Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman: watch order
The movies in the series, sorted by release date. Total runtime: 38 h 35 min. The colossally popular Zatoichi films make up the longest-running action series in Japanese history and created one of the screen’s great heroes: an itinerant blind masseur who also happens to be a lightning-fast swordsman. As this iconic figure, the charismatic and earthy Shintaro Katsu became an instant superstar, lending a larger-than-life presence to the thrilling adventures of a man who lives staunchly by a code of honor and delivers justice in every town and village he enters.
Movie 1The Tale of Zatoichi (1962)
1 h 36 min · ★ 7.3
The adventures of a blind, gambling masseur and master swordsman. Zatoichi targets a yakuza-controlled village, because war with a neighbouring town's smaller gang is brewing.
Movie 2The Tale of Zatoichi Continues (1962)
1 h 12 min · ★ 7.1
Returning to the village where a year before he had killed Hirate, a much-admired opponent, Zatoichi encounters another swordsman and former rival in love.
Movie 3New Tale of Zatoichi (1963)
1 h 31 min · ★ 7.0
Wishing to find peace, Zatoichi travels to his old village but only finds trouble when he ends up in a love triangle and finds old scores have followed him home.
Movie 4Zatoichi the Fugitive (1963)
1 h 26 min · ★ 6.9
After arriving in the town of Shimonita, Ichi finds that a price has been put on his head by a local yakuza boss. He's drawn into a trap, but after hearing of the slaying of a former love, Ichi furiously fights his way…
Movie 5Zatoichi on the Road (1963)
1 h 27 min · ★ 6.9
Zatoichi is sworn to protect the life of a young girl and without any real allies finds himself in the middle of a bloody turf war.
Movie 6Zatoichi and the Chest of Gold (1964)
1 h 23 min · ★ 6.9
Ichi travels to the village of Itakura to pay his respects at the grave of Kichizo, a man he killed two years ago. When some tax money is stolen while in transit to the governor he is accused and sets out to find the…
Movie 7Zatoichi's Flashing Sword (1964)
1 h 22 min · ★ 6.9
Blind masseur Zatoichi is nursed back to health by a young woman after he is shot by a gang member. Zatoichi, who had come to the village to repay a debt, now feels further indebted. He commits himself to use his…
Movie 8Fight, Zatoichi, Fight (1964)
1 h 28 min · ★ 6.8
Blind swordsman/masseuse Zatoichi befriends a young woman returning home with her baby. When gangsters mistake her for Zatoichi and kill her, Zatoichi determines to escort the baby to its father. He gains the reluctant…
Movie 9Adventures of Zatoichi (1964)
1 h 26 min · ★ 6.7
Blind swordsman/masseuse Zatoichi befriends a young woman looking for her father, a village leader who has disappeared. As he helps her investigate the disappearance, Zatoichi also becomes involved with another young…
Movie 10Zatoichi's Revenge (1965)
1 h 24 min · ★ 6.6
Itinerant masseur and master swordsman, the blind Zatoichi, is near the village of his teacher, Hikonoichi, so he decides to visit. He learns of Hikonoichi's recent robbery and murder and the imprisonment of his…
Movie 11Zatoichi and the Doomed Man (1965)
1 h 17 min · ★ 6.8
Blind swordsman Zatoichi, jailed briefly, is implored by another prisoner to aid him in proving his innocence of a crime for which he is sentenced to death. Zatoichi is reluctant to get involved, because he knows how…
Movie 12Zatoichi and the Chess Expert (1965)
1 h 27 min · ★ 6.7
Zatoichi makes friends with a dangerous chess player, while fending off angry yakuza and bloodthirsty relatives out for revenge, and trying to save a sick child. Meanwhile, his luck with dice is turning.
Movie 13Zatoichi's Vengeance (1966)
1 h 23 min · ★ 7.0
Zatoichi comes upon a dying man who asks him to give a bag of money to "Taichi". Zatoichi has no idea who this is but when he comes upon a small town harassed by gangsters, he finds that "Taichi" was the man's young…
Movie 14Zatoichi's Pilgrimage (1966)
1 h 22 min · ★ 7.1
Zatoichi's trek through 88 temples to atone for his violent past is interrupted as he stumbles into a village terrorized by a violent yakuza boss.
Movie 15Zatoichi's Cane Sword (1967)
1 h 33 min · ★ 7.3
Zatoichi comes upon the town of Tonda, overrun by gangsters. Using one of his favorite techniques, Zatoichi proceeds to win 8 ryo in a rigged gambling game. Of course, the local gangsters attempt to kill him, and the…
Movie 16Zatoichi the Outlaw (1967)
1 h 36 min · ★ 6.7
When a local gambling house kidnaps some peasants because they failed to pay their debts, a rival gambling house pays their debts and sets them free.
Movie 17Zatoichi Challenged (1967)
1 h 27 min · ★ 7.0
Ichi is staying at an inn when a woman dies. Her dying wish is that Ichi take her son to his father, an artist living in a nearby town. After arriving in the town, Ichi finds out that the father has been forced by a…
Movie 18Zatoichi and the Fugitives (1968)
1 h 22 min · ★ 7.0
Zatoichi runs afoul of some evil fugitives, working for a corrupt law official.
Movie 19Samaritan Zatoichi (1968)
1 h 24 min · ★ 6.8
Zatoichi is forced to kill a young man who owes a debt to a yakuza boss. Moments later, his sister Osode arrives with the money she earned (prostituting herself) to pay his debts. The bosses true motives are revealed…
Movie 20Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo (1970)
1 h 55 min · ★ 6.8
Zatoichi treks to a village that has always been a favorite spot of his, only to discover that it’s become a living hell, plagued by feuding father and son yakuza as well as the younger crime boss’s bodyguard, scruffy,…
Movie 21Zatoichi Goes to the Fire Festival (1970)
1 h 36 min · ★ 6.8
The blind masseuse is targeted by the leader of a powerful yakuza group while also fending off a jealous husband bent on revenge. Zatoichi tours Edo's underground via a rousing onsen fight scene, gambling houses and the…
Movie 22Zatoichi Meets the One-Armed Swordsman (1971)
1 h 34 min · ★ 6.8
Zatoichi is a blind massage therapist and swordsman who finds out that something troubling is taking place on the outskirts of town. After discovering who the guilty parties are -- an accomplished Chinese martial artist…
Movie 23Zatoichi at Large (1972)
1 h 28 min · ★ 6.6
Blind masseur and master swordsman Zatoichi finds a robbed and fatally wounded pregnant woman, whose baby he delivers before she dies. He takes the baby in search of its father and finds the child's aunt, who is about…
Movie 24Zatoichi in Desperation (1972)
1 h 32 min · ★ 6.7
After accidentally causing the death of an old lady, Zatoichi tries to do right by buying the lady’s daughter’s freedom from a brothel - but this causes more problems than solves them.
Movie 25Zatoichi's Conspiracy (1973)
1 h 28 min · ★ 7.0
Zatoichi, the famed blind swordsman, returns to his home village for the first time in many years. He is befriended by Omiyo, who had the same wet-nurse as Zatoichi. He also encounters a boyhood friend, Shinbei, who is…
Movie 26Zatoichi: Darkness Is His Ally (1989)
1 h 56 min · ★ 6.4
Older, wiser but still a wandering loner, the blind, peace-loving masseur Ichi seeks a peaceful life in a rural village. When he's caught in the middle of a power struggle between two rival Yakuza clans, his reputation…
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