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Japan, 1159. Moritō, a brave samurai, performs a heroic act by rescuing the lovely Kesa during a violent uprising. Moritō falls in love with her, but becomes distraught when he finds out that she is married.
When the wife of a 17th-century Kyoto scrollmaker is falsely accused of having an affair with his best employee, the pair flee the city and find themselves truly falling for one another.
Fleeing a distressing family situation, Eiko, a very young girl, becomes an apprentice to Miyoharu, a veteran geisha. Both, determined to preserve their professional integrity, must face the selfishness and ambition of several petty people.
Ogami Itto volunteers to be tortured by Yakuza in order to save a prostitute and is hired by their leader to kill an evil chamberlain.
Otsuya, the daughter of a rich merchant, elopes with her lover Shinsuke, an employee of her father's. During their flight, Otsuya's beauty attracts the gaze of Seikichi, a mysterious master tattooist who sees her pristine white skin as the perfect canvas for his art. The image of the large demonic spider that he emblazons across Otsuya's back marks her as the property of another man, radically altering her relationships with all around her as her personality seems to transform under its influence.
A true-story film depicting a police officer’s pursuit of a criminal who carries out a series of attacks on pawnshops and banks, running amok with a handgun stolen from a police officer.
A heartwarming comedy about Osaka’s slowest taxi driver who searches all over the city for the missing daughter of a former general who has just returned from military service.
Three young women who dream of a life of luxury find themselves drawn into a family feud within the Date clan as maids. There, they protect the young lord and play a major role in taking on the villains.
Zatoichi is a blind massage therapist and swordsman who finds out that something troubling is taking place on the outskirts of town. After discovering who the guilty parties are -- an accomplished Chinese martial artist named Wang Kang and his youthful attendant -- Zatoichi finds them and discovers that the pair's mixed up with a dangerous bunch of terrorist samurai who murdered the boy's parents. Now, Zatoichi must step in to save the day.
A body is found poisoned in a room of a luxury apartment late at night and a beautiful mother turns herself in to protect her rebellious daughter.
Ogami Itto is challenged by a quintet of warriors, each armed with one fifth of Ogami's assassin fee and one fifth of the information he needs to complete his assignment.
[Period covered: 1582-1594]. As the film opens, the warlod Nobunaga Oda rides to Iga Ayanokuni shrine. He is asked if he thinks he has destroyed all the ninja who opposed him and answers that he suspects that there may be more. A servant brings water and tests it first. The paige dies and we hear gunshots as two ninja flee the scene. His suspicions confirmed, Nobunaga oversees the execution of captured ninja and decides that, in the future, he needs a much crueler method of execution. The daimyo Hideyoshi comes to visit.
[Period covered: 1595-1600] We last saw ninja Ishikawa Goemon, as he was about to be boiled alive. But a good ninja is both hard to find, and even harder to kill. With the help of the enigmatic Hattori Hanzo, Goemon lives to skulk another day, and sets his sights on bringing down the warlord who tried to turn him into soup – Toyotomi Hideyoshi. And as always, in the background, the suble hand of Tokugawa Ieyasu is pulling strings as he plots to rule all of Japan!
Warlord Oda Nobunaga seeks to unite a fractured Japan. A young man trained in the arts of ninjitsu is manipulated by a ninja master into attempting to assassinate the warlord before he completes his task.
Official Shogunate executioner Ogami Itto has been framed for disloyalty to the Shogunate by the Yagyu clan, against whom he now is waging a one-man war, along with his infant son, Daigoro.
Fearless Edo-period police inspector Hanzo Itami, nicknamed The Razor, has developed his own unique way of extracting information for his inquiries. His first adventure sees him investigating his superior officer's mistress, whom he suspects of having ties with a reputed criminal on the loose.
On the night of the summer Obon festival, Hagiwara Shinzaburo meets a beautiful courtesan named Otsuyu. Not knowing she's a ghost, he becomes infatuated by her.
A young judoka investigates the mysterious death of his best friend.
The first film in the 2 part series about Ryuzen, a renegade martial-arts priest who, in addition to breaking all the commandments against sex and gambling, opens his own gambling den in direct defiance of the local yakuza boss. Exciting action and a twisty plot this movie breaks new barriers in Japanese cinema. Katsu Shintaro is superb in one of his better non-Zato Ichi roles as he fights off the advances of a love-lorn woman and risks his life to defeat the powerful gambling boss who has a stranglehold on the town.
A handsome man and a beautiful woman who seek to restore the Toyotomi clan by taking in the orphaned Princess Tsuru.
A passionate young man takes on a corrupt boss, determined to save innocent teachers and numerous orphans.
The sword of the chivalrous warrior is drawn amid the struggle for a legendary sword and a plot to assassinate a young princess.
A historical drama about a foul-mouthed but good-natured traveller.
A mysterious Komusō monk suddenly appears to stand up to the yakuza who are tormenting innocent townspeople.
It was a sanatorium in the highlands. Patients such as Totsuka, Hirota, and Hashida were battling their illnesses under the devoted care of Michiko, a nurse so beautiful and noble that she was nicknamed “The Messenger from the Moon.” When Totsuka learned that Hirota, who was about to be discharged, secretly loved Michiko, he devised a plan and arranged for them to spend some time alone in a birch grove. Hirota and Michiko made a firm vow for their future, but around that time, an unexpected visitor arrived at Hirota’s hospital room.
In one of Japan's most frequently-told ghost stories, a murdered wife returns in an act of vengeance.
Set up to be the patsy by a rival gang, Furuta Makoto attacks the yakuza boss he thinks is responsible for his father’s murder. He then learns it was all a plot to take over his father’s turf and he seeks vengeance against the puppet master behind the entire conspiracy. His quest for justice leads him to prison where he must fend off the attack of a master assassin before he can make his escape and go after the true killer!
Driven by a murderous intent, he pursues the palanquin carrying the renowned onnagata Kikunosuke, who has taken the place of the princess destined to marry the lord of the Okazaki domain.
A lone wolf assassin, masquerading as a traditional dance instructor named Nitta, is called in to avert a potential financial scandal that threatens to engulf a powerful yakuza group with ties to influential figures in the political establishment.
In Edo-period Japan, Shingo is born the son of an assassin who was executed for murdering her lord’s concubine. Decades later, his adoptive family is massacred for keeping the secret. Armed with an unbeatable swordfighting technique, Shingo embarks on the path of the masterless samurai in search of vengeance and a path beyond his own ignominious origins.
Set against the backdrop of the Warring States period, this thrilling period drama follows the "Demon of Iga," a bloodthirsty and resolute Koga-ryu ninja Sarutobi Sasuke.
A romance between a female student and a young professor, where friendship, temptation, and jealousy intertwine.
The Fencing Master tells the story of a man trying to survive as the only world he knows is becoming increasingly irrelevant. Danpei Ichikawa lives for swordfighting – he was once a renowned kabuki swordfight choreographer, and as the Chairman of the New National Theatre Company, he wants nothing more than to choreograph the swordfights for the modern plays put on by the company.
The tyrannical Lord Danjo Mikoshiba covets the rich, fertile lands surrounding Lake Yakumo. During a memorial ceremony for the late Chigusa lord, Mikoshiba launches an attack, overthrowing the honorable Lord Juro. Just when all seems lost, Daimajin rises from Lake Yakumo to settle a score of his own.
Sentaro is been severely beaten for his defiance of the government and the high taxes during a time of famine. He is befriended by Kada Gentaro, a leader in the Mito Tengu group, which plans to overthrow the shogunate.
During Japan's Warring States period three young Tokugawa vassals head their separate ways after Takeda Shingen's forces overran their castle. When they next meet they have all joined opposing sides.
A yakuza returning from an island journey takes a stranger’s young child under his wing as he travels, gives up the woman he loves to his brother-in-arms, kills a corrupt gang boss in the name of justice and turns himself in.
As winds of change sweep Japan, an honest man joins the Shinsengumi out of admiration for its leader, and because he wants to live and die as a samurai. However, as his involvement grows, reality and idealism come into deadly conflict.
Fifth film in the series. When Kyoshiro, in a moment of weakness, saves the life of a woman being attacked on the road, he quickly finds himself entangled in a conspiracy involving a corrupt chamberlain, a wily merchant, the survivors of a pirate gang, and a missing treasure trove.
A decapitation at the hands of the shogun's monstrous misbegotten son kicks off the action and draws nomadic Nemuri Kyoshiro (Raizô Ichikawa) into more sword-fighting adventures when he's blamed for the beheading. Meanwhile, the head-chopper's mother is busy knocking off the shogun's lawful heirs to secure the shogunate for her son.
A girl from a tenement house was abducted in broad daylight, right in the heart of Edo.
A murder case tied to a missing love letter… Heiji heads west along the Tōkaidō in pursuit of thirteen suspicious individuals.
About 1786 the doings of a demented lord results in many masterless samurai, including Iyemon (Kei Sato) who is used to luxury and cannot adjust to the hand-to-mouth conditions & piecework of umbrella making. Having hired ruffians to make him look like a superior swordsman, he arranges for himself the opportunity of a profitable marriage. He hires the half-blind masseur Takuetsu (Sawamura Sounosuke) to seduce or rape his wife (Kyoko Mikage), so that she can be divorced or killed for adultery. But the masseur takes pity & informs Oiwa of her husband's horrid plot. Assisted by the merchant's daughter he intends to marry, Iyemon disfigures his wife attempting to poison her so he can marry higher. There's a lovingly gruesome sequence as she combs blad patches into her hair, kneeling deformed at her mirror, weeping with bitterness. She eventually cuts her own throat, swearing revenge.
A former soldier, reduced to working at a restaurant post-war, becomes a contract killer for the yakuza gangs he's in contact with.
Wandering samurai Nemuri Kyoshiro (Raizô Ichikawa) finds a bulls-eye on his back after befriending the shogunate's tightfisted financial adviser, Asahina, who's earned the wrath of the shogun's self-indulgent daughter for cutting off her allowance. The enraged princess promptly hatches a scheme to have Asahina bumped off -- along with his protector, Kyoshiro. Shiho Fujimura also stars in this installment of the enormously popular film series.
1962 Japanese movie
An emotionally charged tale of love and passion set on a remote island lighthouse, where a mysterious woman arrives out of nowhere to cast a shadow over a wedding.
One murky night, Soetsu, a blind acupuncturist and money lender, calls on Shinzaemon Fukami, a Hatamoto samurai, to collect some money. But Fukami is too busy having an affair with a maid and curtly tells Soetsu to ask Sawano, his wife, for the money. As they have no money, Sawano interprets her husband's words as telling her to give herself to Soetsu in lieu of payment. However, Fukami catches them in the act and kills them both. Snatching up Soetsu's money bag with 30 ryo in it, he then asks two ruffians, to sink the bodies in a marsh. From what follows, it seems as if the spirits of Soetsu and Sawano are still hovering on earth in anguish and anger. For soon afterwards, Fukami is found dead by his own hand and Osono, Soetsu's younger daughter, suddenly disappears from home.
A fierce battle between a vicious train criminal and a police officer.
A story loosely based on the affair between Empress Kōken-Shōtoku and the monk Dōkyō, set during the Nara period (710–794 A.D.).
Who is Shinzo, the man who captivates both men and women…? Official lanterns flutter chaotically through the Great Edo of love and intrigue… A thrilling period crime drama featuring the Demon Magistrate.
Daiei Film Company's three biggest stars shine in this exciting story about Vice-Shogun Mito Komon's journey to the land of the Ainu. As the shogun's uncle, Lord Mito traveled about the nation seeking to make sure that corruption and injustice did not go unpunished. Traveling together with his two faithful bodyguards Kaku and Suke, they board ship for a voyage to the far northern island of Ezo (modern day Hokkaido) where the indigenous people called "Ainu" live. Somewhat like American Indians, the Ainu had their own culture which had not been subjugated by the Matsumae clan, rulers of the vast island. A revolt is brewing within the leadership of the Ainu, which threatens to destroy their peaceful lives. The elder lord and his retinue are the only ones who can stop this reign of terror!
After a broken heart, the woman lives a lonely life in a dormitory, while the man is now a popular singer at the height of his fame.
Film directed by Kenji Misumi.
The exciting story of Jirocho and his yakuza gang that controlled the area of the Tokaido during the latter days of the samurai era. Awesome fighting from Katsu Shintaro as One-Eyed Ishimatsu highlights this great tale taken from Japanese history!
Fourth film of the Bannai Tarao series starring Chiezo Kataoka
A poor rickshaw driver finds himself helping a young woman and her son after the woman's husband dies suddenly.
1962 Japanese movie. Remake of Mori's 1942 original movie
Ronin samurai Ibuki-san enters a town and sells his skills to the warring families. He falls in love with the beautiful horse stable owner but like all heroes, cannot stay.
A young woman turns to the supernatural to wreak revenge on a murderous warlord.
A unique story of a life of romance, divided into three episodes about the profound secrets of the path deeply rooted in the essence of human nature, depicted with a wry and stylish touch.
One of Japanese folklore's most popular characters is brought to life on the silver screen in this terrific version of legendary Demon slaying Peach Boy.
Will the assassin take my life or will a beautiful woman take my chastity? Or will a beautiful woman take your chastity? On the Tokaido Highway of Flowers, a beautiful swordsman is in peril! Tokaido is a journey of women's peril! Pink Kumudo no Kenjidoshu! A swarm of beautiful women chases after him! The forest of white blades that ambushes! Tokaido is in full bloom!
Last part of the Snake Woman trilogy.
To pay off his enormous debt, Segawa becomes a spy for the president of a small trading company.
1961 Japanese movie
Third in the Nage utasamon series
