Japan Synopsis
座頭市と用心棒
With a price on his head, Ichi seeks tranquillity in a favorite village. Since his last visit, it has fallen prey to Boss Masagoro, the son of a merchant rumored to have stolen gold from the shogunate. The boss has hired Yojimbo as his hard-drinking enforcer, but Yojimbo is both a spy for the shogunate, trying to find the gold, and in love with the merchant's unwilling mistress, Umeno. Ichi hires on as the merchant's masseur and buys Umeno's freedom with his employer's own money. This embarrasses Yojimbo who withdraws from a pact with Ichi to stir up trouble between father and son and their gangs. As the two sides fight, Ichi finds the gold and sets up a final set of confrontations.
Titles With Overlapping Themes
Films and series that share thematic tags with Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo. Number on each card indicates how many keywords overlap.
Other Titles From Katsu Production
Adventure + Action in Japan
1030 Japan titles in our catalog blend the Adventure and Action genres. Below: the top-rated of them (excluding Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo itself).
The 1969–1971 Japan Window
Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo holds position #28 of 64 Japan films in the 1969–1971 window, below highlighted by audience rating.
The 1970s Japan Landscape
Catalog density by release year across the 1970s in Japan, 197 titles in total. Highlighted year (yellow) is when Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo premiered alongside 17 others.
Position in Catalog
Released alongside 17 other Japan films in 1970.
The 329th Japan title from Japan we index (earliest catalogued entry: 1899).
Our Japan catalog contains 4,579 titles in total (2,908 films).
Audience Engagement
50 audience reviews — more than 64% of Japan films in our index.
Review volume (64th percentile) outruns trending popularity (37th) — a durable title with sustained audience attention.
Thematic Fingerprint
Tags on Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo, grouped by how common each theme is across the full Asian catalog. Rare tags are more distinctive signals.
- zatoichi · 21
- blind · 12
- gold · 7
- japan · 454
- samurai · 128
- jidaigeki · 61
- sword fight · 56
- spy · 46
Reception Benchmarks
Ranked #2,756 of 4,579 Japan films indexed here (40th percentile by TMDB audience score).
Rating is -0.2 points below the Japan average of 6.9/10.
Among Japan Adventure productions specifically: #886 of 1,216 (top 73%).
Production Details
| Primary Country | Japan |
|---|---|
| Original Language | Japanese |
| Production Companies | Katsu Production, Daiei Film |
| Runtime | 1h 55m |
| Release Date | January 15, 1970 |
| IMDb | tt0066603 |