Zatoichi (Katsu) is given 50 lashes for illegal gambling in Shimokura. While in jail, his cellmate Shimazo (Mizuhara) claims to have been jailed on false charges of housebreaking, arson, and murder, pleading with Ichi to contact one of his influential associates who can vouch for his innocence and to inform his wife and daughter of his situation.
In a town dominated by yakuza, Zatoichi (Katsu) encounters a master swordsmith named Senzo (Tōno) who identifies Zatoichi's cane sword as the work of his late mentor. Senzo also spots a crack in the blade and warns that it will snap after one more kill.
A woman in a wedding dress, the Bride (Uma Thurman), lies wounded in a church, having been attacked by the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad. She tells their leader, Bill (David Carradine), that she is carrying his baby. He shoots her.
This black and white film is set in November 1839, during the final decades of Japan's Tokugawa shogunate. The retired Shogun's youngest son, Lord Nariatsu, crosses into the neighboring Oshi fief, while he's hunting. Confronted by the Clan Lord Abe Masayori for trespassing in his lands of Oshi, Nariatsu kills him in a fit of pique and rides home. The Oshi fief retainers appeal to the Shogun's Council of Elders for justice. Not wishing to embarrass the Shogun's Tokugawa Clan, Chief Secretary Mizumo rewrites the event with Clan Lord Abe in the wrong and Lord Nariatsu defending himself. For this "attack," the Oshi fief is to be abolished at the end of the month, and the lands will be given to Lord Nariatsu as compensation.
A group of assassins stop a blind men pilgrimage making their way down the road. The assassins ask for Ichi, but they all claim variations of that name. They line them up against a building to look at their faces, but do not find Ichi and leave. One of the blind men brings Ichi out from his hiding place in the building, and they laugh at playing a prank on sighted men. Ichi goes on his way.
Ichi travels to the village of Itakura to pay respects at the grave of a man he killed two years earlier. At the grave he reminisces on a fight between the two yakuza gangs (Iioka and Sasagawa from an earlier film) one man ran away and, though Ichi was not taking part in the fight, attacked Ichi. The dead man's sister, Chiyo, overhears Ichi say this to himself.
Premier volet des six films consacrés au légendaire samouraï Miyamoto Musashi qui, doué d'une force extraordinaire, choisit la voie du sabre et commence un long apprentissage fait d'ascétisme et de duels à mort.
A young Yakuza, who is looking to make a name for himself, shoots Zatoichi in the back with a musket. Zatoichi is wounded, but is aided by a stranger: Miss Kuni. After recovering, Zatoichi travels to her home to thank her and repay her kindness by assisting in what household chores he can do.
Mataemon Araki (Toshiro Mifune), a renowned swordsman, helps a young man find vengeance. The opening scene has Araki sternly accosting Jinza with a formal proclamation of vengeance for the killing of his family member. Jinza (Takashi Shimura) cackles villainously and an epic fight commences.
On his way to a village to celebrate the New Year's festival, Zatoichi is asked by a man to deliver a message to a woman. Upon delivery, he rooms with a young women who is searching for her missing father.