Known for
8.0Monjiro was born into a poor farm family in Mikazuki Village, Nitta County, Ueshu, and abandoned his hometown when he was 10 years old. He has been traveling aimlessly with a long toothpick in his mouth. Monjiro avoided getting involved in anything, but wherever he went, he ended up getting involved in incidents
Kogarashi Monjiro
1972
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Essay on Conflict
1959
8.1In 11th-century feudal Japan, following the exile of an idealistic governor, his wife and children are separated by slave traders; the children, Zushio and Anju, are sold into brutal servitude under the cruel bailiff Sansho.
Sansho the Bailiff
1954
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Edokko sakura
1959
6.8A Shogun who grew paranoid as he became senile sent his ninjas to kill his samurai. They failed but did kill the samurai’s wife. The samurai swore to avenge the death of his wife and roams the countryside with his toddler son in search of vengeance.
Shogun Assassin
1980
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Karakuri hina ningyō
1959
Film credits
1980s · 2 titles
6.8A Shogun who grew paranoid as he became senile sent his ninjas to kill his samurai. They failed but did kill the samurai’s wife. The samurai swore to avenge the death of his wife and roams the countryside with his toddler son in search of vengeance.
Shogun Assassin
1980
NRKayo (Kimie Shingyoji), who married Jingoro (Jun Eto) of the small-time goods dealer Kagamishimaya, is unable to even hug each other seven days after the wedding. Kayo (Kimie Shingyoji), who married Jingoro (Jun Eto), a merchant in a small house in Kagamiya, is unable to even hug Kayo even seven days after the wedding ceremony. One day, Jingoro suddenly dies, but a monk (Ichiro Arishima) appears to the grieving family and tells them that his soul has simply slipped away, and the next morning Jingoro wakes up as if nothing had happened. A few days later, Kayo follows the spirit that escaped from Jingoro again and arrives at the grave of Araji, where she sees Jingoro meeting with the spirit of a young girl. In fact, three years earlier, Jingoro had been torn apart by the daughter (Keiko Suzuka) of Miuraya, a kimono wholesaler, and they had tied each other's fingers together with string, slit their wrists, and thrown themselves off a boat.
Grudge: Blood-sucking higanbana calls the spirits of the dead
1982
1970s · 6 titles
7.1With most of his family already dead at Ogami Itto's hands, Retsudo launches one final plot to destroy him, and when that fails, unleashes the fury of every remaining member of the Yagyu clan.
Lone Wolf and Cub: White Heaven in Hell
1974
7.3Ogami Itto is hired to kill a tattooed female assassin and battles Retsudo, head of the Yagyu clan, and his son Gunbei.
Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart in Peril
1972
7.4Official 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.
Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance
1972
6.3A woman and her bridegroom are found murdered in their bed the day after their wedding. It had snowed overnight and the killer left no tracks. It is up to an amateur detective to figure out what happened. Carefully and systematically, he pieces together the clues in this locked room mystery.
Death at an Old Mansion
1975
6.7After accidentally causing the death of an old lady, Zatoichi tries to do right by buying the lady’s daughter’s freedom from a brothel - but this causes more problems than solves them.
Zatoichi in Desperation
1972
7.0Zatoichi, the famed blind swordsman, returns to his home village for the first time in many years. He is befriended by Omiyo, who had the same wet-nurse as Zatoichi. He also encounters a boyhood friend, Shinbei, who is now wealthy and appears not to remember Zatoichi. Shinbei seems to be interested in repaying the villagers' debts, but is, in reality, manipulating the ownership of a now valuable rock quarry. Zatoichi learns of the subterfuge and confronts his old friend, who has a score of yakuza swordsmen backing his play.
Zatoichi's Conspiracy
1973
1960s · 23 titles
6.9After arriving in the town of Shimonita, Ichi finds that a price has been put on his head by a local yakuza boss. He's drawn into a trap, but after hearing of the slaying of a former love, Ichi furiously fights his way through the entire clan to face the killer, a hired ronin.
Zatoichi the Fugitive
1963
7.1Two sculptors spend the night in a mountain lodge after being caught in a snowstorm. A female spirit appears and takes the life of one of the men. She spares the other man's life on the condition that he never tell anyone what happened that night.
The Snow Woman
1968
7.1Returning to the village where a year before he had killed Hirate, a much-admired opponent, Zatoichi encounters another swordsman and former rival in love.
The Tale of Zatoichi Continues
1962
6.9[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.
Shinobi no Mono 2: Vengeance
1963
6.4Warlord 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.
Ninja, A Band of Assassins
1962
6.6In Edo Japan, a kabuki actor seeks revenge against the three men who drove his parents to their deaths years ago.
An Actor's Revenge
1963
7.1Zatoichi'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.
Zatoichi's Pilgrimage
1966
NRMitsuko, a maiko from Gion, met Haruki by chance and had a fun time with him, but is stunned when he discovers her secret. This is a love story that cheerfully portrays the life of a modern maiko.
A Maiko's Holiday
1961
10.0An Indian prince leaves his world of comfort and riches behind to wander and meditate for six years in search of spiritual enlightenment. Siddartha (Cojoin Hong) turns his back on the old religion when people are starving needlessly and holy rituals include human sacrifices. During his meditations, he is tempted by erotic dancing women, demons, and the evil machinations of his criminal cousin. Devastate to attain the spiritual perfection and become the Buddha. He travels to convert followers by his kindness and wisdom, gaining a multitude of believers when he stops an elephant from crushing a local priest. Buddha of course goes on to become one of the great religious leaders of the world.
Buddha
1961
7.0Disguised as a beggar monk, Ryunosuke is harassed along the road by the rowdy members of a country dojo or fencing school malingering outside their fencing hall. The third film in the Satan's Sword trilogy.
Satan's Sword III: The Final Chapter
1961
5.6Fascinated with women from an early age, Yonosuke had his first sexual encounter at the age of seven. From that day on, he recklessly and forwardly pursues women, feeding his fascination and experience. As Yonosuke's salacious behavior brings much cause for shame to the family, his father eventually breaks relations with him. Expelled from the family, 19-year-old Yonosuke embarks on a pilgrimage of lust, traveling far and wide to acquaint himself with women of all walks.
A Lustful Man
1961
6.7When a local gambling house kidnaps some peasants because they failed to pay their debts, a rival gambling house pays their debts and sets them free.
Zatoichi the Outlaw
1967
6.5Satoko 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 lascivious head priest Kikuchi. She is drawn to a melancholy young acolyte, Jinen, who has observed the profligacy of his cruel master and Satoko's utter dependence on the man. Jinen is both fascinated and disturbed by Satoko's interest in him; he is similarly caught between loathing of Kikuchi and of the dark circumstances of his birth and his own moral weakness. The story unfolds in a dreamlike manner—a flashback inspired by a now-infamous image on a silkscreen in the souvenir shop at the so-called Temple of the Wild Geese.
The Temple of Wild Geese
1962
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Niji no kai midareba
1960
6.2[Period Covered: 1570-1573] Towards the end of the Tenmon Era, Shogun Ashikaga`s powers were weakening by the day and many were there who planned to overthrow him. It was the beginning of the Sengoku (Warring States) period. Three men attack a gunpowder maker in a farmhouse, the first chopping off his arm with his sickle-&-chain weapon, the second blinding him with sword, the third giving the killing blow. His son Kojiro Kosume escapes the attackers as everything he has known up to then explodes into conflagration. He grows up & enters the start of the Tokugawa Era, intent on avenging his father.
Shinobi no mono 8: The Three Enemies
1966
7.0Set 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!
Prison Break
1969
5.8A fugitive christian "saint" (female, of course!) and a sadistic drug-addled princess both have their eye on Kyoshiro. The fact that a bunch of ruthless smugglers also want him dead is the least of his problems!
Sleepy Eyes of Death 4: Sword of Seduction
1964
6.2[Period covered: 1614-1615] Tokugawa Ieyasu is now the ruler of all Japan. But one last loose thread must be tied up before his domination is complete -- the destruction of the Toyotomi clan, now beseiged in Osaka castle. Ieyasu's ninja are the only ones who can penetrate the fortress, but unfortunately for Ieyasu, Kirigakure Saizo and the other Toyotomi ninja can just as easily get out. As armies of samurai maneuver for battle, the fate of the nation will be decided by a desperate struggle in the dark!
Shinobi no Mono 4: Siege
1964
6.6The disturbing story of a physician who conducted the first operation with general anaesthetic, and the women in his life who are both so determined to win his love that they volunteer as subjects for his experiments
The Wife of Seishu Hanaoka
1967
7.0Ichi is staying at an inn when a woman dies. Her dying wish is that Ichi take her son to his father, an artist living in a nearby town. After arriving in the town, Ichi finds out that the father has been forced by a local boss to create illegal pornography to pay off his gambling debts. Ichi makes it his mission to save the man and reunite the family, even though it brings him into conflict with a samurai he sort of befriended on his way to the town.
Zatoichi Challenged
1967
7.2One of Japan's most popular stories is the tale of Kutsukake Tokijiro, a traveling gambler who finds that he must take care of the wife and child of a yakuza he had been forced by the code of the gamblers to fight man to man. In a brilliant performance from super-star Ichikawa Raizo, with strong support from two of the greats from Toho, Shimura Takashi (7 Samurai) and Aratama Michiyo (Sword of Doom) the heartfelt story reaches new heights. Tokijiro, having learned the true nature of the boss to whom he was obligated for having spent a night and eaten at the gang's headquarters takes up arms against them in a running battle fought across the back roads of the entire nation. Another powerful rendition of this superb story, it is not to be missed!
The Gambler's Code
1961
5.9The 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 Fencing Master
1962
6.8Blind swordsman Zatoichi, jailed briefly, is implored by another prisoner to aid him in proving his innocence of a crime for which he is sentenced to death. Zatoichi is reluctant to get involved, because he knows how often such involvement has led to trouble in the past. But events conspire to thrust him repeatedly into involvement, and gradually he comes to believe in the man's innocence and determines to free him.
Zatoichi and the Doomed Man
1965
1950s · 29 titles
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Essay on Conflict
1959
8.1In 11th-century feudal Japan, following the exile of an idealistic governor, his wife and children are separated by slave traders; the children, Zushio and Anju, are sold into brutal servitude under the cruel bailiff Sansho.
Sansho the Bailiff
1954
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Edokko sakura
1959
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Karakuri hina ningyō
1959
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Kijo keizu
1959
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Tenryū no karasu
1959
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Beni azami
1959
7.1Japan, 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.
Gate of Hell
1953
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Wearing a Long-Sleeved Kimono
1958
7.8When 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.
Chikamatsu Monogatari
1954
NRKotaro Tenma, the young warrior of justice, infiltrates enemy territory and uses his ninjutsu skills with to defeat the villains.
Sora tobu wakamusha
1957
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Seki no Yatappe
1959
NRA 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.
Nerawareta doyōbi
1957
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Tōkaidō no yarōdomo
1958
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Kuchibue o fuku wataridori
1958
No synopsis available yet.
Ōtotsu gankutsuō
1957
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Nagareboshi jūjiuchi
1958
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Hanazakari otoko ichidai
1955
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Nezumi Kozō shinobi komi hikae: Ne no koku sanjō
1957
NRYesterday a gentleman, today a student, tomorrow a stylish man in a casual kimono—Ginji, the pickpocket with seven faces, has his sights set on the gold watch of destiny. A tale of passion, love, human emotion, pistols, and thrills.
Ginji of the Seven Faces
1955
NRA passionate young man takes on a corrupt boss, determined to save innocent teachers and numerous orphans.
The Rust Cleaner Sings
1955
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Hana no sando gasa
1954
6.3In one of Japan's most frequently-told ghost stories, a murdered wife returns in an act of vengeance.
The Ghost of Yotsuya
1959
7.4Legendary yakuza Shimizu Jirocho and his 28 henchmen travel the unruly path from a 'Fire Festival' in Akiba to a decisive battle by the Fujigawa.
Jirocho Fuji
1959
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Hana no nagadosu
1954
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Jigoku dani no hanayome
1955
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Tenka o nerau bishōnen
1955
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Akōgishi
1954
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Tsubakuro kasa
1955
Series credits
8.0Monjiro was born into a poor farm family in Mikazuki Village, Nitta County, Ueshu, and abandoned his hometown when he was 10 years old. He has been traveling aimlessly with a long toothpick in his mouth. Monjiro avoided getting involved in anything, but wherever he went, he ended up getting involved in incidents
Kogarashi Monjiro
1972
8.0Monjiro was born into a poor farm family in Mikazuki Village, Nitta County, Ueshu, and abandoned his hometown when he was 10 years old. He has been traveling aimlessly with a long toothpick in his mouth. Monjiro avoided getting involved in anything, but wherever he went, he ended up getting involved in incidents
Kogarashi Monjiro
1972
