Ichi (2008) Biography, Plot

Ichi (2008)

Ichi is a 2008 chanbara チャンバラ film directed by Fumihiko Sori, starring Haruka Ayase, Takao Osawa, Shido Nakamura, and Yosuke Kubozuka. It was released by Warner Bros. Japan on October 25, 2008. The film was loosely based on the manga published Oct 23, 2008 to Aug 23, 2011 by Hana Shinohara.

Plot.

Ichi (市) is a goze (blind woman) who is travelling Japan in search of her mentor, who was the actual Zatoichi. She is befriended by a travelling samurai Toma Fujihira, who tells her that he rescued her from bandits (in fact, it was Ichi who saved them both by killing the bandits). They travel to a town run by the Shirakawa, a Yakuza family who are plagued by the Banki-to, a group of mercenaries. This group is led by Banki, an evil man who is excellent in sword fighting but who has a disfigured face. Ichi is befriended by Kotaro, a boy who lives with his drunkard father. After Ichi helps Toma win money from Chō-han, they are followed

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by five Bankito who demand Toma’s money. After Toma refuses, he is challenged to a fight but he is unable to draw his sword. Ichi slays the gang. The Shirakawa leader’s son, Toraji, arrives after the fight and assumes that it was Toma who slew the men and makes Toma his personal bodyguard. Ichi is convinced by Kotaro and his father to stay in the hope of the famed blind swordmaster, Zatoichi, passing through. Toma confesses that although he has fighting skills he is unable to draw his sword because of guilt for blinding his mother in an accident. The Bankito plan their revenge. They kill the head of the Shirakawa.

Toma is unable to defend anyone and is left unconscious. Ichi admits that it was she who killed the earlier men and after displaying her skills, the second-in-command of the Bankito is convinced and takes her to the mountains to meet their leader, Banki. After she kills two Bankito who doubted her skills, Banki attacks and defeats her. As Ichi lies injured, Banki states that he had met her mentor. The two had fought but Zatoichi would die in battle because of a fast acting disease. She is thrown into a locked ditch and left to die. As she loses consciousness, Ichi drops the bell given to her by Zatoichi.

We then see Ichi’s backstory. She was born blind. While she was still a young girl, Zatoichi rescued her and left her in the care of a group of goze, giving Ichi a small bell to remember him by. Zatoichi visited her as she grew and secretly taught her the fighting techniques Zatoichi had mastered. Ichi grew up to be a musically talented and beautiful woman, as well as an accomplished sword-fighter. After one of her goze group’s performances, she was raped by one of the patrons. Goze were strictly forbidden to marry and required to be celibate so she was later expelled from the goze household, even though it broke the other members’ hearts.