Crimson Bat

The Crimson Bat is a series of four movies based around the character of the same name. The character was a blind swordswoman. It was made by Shochiku studios, as a response to the hugely successful Zatoichi series. The character, Oichi, was very similar to the Zatoichi character, that is she was a blind sword fighter who roamed and did odd jobs for money. The main difference, apart from being a female, was that her weakness was a stereotyped female tendency to be emotional. Ironically, an official female variation of Zatoichi was released decades later, and entitled Ichi.

The character was played by Yōko Matsuyama.

List of films

1. Crimson Bat: The Blind Swordsman (めくらのお市物語　真っ赤な流れ鳥, Mekura no oichi monogatari: Makkana nagaradori) (1969) (IMDB link)
2. Trapped, the Crimson Bat/The Blind Swordswoman: Hellish Skin (めくらのお市　地獄肌, Mekurano no Oichi jigokuhada) (1969) (IMDB link)
3. Watch Out, Crimson Bat! (めくらのお市　みだれ笠, Mekurano no Oichi midaregasa) (1969) (IMDB link)
4. Crimson Bat - Oichi: Wanted, Dead or Alive (めくらのお市　命貰います, Mekurano no Oichi inochi moraimasu) (1970) (IMDB link)

In 1971 Nippon TV ran a Crimson Bat (めくらのお市物語, Mekura no oichi monogatari) TV series also starring Yoko Matsuyama with Hiroshi Fujioka. This ran for 25 episodes from April 12, 1971 to September 27 1971.

Yoko Matsuyama also performed in Crimson Bat (紅蝙蝠, Kurenai Kawahori) (1958) though this is not related to the Crimson Bat series.

References

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

External links

• The Crimson Bat Series on Girls With Guns