by Sandra Brennan
biography
In Japan, the name Shintaro Katsu is synonymous with Zaitoichi the blind swordsman, the screen character he played for most of his career. Zaitoichi was the most popular screen hero in Japanese film history. Between 1962 and 1973, Katsu starred in 25 blind swordsman films, six of them in 1964 alone. While best-known for this role, Katsu also appeared in other kinds of roles, including that of Devadatta in Kenji Missumi's version of the Buddha's life, Shaka (1961).
