Ichi wanders into a small mining town where a family that has for generations been labor bosses of the copper miners is displaced by a cruel boss, Yamagen, who has bought off a corrupt government official.
Ichi is charged with protecting a little boy & getting him safely to his father, who had already begun to look for the child for want of an heir. Soon gangsters realize there's a reward for finding the wealthy merchant's heir, so Ichi has to defend Taro from kidnappers who would ransom him.
On the anniversary of his mothers death, Zatoichi's oath prohibits him from drawing his sword from dawn till dusk. But when a Ronin and two yakuza kill a kind old woman, Zatoichi breaks his oath and must suffer the consequences.
Ichi end up in a town where a corrupt officer decides which yakuza gang gets to have the periodically moved Jizo statue & an hold the festival in their gambling territory, taking bribes from both sides while plotting their collective downfall.
A ronin named Murakami has found out about a medical procedure that might restore his sisters sight, but it is costly.To raise the funds, he takes assassination commissions from yakuza gangs who want Zatoichi killed.
A former whore and now drunk pickpocket, Osei, meets Ichi and believes that he is the killer of her yakuza brother. Having killed so many yakuza in the past, Ichi is unsure that he is the one. He makes a arrangement with her to throw away his cane sword if she will stop drinking. Osei agrees, seeing this as an opportunity to have her revenge and hires a swordsman to kill the unarmed blind masseur.
Ichi has managed to get himself stuck with "obligation for a night's lodging" & is going along with a small band of annoying gangsters to help their oyabun (boss) against a rival gang. With Ichi at their side, it's pretty much guaranteed that the rivals will soon be dead, unless they run away. Ichi hates to be used in this manner, but he is a stickler for the yakuza code, & he did accept food & lodging, so he has no choice.
Ichi stops the young prostitute Okiku from committing suicide by hanging herself with her obi belt from a tree's branch. But Okiku is indentured to the bordello, & to free her, Ichi wants to buy her papers to burn them. He gives the gangster boss a choice between accepting a bag of rocks as payment, or experiencing more of blind swordsman quick-draw action.
A woman dicer is traveling with a blind masseur who is posing as the famous Zatoichi with her instruction. The actual Zatoichi is passing by the same post town & is befriended by the very fraud, a man actually named Kobuichi, who Ichi had known during their mutual youth. The fraud has no idea his friend from his youth has grown up to be a famous swordsman, but he enjoys the chance to be a big shot in front of Ichi who was the cooler dude when they were young.
A sumo wrestler is impressed with the skills of the blind masseur Zatoichi. Not for his surprising swordsmanship but for his gambling skills. He begs Ichi to teach him to be a champion gambler, but Ichi tries to convince him to return home & not become part of the gamblers' world. As the lad has been depressed and cannot take care of himself, Ichi takes him on very reluctantly as an apprentice, & they adventure along the country roads together.
Ichi once again has a rural yakuza gang ticked off with him. He is caught between evading, being attacked, or killing multiple attackers. A marksman, Yashichi, is hired by the local gambler boss, Sahejii Ontake to take out Ichi from a safe distance. Ichi with a gunshot wound takes refuge with a physician, Geria, who had been collecting herbs in the region, assisted by Omiya, his daughter.
Osei is the only daughter of a gambling boss from Tamioka. When her father was killed by Boss Gonzo she pretends to be a young man & sets out with her sword on the road to vengeance.She meets the blind swordsman Zatoichi along the way. He assesses her situation pretty clearly, & warns her that among yakuza, a fair fight isn't likely. He seems to imply she won't be able to achieve her aim, but so far as Osei is concerned, until she either kills Gonzo or dies trying, she won't live a normal life.
Shinsuke of Kitsuura, a fishing village hararssed by the yakuza, has been released from prison after three years. Now a drunk, Ichi finds him and sobers him up and as he hates to incur a debt, he gives ichi a lottery ticket as payment for his assistance. When the ticket pays off, Ichi feels he did nothing to deserve a thousand ryo, so sets out to find Shinsuke at Kitsuura, & return the valuable ticket.
A woman is killed leaving Zatoichi to tend to her child. While journeying to town, Zatoichi and child run afoul of Yakuzas.
An act of mercy backfires on Zatoichi. After Zatoichi spares a man's life, the man is later killed by Yakuzas who pin the blame on Zatoichi.
After stealing rice from the government, Chuji hides from officials on Akagi mountain. Since he owes Chuju a favor, Zatoichi tries to help
Zatoichi visits a house in which a young woman is about to get married. But the local administrator causes suffering by putting her groom in jail.
Zatoichi aids a criminal who has just murdered a boss and gets caught up in his messy affairs.
It's the 3 year festival in Itabana and good food is in demand. Zatoichi's traveling companion recommends the restaurant Fukube, but the food doesn't measure up and he gives it a cutting review.
The widow of a yakuza boss wants to go clean and for her son to get an honest job. But the rival clan under her adopted son is complicating her move.
Zatoichi hears a couple expressing their undying devotion to each other. She sells herself into prostitution to pay her lover, Sentaro's debt. But Zatoichi's new prostitute companion is also waiting for Sentaro to come back.
A little boy offers Zatoichi room in his parents' inn. But the patriarch gets a loan from a swindler with eyes on more than a simple loan repayment.
A Goze (blind woman musician) is cast out of her association for falling in love with a man in violation of the Goze rules, but the man's family will not accept her.
Zatoichi tries to help a spoiled rich girl who is traveling alone but she is ungrateful for all the things he does for her.
After killing a yakuza boss, Zatoichi is stalked by his 2 remaining retainers. But all doesn't go as they planned.
Zatoichi returns to the home village that he left many years ago. The head priest there convinces him to end his violent ways and become a priest instead. Will his many enemies leave him in peace?
A dying man asks Zatoichi for a favor. This leads Zatoichi to the man's family and some culprits.
A dying mother leaves her child in Zatoichi's care. Some shady characters are also interested in this child. Meanwhile, there's conflict between a brother, a sister, and an old man.
When Zatoichi intervenes between a couple and a ronin, the ronin calls out a name. Months later, Zatoichi accidentally finds that person and learns that the couple have some secrets.
Zatoichi is stalked by a gang. He meets an ill ronin who needs his help. The gang is willing to pay the ronin well if he turns against Zatoichi.
A young woman desires to marry a man far below her class in society. He believes the difference is too great. Can Zatoichi help them get together while he's being chased across the countryside by the authorities?
Zatoichi reconnects with his former master in his old village. While there, he receives a proposal and meets a man seeking revenge.
An insane woman latches on to Zatoichi and follows him everywhere. A man who had two arms before he met Zatoichi gets some help from a gang.
A man who made a promise to a prostitute 2 years ago returns.
While on the road, Zatoichi meets a couple he knew when they were children. They are traveling the wrong path. Will they take the direction he gives them or must he take more drastic action?
Zatoichi assists a girl who has just been sold to a brothel.
A farmer's rebellious son runs away from home to become a yakuza. What will his fate be when he crosses paths with Zatoichi?
A blind acquaintance of Zatoichi has risen in the world to become a money lender. He comes up with a plan to make a lot of money off of Zatoichi.
Zatoichi escorts an old woman into a village overrun with bounty hunters seeking a fugitive hiding nearby . Despite Zatoichi's desire to leave immediately, the old woman insists on staying.
Zatoichi meets a young woman on the road and travels with her to the next town. When they arrive, she is ecstatic to find her true love lives there. However, his plan for her isn't what she's expecting.
A yakuza gang leader has a man killed so that he can steal the man's wife. The only hitch in this plan is Zatoichi.
Zatoichi decides to help a prostitute who has just escaped from a brothel.
A yakusa boss has his rival murdered but won't be content until he destroys the dead man's wife and teenage son as well.
A bad cop and a man he bribed conspire to have Zatoichi tossed into jail.
A gangster needs a fall guy for some murders he committed.
A shogi (japanese chess) player uses his wife as a wager in a match.
Zatoichi prevents a beautiful young woman from committing suicide.
Zatoichi crosses paths with four runaways: a young couple and a man with his infant son.
Zatoichi crosses paths with a ghost and a bad-tempered drunk who wants to fight everything in his path, especially Zatoichi.
Zatoichi visits one of the villages of his childhood. A man foolishly bets his wife gambling with Zatoichi and she decides she would prefer to be with him than her husband.
Zatoichi visits an old retired boss and finds that one of his sons is banished for a crime and the other is a policeman who has vowed to arrest him.
While passing through a small town in bad times Zatoichi meets an easy-going samurai and the sassy owner of the local restaurant who wants to rid the town of the rival gangs who are vying for her affections.
Zatoichi befriends a mysterious stranger, an important but humble yakuza traveling to complete unfinished business, both personal and professional.
A man is crucified for standing up to abusive yakuza. Zatoichi is welcomed into an orphanage run by the man's daughter where a disruptive boy and the yakuza cause trouble.
A stubborn wandering indigent ronin (cast-off samurai), his infinitely patient wife, a former doctor, a yakuza boss, and Zatoichi meet with tragic consequences.
A married woman selling medicine becomes overly attached to Zatoichi as they travel together and encounter many attacks.
Three lowlifes kill a traveling masseur, who they think is Zatoichi. But Zatoichi finds the dying man and learns why he was killed. The masseur asks him to deliver his savings to Okumi, a circus performer in the next town.
A couple of palanquin bearers help Zatoichi and he tries to repay their kindness when they run afoul of the local gang who is trying to take over the palanquin business.
A young woman that Zatoichi is with asks him to take some money to her little blind sister in the town where he'll be going. Along the way he meets a doctor who claims he can cure blindness. Zatoichi decides to take the girl to the doctor.
Five young dirt-poor villagers are determined to have a better life by any means possible. A woman of questionable motives tries to involve Zatoichi in the local gang for a cut of the action.
A gang follows Ichi into a town of his childhood trying to kill him. A woman in the gang realizes that Ichi was her childhood friend. The gang holds all the children of the town hostage to force Ichi out.
A child princess is being transported to become married but she has nightmares about marriage, wanders off with her dog, and attaches herself to Ichi.
A yakuza boss who stood up to corrupt government officials wanders the country with a price on his head, guarded by his lieutenant. The lieutenant knows his boss's days are numbered and searches for a solution.
A young, gravely ill artist takes up with Zatoichi along with a repentant would-be gang member. The artist spends her days drawing Zatoichi.
A young boy hands Ichi a note asking him to take the boy to his grandfather. They happen on the boy's father being attacked and Ichi disarms the attackers but not before the father is mortally wounded.
A former prostitute from Zatoichi's past awaits her execution from someone she betrayed. Meanwhile she spurns Zatoichi's attempts at friendship.
A man and woman who had a complicated relationship with Chuji, one of Zatoichi's old bosses, come across Zatoichi while being pursued.
Zatoichi meets a boy who is going back to live at his ancestral home after both his parents died. But the boy's appearance causes confusion at the home. And Zatoichi is pursued by a single-mindedly vengeful woman.
A blind knife thrower succumbs to the insinuations of a devious man trying to steal his wife.
A kind and honest but cowardly government official, grateful for Ichi's help, befriends him but is asked to betray him.
A woman steals money and pays for her prostitute sister who is dying of tuberculosis to have a few days of rest. But greedy bosses and dishonest cops make things difficult.
A blind man accosts Zatoichi because he was mistaken for him and almost killed. The blind man's companion has some shady deal with a priest. But no one is above suspicion.
An orphan boy befriends Zatoichi and takes him home to meet his adopted family. Zatoichi's love of children brings happiness to all. However, things never go that smoothly for our hero.
Zatoichi saves a dishonest gambler from a beating or worse. The gambler shows his gratitude by trying to rob Zatoichi and is killed. His wife doesn't take it well.
Zatoichi stumbles into the lives of a poor fireworks maker and his mostly deaf daughter. The man is trying to invent a new firework, provide for his daughter, be a good host, and deal with the local yakuza.
A pregnant woman attaches herself to Zatoichi. But she brings trouble from a criminal past and husband who wants to kill her.
A young girl who wants to kill herself finds a friend in Zatoichi and an independent-minded yakuza is fascinated by him, but the local yakuza are after him for the fame and glory. The bond the three share is tested by their antagonists.
A group of yakuza slaughter the men of a village. Zaotoichi witnesses the act, beginning the wheel of encounters with those involved. Ichi offers redemption but those on the wrong path must suffer before realizing it.
A decade previously Zatoichi promised a little girl that he would return to see her. On his return, a woman about ten years older has recruited some people to kill the local boss for a grievance.
Two acts of kindness by strangers set in motion events involving a lottery ticket and the potential for true love to blossom.
At an inn waiting to cross an impassable river in the rain are Ichi, a fugitive, a constable on his tail, yakuza, samurai, and dozens of other people crammed in. Ichi plays referee with the fugitive and cop and tries to keep the peace.
Ichi keeps a worthless drunk from being beaten and the drunk repays him with questionable kindness, putting him up in his ramshackle hut in the woods which he tries to fool Ichi into thinking is a mansion.
Ichi meets a woman searching for her daughter who has been missing since being kidnapped by slavers as a child. Unfortunately some gangsters want to prey on her hope.
A man who has acquired some money sees Zatoichi's skill and enlists him as a traveling companion. The man's reputation as a thief and burden on society precedes him on his return to his hometown.
A young man pleads to become an acupuncture apprentice.
The aunt and uncle of two children are murdered and, accused, the boy runs away. The girl finds protection and companionship from Zatoichi.
Zaotoichi visits the home of someone who loaned him money and, finding he isn't there, helps the family out over the years.
A woman grifting for her future husband by pretending to be the widow of recently deceased men is caught in the act and Zatoichi steps in to take care of her and her child.
Zatoichi adopts a dog or rather the dog adopts him. When the dog is injured he takes it to a veterinarian who happens to be treating a young man who felt the edge of Zatoichi's sword.
Zatoichi intervenes when an old man is being beaten. The old man, a renowned thief, asks Zatoichi to accompany him to tell his daughter where his fortune is hidden. But the thief doesn't make it home.
A man trying to rob a gambling house gets his cut from the edge of Zatoichi's sword, but Zatoichi refuses to let the local gang take his life. He happens upon him years later, happily married, but still occasionally beset by temptation.
Zatoichi meets a friend, Risuke, formerly an enemy, each going to visit rival bosses in a town, Zatoichi to Fujishiro and Risuke to Kuroiso. A member of Fujishiro is killed and his fellow gang member seeks revenge.
Boss Fujishiro prepares for the funeral of Hide and fully severs his ties with Seikichi, while Seikichi tries to help Hide's widow and prepare to avenge his death. Meanwhile Zatoichi and Risuke contemplate life and their past.
A young woman who meets Zatoichi takes on many disguises or "steals other people's lives". Her life and stories entwine both the local gang, her dead mother, and Zatoichi.
Blind people who make a pilgrimage to the top of a mountain in hopes of getting their sight are instead kidnapped by yakuza and enslaved to work in a mine. The boss's woman feels for Zatoichi and tries to help him.
The massage of a wealthy merchant's unwell daughter becomes something more and leads to complications for everyone.
In a fever dream Zatoichi experiences redemption and then damnation. His feeling on awakening are not reciprocated.
