MovieChat Forums > Zatôichi tekka-tabi (1967) Discussion > Song

Song

posted 11 years ago by Grethiwha
3 replies | jump to latest

This, along with Zatoichi's Flashing Sword, is my selection for best Zatoichi film so far, as I've been working my way through the series for the first time. These two, by degrees, seem to me the most confident and enjoyable entries yet. It's super-close though, I'm talking by a hair, like, maybe if it wasn't snowing at the end I wouldn't have rated it higher than the others. But that's just how ridiculously consistent in (high) quality this series is.

Anyway, the one thing that did bug me a little bit was the song the lady was singing at the very beginning of the movie. I could be totally wrong but it struck me as more contemporary 60's sounding – an anachronism uncharacteristic of this series. If I'm right, that's a little bit distracting, isn't it? Okay, it's hardly a big deal, and I'm probably not right besides – all I know about Japanese music is what I've taken in subconsciously from watching Japanese movies. Does anyone with a better sense of these things wanna comment or refute me? I just thought I'd throw this question out there, since I am so fond of this particular entry and I'm curious about it (and these boards could use more activity, not to mention )...

--- grethiwha -------- My Favourite Films:
http://www.imdb.com/list/Bw65XZIpkH8/

[–] dread-knight 10 years ago

Working my way though the series as well.

That song in the beginning felt very different compared to the others from the series, but it found it incredibly awesome and I felt it related to me as I recall. It almost made me shed a tear, too bad I can't really cry for some reason, so it was like I was hiding my tears, just as the song said.

[–] koganinpo 9 years ago

I agree with you that the song "Ippon dokko no uta" by Suizenji Kiyoko who of course plays the traveling actress is-- strictly speaking-- an anachronism since it was a huge hit around the time the movie was made. The "tone" of the song which is an enka does somewhat fit this samurai period film, unlike jazz, rock or Jpop.

The plus is that the singer (nicknamed Cheetah by fans)is shot quite lovingly. Suizenji was actually quite a good looking woman.

Don't usually reply to imdb posts but I had just finished watching Zatoichi's Cane Sword and there's too much to like here. Duck Song, anyone? And the unexpected switching of swords by Tohno Eijiro the swordsmith was a very good twist, instead of having Ichi grab the newly forged sword from the evil official.

[–] jasonbourneagain 8 years ago

I just love her voice. So Japanese. You're probably right about it being 60s.

Anyway, for those watching the series, I recommend Blind Menace? I think it's Katsu Shintaro's first foray playing a blind man. It's suppose to be the inspiration for the Zatoichi series although the character is completely different.