Zatoichi the Outlaw (座頭市牢破り, Zatōichi rōyaburi) is a 1967 Japanese chambara film directed by Satsuo Yamamoto and starring Shintaro Katsu as the blind masseur Zatoichi.
It was originally released by the Daiei Motion Picture Company (later acquired by Kadokawa Pictures), and is the first film produced by Katsu Productions (Katsu's own company).
In a rural village, Zatoichi (Katsu) encounters Shushi Ohara (Suzuki; modeled after 18th-century agriculturalist Yagaku Ohara) a sword-less rōnin who defends himself against multiple attackers without killing them.
Ohara leads a peasant movement advocating the abstention from gambling, drinking, and whoring.
"[2] J. Doyle Wallis, in a review for DVD Talk, wrote that "[t]his film has one of the better plots in the series, the almost hippie ex-samurai's teaching posing as a threat to the gangsters who prefer the villagers to lead debauched lives.