Zatoichi

"His sword made him a hero... his courage made him a legend."

2003 1h 56m JA

👍

7.2

SOLID

🍅

87%

FRESH

👌

METACRITIC

⭐

7.4

IMDB

★7.2TMDB · 997🍅87%Rotten Tomatoes●75Metacritic★7.4IMDB · 53,145

AdventureDramaAction

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Blind traveler Zatoichi is a master swordsman and a masseur with a fondness for gambling on dice games. When he arrives in a village torn apart by warring gangs, he sets out to protect the townspeople.

“His sword made him a hero... his courage made him a legend.”

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Cast

Takeshi Kitano
Zatoichi / Ichi
Tadanobu Asano
Hattori Genosuke
Michiyo Yasuda
Tante Oume
Yui Natsukawa
Oshino
Guadalcanal Taka
Shinkichi
Daigorô Tachibana
Geisha Seitaro O-Sei Naruto
Yuko Daike
Geisha Okinu Naruto
Ittoku Kishibe
Boss Inosuke Ginzo

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Takeshi Kitano
Writers: Takeshi Kitano
Languages: Japanese
Countries: Japan

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $2.5M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Grossed $34M — a 13.7× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 23 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Takeshi Kitano, shot by Katsumi Yanagijima. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Keiichi Suzuki. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Takeshi Kitano shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Takeshi Kitano and Tadanobu Asano and Michiyo Yasuda carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "His sword made him a hero... his courage made him a legend.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Takeshi Kitano directs. Katsumi Yanagijima behind the camera. Keiichi Suzuki scores. Takeshi Kitano cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in Japan. Dialogue in Japanese.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Shot for just $2.5M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
2Grossed $34M — a 13.7× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.
3Released 23 years ago.
4Directed by Takeshi Kitano, shot by Katsumi Yanagijima. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Keiichi Suzuki. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Takeshi Kitano shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Takeshi Kitano and Tadanobu Asano and Michiyo Yasuda carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "His sword made him a hero... his courage made him a legend.".
9IMDB entry: tt0363226 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Classified under 10 themes, including "martial arts", "japan", "samurai", "sword".
11Released under 12 different titles around the world.