Unlock access to every one of the hundreds of articles published daily on BroadwayWorld by logging in with one click. Japan Society's latest Monthly Classics film series The Double-Edged Sword: The ...

It's not that "The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi" lacks gory scenes. When a sightless masseur chops off a gambler's hand, the amputated limb spouts a geyser of blood on par with anything in "Kill Bill." ...

A do-gooder blind masseur with a penchant for gambling and steel blades might appear an unlikely cinematic hero. But after he first appeared in the 1962 Japanese film "Zatoichi Monogatari" ("The Tale ...

A houseguest lies silently in a small room, a servant rubbing his tired feet. Another man enters, inviting the first man to show off his swordplay for his hosts, but the prone man demurs. "No," he ...

Shintarô Katsu stars as a well-endowed lawman in 19th-century Japan who uses his sexual prowess and razor-sharp sword to uncover corruption in the first entry of a kinky samurai trilogy. Directed by ...

Shintarō Katsu (勝 新太郎 Katsu Shintarō?), born Toshio Okumura (奥村 利夫 Okumura Toshio, November 29, 1931—June 21, 1997; nicknamed Katsu-shin) was a Japanese actor, singer, producer, and director. He was ...

Like their American counterparts, Japanese movie lovers have long embraced recurring characters and storylines. But their film franchises reached a peak in the 1960s and '70s. At that time, series in ...