The film's plot follows a traditional theme, with Zatoichi (a blind swordsman) coming to the defense of townspeople caught up in a local yakuza gang war and being forced to pay excessive amounts of protection money.

Meanwhile, Zatoichi befriends a local farmer and her gambler nephew and eventually offers his assistance to two geisha siblings (one of whom is actually a man) who are seeking revenge for the murder of their parents.

[3] This film marks Kitano's first collaboration with composer Keiichi Suzuki, ending an eleven-year streak with Joe Hisaishi.

The website's critical consensus states: "Colorful, rich with action and wonderfully choreographed, Takeshi Kitano takes on the classic samurai character with his own brand of cinematic flair".

[7] Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 75 out of 100, based on 33 critics, indicating "generally favourable reviews".