It really helps to go into these films with some background about the
character and history of Tange Sazen or it will be easy to have the same
incorrect expectations that I did. All I knew was that he was a one-armed
– one-eyed samurai and when it comes to Asian action the loss of body parts
only makes you stronger. So I went in anticipating a typical chambara bloodbath
with red stuff spurting like the Tivoli fountain. Though the films do have
a few short quick bursts of swordplay, action is not really the primary purpose
of the films and takes a backseat to story and character.
The Tange Sazen character is a very famous one in Japan going back to 1927
when Hayashi Fubo first published a serial in a newspaper with Tange as one
of his characters. Later in the 1930's it became a popular manga from Tezuka
Osamu and then was made into a series of films – the most famous being directed
by Yamanaka Sadeo in 1935 titled “The Pot Worth a Million Ryo” which is still
considered a classic today. Apparently when Fubo saw his creation on the
screen he was quite upset with the comic interpretation the director had
taken and complained to the production company, Nikkatsu. In all, over 30
films about Tange were made until 1966 when Hideo Gosha made the last one
for over three decades – “Secret of the Urn”. Over the decades nearly
all the major film studios have taken a shot at this character with differing
degrees of success. Now Tange is back again not only in "Sazen" but
there is a television series about him as well.
