Kimiyoshi Yasuda
1911 - 1983
Zatoichi's Cane Sword
Kimiyoshi Yasuda
Shintarō Katsu, Shiho Fujimura
Zatoichi comes upon the town of Tonda, overrun by gangsters. Using one of his favorite techniques, Zatoichi proceeds to win 8 ryo in a rigged gambling game. Of course, the local gangsters attempt to kill him, and the adventure begins. It turns out a blacksmith named Senzo examines Zatoichi's cane sword, and discovers it to be forged by his old mentor. Senzo discovers the sword is at the end of its usefulness and will break when it is used next.
Zatoichi's Cane Sword
女左膳 濡れ燕片手斬り
Kimiyoshi Yasuda
Michiyo Ookusu, Kōjirō Hongō
As a child, Okin the one-armed one-eyed swordswoman was disfigured by Lord Daizen-dayu, who was after her family's most treasured possession, the famed Drenched Swallow sword. As an adult, she has become a skilled swordswoman and lives a carefree life with her adopted family. One day, Okin saves a girl from a group of yakuza, and in doing so, gets involved in a grand conspiracy involving religious leaders, government officials, the yakuza and Lord Daizen-dayu, the man who killed her father and mutilated her body...
Lefty Fencer
Adventures of Zatoichi
Kimiyoshi Yasuda
Shintarō Katsu, Miwa Takada
Blind swordsman/masseuse Zatoichi befriends a young woman looking for her father, a village leader who has disappeared. As he helps her investigate the disappearance, Zatoichi also becomes involved with another young woman who is trying to help her brother, who has murdered someone at about the same time and place as the missing man was last seen.
Adventures of Zatoichi
Zatoichi Meets the One-Armed Swordsman
Kimiyoshi Yasuda, Hsu Tseng-Hung
Shintarō Katsu, Jimmy Wang Yu
Zatoichi is a blind massage therapist and swordsman who finds out that something troubling is taking place on the outskirts of town. After discovering who the guilty parties are -- an accomplished Chinese martial artist named Wang Kang and his youthful attendant -- Zatoichi finds them and discovers that the pair's mixed up with a dangerous bunch of terrorist samurai who murdered the boy's parents. Now, Zatoichi must step in to save the day.
Zatoichi Meets the One-Armed Swordsman
新座頭市物語・笠間の血祭り
Kimiyoshi Yasuda
Shintarō Katsu, Yukiyo Toake
Zatoichi, the famed blind swordsman, returns to his home village for the first time in many years. He is befriended by Omiyo, who had the same wet-nurse as Zatoichi. He also encounters a boyhood friend, Shinbei, who now is wealthy and appears not to remember Zatoichi. Shinbei seems to be interested in repaying the villagers' debts, but is in reality manipulating the ownership of a now-valuable rock quarry. Zatoichi learns of the subterfuge and confronts his old friend, who has a score of yakuza swordsmen backing his play.
Zatoichi's Conspiracy
眠狂四郎円月斬り
Kimiyoshi Yasuda
Raizō Ichikawa, Kyooko Azuma
A decapitation at the hands of the shogun's monstrous misbegotten son kicks off the action and draws nomadic Nemuri Kyoshiro (Raizô Ichikawa) into more sword-fighting adventures when he's blamed for the beheading. Meanwhile, the head-chopper's mother is busy knocking off the shogun's lawful heirs to secure the shogunate for her son.
Sleepy Eyes of Death 3: Full Circle Killing
博徒一代 血祭り不動
Kimiyoshi Yasuda
Raizō Ichikawa, Jūshirō Konoe
Ichikawa Raizo’s last film. He plays a Yakuza enforcer who kills a man on his boss's orders. He’s then sent to a provincial town to lie low, only to be caught in another war orchestrated by his original boss who has set him up.
Sworn Brothers
眠狂四郎人肌蜘蛛
Kimiyoshi Yasuda
Raizō Ichikawa, Mako Midori
The titular "tarantula" is a murderous woman who, along with the brother who is in love with her, kill without warrant because they are wealthy & above the law. Kyoshiro the homeless masterless wandering samurai has nothing to lose, & no scruples anyway, so can reproach even the powerful with ease. He is thus, for all that he has broad streaks of villainy all his own, a champion of the people by default.
Sleepy Eyes of Death 11: In the Spider's Lair
