Zatoichi's Pilgrimage

Starts off really promising with Zatoichi on a religious pilgrimage to discover why the gods keep forcing him to kill, but quickly settles into a more familiar pattern of Ichi protecting a remote village from marauding bandits. There's the usual excellent action, but this one also features some welcome introspection as Ichi questions his own lifestyle after speaking a few times with a wandering blind priest (who disappointingly vanishes in the second half).

Among the more substantial episodes, penned by Kaneto Shindo and casting a more interior view on our lovable hero than most previous films care to attempt. In this iteration, Ichi is self-reckoning and repentant, burdened by a guilty conscious and struggling to reconcile his righteous intent with a history of violence. A final confrontation weighs heavily with real significance, which can't always be said about the climaxes in this series. Stunning cinematography and tasteful comedic relief.

Ichi hems and haws over his own use of violence...some great moments from katsu as he does this...before the inevitable killing of dozens of low lifes, after which ichi sullenly hangs his head and stumbles out of town. Definitely one of the heavier entries.

Another of the better ones; the story of course is roughly the usual but the story and characters are a notch more interesting than usual. There are some nice dramatic touches, like Ichi's first victim's horse, and the freeloading townspeople. Michiyo Okusu is quite appealing. Looks like Ichi has only 87 more shrines to go to complete his pilgrimage!

I guess the only real problem I have with Zatoichi films is the fact that the quality is so consistent, that even though they all manage to feel fresh, they do start to blend together, at least after watching 14 of these. It's a small complaint though, as I always really enjoy watching them.