{ "id": "ep5p5zcqrw", "slug": "samaritan-zatoichi", "title": "Samaritan Zatoichi (座頭市喧嘩太鼓)", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.franchise-series", "label": "Franchise and series entries as standalone works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.franchise-series" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.franchise-series.franchise-series.action-thriller-series-entries", "label": "Action, thriller, and crime series film entries", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.franchise-series.franchise-series.action-thriller-series-entries" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.franchise-series.franchise-series.action-thriller-series-entries.entries-released-1960s-and-1970s", "label": "Entries released 1960s and 1970s", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.franchise-series.franchise-series.action-thriller-series-entries.entries-released-1960s-and-1970s" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.franchise-series", "label": "Asia (other) · 1946 to 2000: Franchise and series entries as standalone works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.franchise-series", "path": [ { "id": "geo.asia", "label": "Asia (other)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1946", "label": "Asia (other) · 1946 to 2000", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1946" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1946.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1946.culture" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.franchise-series", "label": "Franchise and series entries as standalone works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.franchise-series" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Samaritan Zatoichi (座頭市喧嘩太鼓, Zatoichi kenka-daiko) is a 1968 Daiei chambara film, the 19th Zatoichi entry, directed by Kenji Misumi and starring Shintaro Katsu; it was the last Zatoichi produced solely by Daiei, released December 28, 1968.", "snippet": "Samaritan Zatoichi (座頭市喧嘩太鼓, Zatoichi kenka-daiko) is a 1968 Daiei chambara film, the 19th Zatoichi entry, directed by Kenji Misumi and starring Shintaro Katsu; it was the last Zatoichi produced solely by Daiei, released December 28, 1968.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.franchise-series.franchise-series.action-thriller-series-entries.entries-released-1960s-and-1970s", "markdown": "# Samaritan Zatoichi (座頭市喧嘩太鼓)\n\n**Samaritan Zatoichi** (座頭市喧嘩太鼓, *Zatōichi kenka-daiko*, literally \"Zatoichi's Fighting Drums\") is a 1968 Japanese chambara film directed by Kenji Misumi and the nineteenth entry in the Zatoichi series starring [Shintaro Katsu](https://www.edgepedia.org/shintaro-katsu) as the blind masseur and swordsman. It was released in Japan by Daiei on December 28, 1968, and was the last Zatoichi film produced solely by Daiei.[1](https://eiga.com/movie/36699/) • [2](https://www.nfaj.go.jp/program/misumi-2016-1-38/)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Japanese title | 座頭市喧嘩太鼓 (*Zatōichi kenka-daiko*); English titles include Samaritan Zatoichi and, in one catalog, Zatoichi and the Drum[1](https://eiga.com/movie/36699/) • [3](https://files.spawningpool.net/docs/Vault2.0.-.TTRPG-Gamebooks/Sengoku/Sengoku%20-%20Revised%20Edition.pdf) |\n| Release | December 28, 1968, distributed by Daiei; produced at Daiei Kyoto[1](https://eiga.com/movie/36699/) • [2](https://www.nfaj.go.jp/program/misumi-2016-1-38/) |\n| Series position | 19th Zatoichi film; the last produced solely by Daiei[2](https://www.nfaj.go.jp/program/misumi-2016-1-38/) |\n| Director | Kenji Misumi, in his fourth stint on the series[4](https://www.wowow.co.jp/detail/022216) |\n| Runtime | 82 minutes per Criterion and eiga.com; 83 minutes per allcinema, WOWOW, and the National Film Archive of Japan[5](https://www.criterion.com/films/28316-samaritan-zatoichi) • [6](https://www.allcinema.net/cinema/142667) |\n| Principal cast | Shintaro Katsu (Zatoichi), Yoshiko Mita (Osode), Makoto Sato (Yasaburo Kashiwazaki), Kô Nishimura (Sosuke Saruya), Akira Shimizu (Kumakichi)[5](https://www.criterion.com/films/28316-samaritan-zatoichi) |\n| Home video | Included in Criterion's *Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman* Blu-ray box set (9 discs)[5](https://www.criterion.com/films/28316-samaritan-zatoichi) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Plot\n\nThe story opens at Ishiwa-juku on the Koshu road as the year draws to a close. Zatoichi, lodged there by the yakuza boss Kumakichi, is drawn by the obligation of hospitality (\"one night's lodging, one meal\") into killing the gambler Unokichi. Only after the killing does he learn Kumakichi's real aim: to place Unokichi's beautiful sister Osode with the wealthy merchant Saruya Sosuke and profit from her. When Kumakichi's men attack Osode as she clings to her brother's body, Ichi cuts them down, saves her, and leaves the post town in anger at the boss's cowardice. Kumakichi then sends five pursuers after the escaped woman.[1](https://eiga.com/movie/36699/) • [4](https://www.wowow.co.jp/detail/022216)\n\nIchi and Osode flee together on a journey that forms the film's emotional center. Osode is torn between two feelings: Ichi is her brother's killer, yet he is also the man who saved her life and now watches over her.[4](https://www.wowow.co.jp/detail/022216) During the flight a second threat emerges in the ronin Yasaburo Kashiwazaki (Makoto Sato), a formidable swordsman who fixates on Osode, so that Ichi's struggle to protect one woman runs against both the gang's pursuit and the ronin.[2](https://www.nfaj.go.jp/program/misumi-2016-1-38/)\n\nThe climax is staged on [New Year's Eve](https://www.edgepedia.org/new-years-eve), with festival drums beating without pause. Because Ichi fights by sound, the drumming works against him, and he struggles against Kashiwazaki until the drums fall silent for an instant and the duel is decided in that moment. The film closes on [New Year](https://www.edgepedia.org/new-year)'s morning: having dispatched the gang and the ronin, Ichi bathes in the first sunrise and resumes his lonely travels, leaving the weeping Osode behind, his act of atonement complete.[1](https://eiga.com/movie/36699/)\n\n## Production\n\nThe screenplay was written jointly by Saruwaka Kiyokata (of *Zatoichi's Escape*), Sugiura Hisashi (of *Zatoichi Meets Two Bodyguards*), and Yoshida Tetsuro (of *Nikuzure*), with cinematography by Fujio Morita, art direction by Akira Naito, and music by Makoto Ikeno. The original stories of Kan Shimozawa underlie the whole series.[1](https://eiga.com/movie/36699/)\n\nKenji Misumi, who had directed the series' first film, *The Tale of Zatoichi* (1962), directed this, his fourth assignment on the series.[4](https://www.wowow.co.jp/detail/022216) • [7](https://criterioncast.com/column/reflections/samaritan-zatoichi) The National Film Archive of Japan, which screened the film in a 2016 Misumi retrospective, notes that Misumi typically did not portray villains as thoroughgoing evil men and gave his film worlds a delicate humor.[2](https://www.nfaj.go.jp/program/misumi-2016-1-38/) • [8](https://www.nfaj.go.jp/wp-content/uploads/NFCcalendar2016_01_2.pdf)\n\n## Release and availability\n\nThe film opened in Japanese theaters on December 28, 1968, timed to the year-end season its story depicts.[1](https://eiga.com/movie/36699/) It was released on DVD in Japan in November 2003 as part of the *Zatoichi* complete-collection box sets sold by Kadokawa Daiei (disc sold by [Pony Canyon](https://www.edgepedia.org/pony-canyon)), in a digital new-master transfer with monaural Japanese sound and a [CinemaScope](https://www.edgepedia.org/cinemascope) frame.[9](https://ci.nii.ac.jp/ncid/BD10471723) • [10](https://posren.com/detail-8320.html)\n\nIn Japan the film has remained largely off the streaming market: surveys by Cinema Today and NECO found it unavailable on Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, U-NEXT, DMM TV, ABEMA, YouTube, and TVer, with DVD mail-order rental through TSUTAYA DISCAS as the only listed way to watch it.[11](https://www.cinematoday.jp/ent/zatouichi-movie-delivery/) • [12](https://www.necoweb.com/douga/zatouichi-movie/) Internationally, it is available in the Criterion Collection's *Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman* Blu-ray box set, where the film is presented at 82 minutes in color at a 2.35:1 aspect ratio.[5](https://www.criterion.com/films/28316-samaritan-zatoichi)\n\n## Reception\n\nThe film holds a 7.2 rating on IMDb from about 1,500 votes, and on Rotten Tomatoes it shows an audience (Popcornmeter) score of 80 percent from more than 500 ratings with no counted critic reviews.[13](https://www.imdb.com/list/ls023240967/) • [14](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/samaritan-zatoichi) On the Japanese review site Filmarks it averages 3.7 of 5 from 364 user reviews.[15](https://filmarks.com/movies/19597)\n\nCritics have singled it out among the series. The film critic Simon Abrams, writing for RogerEbert.com about the [Criterion](https://www.edgepedia.org/criterion) box set, called most of the Zatoichi films directed by Kenji Misumi exceptional and named *Samaritan Zatoichi* (1968) and *Zatoichi and the Chess Expert* (1965) specifically, crediting Misumi with a real eye for visual composition.[16](https://www.rogerebert.com/features/zatoichi-films-get-the-deluxe-box-set-treatment) A CriterionCast retrospective essay judged it a solid entry that is not especially distinctive from its predecessors in plot, while praising how deftly it juggles tones within a stylish package.[7](https://criterioncast.com/column/reflections/samaritan-zatoichi) Japanese user commentary on eiga.com highlights the drum-accompanied final duel as the film's high point, matching its title.[1](https://eiga.com/movie/36699/)\n\n## Place in the series\n\nThe film sits at a turning point in the franchise's production history. The series ran to twenty-six entries between 1962 and 1989, and this nineteenth film was the last that Daiei produced on its own before the studio's collapse.[17](https://etd.ohiolink.edu/acprod/odb_etd/ws/send_file/send?accession=akron1279473191&disposition=inline) • [2](https://www.nfaj.go.jp/program/misumi-2016-1-38/) Its year-end setting, New Year's Eve climax, and New Year's sunrise ending give it a seasonal frame unusual within the series, and its story of a killer traveling with his victim's sister echoes the classic Hasegawa Shin matatabi-mono (wandering gambler tale) *Kutsukake Tokijiro*, a comparison the WOWOW program notes draw explicitly.[4](https://www.wowow.co.jp/detail/022216)\n\n## References\n\n1. [座頭市喧嘩太鼓：作品情報・キャスト・あらすじ, 映画.com](https://eiga.com/movie/36699/)\n2. [映画監督 三隅研次-38-1, 国立映画アーカイブ (National Film Archive of Japan)](https://www.nfaj.go.jp/program/misumi-2016-1-38/)\n3. [SENGOKU: Revised Edition (film catalog entry)](https://files.spawningpool.net/docs/Vault2.0.-.TTRPG-Gamebooks/Sengoku/Sengoku%20-%20Revised%20Edition.pdf)\n4. [座頭市喧嘩太鼓, WOWOWオンライン](https://www.wowow.co.jp/detail/022216)\n5. [Samaritan Zatoichi (1968), The Criterion Collection](https://www.criterion.com/films/28316-samaritan-zatoichi)\n6. [映画 座頭市喧嘩太鼓 (1968), allcinema](https://www.allcinema.net/cinema/142667)\n7. [Criterion Reflections – Samaritan Zatoichi (1968) – #679, CriterionCast](https://criterioncast.com/column/reflections/samaritan-zatoichi)\n8. [NFC calendar 2016, 国立映画アーカイブ](https://www.nfaj.go.jp/wp-content/uploads/NFCcalendar2016_01_2.pdf)\n9. [CiNii Books – 座頭市喧嘩太鼓](https://ci.nii.ac.jp/ncid/BD10471723)\n10. [座頭市喧嘩太鼓 / 勝新太郎, DVDレンタル ぽすれん](https://posren.com/detail-8320.html)\n11. [映画「座頭市」の配信動画はどこで視聴できる？, シネマトゥデイ](https://www.cinematoday.jp/ent/zatouichi-movie-delivery/)\n12. [映画「座頭市」の配信はどこで見れる？, NECOオススメVOD](https://www.necoweb.com/douga/zatouichi-movie/)\n13. [Zatoichi movies from best to worst, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/list/ls023240967/)\n14. [The Blind Swordsman Samaritan, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/samaritan-zatoichi)\n15. [座頭市喧嘩太鼓, Filmarks映画](https://filmarks.com/movies/19597)\n16. [Zatoichi Films Get the Deluxe Box Set Treatment, RogerEbert.com](https://www.rogerebert.com/features/zatoichi-films-get-the-deluxe-box-set-treatment)\n17. [Ohio State University dissertation on samurai film (Zatoichi franchise, 26 entries 1962–1989)](https://etd.ohiolink.edu/acprod/odb_etd/ws/send_file/send?accession=akron1279473191&disposition=inline)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Franchise and series entries as standalone works › Action, thriller, and crime series film entries › Entries released 1960s and 1970s*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 21, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/samaritan-zatoichi", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/samaritan-zatoichi.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Samaritan Zatoichi (座頭市喧嘩太鼓)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/samaritan-zatoichi. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Samaritan Zatoichi (座頭市喧嘩太鼓)](https://www.edgepedia.org/samaritan-zatoichi)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/samaritan-zatoichi](https://www.edgepedia.org/samaritan-zatoichi). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Samaritan Zatoichi (座頭市喧嘩太鼓)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/samaritan-zatoichi. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Samaritan Zatoichi is a 1968 Daiei chambara film, the 19th Zatoichi entry, directed by Kenji Misumi and starring Shintaro Katsu; it was the last Zatoichi produced solely by Daiei, released December 28, 1968." }