MOMOYA TV-Ads104-1975-Za-sai-ichi

[COMMENT]
Time: 30 sec.

Product Name: ZA-SAI

Description of Product: ZA-SAI, or Zha-cai, is a Chinese pickled vegetable which is often called Sichuan vegetable or Szechwan vegetable in English. It is very popular as a side dish of Chinese cuisine, and also suitable to eat with Chinese rice porridge.

Year: 1975

Advertiser: Momoya Co., Ltd.

Advertising Agency: YOMIKO Advertising Inc.

Production Company: Cinq Co., Ltd.

Description of Title: This title, “Za-sai-ichi,” is a sort of a wordplay which used the phonic similarity of two words; one is “Zatoichi,” a famous fictional character featured in Japanese films and a television series set in the Edo period, and the other is “Za-sai,” the product name of this TV ad.

In a dark room illuminated by the flame of a candle, there is a man who sits down silently. On his left, Shikomi-zue, literally means a sword cane, is put on the floor. Following a bark of a dog outside, he catches a vegetable and slices it in the air by his sword quite nimbly with his eyes shut. This parody based on a fictional Jidaigeki titled “Zatoichi” that is a series of 25 films released between 1962 and 1973, starring a Japanese actor and a singer Shintaro Katsu. Additionally, he also played the same character in a TV drama series “Zatoichi Monogatari” in 1974. Recently, it was re-made by Takeshi Kitano in 2003.