The Blind Menace (1960) by Kazuo Mori

[cranefly]

Suganoichi, an amoral blind boy of uncanny artifice, grows up to be a blind masseuse with a very dark side.

Shintaro Katsu plays the adult Suganoichi.  This predates Zatoichi, by the way, which this film no doubt inspired.

Shintaro Katsu is amazing.  I figured it would take a few films for him to perfect the blind act. But he's fully formed even here.

This reminds me of Flashman.  Not that I've read any of that series, but a friend raved about them, where the protagonist is evil and takes advantage of everyone around him.

[Drunk Monk]

http://www.brotherhoodofdoom.com/doomFor...7#pid17477

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As a side note, I also saw Blind Menace, which was a precursor to Zatoichi.  Katsu plays Suginoichi, a blind masseuse.  The character is totally reprehensible and utterly unredeemable, a murderer, a rapist, a backstabber, very unsympathetic.  However, it's Katsu doing his blind man impression in a very raw form.