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n the last couple of years I’ve become interested in a couple of Japanese related subjects. Zatoichi, “The Blind Samurai”, which I accidentally clicked into while watching “Samurai Saturday” on the IFCTV channel is number one. In case you are not up on Zatoichi, he’s a chubby, blind, Yakuza who is kinda lovable, but is deadly when it comes to cutting up people with his special sword.

The funny thing about that sword is he holds it upside down. I finally figured out that because he was blind, they wouldn’t let him go to the regular Samurai school, so he just stumbled along as best he could and ended up teaching himself. I doubt he even knows he holds it upside down.

There was a guy a couple of years ago who went around in the movies claiming to be Zatoichi, but you could tell right off he was a fake, even before the first arm was cut off because he had blond hair. Zatoichi, with his shaved, monk looking hair was ahead of his time and at no time would he have dyed it blond.

My second interest is Japanese woodblock prints. Once I saw the bright colors of these Japanese style woodblock art and the everyday life of the Japanese people subject matter, I was hooked. It also interested me because those Japanese artists used the same technique, at least to me anyhow, that the old comic book printers used.

I began to read about woodblock prints and looked at a bunch of them on the Internet and in a few of those giant coffee table books that never end up on the coffee table. They are usually used by your spouse mixed in with a stack of other coffee table books to provide a steady base for a lamp. Not long after, I discovered that you could buy these prints on eBay.

Soon, I began to try to buy a print. I was most interested in seeing if I could get a Hiroshige for a good price. Hiroshige was what I would say was the Japanese version of Norman Rockwell. eBay is an excellent place to buy things. I bought a laptop, credit card terminal printer, a Sanada Hiroyuki movie, and a few other items that are now used to stack lamps on.

I almost bought an antique Samurai sword, but luck being with me I was out bid by what I eventually found out to be a shill who was bidding for the company selling the sword. He was trying to bid up the price. As a proper reward, they ended up buying their own fake, Chinese made, Japanese sword because I didn’t take the bait. Of course, I didn’t know all this at the time, I just didn’t want to pay the price that they had bid up to.

Steve McArthur

Samurai DVD’s

Zatoichi DVD’s

Samurai Swords