Zatōichi 座頭市

choi

Wendell Jamieson, Master of Sightless Sword Play; Criterion release a ‘Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman’ set. New York Times, Nov 24, 2013.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/2 ... lind-swordsman.html

Excerpt in the window of print: A new DVD boxed set collects 25 Japanese movies featuring a singular samurai.

Note:
(a) Zatōichi  座頭市
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zatoichi
(“The character's name is actually Ichi. Zatō is a title, the lowest of the four official ranks within the Tōdōza 当道座, the historical guild for blind men. (Thus zato also designates a blind person in Japanese slang.) Ichi is therefore properly called Zatō-no-Ichi 座頭の市 (‘Low-Ranking Blind Person Ichi,’ approximately), or Zatōichi for short. Giving massages was a traditional occupation for the blind, as was playing the biwa 琵琶 or, for blind women (goze 瞽女), the shamisen 三味線. Being lesser Hinin 非人 (non-people), blind people and masseurs were among the very lowest of the low in social class, other than Eta 穢多 [or Burakumin 部落民--literally hamlet people/village people who lived in their own hamlets or ghettos] or outright criminals ; they were generally considered wretches, beneath notice, no better than beggars or even the insane — especially during the Edo period — and it was also commonly thought that the blind were accursed, despicable, severely mentally disabled, deaf and sexually dangerous”)
(b)
(i) first photo legend: “Shintaro KATSU 勝 新太郎 [born 奥村 利夫] and Masayo BANRI 万里 昌代 in ‘The Tale of Zatoichi 座頭市 物語’ (1962), the first of 25 films starring Katsu as the title character.”

* Later the article said, “The first film [simply titled 座頭市] was remade by the actor-director Takeshi KITANO 北野 武 in 2004; it is not included here.”
(ii) second photo legend: “Katsu taking care of business in ‘Zatoichi’s Vengeance 座頭市の歌が聞える’ (1966).”   (translation of Japanese title: Zatōichi can hears songs)
(iii) third photo legend: “An image from ‘Zatoichi and the Chest of Gold 座頭市千両首,’ No 6 in the Zatoichi series, now in a new boxed set produced by the Criterion Collection.”

(c) “his backhanded sword grip”
(i) backhand (n; adj; adv):
“a stroke (as in tennis) made with the back of the hand turned in the direction of movement; also :  the side on which such strokes are made”
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/backhand
(ii) backhand
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backhand
(a tennis shot; For a right-handed player, this means that a backhand begins on the left side of the body; The backhand can be a one-handed or two-handed stroke)

(d) “Katsu bore little resemblance to the other samurai heroes I watched with rapt attention in Manhattan revival houses in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Toshiro Mifune, Tatsuya Nakadai: They were stoic and smokily handsome. Katsu was awkward, shuffling, badly dressed, humble.”

Tatsuya NAKADAI  仲代 達矢 (born 仲代 元久, in 1932)

(e) “The series seems like a strange pick for Criterion, known for its art-house tastes, because although the first two films, both in black-and-white — ‘The Tale of Zatoichi’ and ‘The Tale of Zatoichi Continues 続・座頭市物語’ — rank right up there with acclaimed and noirish samurai dramas like ‘Harakiri’ or ‘Samurai Assassin,’ the later films have much more of a pop-culture feel, with televisionlike production standards, coursing blood, sexual innuendo and slapstick.”
(i) Harakiri (1962 film)  切腹
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harakiri_(1962_film)
(Directed byMasaki KOBAYASHI 小林 正樹; Starring Tatsuya NAKADAI; tells the story of Hanshirō TSUGUMO 津雲 半四郎, a [fictional] rōnin)

was based on TAKIGUCHI Yasuhiko “滝口 康彦の小説『異聞浪人記』.”
(ii) Samurai Assassin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samurai_Assassin
(Japanese title: 侍 Samurai; 1965; Directed by Kihachi OKAMOTO 岡本 喜八; Starring Toshiro Mifune)

(f) “Mr [Curtis] Tsui has been responsible for several of Criterion’s standout samurai efforts, including Akira Kurosawa’s ‘Yojimbo’ and ’the Samurai Trilogy’ by Hiroshi Inagaki.
(i) Mr Tsui has no Chinese name.
(ii)
(iii) Samurai Trilogy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samurai_Trilogy
(Directed by Hiroshi INAGAKI 稲垣 浩; Starring Toshiro Mifune; Release dates 1954-1956; about 宮本 武蔵)

(g) “Paul Shin holds a fifth dan in kendo, Japanese fencing, and a fourth dan in iaido. * * * While warning that there are hundreds of sword styles with which he is not familiar, he said he did not believe there are any involving a backward grip.”
(i) Paul Shin has no Chinese name.
(ii) iaidō  居合道
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iaido
(section 1 Origins of the name)