Zatoichi

[Drunk Monk]

E10 starts with a suicide by hanging attempt again, but it’s a wannabe sumo wrestler so the bean breaks and he falls on Ichi. The rest is a tale of karma and redemption, a yakuza who reforms into a soba shop owner (made me crave soba). And there’s a ronin so there’s some dueling. Ichi slaughters a yakuza gang and its leader with his usual panache - like two dozen plus yakuza who just cannot get a cut in on Ichi. Then that finale duel is a beaut. Katsu pulls off a wicked draw cut and noto (re-sheathing - the trickiest part). It’s one clean clear shot that looks like a simple bit but that noto of Katsu’s is so skillful. He has such a gorgeous noto. He makes it look so easy but Ichi’s cane sword doesn’t have a lip and he doesn’t make a koi-guchi ‘shelf’ with his hand to run the blade along and feel for the opening. He just drops it in. That’s very skillful. Pure skill. For all Katsu’s goofy antics, he handles his blade like a true master.