Zatoichi Story

The blind masseur Ah Shi looks ordinary, but is a skilled swordsman. Although he has bad habits of one kind or another, he still retains a kind and upright character in his heart, and hates evil as much as he hates it. On this day, after traveling around the country, he came to Kaizou Iioka and stayed overnight at the gangster Iioka Sukegoro (played by Yanagajiro), who had had a relationship with him once. At this time, Sukegoro is confronting a gang headed by Sasakawa Shigezo (played by Shimada Ryuzo), and the two sides are at war with each other. Shigezao took in a down-and-out samurai Hirate Shuzo (played by Shigeru Amachi), but Shuzo made friends with the equally upright Aichi. However, they belong to the two camps, but they have to face the cruel situation of swords against each other... This film is adapted from the short story of the same name in the collection of essays by mother-in-law Zawa Zehuan, "Shouji", and is the first part of the "Zatoichi Series".