ZATOICHI THEME song: Otento-san sung by Shintaro Katsu

[yuiyoshida]

My favorite Zatoichi Theme (Beautiful Sun)

ZATOICHI, THE BLIND SWORDSMAN:
HISTORY, MISCONCEPTIONS AND THE FACTS

'Zatoichi has the soul of a monk, the skill of a samurai'. From 1962 until 1989, Zatoichi (Ichi the Blind), the blind masseur and swordmaster, slashed his way through the Japanese silver screen and into the Japanese people's zeitgeist- and hearts.

This character, part martial arts master, part detective, part yakuza, part clown, part pathos (he's blind, remember)- is the most popular fictional character in history. It's just a history we don't get to learn here in the West. In spite of that fact, Zatoichi has an enormous following in the West. The films have spawned two remakes- one in 1990, the other in 2003 - and no less than Al Pacino (among others) has borrowed from the character in his 1992 film "Scent of a Woman". That's what is great about Zatoichi: copied, parodied, imitated, remade, but nothing more.

Katsu Shintaro, known in the West as Shintaro Katsu, is the enormously talented actor who gave Zatoichi life. Katsu (pronounced "Katz&quot was an accomplished master of entertainment. A genuine fencing master, singer, musician (he invented rap music in the mid-1960s), composer, writer, director, producer, he did it all. And he did it with a rarely matched panache. Shintaro Katsu sets up a scene. Katsu was in his mid-twenties when he created the character for the original film, entitled Zatoichi Monogatari ("Zatoichi's Story" or "The Legend of Zatoichi&quot . Though not known for certain, it is generally thought that the Zatoichi character was originally created by Kan Shimozawa, an incredibly gifted writer/producer/director who was overshadowed all his life by Akira Kurosawa.

more...http://www.hackwriters.com/zatoichi.htm