#otane

THE TALE OF ZATOICHI CONTINUES (Zuko Zatoichi Monogatari) (1962).

The second film in the 26-film series starring Shintaro Katsu as the famous blind swordsman.

The Tale of Zatoichi (1962)

“Whether the sun is shining or the moon is overhead, it’s always dark for me and I don’t usually care. But at this moment, I wish I could see your face.” “Ichi, where are you going? Please take me with you.” “I appreciate you saying that but I don’t even have a place to live. And I’m blind.” “I’ll be your cane! I’ll endure hardship for as long as you live! You’re the man I love!”  “A young woman like you shouldn’t be guiding a blind man. People will laugh at you.” “I don’t mind. Let me come with you!”

At first I never understood why he rejected Otane until I watched the rest of the series to get a glimpse of what he’s life is like and why he is the way he is. 

For one, he’s afraid of losing her just like he lost his first love, Chiyo, who was in love with him until he was blind and she left him for it. So I guess he was afraid that Otane might have said those kind words to him, being young and emotional so he fears she will change her heart along the way as well, and leaves him. 

Even if she stayed loyal by his side, he’s afraid she’ll be killed by his enemies who will do anything to get him and he can’t live with that too. And if she does survive, he can’t give her a life she deserves when he doesn’t even has his own home to live in as he’s a drifter and can’t bear to see her being mocked at.

While he rejected her in this film, they meet again in the next episode where she is promised to another man even though her heart is still with Zatoichi. Zatoichi regrets not accepting her love previously as he only realizes now that unlike Chiyo, Otane is willing to accept him the way he is and still loves him for it.

But knowing that the man she is supposed to marry is an honest hardworking carpenter, Zatoichi figures that she’ll be better off living with a good man with a safe and stable life, away from uncertainties, hardship and danger as compared to living with him, constantly traveling on the roads and so they parted ways.

Few episodes later, Zatoichi stumbled upon her in an unexpected place where she has resorted to a life of crime as she was didn’t marry the carpenter as planned. While Zatoichi is glad to meet her again, Otane is embarrassed and hurt as he thinks she is still the same woman he once knew years ago. 

And to make it worse, she is attached to a Ronin who wants Zatoichi’s head. So Otane is caught in the middle between her loyalty to her current lover, accepting her fate as a criminal who could not turn back to her old life as it was before and her undying love to Zatoichi, who is now feeling guilty of what happened to her.

He must have thought things might have been different if he accepted her into his life instead of what she has become now. I must say it’s one of those tragic love stories I’ve ever watched. I guess that’s one reason he declined every other women who have showed interest in him. 

But that’s life isn’t it? We all make mistakes and end up with regrets wondering about things that could’ve been or should’ve been or what it would’ve been. As much as we want to turn back time, time passes by quickly without us realizing, pushing us forward every time while we are still asking ourselves where did we go wrong?

That’s what makes Zatoichi a very relatable and interesting character, that we could learn from. Sometimes we can’t think too much when an opportunity presents itself because we are to pre-occupied with the future of what might happen if we accept it. At least, we’ll have no regret knowing that we tried.

A stunning poster for The Tale of Zatoichi (1962), the first of the 26-film series starring Shintaro Katsu as the wandering blind swordsman.

The poster also features Shigeru Amachi as Miki Hirate, the ronin with whom Zatoichi befriends and, tragically, must duel; and Masayo Banri as Otane, the woman who falls in love with Ichi. Otane has the distinction of being the only character to appear in three films in the series.

The Tale of Zatoichi (Zatoichi Monogatari) (1962).

This is the one that started the 26-film series, along with the 100-episode television series.

We are introduced to Ichi, a lowly anma (blind masseur) and yakuza with an uncanny ability to fight with a sword. He's also amazingly good at gambling, as he can hear how the dice fall.

Ichi gets hired to help out a yakuza gang in a brewing war with a rival gang over territory. The opposing gang, knowing Ichi's reputation with the sword, hires the ronin Hirate to aid their side. And, as fate would have it, Ichi and Hirate meet and become friends, despite knowing they are on opposite sides.

Ichi also meets Otane, a young woman engaged to a yakuza, but wishing to escape her fate. Otane finds in Ichi a man she truly loves and admires, and she's willing to leave her village and travel with Ichi for the rest of her life.

This film is much more deliberately paced than the rest of the series. That's understandable, as there's a lot of story to present, but the pace also helps to ramp up the tension. This film plays more as a drama until the gang war finally erupts, and then there's sword fighting a plenty.

Ichi himself is such an interesting, likable and engaging character that you don't mind the lack of action, because you're spending time getting to know him. And as the climax approaches, with the odds continually getting stacked against him, you're worried that there's no way he can possibly survive.

Otane had a sad childhood where she was constantly berated and abused by her older sister Oume and due to her relative weakness, her mother didn't pay much attention to her. Her older sister seemed to hate her...

One day, at the age of 6 years, after strolling in the forest, Otane was very tired when she returned home, and quickly fell asleep. However, Oume was waiting for her, and at the moment Otane closed her eyes, Oume confined Otane in a box and threw the box into the ocean.

Keija Otane. A character for a roleplay I'm doing with a friend. She's a japanese youkai called Kejorou/Kejoro, which means "Hair Hooker".

While originally hostile and hateful of humans for what they did to her village, Keija realized not all of them were bad when she met Zeizal, an idealistic man trying to bring peace and understanding between humans and youkai. After spending enough time with him, they fell in love and adopted two children. One of them was Syell, whom, while peaceful herself, was orphaned when her notoriously murderous parents were executed by the humans. The other was Vastille, a Bakeneko who was abandoned and left on the streets to fend for himself.

Zeizal's struggle for peace ended up with him becoming the enemy to both humans and youkai for simply being percieved as sympathizing with the opposing side. Ultimately, he was executed by the humans for his "betrayal" and usage of forbidden magic, leaving Keija a distraught widow seeking revenge against the people who wronged her.

Keija is difficult to get to know as she is very private, reserved, and afraid of revealing her true self to others. Conversely, she is very persceptive of other people's emotional states and because of this, she works as a psychiatrist. Because kejorous (in my setting) need sex to satiate themselves, she has learned to defy her introverted personality whenever she needs to find sustenance.