Japan Synopsis
新座頭市物語・笠間の血祭り
Zatoichi, the famed blind swordsman, returns to his home village for the first time in many years. He is befriended by Omiyo, who had the same wet-nurse as Zatoichi. He also encounters a boyhood friend, Shinbei, who now is wealthy and appears not to remember Zatoichi. Shinbei seems to be interested in repaying the villagers' debts, but is in reality manipulating the ownership of a now-valuable rock quarry. Zatoichi learns of the subterfuge and confronts his old friend, who has a score of yakuza swordsmen backing his play.
Titles With Overlapping Themes
Films and series that share thematic tags with Zatoichi's Conspiracy. Number on each card indicates how many keywords overlap.
Other Titles From TOHO
Action + Drama in Japan
444 Japan titles in our catalog blend the Action and Drama genres. Below: the top-rated of them (excluding Zatoichi's Conspiracy itself).
The 1972–1974 Japan Window
Zatoichi's Conspiracy holds position #33 of 69 Japan films in the 1972–1974 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's Conspiracy premiered alongside 21 others.
Position in Catalog
Released alongside 21 other Japan films in 1973.
The 393rd Japan title from Japan we index (earliest catalogued entry: 1899).
Our Japan catalog contains 4,579 titles in total (2,908 films).
Audience Engagement
23 audience reviews — more than 41% of Japan films in our index.
Popularity sits at the 17th percentile among Japan films.
Thematic Fingerprint
Tags on Zatoichi's Conspiracy, grouped by how common each theme is across the full Asian catalog. Rare tags are more distinctive signals.
- corruption · 29
- zatoichi · 21
- conspiracy · 17
- blind · 12
- swordsman · 11
- sequel · 143
Reception Benchmarks
Ranked #2,811 of 4,579 Japan films indexed here (39th percentile by TMDB audience score).
Rating is -0.2 points below the Japan average of 6.9/10.
Among Japan Action productions specifically: #1,115 of 1,714 (top 65%).
Production Details
| Primary Country | Japan |
|---|---|
| Original Language | Japanese |
| Production Companies | TOHO, Katsu Production |
| Runtime | 1h 28m |
| Release Date | April 21, 1973 |
| IMDb | tt0072439 |