Masao Mishima

In the year 1786, Shogun Ieharu Tokugawa selected beautiful Ochisa to be his concubine. It causes other concubines to become very jealous and mean....

With plenty of action, and a strong story about the growth and development of an expert swordsman, who just happens to be from an extremely...

The second film in the 20 Duels of Young Shingo trilogy directed by Sadatsugu Matsuda.

While on his journey through the countryside of Japan, Shingo encounters many people whose lives have been affected by his actions. Though the many...

Zensaku, middle-aged and deaf in one ear, learns that his son's fallen for the daughter of a war officer responsible for the maiming.

Noriko is perfectly happy living at home with her widowed father, Shukichi, and has no plans to marry -- that is, until her aunt Masa convinces...

This is the story of a bad man who re-discovering humanity via woman and child while clashing with the yakuza and being hunted by a man called...

Shigeki Kachi, Tosuke Satomura, and Nanako, who belong to the theater company Vuanbert around Dosa, withdrew at the indignation of the chairman...

In the city of Yokosuka, Kinta and his lover Haruko, both involved with yakuza, brave the post-occupation period with a goal to be together.

After handing in a report on the treatment of Chinese colonial labor, Kaji is offered the post of labor chief at a large mining operation in...

Yakuza drama with Meiko Kaji directed by Masahiro Makino

Among the tight-knit neighbours are a poet, his actress wife, a bachelor budding author, a tobacco shop owner-cum-landlady, an insurance salesman and...

A teenaged girl witnesses her widowed mother's attempt to sustain her family.

1962 Japanese movie

A kabuki actor is assassinated during a New Year celebration show, in front of everyone, fortunately the great detective Umon is among the audience....

Obscure Japanese movie by director Kyotaro Namiki

Young Lord Gentaro (Otomo Ryutaro) takes a journey to Edo in search of his future wife. Easier said than done, evil forces lurk in Edo and Gentaro...

After settling the matter of shogunal succession, the retired Old Lord of Mito finds himself in a sea of trouble when he gets involved in the...

Young Horus lives in a mythical Scandinavia of the Iron Age. Recovering the stolen Sword of the Sun from a rock giant, he learns he must travel to...

Zatoichi's trek through 88 temples to atone for his violent past is interrupted as he stumbles into a village terrorized by a violent yakuza boss.

Five swordsmen are murdered and hung from a tree and the chase is on to find the killers. Two magistrates pursue the leads to solve the crime and it...

Japanese animation adaptation of a 19th century French novel: A boy is given up by his foster parents to a traveling performer.

The story takes place in feudal Japan, when any commerce with the rest of the world was strictly prohibited. An idealist suddenly appears in an...

Yoshida's first feature follows the lives of young students against a background of jazz, emptiness and boredom. The plot is fairly simple: a...

Movie adaptation of the TV series.

The cunning detective Akeichi must foil a kidnapping plot orchestrated by the notorious jewel thief known as Black Lizard.

This film is based on a real Meiji era performer -- and tells of Tochuken's partnership with his wife (played by Chikako Hosokawa) who played...

As suggested by the title, this film takes up the theme of the city, beginning with a series of traveling shots from Chiyo's point of view on a bus...

1954 Theater of Life adaptation.

1960 action film.

Drama about a couple and how they found themselves related with music, their egos and each other.

The study of a one-year marriage that begins to crumble. A married man is torn between the love of his wife, and the attraction to a cousin of his...

Ayako Wakao won the Blue Ribbon and the Kinema Jumpo for this film.

Masked avenger Kurama Tengu and his young sidekick try to stop a mysterious adversary from assassinating a group of young warriors who want to bring...

Hatamoto Akabane Tanaka once ruined his life with alcohol in his youth, leaving behind his wife and son, Hanji, to embark on a journey. He killed a...

In the era of the twelfth Shogun, Tokugawa Ieyoshi, a notorious bandit known as "Shippu" (or "Swift Wind") emerged in Edo. Shippu would send a...

After an argument with his father a son leaves his home and comes back only, as an adult, many years later just to cause them problem after problem.

Adaptation of the Shôji Yuki novel.

Film adaptation of the stage version of Samuil Marshak's "Twelve Months"

Shogi, a Japanese form of chess, is a game that requires skill and determination. When poor sandal-maker Sakata decides to pursue his dream of...

1962 Japanese movie

Akira, a student who is professionally engaged in boxing, aspires to follow in the footsteps of his late father and become a champion when, during...

A man with two identical faces challenges the wicked and lawless escaped prisoner to an unsuitable battle, intertwining with the chilling image of...

In 1691 a terrible fire broke out in Denmacho, Yotsuya, burning down the towns around it, up to the shores of Shibaura. A month and a half later,...

Down-on-his-luck veteran Tsugumo Hanshirō enters the courtyard of the prosperous House of Iyi. Unemployed, and with no family, he hopes to find...

As Part I opens, Jubei (Denjiro Okochi), the best of sea skippers, is unable to overcome the stormy seas of Luzon. All hands on board the Kannonmaru...

Two child performers lose their money, but are saved by the masked avenger Kurama Tengu. When the children return the favor in foiling an attempt on...

Housewives from four neighboring households casually gather at an old well at Kaneko's house in a residential area on the outskirts of Tokyo. If two...

The film tells about a young detective Zenigata Heiji who successfully solves a disgusting and unusual case involving the manufacture of counterfeit...

Teacher Yukiko finds herself in opposition to conservative faculty and villagers after defending a student for being in a relationship with a young...

Jiromaru (Kinnosuke Nakamura) investigates the dark "Ghost Ship" in search of his father. Meanwhile, Princess Yuki (Yumiko Hasegawa) and Chacha (Eiko...

A luckless geisha struggles to make a living for herself and her young son.

Three sisters earn money for their bossy mother by being samisen street musicians. This means mainly playing a banjo type instrument for tips in...

One after another, expedition teams were being attacked in the Himalayas. With the unprecedented boom in snow men, the public began to make a fuss...

During the 17th Century roving bands of hatamoto were causing trouble in the new capital city of Edo and constantly fought with the townspeople at...

After a random encounter at a bar, two couples collide. Two men, two women, embroiled in a love-and-hate drama that threatens to engulf them. The...

1948 Japanese movie

Private eye Bannai Tarao (Chiezo Kataoka) and his assistant Masako (Chizuru Kitagawa) investigate the mysterious murder of a baseball player who was...

Lending money, job hunting for civilians and babysitting. All these things are usually not listed on a policeman's job description. But for the...

A group of five rookie insurance salespersons, driven to desperation by the impossibility of their work in Japan's failing postwar economy, form a...

Ishihama is planning a casino robbery with his wife and mother-in-law. They meet a man named Tsuneda who is planning the same robbery and agree to...

Just before the end of the war, Japanese soldier Kitani is released from prison, having served his term for theft. Told in flashback, viewers learn...

The ghost of a samurai's wife takes revenge on her husband.

Set in the 1860s, the final years of the Tokugawa Shogunate, The Fireflies focuses on Tose (Awashima Chikage), the mistress of the Teradaya, a small...

Japanese film.

The love between young college students Toki and the handsome Takaga is tested when Takaya's parents, who despise Toki's family's geisha house...

Japanese horror film directed by Tsuneo Kobayashi.

Ebihara is a budding novelist entangled in a complicated web of relationships with three women from three different generations: Kazue, a coquettish...

Based on true events surrounding a Korean student who had entered Japan unlawfully and escaped illegal alien internment.

"The Time of Reckoning" transforms a screwball-comedy plot into a sober study of a successful businessman with serious relationship problems...

Based on an autobiographical story by Toyota Masako.

Shinko Terasawa was always considered to be the odd ball of the bunch. At a time when romance was against school regulations, Shinko was the first to...

Based on Matsumoto Seicho's classic mystery novel of the same name, the story centers around a group of detectives who are determined to find the...

[Period covered: 1595-1600] Third film in the famous shinobi no mono series. We last saw ninja Ishikawa Goemon (Raizo Ichikawa), as he was about to...

Drama which shows the struggle of Fumiko, a female teacher, at work and at home.

Japanese adaptation of Marcel Pagnol's play "Marius", set in early XXth century Japan.

Kiku and her brother Isamu are social outcasts, children of a prostitute mother and black GI father, in postwar Japan.

A coming-of-age story about two newcomers to the world of professional baseball who compete for Rookie of the Year honors and love.

An attempt is made to suppress a journalist's investigation of collusion between a rural police chief and the local gangster bosses.

A village struggles to survive when the nearby lake becomes barren of fish.

The story of Japan’s greatest warrior, Miyamoto Musashi, after his historic duel with Sasaki Kojiro on Ganryu Island.

In 1730, the Tokugawa Shogunate orders the Yagyu Clan to repair a huge shrine. Since it cannot refuse the Shogunate's request, the impoverished Yagyu...

Frustrated with the bad behavior of his lord, Inaba Yajuro (Otomo) declares that he is leaving the clan and sets off on a journey that leads him...

A young man with a strong sense of justice is torn between two girls: the flighty Taneko and the serious Suzuko. With wisdom, courage and honor in a...

Tsunokichi and Ken face off against a rival yakuza in Kyushu.

Two outsiders start a relationship in a mining town.

Horror film about a killer dwarf.

When Boss Juzo's Shinmachi Yakuza family struck fear into the hearts of his adversaries, Boss Shohei's Okabe Yakuza family with a merciless gang of...

In a high school, two men are fighting over a beautiful female teacher who has been assigned as an English teacher.

Ryutaro is a spy employed by the shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu, who is the target of assassination attempts that aim to hand power over to his younger...

An innocuous comment during a weapon inspection wounds the pride of low-ranking samurai Shinpachi, leading to an argument with his superior. The...

Genji Kurô is a master swordsman and entrusted with protecting the ancient sword Kaen by the Otsubo family.

Yuji, a budding writer, meets and starts falling in love with his best friend’s girlfriend, Natsuko. The attraction is mutual but due to the...

A story about four best friends and their lives inside and outside college. Then suddenly one of them receives a surprising offer to be a movie star.

One of Japan’s most popular folklore characters, Tange Sazen, the one-eyed and one-armed swordsman, must rescue the Yagyu clan from the...

Japanese drama film.

Ichibei is assigned by Shogun Tokugawa to prevent the sale of a Dutch ships-load of rifles to the hostile Shogun Satsuma. On his mission he meets a...

Japanese drama.

Movie adaptation of the 1959 ninja novel. With war against Korea looming on the horizon, Hideyoshi Toyotomi, the 'Taiko' becomes the target of an...

After winning big at the races, Torajiro Kuruma wants to take his aunt and uncle on a trip to Hawaii to partly pay the great filial debt he feels he...

Go master Matashichiro Ryuzoji, during the game, was killed in anger by the Lord of the Nabeshima clan, Hizen-no-kami. The mother of the murdered...

Kondo Isami, the “Devil” commander of the Shinsengumi was one of Japan’s greatest national heroes and a peerless swordsman who...

Kichizaburo, a samurai keeping peace in Edo, helps a young geisha Kozome avenge her father’s death.

After their father quarrels with local military men, Anju and Zushio are forced to flee, but they are captured and sold into slavery. When their...

The eighth film in the "master detective with seven faces" series. Bannachi patrols the town in his taxi when he sees a man heading into Shiodome...

This 1956 adaptation of the novel with the same title puts more focus on the characters and their interactions than the previous version.

In the mist of the warring age (Sengoku Era), the Kyushu based Hayato Clan is faced with a monumental battle to determine their survival.

Japanese mystery film.

Satoko is a mistress by trade or fate: when her master, the silkscreen artist of the Kohoan Temple in Kyoto, dies, she is given to the temple's...

Japanese action film.

The year is 1926. It has been three years since the Great Kanto earthquake hit Tokyo. Everything is being rebuilt from the ground up. Odera crime...

Young girl Kichiza searches for her missing brother and the person responsible for the death of her parents.

Onna Hitori Daichi wo Yuku (A Lonely Woman in a Lonely Land, Kinuta Production, 1953) was the second feature film directed by Kamei Fumio, who is...

This film focuses on Koreans living in Japan. The filmmaker’s humanism comes across in the portrayal of a girl living in a shabby tenement, the...

A beautiful hostess of a small restaurant moonlights as a well-trained assassin tasked with taking the life of a wealthy businessman...

The humorous tale of Jimbei, a miller, and his wife Osen who live in complete happiness. But Osen's beauty attracts numerous would-be lovers among...

An action-packed, dramatic gangster film.

Featuring some of the finest swordsmen ever to grace the silver screen, this Toei classic tells the story of a battle between the evil sword style...

The mother of a feudal lord's only heir is kidnapped away from her husband by the lord. The husband and his samurai father must decide whether to...

The epic battles between the Heike and Genji (Taira and Minamoto clans) take centerstage as the defeated leader of the Genji, Minamoto Yoritomo...

Ide of the Kokusai Rayon Company visits a supermarket and finds cheap shirts being passed off as his company's products. But a closer look reveals...

A gallant swordsman takes on the forces of evil with the help of his trusty friends.

A classic battle between good and evil pits an unscrupulous fortuneteller who has been preying on the good citizens of Edo against a master-less...

Framed by his enemies, Manbe finds himself imprisoned for a murder he didn’t commit. His only hope lies with his daughter Yuki who takes it...

This is one of the most powerfully effective ninja films that dispenses with the silly magic of earlier efforts, and concentrates on an excellent...

Kohei Misugi works in a vegetable market, but his ambition is to be a photographer. He is given his first opportunity to demonstrate his talent by...

In this exciting sequel to the popular samurai-ninja movie Ukyunosuke On Patrol, his mission to avenge his father's death continues. His discovery of...

The film shows the bombing of Hiroshima and the horrific aftermath following the detonation of an atomic bomb on humans for the first time in history.

Romantic comedy.

The female members of the family of the Minister of Health and Welfare, who has just proposed a program of birth control, become pregnant one after...

A successful textile industrialist from the provinces, who is beloved by his employees for his kindness, cannot find a wife because of a disfiguring...

Magistrate Ooka-Echizen faces a crime over a pillbox.

Three young yakuza, Fujitaro, Matsugoro and Kanjuro, travel the country fighting evil.

Also known as "History of a Man’s Face" and "By a Man's Face Shall You Know Him" . Immigrant gangs terrorize a Japanese town with their...

In turbulent 16th-century Japan, the leaders of a minor fief have their child taken from them as a political hostage. His mother and his clan endure...

Sumako, a country girl, becomes a great actress with the help of Hogetsu,a scholar who brought some of European realism to the Japan's stage. The...

Three IJN flyers Mikami (Susumu Fujita), Kawakami (Masayuki Mori) and Murakami (Akitake Kono) are good friends, and they are all renowned for their...

The story of Japan’s greatest warrior, Miyamoto Musashi, after his historic duel with Sasaki Kojiro on Ganryu Island.

A family is brutally murdered in their own home and the official government's sake dealer is framed as a rebel by a corrupt member of the Shogun's...

From an original story by Shibata Renzaburo, the novelist who created such classics as: the "Nemuri Kyoshiro" series (Son of the Black Mass),...

Period drama directed by Yasushi Sasaki.

Period drama directed by Yasushi Sasaki.

Revenge breeds revenge. Ikuta Denpachiro, the martial arts instructor of the Honda family in Koriyama, lost a fight to the young samurai Enjo...

After Aoi Shingo, the illegitimate son of Shogun Yoshimune has gained prominence as the finest swordsman in the land, he tries to lead a peaceful...

A samurai thief fights a gang of ghostly thieves using scorpions for treasure in the unexplored Shinano region, which is guarded by a descendant of...

Kamio a mistreated samurai clerk of Edo Castle and ronin (“Sir Quarrel”) Ibara, take up a vendetta against 17 wicked castle men.

The last judgment.

From runaway brides to a typhoon, the continued adventures of Ushikata police station.

From a novel by Mishima Yukio

Hikoroku Laughs a lot

An ageing fishing boat, Dai-go Fukuryu Maru ("Lucky Dragon No. 5") sets out from the port of Yaizu in Shizuoka Prefecture. It travels around the...

Tired of everyday life, the 8th Shogun Yoshimune flees Edo Castle and asks Ooka Echizen to become his personal assistant. In a rice shop, Yoshimune...