Episode 2: The Tale of Zatoichi (1962)

Tonight we are diving into the first episode in the Zatoichi series, The Tale of Zatoichi from 1962. This is the first outing of Shintaro Katsu in his signature role. A blind masseur finds himself tangled up in a war between two rival gangs. While Zatoichi is employed by one yakuza gang, he meets his match against a ronin who is in the village under similar circumstances. Directed by Cinbara powerhouse, Kenji Misumi, who would go on to direct the Lone Wolf and Cub series and the first entry in the Hanzo the Razor film series as well. Composer Akira Ifukube, best known for handling music and sound effects for the Toho Godzilla series contributes a powerful score  mixing traditional Japanese music with experimental sound effects.

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Thanks Everyone

We released our first episode on Wednesday and already the feedback and attention the show has gotten has been tremendously positive. A big thanks to our Podcast bros over at Junk Food Dinner and Jason's home podcast Pool Party Radio for plugging us on their Facebook pages as well as The Criterion Completion Facebook group for allowing a plug for the show on their page. 

This podcast is a big deal to myself and my co-host because it's an exercise in critically understanding the significance of film and how these characters such as Zatoichi become their own modern legends. As I mentioned in our first episode, I personally have little understanding as to what makes Zatoichi who he is but the legend of the blind swordsmen has sat in the back of my mind for over a decade, constantly coming up in comparisons to other heroes that I'm familiar with and I've only experienced his story for about an hour and thirty minutes when I was 16.

 One day while I was in a Barnes and Noble, I noticed a boxset sitting behind a counter and thought to myself "hell yeah, I'm in" and plopped down the $180 for something that would remain on my shelf unopened for an unjust amount of time. So why start a podcast entirely around a single subject that I barely know anything about? Well, why not? Through this show we get to explore an entire legacy of not only one of the most famous and long running Japanese characters but we get to sit down and explore what makes these films timeless with completely fresh eyes. 

This coming week we will be releasing our second episode and our first exploration into the Zatoichi series, The Tale of Zatoichi from 1962. The IMDB synopsis reads as follows

The adventures of a blind, gambling masseur who also happens to be a master swordsman.

 Simple and to the point, basically all you need to pull you into the adventure

To finish up this post, If you like the show, please take a moment to rate and review us on iTunes and join us on our Facebook. If you're not too keen on iTunes, we are on Sticher Radio, Overcast or if you prefer to just go with our feed, Click Here. 

And check back with us on Thursday, June 30th for Episode 2 

Episode 1: A Primer

Our first episode. We dive into our history with the legendary blind swordsman, a little history on the series and what we aim to do with our show

Want to talk to us about some blind swordsmen or anything else? You can reach us at Blindpodsmen@gmail.com


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Who we are

The Blind Podsmen podcast is dedicated to all things Zatoichi. The legendary blind swordsman in the hit film and TV series and one of the most iconic characters in Japanese pop culture history. While the Zatoichi franchise was wildly successful in Japan, it doesn't hold much of a presence in the American mainstream, though film enthusiast around the world are more than familiar with our hero. On this podcast, we will do a retrospective on all 25 original Zatoichi films as well as the 1989 conclusion to the series, produced 16 years after the conclusion of the 25th film in the series, Zatoichi's Conspiracy (1973).

But that's not all, we are also going to cover a number of spin offs including Takeshi Kitano's take on the character in Zatoichi (2003), the story of a blind female musician who is also a skilled sword fighter in Ichi (2008) and the more recent Zatoichi: The Last from 2010. We might also try to fight Blind Fury, a remake of the 17th film in the franchise, Zatoichi Challanged, starring Rutger Hauer from 1990.

Your host for this journey are Jason Frisbie from the Pool Party Radio podcast as well as Patrick Manfredi from the Banshee Jam podcast.