Zatoichi sword - The weapon of the blind samurai

Who is Zatoichi?

Zatoichi (座頭市 in Japanese) is a character of a blind samurai created by the author Kan Shimozawa. He gained worldwide fame through a television series and various film adaptations. In our latitudes, the cinema film "Zatoichi - The Blind Samurai" by director Takeshi Kitano from 2003 is particularly well known.

At first glance, Zatoichi is a harmless, blind masseur who travels the country earning his money with massages, acupuncture and gambling. However, he is also a master swordsman and highly trained in Iaijutsu. He has also mastered the art of sumo wrestling and kyujutsu (archery).

He uses his own fighting style, in which he wields the sword hidden in his blind cane with the blade pointing downwards instead of upwards. Due to his blindness, his hearing is so acute that he can hear whether an odd or even number has been rolled when playing dice. This allows him to finance a large part of his livelihood through gambling.

He is often underestimated by criminals due to his blindness. He exploits this advantage by standing up for the poor and oppressed during his wanderings through the country and defending them from criminals.

In some depictions, such as the 2003 film, Zatoichi is also portrayed as a seeing samurai who merely pretends to be blind.

Zatoichi's sword

Zatoichi's sword is not a katana, as was commonly used by samurai at the time. Instead, he carries what is known as a shikomizue.
This is a cane sword, a weapon in which a long, pointed blade is attached to the handle of a walking or blind man's cane, for which the shaft of the remaining cane serves as a scabbard.

Shikomizue were generally of low quality, made of unfolded steel and not comparable to the common katana. Zatoichi's sword is an exception, however, as it is clearly superior to his opponents' katana in battle.

However, in the 4th Zatoichi film, we also see the blade of his sword break during a fierce battle.

Legal situation of Stockdegen

All variants of cane swords are subject to the Weapons Act in Germany and are considered Prohibited articles. Possession and possession is therefore a criminal offence.

You can find more information on the treatment of weapons disguised as everyday objects in this article. Swords that are not disguised as everyday objects are subject to different regulations. This is why there are numerous film replicas that do not look exactly like a walking stick.