Zatoichi
A burly masseur and yakuza with short hair, he is a skilled swordsman who fights using only his hearing. While less known in the West, he is arguably the most famous chanbara character in Japan.
Crimson Bat
Four movies were made about another blind samurai, Oichi a.k.a. “the Crimson Bat”. Her character was a blind female sword fighter, and made in response to the huge success of Zatoichi.
Nemuri Kyoshirō
Nemuri Kyoshirō, the master of the Engetsu (Full Moon Cut) sword style, was a wandering “lone wolf” warrior plagued by the fact that he was fathered in less than honorable circumstance by a “fallen” Portuguese priest who had turned to worshipping Satan and a Japanese noblewoman whom he had seduced and raped as part of a Black Mass and who had committed suicide after Kyoshiro was born. As a result, Kyoshiro despised both Christianity (which he considered weak and hypocritical) and the Shogunate government (which he considered corrupt).
Miyamoto Musashi
A number of films were also made about Miyamoto Musashi, a famed historical warrior and swordsman, including a three movie series about his life starring Toshiro Mifune and a six movie series about his life starring Yorozuya Kinnosuke.
Lone Wolf and Cub
Lone Wolf and Cub, the tale of a samurai traveling Japan with his son in a wooden pram (which is armed and on occasion used in combat) was made into a six-film series starring Wakayama Tomisaburo as Ogami Itto and a live action television series called Kozure Ōkami (1973 to 1976) starring actor Yorozuya Kinnosuke as Ogami Ittō.
Sanjuro / The Ronin with No Name
Sanjuro, played by Toshiro Mifune, is the wandering ronin character appearing in four samurai era films, the main two films being Kurosawa’s works, Yojimbo and Sanjuro. The character is nameless and reveals little about himself, but when required gives the name Sanjuro (which means “thirty-ish male”), and then makes up a surname. All up, Mifune played the role in four movies, two by Kurosawa, and two others. After the Kurosawa movies, Mifune played analogous roles as a nameless wandering ronin called Yojimbo (“Bodyguard”) in two films released in 1970: Incident at Blood Pass (a.k.a. Machibuse), and the Zatoichi film Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo.
The Yojimbo figure is sometimes referred to as “The Ronin With No Name”, as a reference to the “Man with No Name” character portrayed by Clint Eastwood in Sergio Leone’s “Dollars Trilogy” of Spaghetti Western films. Leone based Eastwood’s character on the “Ronin with no name”, and specifically, re-made Yojimbo as “A Fistful of Dollars”.
The Bored/Crescent-Scarred Hatamoto (a.k.a. The Idle Vassal)
Played on film by Utaemon Ichikawa, in made-for-TV movies by Kin’ya Kitaōji (Ichikawa’s son, who also appeared with his father in some of the films) and in a television series by Hideki Takahashi, this series related the adventures of Saotome Mondonosuke, a hatamoto or direct vassal of Shogun Tsunayoshi, whose ‘Crescent-scar’ on his forehead signifies his right to kill in the name of the Shogun and rid Japan of corruption and evil. In a series of over twenty films, Saotome craves action to fight the boredom he feels when not pitting his sword skill against those who would corrupt Japan.
Tange Sazen
Tange Samanosuke, a Sōma clan samurai, is attacked and mutilated as a result of betrayal, losing his right eye and right arm, and becomes a nihilistic ronin, using the pseudonym “Sazen”. He’s been played in numerous films by Denjirō Ōkōchi (大河内傳次郎 Ōkōchi Denjirō), Tsumasaburō Bandō, Ryūtarō Ōtomo, Ryūnosuke Tsukigata, Kinnosuke Nakamura, and Tetsurō Tanba.
Shikoro Ichibei
Played by Wakayama Tomisaburo in three films and later a TV series. In the first film, Ichibei was a secret agent of the Shogun himself sent to investigate a secret deal by the Satsuma clan with a Dutch warship involving repeating rifles to be used in an uprising against the Shogunate; he at first clashed with but later teamed up with Kagero, a female Iga ninja sent by the Shogunate Council on the same investigation. In the next two films, Ichibei had become a local doctor who moonlighted as a bounty hunter to finance his free clinic for the poor; Kagero (who had also turned bounty hunter) and his clinic assistant Chie were the only ones who knew of his double life. In the TV series Shokin Kasegi, Ichibei was now the principal of a free school for orphans and children of local poor folk, but still worked as a bounty hunter to keep the school running, usually on jobs sent on by the Finance Minister; Kagero and Chie (who were still the only ones who knew his double life) worked with him as school staff (Chie in charge of school finances and Kagero as “gym teacher”). Kagero usually accompanied Ichibei on jobs, but many times they would work with other bounty hunters (depending on the skills needed to bring in a bounty). This series was different from most, as both the protagonists and the villains also relied on a number of different repeating firearms.
Himura Kenshin
Himura Kenshin (緋村 剣心), known as Kenshin Himura in the English-language anime dubs, is the protagonist from the Rurouni Kenshin. Kenshin is a former legendary assassin known as “Hitokiri Battōsai” (人斬り抜刀斎)[note 1] . Kenshin wanders the countryside of Japan offering protection and aid to those in need, as atonement for the murders he once committed as an assassin. In Tokyo, he meets a young woman named Kamiya Kaoru, who invites him to live in her dojo despite learning about Kenshin’s past. Throughout the series, Kenshin begins to establish lifelong relationships with many people, including ex-enemies, while dealing with his fair share of enemies, new and old. The character is portrayed by actor Takeru Satoh in three live-action versions of the story (Rurouni Kenshin, Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Taika-hen and Rurouni Kenshin: Densetsu no Saigo-hen) directed by Keishi Ōtomo.
