The second Zatoichi film came out October 12 1962. It's written and directed by Kazuo Mori who would direct a couple more Zatoichi movies, Return of Daimajin and 10 episodes of the Zatoichi tv show. The music in this movie is by Ichirō Saitō.
The Tale Of Zatoichi Continues has Zatoichi return to the town he was in during the first movie. He wants to visit the Joshoji Temple to pay respects to Hirate, the samurai he had killed the year before. They have a really nice town set and plenty of great interior sets. I would guess that each good size film studio would have standing sets to shoot their samurai films in, just like there were standing western sets in Hollywood when those were popular. Check them out for yourself, the link in the title has the movie on YouTube.
Trouble finds Zatoichi, before he even gets to the temple he's tossed into the water by the leader of a gang of men. Zatoichi managed to grab the leader's sword and slice the the man's face with it. The gang comes looking for revenge. While Zatoichi is drying his clothes from his plunge in the river, he's lying nearby taking a snooze. A crippled samurai intercepts the leader's men and finishes them all off. Zatoichi moves on and gets hired to give a massage to a noble. Turns out the guy is senile and his retainers think Zatoichi should die to keep him quiet. Their plan to kill him fails so they hire local Yakuza to do the job. They don't fare too well. Shintaro Katsu's real life brother Tomisaburō Wakayama plays the crippled samurai. Tomisaburō also plays Lone Wolf in the Lone Wolf And Cub series.
The second movie is only 72 minutes but it moves along quicker than the first. There's a good amount more action and the first of the large fights with gangs of men against Zatoichi. There's a bit of melodrama but not too much and a little humor. It's another good one, and like the first, well worth seeing.
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