This manga is the adaptation of two movies: <i>Zatoichi's Vengeance</i> (Tokuzo Tanaka) and <i>Zatoichi's Pilgrimage</i> (Kazuo Ikehiro). <b>The Ballad of Zatoichi</b> Zatoichi comes upon a dying man who asks him to give a bag of money to "Taichi." Zatoichi has no idea who this is but when he comes upon a small town harassed by gangsters, he finds that "Taichi" was the man's young son. Along his travels, he also met a blind monk who makes Zatoichi question his murderous lifestyle. In trying to help the town, Zatoichi kills some gangsters and becomes a hero to the boy. He must make a choice of whether to stay and defend the town or to leave and be on his way. <b>Zatoichi's Pilgrimage</b> After he's ambushed in a small village terrorized by a gang of thieves, the legendary blind swordsman Zatoichi is forced to kill a young man in self-defense. As fate would have it, his travels soon lead him to Okichi, a woman whom Zatoichi discovers is the sister of the young man whose life he s