Zatoichi the Fugitive

Zatoichi the Fugitive (座頭市兇状旅, 1963) — watch online on iFILM: the fourth film in the series, directed by Tokuzo Tanaka with Katsu Shintarō returning as the blind swordsman.

Zatoichi arrives in the town of Shimonita and makes the mistake of winning a fight with the local yakuza. There is now a price on his head. Worse: he learns that Tane, a woman he once loved and lost, is living in the same village — with another man. He stays anyway.

Tanaka builds the film on two blows landing at once — the external threat from the yakuza clan and a hired ronin, and the private grief Zatoichi has nowhere to put. Katsu plays someone with very little left to protect, and the violence in the final act carries that weight. Watch Zatoichi the Fugitive online on iFILM.