''Crimson Bat'' is the international title for the series of four

jidaigeki is a genre of film, television, video game, and theatre in Japan. Literally meaning "period dramas", they are most often set during the Edo period of Japanese history, from 1603 to 1868. Some, however, are set much earlier—''Portrait of Hel ...

films (three from 1969 and one from 1970) based on the character .

Character

The character of Blind Oichi is a blind swordswoman created by Teruo Tanashita in a

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

published by Shukan Manga Times, in what is believed to be a response to the hugely successful ''

Zatoichi is a fictional character created by Japanese novelist Kan Shimozawa. He is an itinerant blind masseur and swordsman of Japan's late Edo period (1830s and 1840s). He first appeared in the 1948 essay , part of Shimozawa's ''Futokoro Techō'' serie ...

'' series. The main difference, apart from being a female, was that her weakness is a stereotyped female tendency to be emotional. The character was played by

Yōko Matsuyama is a Japanese actress best known for her work in the ''Crimson Bat'' series. Filmography * (1958) * (1965) * (1965) * *# (1969) *# (1969) *# (1969) *# (1970) References External links

* * 1937 births Living people Japanese actresses ...

, future wife of the original manga author Teruo Tanashita, who had starred as swordswomen in a number of popular TV series including ''Kotohime Shichi Henge (The Seven Faces of Princess Koto)'' from 1960 to 1962, ''Tsukihime Toge (Princess Tsuki Pass)'' in 1963, and ''Tabigarasu Kurenai Osen (Crimson Osen The Wanderer)'' from 1968 to 1969. The origin of the international English title "Crimson Bat" is unclear. Some have suggested that it was due to her wearing a crimson red kimono and being "blind as a bat", as the saying goes. Others have claimed the title came from a much earlier non-related film entitled (1958) which featured Yōko Matsuyama in a supporting role. Another (perhaps more likely) reason was that Matsuyama had just finished playing a sword-wielding character named "Crimson Osen" in the aforementioned 52 episode TV series ''Tabigarasu Kurenai Osen''. The character appeared in 4 films released by

Shochiku () is a Japanese film and kabuki production and distribution company. It also produces and distributes anime films, in particular those produced by Bandai Namco Filmworks (which has a long-time partnership—the company released most, if not all ...

studios, before moving on to television just as the Zatoichi series did. An official Zatoichi-based film about a blind swordswoman was released decades later entitled ''

Ichi The International Classification of Health Interventions (ICHI) is a system of classifying procedure codes being developed by the World Health Organization (WHO). It is currently available as a beta 3 release. The components for clinical documentat ...

'', which featured the title character searching for her mentor Zatoichi (seen in flashbacks).

List of films

# (1969)
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# (1969)
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# (1969)
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# (1970)
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In 1971

Nippon TV JOAX-DTV (channel 4), branded as , is the flagship station of the Nippon News Network and the Nippon Television Network System, owned-and-operated by the which is a subsidiary of the certified broadcasting holding company , itself a listed su ...

ran a TV series also starring Yoko Matsuyama with

Hiroshi Fujioka , better known by his stage name , is a Japanese actor known for playing the hero Takeshi Hongo in the tokusatsu superhero series ''Kamen Rider'', and later the Sega Saturn mascot Segata Sanshiro (jokingly revealed to be Takeshi Hongo himself). ...

. This series was produced by Union Motion Picture Co, Ltd. ( ユニオン映画) and ran for 25 episodes from April 12, 1971, to September 27, 1971. Cult director

Teruo Ishii was a Japanese film director best known in the West for his early films in the ''Super Giant'' series, and for his films in the ''ero guro'' ("erotic-grotesque") subgenre of ''pinku eiga'' such as ''Shogun's Joy of Torture'' ( 1968). He also dire ...

directed episodes 1,2,12,13,14,15,24,and 25 (the series finale).

References

Footnotes

Sources

* * Silver, Alain. ''The Samurai Film''. Woodstock, NY: The Overlook Press, 1977.

External links

The ''Crimson Bat'' Series
on Girls With Guns 1969 films 1970 films Japanese drama films Jidaigeki films Films about blind people 1960s Japanese films 1970s Japanese films {{Japan-film-stub