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144 movies sorted by popularity
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 a place to commit seppuku—and a worthy second to deliver the coup de grâce in his suicide ritual. The senior counselor for the Iyi clan questions the ronin’s resolve and integrity, suspecting Hanshirō of seeking charity rather than an honorable end. What follows is a pair of interlocking stories which lay bare the difference between honor and respect, and promises to examine the legendary foundations of the Samurai code.
In feudal Japan, during a bloody war between clans, two cowardly and greedy peasants, soldiers of a defeated army, stumble upon a mysterious man who guides them to a fortress hidden in the mountains.
Returning to their lord's castle, samurai warriors Washizu and Miki are waylaid by a spirit who predicts their futures. When the first part of the spirit's prophecy comes true, Washizu's scheming wife, Asaji, presses him to speed up the rest of the spirit's prophecy by murdering his lord and usurping his place. Director Akira Kurosawa's resetting of William Shakespeare's "Macbeth" in feudal Japan is one of his most acclaimed films.
A beautiful swordswoman dressed as a man falls in love with the young lord who is her enemy.
A humble and simple Takezo abandons his life as a knight errant. He's sought as a teacher and vassal by Shogun, Japan's most powerful clan leader. He's also challenged to fight by the supremely confident and skillful Sasaki Kojiro. Takezo agrees to fight Kojiro in a year's time but rejects Shogun's patronage, choosing instead to live on the edge of a village, raising vegetables. He's followed there by Otsu and later by Akemi, both in love with him. The year ends as Takezo assists the villagers against a band of brigands. He seeks Otsu's forgiveness and accepts her love, then sets off across the water to Ganryu Island for his final contest.
G-men challenge a jewelry smuggling ring. The chase starts in Kyushu and continues to Kobe to Yokohama.
No description available.
Shiba, a wandering ronin, encounters a band of peasants who have kidnapped the daughter of their dictatorial magistrate, in hopes of coercing from him a reduction in taxes. Shiba takes up their fight, joined by two renegades from the magistrate's guard, Sakura and Kikyo. The three outlaws find themselves in a battle to the death.
Japan, February 1868. As the Tokugawa shogunate declines and the power of Emperor Meiji grows, Gonzo, a soldier of the Restoration Army, returns to Sawando, his hometown, to announce the end of tyranny.
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 mother dies, they are sold to Sansho the Bailiff, a cruel man who subjects them to hideous torments. While Anju falls into a lake and is transformed into a swan, Zushio escapes and after being adopted to a nobleman grows to a young man. He will then fight to defeat the evil Dayu and free all the slaves.
Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, a brilliant tactician, is a loyal subject of the emperor, despite his grave misgivings about leading Japan's navy into war with the United States. He opposes the attack on Pearl Harbor, but, overruled, he leads his forces to the best of his ability.
Kansuke Yamamoto is a samurai who dreams of a country united, peaceful from sea to sea. He enters the service of Takeda, the lord of Kai domain. He convinces Takeda to kill the lord of neighboring Suwa and take his wife as a concubine. He then convinces the widow, Princess Yu, to accept this arrangement and to bear Takeda a son. He pledges them his life. He then spends years using treachery, poetic sensibility, military and political strategy to expand Takeda's realm, advance the claim of Yu's son as the heir, and prepare for an ultimate battle with the forces of Echigo. Has Kansuke overreached? Are his dreams, blinded by love, too big?
Meiko Kaji reprises her role as Nami, a vengeful female gang leader, in the second installment of this high-action series that casts a new actor -- martial arts legend Sonny Chiba -- in the role of Nami's loyal friend Ryuji. This time around, Nami is looking for Hoshiden, the man who murdered her father and shattered her once-hopeful childhood. But living under an assumed name, Hoshiden could stay hidden forever.
In a peaceful town near the Seto Inland Sea, a threatening letter arrives along with the ringing of a telephone... A thriller-comedy that sets this stagnant town ablaze.
A veteran reporter and a young journalist doggedly pursue clues through sheer persistence and intuition to unravel the mystery behind the sudden death of a teacher in the remote Hokuriku region. In pursuit of the truth, they are led to a web of corporate fraud, an inbred village, bundles of toilet paper, and flatfoots with something to hide as the bodies pile up.
Immigrant gangs terrorize a Japanese town with their threats, loud jazz, and tasteless fashion sense, and only the tough but suave Dr. Amamiya (Ando) can stop them, as long as he gets rid of his silly peace-loving ideals.
A young son of a master of the Kuwana clan gets disowned for his rebellious behavior. After he goes from the mountains to the ocean defeating the evil, he becomes a fine man.
Unlike traditional gangster movies, it is a gangster swashbuckler that mixes romance and humanity with a yakuza lover as the main character. A young man who heard that his former boss was killed is imprisoned by slashing his family's minions, and his lover is tortured by the enemy, but rescued by the imprisoned young man's nemesis.
A grieving factory worker storms a Tokyo police station, holding a department chief at gunpoint, convinced he killed his girlfriend. When he learns it’s the wrong Yamamoto, he still refuses to leave and threatens everyone with nitroglycerin. Tension peaks when the real detective’s wife arrives, but a quick intervention stops disaster, leaving the worker broken by loss.
A 1967 crime film
This film focuses on Okatsu; the adopted daughter of a master swordsman. She is a master with a sword herself and her talents far overshadow that of her brother, and real child of the man who adopted her. Her brother unfortunately has a gambling habit, and it plunges the family into trouble when he loses a lot of money in a crooked dice game. After releasing he is unable to pay the debt he owes; the blame is shouldered by the father, who is killed, leading Okatsu on a path of revenge.
The 39th "Tengu Kurama" feature starring Arashi.
Misawa Ihei (Nagato) is traveling with his wife Tae (Iwashita Shima) who abhors the practice of sword fighting for prize money. Tae is the daughter of the clan's chief counselor who married the low-ranking Ihei to avoid becoming the clan lord's mistress. Into the mix comes Oba Gunjuro (Tetsurō Tamba), a mysterious ronin who will do anything for money. This leads to a fitting climax as the forces of hate and love converge while the couple attempt to break through the border!
The legendary one-eyed one-armed swordsman Tange Sazen is back to aid a Magistrate in his efforts to steal bribe money on its way to Edo for the benefit to poor farmers.
After discovering a slaughtered corpse, the investigating team of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department began canvassing the area around the crime scene. As a result, they found a wallet with bloodstains that seemed to belong to the victim, a woman's wallet that did not fit the field, earrings, and other valuable materials, which led them on a foot search. The woman's purse had been picked up by a male prostitute on the subway, and from the prostitute's testimony, they were able to identify the pickpocket's face, but the next day, the man was found dead in a road accident, apparently murdered.
In the late 1890s, coal is a precious new natural resource. During an era of rapid economic growth, dreams are instilled into the lives of many across Japan. A vigorous young man with a look of fearless determination, sets foot on the northern part of Kyushu, an area where Yakuza thrived. His name is Kingoro Tamai (Yujiro Ishihara). With plans to travel the world, Kingoro worked diligently at a coal mine. His loyalty and hard work earned the respect of his peers, his courage won the heart of the beautiful Mon (Ruriko Asaoka), and his success evoked jealousy in his enemies.
Dramatic story of one man trying to make a difference.
Japanese crime film
A Japanese intelligence officer faces personal crises in the years preceding the Manchurian conflict.
A comedic tale that follows several quirky individuals who navigate the twists and turns of their daily lives.
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.
An adventurous and daring sailor sets sail to the castle of an ailing king to stop an evil premier, hungry for power and wealth, from succeeding the throne and marrying the king's beautiful daughter. Along the way, with the help of some courageous rebels and a lustful wizard, he must overcome the powers of a bewitching witch, a band of ruthless pirates, and the castle's Imperial guards. He must also free those kidnapped into slavery and restore the king's reputation.
An undercover cop befriends a yakuza underling who through his contacts helps him infiltrate two rival Yakuza gangs. He pits the two rival gangs against each other in hopes that they will cross each other out.
A narcotics investigator for the harbor police, Eiichi Tsuda, is driven by thoughts of vengeance for the overdose death of his brother and the subsequent decline and death of their mother. Tsuda acts viciously and with disdain for legal niceties in his exploration of the criminal facts behind the explosion of a freighter in the harbor. He goes undercover with a band of drug smugglers, but his methods threaten to destroy him as well as his case.
Bored Hatamoto film #20
A young girl works as a geisha to earn money for travel.
Goro Fujikawa (Tetsuya Watari) was indebted to Mitsugimoto. Sawada, a low rank yakuza with a gambling problem owed Mitsugimoto three million yen. This equation can only lead to one answer. Mitsugimoto needs to pay and Goro's coming to collect.
A love triangle develops between a benevolent student, his innocent girlfriend, and a cruel petty criminal, all as a point of diagnosis of a social disease that had Japan slowly succumbing to lawlessness during the post-War era.
Seeking revenge against the guard who tormented him, a young man returns to the island where he was imprisoned in reform school. But his plans for vengeance are disturbed when he encounters a strange and beautiful young woman.
An investigation into a drug smuggler who is assassinated in front of an insurance building sets two detectives, Sumikawa and Akine, into a sprawling investigation through Tokyo's underworld.
Tai Kato’s early 20th century set yakuza epic about an ordinary merchant girl (Hiroko Maki) who crosses paths with an assassin (Tetsuya Watari). The encounter sends her to jail as a suspected accomplice. Years later she marries a yakuza boss, whose gang is affiliated with working class people.
When a corrupt magistrate rapes Oshima, Masa (Raizō Ichikawa) avenges her by killing the officer, becoming thereby a fugitive, haunted and grief-stricken by the fact that Oshima committed suicide. Going underground in the gambling world, perpetually hiding from the law, Masa eventually meets a young woman named Onaka, who looks exactly like Oshima. Tales having two look-alike heroines are a commonplace in Japanese period films, a plot affectation inherited from the kabuki theater. Based on a novel by Shin Hasegawa, Nakayama shichiri was already twice filmed in 1930, one version directed by Namio Ochiai, and from which less than 40 minutes survive, the other directed by Kyotaro Namiki. Both are silent films, preserved by the Makino film institute.
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 the Heike clan.
This suspense drama set in the mid 1700's depicts the plan of the Tokugawa rulers to send a number of homeless men to a remote island Sado to perform forced labor. Living conditions on the island are terrible and the men soon become rebellious. Based on a short story by Seichō Matsumoto.
In a military family, an illegitimate son is brutalized by his brothers. A patriarchal, feudalistic household where dissent is forbidden is used to reveal the whole imperialist system that afflicted Japan between 1921 and 1946.
A group of pirates led by the evil Gondaiyu and his wizard, Genkuro, capture the Golden Peacock Castle and massacre the peaceful clan that lives there. The few survivors that manage to escape plot their revenge and wait for the right timing for an attack. The struggles of the Golden Peacock Clan continue as they seek to reclaim their home and prevent the evil Gondaiyu from taking their most prized treasures.
Detective Tarao investigates the deaths of police officers who were involved in solving a kidnapping case.
The hoodlum group tries to help a little printing factory against gangsters.
Three men with completely different backgrounds and beliefs—one in his forties who lived through the war, one in his thirties who grew up in the postwar era, and one in his twenties who has never experienced the war—hit it off and cause a great commotion.
A reporter is framed for murder while investigating organized crime. Upon being released from prison the plan for his revenge unravels.
Early film directed by Kenji Misumi.
During the seventh-year memorial service for Katsugoro and Genji, Ikari Genji himself emerged from the coffin brought in by the hearse seeking revenge
In the middle of the era, Taisho, a big boss in Asakusa Iizuka, was severely questioned by the police about the source of funds for the Daido Federation, to which he belonged. The creditor, Izo, visited the local police station daily, worried about the safety of his boss, and himself came to the attention of the police. Izo embarks on a journey to escape, but in the meantime, the new rising yakuza Dojima plans to kill Iizuka...
Somewhat unique as it appears to be one of the very rare appearances of master thespian Itô in a yakuza role.
Tossing his hat in the air to pick a direction, Yataro the wanderer sets out on a journey of adventure, not knowing what tomorrow may bring. The son of a Hatamoto, he has left the samurai life and become a yakuza, gambling on life's fortune and ready to risk his life at a moment's notice. Featuring an all-star cast that includes the debonair Azuma Chiyonosuke, this is a tale of excitement and action that brings the best of black and white to the silver screen. An adventure like no other, this is one of Kinnosuke's lost gems. A series of mishaps leads Yataro to watching over the beloved daughter of his close friend.
A young girl moves to Tokyo and endures the rivalries between other high school girls of varying cultural and economic backgrounds.
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 Town. Next day the man is found brutally murdered and the mystery starts to unravel.
An all-star cast highlights this Jidai-Geki classic. Set in the samurai era, this is the tale of period Yakuza. One of the real classics in this genre. In this dramatic portrayal of the real-life gambling boss Jirocho, a good-hearted and honest boss sets out to take revenge for a fellow boss. At the same time, the other local bosses, in a bid to increase their own power, plot to dispose of Jirocho. Starring Kataoka Chiezo in one of his signature roles, this is an excellent portrayal of a figure who is not well known outside of Japan. Co-starring Nakamura Kinnosuke, this exciting tale of period yakuza brings history to life.
Fearless girl firefighter Oharu and skilled firefighter Shintaro battle against their evil rivals who threaten to take over Oharu’s family’s turf.
A film adaptation of Rikuo Honjo's novel "Ishikari River".
The background is Yuraku-cho in Tokyo and the film shows how desperately the women, who had led sheltered lives before the war, struggled to keep alive and the innate strength of post-war women.
Jirocho's Tale of Three Provinces IV: All Gathered at Shimizu Harbor is the forth installment in the Jirocho's Tale of Three Provinces series.
The story of five sisters.
Two rival gangs of gangsters clash for dominance of a neighborhood.
When the plague threatens a small town in Manchuria, a young doctor finds himself struggling to save the lives of his townspeople.
An all-star cast highlights this Jidai-Geki classic. Set in the samurai era, this is the tale of period Yakuza. One of the real classics in this genre. Jirocho, an honorable and respected gang boss, uncovers a conspiracy organized by his rivals while on a quest to bring justice to three murders. Some of the most famous actors from Toei studios make this a must-see for everyone! Featuring a very young Nakamura Kinnosuke, who went on to become one of Japan's mosted noteworthy actors under the name Yorosuya Kinnosuke. This is one of the best examples his early work.
In this film in the long running series, Tange Sazen and his friends are asked to guard a dragon-shaped incense burner that holds the key to hidden treasures. This is the most exciting film in the series, and contains some of the best action sequences of Otomo's distinguished career. Sazen is the strongest swordsman of his time, and his sense of honor and justice are called upon more than once to set things right.
Farmer Abare Goemon is confronted by brigand-like samurai. He raises an army of farmers to fight them and does so brilliantly. When Lord Asakura sees the success Goemon has achieved, he attempts to recruit him to fight in a conflict between Asakura and another clan. Goemon refuses, and Lord Asakura sets out to destroy him.
A skilled assassin's services are called upon to put an end to the ugly turf battle between two yakuza families, Mitsuwa and Aikawa. Forced by the code of the yakuza to put one's life on the line for a Boss who offered a meal and lodging, each side manages to get hold of powerful swordsmen who will stop at nothing to pay their obligations.
Ichikawa Raizo’s last film. He plays a Yakuza enforcer who kills a man on his boss's orders. He’s then sent to a provincial town to lie low, only to be caught in another war orchestrated by his original boss who has set him up.
A "hustler's hustler" (Takarada), works his way up the corporate ladder at a camera company. His biggest scheme involves winning the business of a foreign visitor by setting him up with a beautiful "model" (Tsukasa), actually a bar hostess, but the plan backfires when the would-be executive falls for the woman himself.
A retired racing champion, now a driving instructor, gets involved with the speed tribes after impulsively taking to the streets to relive his former glory.
Japanese comedy film.
On a passenger ship to Japan, the journalist Kawase encounters a man who claims to be a Filipino, but Kawase believes he is a murder suspect who fled Japan fifteen years ago, Hojo Shuichi. To throw Kawase off, the man talks a female passenger, Reiko, into acting as if she was his long-time friend. When the man - who is, in fact, Hojo - secretly leaves the ship, Reiko, who has fallen for him, joins up with Kawase to go looking for him. Meanwhile, Hojo, who has returned to Japan to find the true murderer before the 15-year statute of limiitations on murder expires, tracks down the man whom he believes ordered the murder he was accused of.
During the Age Of Wars (Sengoku Era), Tokugawa Ieyasu and Toyotomi Hideyoshi are vying for power and each uses their secret weapons in order to try and defeat the other. Momochi Sandayu of the Iga, along with his disciple Ishikawa Goemon are ordered by Ieyasu to assassinate Hideyoshi and get the blueprints for the hidden fortress within Osaka Castle. Meanwhile the Koga group organizes to try and defend the castle for the peace of the nation. Beating off every trick from Sandayu, Torawakamaru protects the drawing, and when Ieyasu figures out a way to hold a match between Koga and Iga the two masters fight the greatest ninja battle ever held. The effects are truly spectacular in this classic ninja film from Toei.
The 40th and final "Tengu Kurama" feature starring Kanjuro Arashi.
1961 Japanese movie
It's fighting fires and swordsmen with a touch of music in this free-for-all of action and excitement combining the talents of Japan's most popular couple... Misora Hibari and Okawa Hashizo. Along with the great Otomo Rytaro as Tatsugoro the fire chief, they keep Edo safe as part of the famed Megumi Fire Squad.
Two guardians of the Nijo Castle, Shioya and Kamazawa, discover a map leading to a secret passage to Edo Castle. Instead of reporting their find to local authorities, they decide to blackmail the lords who created the forbidden passage. To prove their crime, Magistrate Toyama Kinshiro launches a private undercover investigation.
Wada Kōji is a chivalrous young man who leads a group of youths that take on a yakuza boss.
Tokyo hoodlums travel to Osaka and enter into rivalry with the local gangsters.
An adventure of a feisty girl Oyuki and Santa, a homeless child she saves.
G-men of Japan fifth installment. A young detective, questioning a double suicide involving his police officer friend and a Turkish girl, travels all the way from Kyushu to Tokyo. Disguising himself as a yakuza member, he intends to root out the underworld's base of operations, weaving together love, guns, and violence to unravel the mystery behind the enigmatic incident and the true nature of evil. This thrilling action drama combines suspense with excitement, depicting a tale filled with love, fists, and firearms.
Period romantic drama.
1964 Japanese movie
Every year, at the festival, familiar merchants such as Toraemon, a magic trick, Tokubei, a blowgun, Kaji, acrobatics, and Unsaibo, a ritual, gather toward the port town.
Jidaigeki film from 1960
Jirocho the gambler hits the road.
In the 9th year of the Tempo era, after a long sea voyage, Moritaya Seizo returned to Hirado, who earned huge amounts of gold by piracy. Along the way, he picked up Ichinojo Kaneko, a Ronin who survived the disaster at sea. Seizo and Orin, the daughter of merchant Yohei, are in love with each other and want to get married. However, Kashiwakura Gaiki, the samurai of the domain, wants to kill Seizo for the sake of his son Shozaburo, who is in love with Arin, and Kurando Matsuura, the owner of the castle, wants to seize all the gold for himself...
A taxi robbery and murder occurred in Fukagawa late at night. Detectives Nagata and Miyagawa of the Metropolitan Police Department's First Investigation Division, who suspect the perpetrator as a habitual offender, flew to Yanagibashi using the remains as clues, and suspect a forester, but before this case was closed, a new incident using the same method occurred in Shinbashi, and this time the driver's corpse was not found.
This time, sword-saint Yagyu Jubei battles the evil corruption in Akizuki Village, with the help of his friend, a samurai named Matashichiro. This spaghetti western style action swordplay film is exciting and dynamic from start to finish! One-eyed master of martial arts, Yagyu Jubei visits Akizuki Village and meets with his former teacher Akizuki Hayato-no-Kami. Jubei is shocked to see Hayato's sickly appearance. An evil gang has plotted to murder Hayato, but a deadly Yagyu blade will unleash a rain of blood and disperse the evil plot! The breathtaking climax in a huge ravine called Okamidani is the ultimiate pay-off. Jubei confronts several hundred riflemen and warriors in a bloody battle to the death.
Film from 1967.
A brave warrior fights to restore peace to a town riddled by crime, one sword at a time, in this historical action saga.
1962 Japanese movie
School teachers responsible for the lives of their students work to evacuate Allied bombings near the end of WWII.
A murdered pawnbroker found clutching a blood-soaked wedding gown, the kidnapped daughter of a Shogun vassal, mysterious robberies, brutal killings, a vault with no key, a suspect killed while in police custody. This fragmented trail of clues could well be one of the most baffling cases that Young Lord has ever had to solve as he attempts to unravel the mystery and bring the guilty party to justice.
One of Japan’s most popular folklore characters, Tange Sazen, the one-eyed and one-armed swordsman, must rescue the Yagyu clan from the treachery of a master plotting to take control over a sword fighting school.
Rokurō starts a part-time job on a fishing boat, but the ship has an engine failure in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
A woman abandoned by the man she loved all her life becomes a ghost and takes revenge for her offense!
In this town, Kagosuke and Ryukichi of the Okamoto family, who are deeply committed to the yakuza way, are straightforward and justice-loving hot-blooded men. However, their slight clumsiness is a flaw, but they are extremely strong in fights, and there's no one who can match them. They are head over heels for Osen-san. They are both desperately unwilling to yield even if the other is a brother.
Hashizo Okawa in the form of a courageous firefighter who confronts unscrupulous traders who make a profit even at the cost of human lives. A fireman exposes the corrupt activities of merchants.
When Japan entered into the great tragedy that was unforgettable, the general general of the history of the Ming Dynasty, hokudai Yamashita, left the Malay front and occupied Singapore at once, and was praised as a "Malay tiger." However, the situation in Japan changed steadily by the failure of Sai pan from the GA Talca translation.
When Tornado Joe is wrongly accused of distributing counterfeit banknotes, he gets on a mission to clear his name and challenge the mastermind behind this scheme.
Adapted from the original work by the literary giant Yasunari Kawabata. Through the lives of three sisters each following their own path, the film offers a richly poetic exploration of what constitutes happiness for women.
Bored Hatamoto film #21
Early film by Eiichi Kudô.
A young lord solves the mystery of multiple murders involving a young couple and a woman.
Shinsuke Inaba, a thief who snuck into the Kishu family residence in Edo. He was almost discovered by a patrol, but he is helped by Kajio, a woman who holds the position of a junior maid of honor. She was later reprimanded and moved into her family's candle shop. One day, she meets the popular actor Nakazo Nakamura, and is surprised by his exact resemblance to Shinsuke…
A hit-man returns to Japan after a long sojourne.
Yasu, the son of an exiled man, discovered his passion for swordsmanship and went to Edo, where he trained under the name Ito Yagoro. Yagyu Sekishusai, fearing Yagoro's skill, sent his disciples to kill him.
A hotshot investigator solves a series of gruesome murders in this exciting and dark classic.
The second film about the adventures of Chosichiro Matsudaira. This time he fights against conspirators whose goal is to replace the 4th Shogun Ietsuna during his visit to Nikko Shrine.
A gripping action film starring Akira Kobayashi, Joe Shishido, and Koji Wada. A man accused of diamond theft and imprisoned escapes during transport, vowing revenge. He teams up with a skilled safecracker and a wealthy playboy to find the real culprit. Three of Nikkatsu's young male superstars headline in this action-packed contemporary crime opus.
Tenth film of "Mysterious Thirteen Nights" series.
