wuxia crossover by Japanese film director Kimiyoshi Yasuda and Chinese film director Hsu Tseng Hung. The film stars Shintaro Katsu as the blind swordsman Zatoichi and Jimmy Wang Yu as the "One-Armed Swordsman" Wang Kang.[1] It is a crossover of the long-running Zatoichi series and the One-Armed Swordsman film series.

Zatoichi and the One-Armed Swordsman (新座頭市・破れ!唐人剣)
Theatrical release poster
Directed byKimiyoshi Yasuda
Hsu Tseng Hung
Screenplay byTakayuki Yamada
Kimiyoshi Yasuda
Story byKan Shimozawa
Produced byShintaro Katsu
Wong Ming
StarringShintaro Katsu
Jimmy Wang Yu
CinematographyChikashi Makiura
Edited byToshio Taniguchi
Production
companies
Katsu Productions
Wing Luen Movie Film Company
Distributed byDainichi Eihai
Golden Harvest
Release date
  • 13 January 1971 (1971-01-13)
Running time
94 minutes
CountriesJapan
Hong Kong
LanguagesJapanese
Mandarin

The Chinese edit of the film reportedly featured a different ending where Wang Kang was victorious in the final duel, rather than Zatoichi.[2]

Plot

While traveling the Japanese countryside the blind masseur Zatoichi (Shintaro Katsu) comes across the One Armed Swordsman, Wang Kang (Jimmy Wang Yu), who is in hiding and protecting a child from a corrupt Japanese priest and a group of yakuza. Zatoichi and Wang Kang, each from very different worlds yet heroic swordsman in their own right, at first seem to get along but a language barrier and a series of misunderstanding leads Kang to distrust Ichi. Soon the two heroes are at each other throats while each attempts to stop the true villains from taking the child.

Cast

Production

References
  1. Unseenfilms
  2. Alain Silver (2005). The Samurai Film. ISBN 9781585675968. Retrieved 18 June 2021.


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