Zatoichi and the Chest of Gold - 1964

Illustraion by Evan Bryce

This is Zatoichi and the Chest of Gold. What could possibly be the most Serial of titles I've ever seen. Well, that and film #12, Zatoichi and the Chess Expert. But what can you do, American titles for Japanese films can be like that. And don't ask me to translate 座頭市千両首. I only know 座頭市 is Zatoichi. And 千両 is sen ryō, 1000 ryō, ryō being, as far as I can tell, the primary denomination of currency in this films, if the subtitles mean anything. If anyone knows the last character. Do tell.

Back to the Chest of Gold. Zatoichi wanders into a town, where they finally get to pay off their taxes after several years of drought. They're celebrating by getting drunk. Well, tragedy inevitably occurs when the money gets stolen, a misunderstanding leads Ichi to get blamed for the theft, as well as a local Yakuza boss, who seems to be akin to Robin Hood.

Of course this is all a plot that the magistrate has cooked up to get paid twice, with the help of a local Yakuza boss rival, and a particularly mean looking samurai, Jushiro, played by Tomisaburo Wakayama (as Kensaburo Jo). Who also played Yoshiro in The Tale of Zatoichi Continues, and is also Zatoichi star's, Shitaro Katsu, real life brother.  Zatoichi ultimately confronts the magistrate, which leads to a confrontation with the rival boss. And to the magistrate himself and all is well and good. He gets the money back and the love (?) of a local woman Chiyo, more on her in a moment.

Not all is well though, clearly evil samurai Jushiro confronts Zatoichi while on horseback, wraps a noose around his neck and drags him along. It's a pretty good scene, dramatic, has nice flair, and Zatoichi, perhaps for the first time, is really beat up by the end of it. It's kind of a shame it feels a bit much. In previous scenes Jushiro is shown distant from the rival boss and Magistrate, he has no real loyalty to them. I'm sure this is some pride or honor thing, but It goes over my head.

But let's bring this back to Chiyo, our romantic lead of the film, if one could call her that. Chiyo begins the movie finding out that the reason Ichi has come to this village is because he has come to honor her brother who he had killed a few years previous. She is the primary instigator of a lot of his problems in the film. In the second half when he is proved innocent, she warms up to him, and immediately falls in love with him. It's odd, out of left field.

So, we come to it, the end of this film. And what do I think? I think it's action scenes are wonderful, certainly steps up from seeing swords wildly miss their target in previous entries. And the plot is simple enough, but elements are introduced then dropped, it doesn't feel like a complete story. The Robin Hood yakuza boss, Chuji, played by Shogo Shimada, disappears half way through the film, making his inclusion, and major portion of the first half oddly hollow and pointless. The young woman who instantly falls in love with our hero seems tacked on for no reason. I enjoyed this film more than Zatoichi on the Road, but certainly less than The Tale of Zatoichi.

Next we have Zatoichi's Flashing Sword. This one sounds fun.