Zatoichi, the famed blind swordsman, returns to his home village for the first time in many years. He is befriended by Omiyo, who had the same wet-nurse as Zatoichi. He also encounters a boyhood friend, Shinbei, who is now wealthy and appears not to remember Zatoichi. Shinbei seems to be interested in repaying the villagers' debts, but is, in reality, manipulating the ownership of a now valuable rock quarry. Zatoichi learns of the subterfuge and confronts his old friend, who has a score of yakuza swordsmen backing his play.
Shintarō Katsu
Yukiyo Toake
Takashi Shimura
Eiji Okada
Kei Satō
Yoshio Tsuchiya
Rie Yokoyama
Tatsuo Endō
Shiro Kishibe
Goro Kumon
Naoyuki Asahina
Tamotsu Fujiharu
Takaji Fukui
Gen Takamori
Yūji Hamada
Kuniko Ishii
Hiroshi Kanda
Masayoshi Kikuno
Nobue Matsuoka
Yuzo Miyashita
Tokio Oki
Yuko Ota
Osamu Sakai
Shoroku Shimada
Teiko Takeda
Yūsaku Terashima
Saburo Ukita
Mitsuo Watanabe
Takeshi Yabuuchi
Satoko Yamamura