History Film / ZatoichiMeetsYojimbo

* DramaticIrony: Some characters refer to Daisaku as a ronin, but at this point, the audience knows he is a samurai. Also doubles as a CallForward to the

''Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo'' is a 1971 [[{{Jidaigeki}} jidaigeki movie]] starring Creator/ShintaroKatsu as the eponymous blind swordsman. It is the 20th movie in the ''Franchise/{{Zatoichi}}'' series.

In this installment of Zatoichi's adventures, the blind swordsman returns to his home village and finds that it has been overrun by the local yakuza. After killing some thugs, Ichi runs into the yakuza boss's one and only Film/{{Yojimbo}} played by Creator/ToshiroMifune. Both warriors are unsure what to make of the other, and things get more complicated as more and more questionable characters enter the mix.

* {{Revision}}: The OpeningScroll of ''Film/{{Yojimbo}}'' implies that Sanjuro wasn't a ronin until 1860, but this film shows him vacating his samurai position much earlier during the 1850s. It works mostly because the [[TruthInTelevision real-life]] Tokugawa shogunate was already losing power before 1860, and the Kurosawa movies keep Sanjuro silent on the details of his past.

* StealthPrequel: While not obvious at first, there are multiple plot elements that indicate that the crossover is a prequel to the ''Yojimbo'' duology rather than a sequel. Notably, Sanjuro is a samurai rather than a ronin in this movie and hasn't adapted the Sanjuro alias yet. Moreover, in this movie, Sanjuro wields the daishō sword pairing, the same weapons that he carries over to ''Yojimbo''. This is {{justified|trope}} as the ''Franchise/{{Zatoichi}}'' series takes place in an earlier Edo period in which samurai were more common whereas the ''Yojimbo'' duology is set during the 1860s Edo period when the samurai were becoming obsolete.

* CrossoverFinale: While the ''Zatoichi'' series continues after this crossover, this is Sanjuro's/Daisaku's final cinematic appearance. Actor Toshiro Mifune would play similar nameless {{ronin}} characters in the future, but none of them are advertised as '''the''' Yojimbo.

* EvasiveFightThreadEpisode: [[spoiler:{{Downplayed}}. When Daisaku fights Ichi, the fight is [[CurbstompBattle mostly one-sided]] in favor of Daisaku, who cuts the latter's CaneSword into three pieces and slices Ichi's back after the first exchange. Ichi retaliates by [[CurbstompCushion stabbing Daisaku's leg]] with his broken sword, but at that point, Ichi doesn't have a weapon to defend himself. The fight ends immediately after because a bystander then informs Daisaku that Umeno is still alive, leading both men to wordlessly call a truce. That said, Ichi [[WorfHadTheFlu was injured]] before the climatic showdown against Daisaku, so things could have gone differently had he been healthy.]]

[[quoteright:743:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/zatoichi_meets_yojimbo_3.jpg]]

* EvasiveFightThreadEpisode: [[spoiler:{{Downplayed}}. When Daisaku fights Ichi, the fight is [[CurbstompBattle mostly one-sided]] in favor of Daisaku, who cuts the latter's CaneSword into three pieces and slices Ichi's back after the first exchange. The latter manages to [[CurbstompCushion stab Daisaku in the leg]] with his broken sword, but at that point, Ichi doesn't have a weapon to defend himself. The fight ends immediately after because a bystander then informs Daisaku that Umeno is still alive, leading both men to wordlessly call a truce. That said, Ichi [[WorfHadTheFlu was injured]] before the climatic showdown against Daisaku, so things could have gone differently had he been healthy.]]

* {{Revision}}: The OpeningScroll of ''Film/{{Yojimbo}}'' implies that Sanjuro wasn't a ronin until 1860, but this film shows him vacating his samurai position much earlier during the 1840s–1850s. It works mostly because the [[TruthInTelevision real-life]] Tokugawa shogunate was already losing power before 1860, and the Kurosawa movies keep Sanjuro silent on the details of his past.
* SamuraiCowboy: Kuzuryu is a [[TruthInTelevision historically accurate version]] as he is a samurai equipped with both a katana and a flintlock pistol, the latter of which was the most advanced gun model available in 1840s–50s Japan.

[[quoteright:660:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/zatoichi_meets_yojimbo.jpg]]

* EvasiveFightThreadEpisode: [[spoiler:{{Downplayed}}. When Daisaku fights Ichi, the fight is [[CurbstompBattle mostly one-sided]] in favor of Daisaku, who cuts the latter's CaneSword into three pieces and slices Ichi's back after the first exchange. The latter manages to [[CurbstompCushion stab Daisaku in the leg]] with his broken sword, but at that point, Ichi doesn't have a weapon to defend himself. The fight ends immediately after because a bystander then informs Daisaku that Umeno is still alive, leading both men to wordlessly call a truce. That said, it's also worth noting that Ichi was injured before the climatic showdown against Daisaku, so the.]]

** [[spoiler:Daisaku beats down Kuzuryu very easily, receiving no injuries at all, whereas Ichi [[WorfEffect has some difficulty putting down Kuzuryu's minions]] and takes some damage as a result.]]

* {{Revision}}: The OpeningScroll of ''Film/{{Yojimbo}}'' implies that Sanjuro became a ronin in 1860 due to Tokugawa shogunate's loss of power, but this film shows him vacating his samurai position much earlier during the 1840s–1850s. It works mostly because the [[TruthInTelevision real-life]] Tokugawa shogunate was already losing power before 1860, and the Kurosawa movies keep Sanjuro silent on the details of his past.