kimiyoshi yasuda 
The blind swordsman wanders into a town to celebrate the New Year. There, he befriends a young woman whose father has gone missing; as he tries to help her find him, he becomes entangled in a web of corruption and a series of tragic twists of fate.
Kimiyoshi Yasuda
Japan,
1964
Blu-ray, DVD
The wandering swordsman finds himself in a small village that serves as hideout for a band of fugitives who control the town officials and enforce brutal slave labor in the local silk mill.
Kimiyoshi Yasuda
Japan,
1968
Blu-ray, DVD
It’s East meets East when one of Japan’s action idols crosses paths with an iconic kung-fu hero from Hong Kong.
Kimiyoshi Yasuda
Japan,
1971
Blu-ray, DVD
The itinerant Zatoichi comes across a dying man, who begs the masseur to escort a young woman back to her family in Edo. The honorable swordsman agrees, but in so doing, he catapults himself between two warring yakuza clans, each with its own interest in kidnapping the girl.
Kimiyoshi Yasuda
Japan,
1963
35 mm, Blu-ray, DVD
Wearying of his wandering lifestyle, Zatoichi yearns to settle down; unfortunately, when he does so it’s in a town overrun by yakuza. He has an eye-opening encounter with the town’s blacksmith, who reveals himself to be the apprentice of the man who forged Zatoichi’s legendary cane sword.
Kimiyoshi Yasuda
Japan,
1967
Blu-ray, DVD
Capping off Zatoichi’s feature film era before he made the transition to television in 1974, this chapter is suffused with melancholy, closing the series on a note of seriousness and emotional heft that it has well earned.
Kimiyoshi Yasuda
Japan,
1973
Blu-ray, DVD