Zatoichi on the Road (1968)

Description

A rich Edo merchant's daughter (Shiho Fujimura) is a delicate flower blown by the wind, on the run from homicidal samurai one minute for refusing their lord's advances, and the next becoming ransom fodder for two different yakuza clans. And who will guide her safely through the countryside? Why, Zatoichi, of course. Although it has a somewhat overdeveloped, convoluted story line, the film's authentic locations and great performances keep this potboiler simmering nicely. Despite the specificity of the English title, it should be stressed that Zatoichi is always on the road. And he is also always falling prey to the more altruistic aspects of his nature, hoping to help a damsel—or a child—in distress, repay a debt or obligation he feels he owes, or just simply step in when a defenseless bystander is roughed up by a dastardly villain. Fujimura was one of Daiei studios' main female stars, appearing in such great samurai pictures as Ninja, a Band of Assassins (Shinobi no mono, 1962), Destiny's Son (1962), and Shinsengumi Chronicles (1963), as well as the fantasy-horror masterpieces Wrath of Daimajin (1966) and The Snow Woman (1968) and Satsuo Yamamoto's epic big business–big medicine exposé The Great White Tower (1966). And she is still acting to this day, with one of her most prominent recent roles being in the Japanese TV series Madame Butterfly (2011).