Ichi

Ichi is a solitary goze (blind woman singer) carrying only a shamisen (Japanese stringed instrument) and a walking stick, travelling on her own to find the man who has brought her up and cared for her as a child. People try to take advantage of the fact that she is blind, but Ichi fights back with her unusual sword fighting skills, using the sword hidden inside her walking stick. An incident brings her to meet Toma, who tries to save Ichi from the Banki-to gang, but ends up displaying his awful skills in swordplay and is saved by Ichi in return. Ichi unwillingly starts travelling with Toma and comes upon a village where the Banki-to gang, led by the inhumanly heartless Banki, is in control. They also run into Toraji, who is the successor of the Shirakawa yakuza family trying to keep order in the village independent of Banki. Toma offers help, but Ichi is uninterested, until she finds that Banki might know the man she was looking for. Now the deadly battle is about to begin. The famed Zatoichi – a lonesome blind swordsman – returns to the screen once again in ICHI, as a female character. With eyes although she cannot see, the audience will reach her soul, where the emotions burst with action!