Haruo Tanaka

Kanji Watanabe is a middle-aged man who has worked in the same monotonous bureaucratic position for decades. Learning he has cancer, he starts to...

Tadashi Imai 1946 movie

This film is about the curse of a jealous woman destroying the lovers on the run.

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...

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....

Residents of a rundown boardinghouse in 19th-century Japan, including a mysterious old man and an aging actor, get drawn into a love triangle that...

The Undefeated Woman

In Nihonbashi, a fire broke out in the Kodenma-cho prison, and the prisoners were released. With the proviso that if the prisoner does not return...

Tasuke stumbles across Kokichi, a distraught man whom having lost his fiancee to Lord Kawakatsu is ready to commit suicide. Tasuke learns that...

Coal miner Isamu Oba is forced to quit his village and leave his mother and siblings behind. Mining buddy Ichiro accompanies him to Tokyo, and the...

A lighthearted take on director Yasujiro Ozu’s perennial theme of the challenges of inter­generational relationships, Good Morning tells...

A platonic love story, the protagonist continues to love the woman he fell in love with when he was a boy for the rest of his life.

When the wife of a 17th century Kyoto scroll-maker is falsely accused of having an affair with his best employee, the pair flee the city and find...

When Wabisuke's father-in-law unexpectedly dies, the family goes through a series of random events and occurrences as the funeral unfolds over three...

1962 Japanese movie

Over more than a decade, the daughter of a Kyoto Imperial University professor comes of age as she witnesses her father fired for opposing the rise...

Bittersweet shomin-geki drama by Keigo Kimura

Jidai-geki by Ryo Hagiwara

Jidai-geki by Kiyoshi Saeki

Yukiko's fiance learns her mother runs a geisha house and ends their engagement. She despises what her mother does until one of her clients shows...

33-year-old poor writer Ogata was able to endure his miserable life cheerfully thanks to Yoshie, a 19-year-old innocent young wife. After graduating...

With one million yen in stolen cash, Kurita plans his escape to Hokkaido with an unwilling bar girl named Katsumi.

When a theater troupe's master visits his old flame, he unintentionally sets off a chain of unexpected events with devastating consequences. A remake...

Makino Masahiro film starring Okada Mariko

A young country boy leaves his village for Tokyo, where he begins to work as a stock trader. First part (of four) of the film adaptation of Bunroku...

Part 2 of the 'Onna bangaichi' series

A gang plans to steal twenty billion yen by safecracking tactics; however, they discover that one of the gang members is an infiltrating cop.

The sexual experiences of the passionate Sakiko, from her fling with her boss in her first job to her ending up as a prostitute.

In this movie, Sashichi tries to catch a serial killer who kills his victims with shurikens.

1962 Japanese movie

1958 Japanese movie

A ghost interrupts the journey of two young noblemen who are disguised as merchants.

A story of a servant girl whose life is upturned by her doomed love for a spineless young man.

Movie directed by Sadatsugu Matsuda

Seppuku Day 17 Ako ronins, including Kuranosuke Oishi, who were entrusted to the Hosokawa family, and the events of the two days before are depicted...

1962 Japanese movie

The debut film of Shin Toho Productions

It is the Taisho era in Japan. A man has quit the Yakuza after five years and returned to Shikoku in order to begin his life anew as a ferryman. His...

1945 Japanese movie

This is one of the many films based on the legend of Chuji Kunisada, a wandering gambler and a defender of the weak in the Edo period. In other...

A romance with political overtones about the relationship of a sheltered bourgeois woman and a doctor who devotes himself to caring for the poor....

Tanuma Kandayuu is a high class samurai of the house of Nabeshima. He finds a lavish board of Go (a Chinese Board game) at Kinbei's store. He...

Hidejiro is a wandering yakuza with a ‘karashi botan’ (Chinese lion and peony) tattoo. Owing a favor to the Soda Family, he kills the...

Jirocho and his henchmen befriend Ishimatsu, a wanderer in Mishima.

The third part of the story about feudal boss Jirocho and his underlings.

The continuing adventures of the Jirocho gang.

Near the end of the Taisho era (1912-1926), Enokichi, a popular figure in the world of boxing entangled in the Yakuza business.

1945 Japanese movie

Akiko Hojo, a nurse at Aisei Catholic Hospital, is spending another public holiday at Kotaro Hidaka's house. Hidaka, who is a poor musician suffers...

His skill and courage were the best in Japan! The life story of Jirocho, a man who protected people on the Tokaido Road. The fearless Kinnosuke...

He was married to his lover's butterfly and started a new residence. But good things do not last. In his uncle, Uzaemon in Kawashima, Yoshiji Akaji,...

Japan nineteenth century. High demand for tattooed geisha generates an entire industry for their "production". Europeans pay more for tattooed...

A Japanese artist (Ikebe), who had won the favor of the Cambodian royal family when he rescued their daughter during World War II, returns and falls...

Michiyo lives in the small place Osaka and is not happy with her marriage, all she does is cook and clean for her husband.

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

Kiyoko (Takamine Hideko) and her husband want to open a coffee shop. She becomes increasingly close to the bank clerk (Mifune Toshiro) she's asked...

An Inn at Osaka, rarely seen outside Japan, follows the story of an insurance company executive from Tokyo, Mr. Mito, who is demoted to the Osaka...

Where Chimneys Are Seen focuses primarily on the interconnected lives of two couples in a lower-middle-class neighborhood in Senju, a poor industrial...

Saheita, the final heir of a once rich and respectable family, can't refuse the many villagers that come to him for favours and money, even though he...

Machiko falls in love with a mysterious man, but her family wants something different for her.

A samurai is struggling to make ends meet at the end of the Edo period. He has students and, among other things, teaches them about the evils of the...

Third part of Nihon Kyokakuden series is set in Kanto in 1924. Ken Takakura playing a ship's mate befriending fish shop owners harassed by yakuza.

Adaptation of a novel by Yojiro Ishizaka, originally released in two parts.

Three humorous love stories set in rural Japan.

Buntaro, the president of a food trading company got tired of the day-to-day routine of life. The new secretary, Nobuko, suggested her "shacho-san"...

Kingoro Yanagiya's 100th film.

Kotaro Shimoyama, once a government official, loses his job and separates from his wife, Sachie. He now resides with his daughter, Haruko. By chance,...

Japanese film.

Oiwa has been searching for the one who killed her father for a long time. She comes to Yedo and sees a man named Naosuke. The film is based on the...

Fourth sequel to "Story of Second Class Private".

Lavish Japanese-Chinese coproduction based on an ancient Chinese legend about a man who falls in love with a snake goddess in human form.

Japanese film.

Directed by Hiroshi Inagaki, the drama, set in the brothels of Shimabara in post-war Kyoto, is a moving look at the lives of women of tenacity and...

Set in the Sengoku period, Tokugawa vassal Yakurota (Kenichi Enomoto) helps the older sister and twin sister of the Matsudaira family who are in love...

Ryuta and Mineo Komatsu are brothers, both yakuza (gangsters). Mineo, although complicit in crime, even murder, wants out of the gangster life,...

A young man rents an apartment in Tokyo and discover it was built by his father. He falls in love with the daughter of the mistress of the house and...

A comedic retelling of the legend of the loyal 47 ronin.

In A Tale of Archery, young, timid bowmaster Kazuma (Akitake Kôno) seeks to beat the archery record set by Hoshino Kanzaemon, a mysterious...

A private detective is hired to find a missing man by his wife. While his search is unsuccessful, the detective's own life begins to resemble the man...

A spectacular comedy with a star-studded cast that depicts unusual trials and unexpected verdicts regarding the five deadly sins: the crime of...

Rival bands of pirates try to get hold of a priceless treasure.

During the Warring States era, Hozoin Kakuzenbo and Yagyu Tajima-no-kami, being best friends, spend their days acquiring skills of the spear, sword...

Shozo is plagued by the needs of his ex-wife and his current one, but prefers the company of his cat.

Umon’s services are called upon when innocent bystanders, Kayo and Minokichi, along with the ronin, Gontaro are mistakenly identified as...

A sake factory worker on holiday returns to his home town, where he rapes the wife of one of his co-workers in the forest. The other man returns home...

As descendent of famed fishmonger Isshin Tasuke, young feisty Ishii Tasuke uses his talent to flourish his employer’s food business.

It's an extravaganza of entertainment as famous magistrate in disguise, Toyama no Kinshiro attempts to confront the elusive thief known as the ...

The story of two young men whose ambition is to become the personal bodyguards to the Shogun's uncle, Lord Mito Komon. Portrayed by a pair of up and...

Postwar! Baseball! Comedy! Enoken plays a superfan of the Yomiuri Giants – the real Tokyo team, with many of its star players "acting" as...

A ghost man with his face hidden entirely by bandages is killing beautiful nude models. Detective Kindaichi investigates.

The story of a couple, a spoiled son and a down-to-earth girl, in Osaka in the early Showa era. The film won the prestigious Blue Ribbon awards for...

A 1942 film.

Japanese comedy film.

A young woman takes up her new job as the servant of a noblewoman and soon discovers that underneath her facade of luxury lies great unhappiness.

It's a man's world. Shimamura, an artist, comes to this snowbound town to rejuvenate himself. He connects with Komako, a geisha he met on a previous...

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

The story is set in Bakumatsu and revolves around the Bunta Sugawara character, a yakuza (of course :) but instead of a modern yakuza/gangster, he's...

Edmund Rostand's play Cyrano de Bergerac, transplanted to Japan. A poet-warrior with an oversized nose (matched only by his great heart) loves a...

This film tells the story of a ronin's search for his parents, but primarily is a group portrait of life in a Tokugawa-era tenement.

Former inmate Katsuji gets involved in the horse gambling business while lending a helping hand to a ranch operator.

Japanese drama film.

From the opening theme song to the grand finale, you know that you have found something special as this exciting movie stars the great Misora Hibari...

A young girl, Okimi, falls in love with Kiritaro, a handsome thief disguised as a wealthy young master.

Playhouse employees Okimi and Otoshi become involved in an undercover officer’s investigation of a gang when they accidentally walk in on a...

Young Sentaro struggles to avenge the murder of his younger sister Osuga and their father.

A young, feisty woman named Osome searches for her true love in the midst of a family crisis.

The great Okawa Hashizo, in one of his most powerful roles risks his life and limb to help save the lovely Onaka from a terrible lifestyle. Starting...

Tetsunosuke, an eccentric doctor and an owner of a fencing school, takes aim against corrupt authorities.

Young coal miner Takeda leaves Kyushu in search of a better job in Tokyo, only to fall into the lucrative yet dangerous life of a yakuza.

The hoodlum group tries to help a little printing factory against gangsters.

This film was made by the Japanese occupation authorities in the Philippines as a propaganda film to show the Philippine people the "benefits" of the...

Taisuke is kind-hearted but overall lacks ambition. Taizo is smarter, but given to fits of emotion and impulsive violence. The samurai brothers fight...

A group of men living a low life in Edo help each other to make the best out of their lives.

This anthology film consists of nine incidents in the late 19th and early 20th centuries when assassins changed the course of Japanese history.

These are the first two parts of the popular series in which a young samurai learns that he is the illegitimate son of the Shogun. Hoping to reunite...

The second film in the 1953 trilogy based on the long novel series The Great Bodhisattva Pass.

The final film in the 1953 trilogy based on the long novel series The Great Bodhisattva Pass.

Oichi may have met her match as she vies against the evil beauty that has set her sights on destroying her. She must face numerous other challenges...

A boy born in a poor village in Tokushima spends his days idly until a chance meeting sets him on the road to becoming boss of Japan's largest gang.

The tale of real-life Yakuza boss Shimizu Jirocho is told from his earliest beginnings as a gambler on the road as he forms his gang and sets out on...

The story of an airport and its air traffic control crew in a remote and northern Japanese town. Three of the air traffic controllers are female with...

Chie (Sanae Ōhori), newly arrived in Tokyo, saves her friend from school, Mari (Annu Mari), from a suicide attempt. The two girls become close,...

In Asakusa, Tokyo, a couple of a violinist Yamano and a revue dancer Hanae lives in poverty. One day Hanae’s little sister rolls into their...

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

Young Lord Takenaka stands to succeed his father until a series of violent actions lead his retainers to think that he has gone mad with blood-lust. ...

Mr. Mito, a former president of an instant food company, with two young men’s help, solves the quality problems and wins a big ramen contract...

The sole survivor of a shipwreck pursues the whereabouts of his friends’ missing family members in Edo.

Popular geisha Shinji (Fuji Junko) must defy a gang who plot to steal a lucrative coal business from struggling miners during the turbulent Meiji...

Atsuko is an office secretary who is also her family's primary source of income and caretaker in postwar Japan.

A 1943 film.

A stage director who directs a “Mori no Ishimatsu” play time travels and becomes “Mori no Ishimatsu” himself.

A woman abandoned by the man she loved all her life becomes a ghost and takes revenge for her offense!

A woman struggles to raise her young son on her own in postwar Japan, finding companionship with a kind laborer while still hoping for the return of...

Jirocho the gambler hits the road.

Jirocho and his followers chase the Kurokomas into the Kai Province.

A wandering Jirocho stumbles upon his wife's possible murder and has other adventures while on the run.

The rise of the famed gambler.

A legendary gangster raises himself out of a small town and gathers followers on his rise to power.

In this tale of bravery and honor among the roving gamblers of old Japan, the heroic Jirocho, Boss of the Tokaido is called upon to help a young...

Two sisters find out the existence of their long-lost mother, but the younger cannot accept the fact that she was abandoned as a child.

Gang leader Nami (cult film legend Meiko Kaji) kills a member of a yakuza group and goes away to prison. Upon her release three years later,...

A man is brutally murdered and his famed shamisen (a three-stringed musical instrument) called the "Yamabiko" stolen. Prince Kogenta swears to avenge...

A woman marries, gives birth to a stillborn child, and divorces, falls in love with a hotel-keeper, only to find herself subordinated to his drive...

A poor rickshaw driver finds himself helping a young woman and her son after the woman's husband dies suddenly.

Romantic comedy.

Eiko seeks out Miyoharu, a geisha, and asks to be her apprentice. When she is ready to receive clients, both women want the right to refuse certain...

Fishmonger Tasuke and Shogun Iemitsu swap their identities in pretence for the protection of Iemitsu.

Mikami, a Japanese soldier, is captured by Chinese forces. Although able to escape, he is treated with contempt by his peers. After falling in love...

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...

Komatsu Takioka is boss of a Yakuza group rival to Masakichi Kijima boss of the Kikuya group which supports the town vendors unlike Takioka, who will...

Second film of Makino's Nihon Kyokakuden series set in Osaka's harbor. The series also known as "The Domain" Each a stand alone film in it's own,...

Megastar Kataoka Chiezo is Vice-commander Hijikata Toshizo of the Shinsengumi in this realistic tale of Japan’s inner battles that led to the...

A kindhearted wandering gambler named Hajiro gets involved in a crisis of a village as he passes through and decides to lend a sword in hopes to...

A young Tokyo salary man and his wife struggle within the confines of their passionless relationship while he has an extramarital affair.

Eight villains, former pirates, gather to attack the magistrate's office. They develop a plan and begin their actions in secret, making full use of...

Finding more freedom on the high seas than in war-torn Japan, the 'Bahansen' (Pirate ships) based on the Seto Inland Sea during the Warring Period...

The main character Tachibana Isaburo is released from prison and discovers that his boss is dead. He is offered to become the leader of the group,...

On New Year's Day 1716, Munenaga of Owari and Yoshinao of Kii were both named as candidates for the title of 8th Shogun. The wise and just Munenaga...

One of Japan's most enduring stories is the true-life yakuza boss Jirocho of Shimizu and his gang as they took over the Tokaido Highroad and went on...

Subu makes pornographic films. He sees nothing wrong with it. They are an aid to a repressed society, and he uses the money to support his landlady,...

Lonely youth Shinji meets Hatsue, a pretty pearl diver, on the beach and the two fall in love. But Shinji has a rival for Hatsue's affections, Yasuo....

A young lord lives against the will of his father Lord Tokugawa.

Masahiko Koseki, a judo master, gets in several fights as a result of protecting a young woman. Despite his success, Koseki is expelled from his judo...

In this Japanese drama, a dry goods merchant's daughter is surprised to discover that she has a twin sister. In rural Japan it was thought that twins...

Kôfuku eno shôtai - Invitation to happiness

After mastering swordsmanship at the dojo of Chiba Shusaku, and unable to serve a clan due to his illness, Hirate Miki becomes a ronin who winds up...

While working in an education center for lonely children, a mother seeks her missing son.

Movie version of NHK renzoku drama "Tokyo Romance"

With flashing swordwork and a terrific story, wandering gambler Kusama Hanjiro inspires the wrath of Boss Jirotaro who has been terrorizing travelers...

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...

Directed by Daisuke Itō.

The lives of five prostitutes employed at a Japanese brothel while the nation is debating the passage of an anti-prostitution law.

A beautiful but sad romantic melodrama about three sisters who are uninhibited, pure and lovely, and who stand tall like the peaks of a place that...

An aging actor returns to a small town with his troupe and reunites with his former lover and illegitimate son, a scenario that enrages his current...