
Acting
Kayako Sono
Born — Died
1929-10-07 — 2010-07-27
Place of birth
Tokyo Prefecture, Japan
Known for
Acting
Credits
50 titles
Known for
NRThe 47th NHK Asadora chronicles the conflicts between a woman and her step-daughter in a hot springs town.
Onna wa dokyo
1992
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Akai Kizuna
1977
7.1On a Tokyo dump’s shantytown edge, interwoven vignettes follow residents scraping by: a boy who “drives” an imaginary trolley, a homeless father and son designing a dream house, a young woman brutalized at home, drunks, schemers, and saints of small kindnesses. Kurosawa crafts a ragged mosaic of hardship, fantasy, and flickers of grace that keep people moving forward.
Dodes'ka-den
1970
5.6A ruined businessman was forced to sell his daughter, Hisano, to a brothel in Yoshiwara, the largest red-light district in Tokyo. The owner of the brothel has hopes to make her a great new addition which will attract the richest of customers. But after several months of training, she tries to flee Yoshiwara when the time has come for her to take her first customer...
Tokyo Bordello
1987
7.3A former Buddhist monk turned erotic filmmaker, Subuyan lives with hairdresser Haru and her two teenage children. Shooting two skin flicks per day, he somehow manages to stay out of the clutches of the yakuza, but real trouble starts when Haru discovers him lusting after her daughter.
The Pornographers
1966
5.6Drama about the difficult relationship between a former wrestler, his wife and their adopted children.
Oar
1985
Film credits
1990s · 3 titles
7.4A cantankerous but loveable high school teacher teaches a night school in a poor neighborhood for adult students on the fringes of Japanese society.
A Class to Remember
1993
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Mr. Lady Cinderella at Dawn
1990
NRFujieda Baian is admired during the day as a skilled acupuncturist. However, his nighttime persona is that of a highly skilled assassin. For money, he eliminates those whose existence is considered harmful, quietly disposing of them. One night, Baian is mistaken for another doctor by the young swordsman Kosugi Jūgorō and is attacked. He manages to avoid harm, but the doctor Kosugi originally intended to target is connected to the assassination target assigned by Baian’s boss, Hanzaemon Otowa. Baian and his companion Hikojiro begin investigating their target, Chōbei Izuyaya, the owner of a candle shop...
Baian the Assassin
1990
1980s · 5 titles
5.6A ruined businessman was forced to sell his daughter, Hisano, to a brothel in Yoshiwara, the largest red-light district in Tokyo. The owner of the brothel has hopes to make her a great new addition which will attract the richest of customers. But after several months of training, she tries to flee Yoshiwara when the time has come for her to take her first customer...
Tokyo Bordello
1987
5.6Drama about the difficult relationship between a former wrestler, his wife and their adopted children.
Oar
1985
6.4A film about the substantial population of Koreans living in Japan, and the love affair between Kayako, a Japanese girl, and Sanjun, a Korean.
For Kayako
1984
8.0After a friend and business colleague dies, Tora-san visits the man's daughter, then takes her to Tokyo so she can study for a night school exam.
Foster Daddy, Tora!
1980
NRHanayagi Genshu, who spent a winter in Tochihara Women's Prison due to an injury to the Hanayagi style Iemoto, is allowed to be paroleed. In Asakusa, she reunited with her prison companion, Sayoko Nakano. Genshu, Sayoko, and Setsuko Kanno gather at a yakitori restaurant to reminisce about their prison days. This is the second drama of her prison record that was broadcast in 1984 and caused a sensation.
Genshu Hanayagi: Prison Diary II
1985
1970s · 19 titles
7.1On a Tokyo dump’s shantytown edge, interwoven vignettes follow residents scraping by: a boy who “drives” an imaginary trolley, a homeless father and son designing a dream house, a young woman brutalized at home, drunks, schemers, and saints of small kindnesses. Kurosawa crafts a ragged mosaic of hardship, fantasy, and flickers of grace that keep people moving forward.
Dodes'ka-den
1970
6.8Nami "The Red Cherry Blossom" returns to her old stomping ground in the seedy Tokyo district of Ginza after a stint in prison for killing a yakuza boss. She soon settles in, living in her uncle's pool hall and working at the local hostess club. But when ruthless yakuza Ōwada attempts to take control of the club, Nami and her uncle devise a plan to take him down.
Wandering Ginza Butterfly
1972
8.0Comedy of an entertainment agent and strip-teasers.
Follow the Girls
1971
6.8Rika is released from girls detention school and then winds up at a lounge bar where she finds her other classmates working. This lounge bar is run by Junko Miyazono.
Delinquent Girl Boss: Blossoming Night Dreams
1970
Wakako, a famous hairdresser, discovers that a young girl visiting her salon one day has a scar on her ear and realizes she is her daughter, Kayoko. Twelve years earlier, Wakako had divorced her husband due to incompatibility. Every time Kayoko visits, Wakako is overjoyed and dotes on her, thinking she would never see her again. However, her husband, Yasuzo, tries to give her money, saying he doesn't want her to see Kayoko, and Wakako is disillusioned by her husband's unchanging behavior. After a photographer named Masumura confesses his love for her, Wakako is about to start a new life with a fresh start.
Yosōi no machi
1979
7.7Tai 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.
The Blossom and the Sword
1973
8.0Chotaro and Nakanishi, a duo of unemployed advertisers, drifted to Isehama, a port town near Yokohama, but a gang was making its presence felt in the town and the shopkeepers in the shopping arcade were troubled by it. Chotaro poses as a journalist and uses his words of wisdom to suggest that pen is mightier than the sword, so they create a mini-comic magazine and launch a campaign to expel the gang.
Justice! Allies! Everybody Gather!!
1975
7.7The comical adventures of two long-distance truck drivers, Momojiro and Kinzo, continue. Momojiro and Eizo help bring home the father of two young children in time to celebrate New Year’s together.
The Wild Trucker
1975
9.0Rivalry between a hoodlum group and a gangster organization.
Hooligans on Buggies
1970
NRFirst film produced by Nikkatsu Children's Films.
The New Class of the Sewage Canal
1976
NRThe third installment of the Emperor series, starring Tatsuo Umemiya as the man who rules the night world. Hiroshi rose through the ranks in Tokyo by fighting with women. However, when he returned to his hometown in Kyushu for his father's memorial service, his gambling partner Masa not only confiscated Hiroshi's store and bankbook, but was also saddled with debts in Hiroshi's name. Although Hiroshi was angry, he made a decision and decided to start over using his body. Starting with a female designer, he battles an antique art dealer, Master Nagauta, a female doctor, and many others, and finally battles a rich man's widow.
King of the Widow-Killers
1971
NR1971 Japanese movie
Kaiun ryokō
1971
NRNo synopsis available yet.
I Want to Sleep
1970
7.0The 10th film in the travel series. The original work and screenplay is by Kazuo Funahashi, the director is Shoji Segawa, and the cinematography is by Keiji Maruyama.
The Ghostly Trip
1972
NRThis film is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Hisashi Inoue, which tells the story of a comedian who teams up with a strange man he meets while traveling, and the two become very popular in Asakusa while performing their unusual acts.
Comedy actors: Cooper and Gable
1978
10.0This is the Twelfth film in the series. There were seventeen Wolves of the City films between 1968 & 1974, in the main aimed at shock-value & “pinku” soft-core with sex, nudity, violence, gunplay, & a lot of mainly pointless foolishness when the biker gang coopts racist or nazi imagery, inventing a non-existent youth culture void of morality…
Delinquent Boss: Smooth Talking, Good Fighting
1971
10.0Fukuzo, Kato and Matsuko, Kato's wife, are operating the "Kurenai Sightseeing Service" in Tokyo. Fukuzo and Kato were comrades during the war. One day Fukuzo guides Harumi, an old woman, to the Yasukuni Shrine where the souls of fallen soldiers are enshrined. Finding she has no place to go, Fukuzo carries her to his shack by the sea.
Oh, My Comrade!
1970
10.0Fukuzo, Kato and Matsuko, Kato's wife, are operating the "Kurenai Sightseeing Service" in Tokyo. Fukuzo and Kato were comrades during the war. One day Fukuzo guides Harumi, an old woman, to the Yasukuni Shrine where the souls of fallen soldiers are enshrined. Finding she has no place to go, Fukuzo carries her to his shack by the sea.
Oh, My Comrade!
1970
NRThe drama special satirizes the daily life of a wife with a businessman husband who is busy with his work.
Onna no Katei
1977
1960s · 21 titles
7.3A former Buddhist monk turned erotic filmmaker, Subuyan lives with hairdresser Haru and her two teenage children. Shooting two skin flicks per day, he somehow manages to stay out of the clutches of the yakuza, but real trouble starts when Haru discovers him lusting after her daughter.
The Pornographers
1966
7.3A cynical samurai is left as the sole survivor to fulfill a plot to assassinate the puppet of a villain intent on usurping the shogunate in the 17th century. A Shogunate Elder connives to rule Japan by making his puppet, the Shogun's brother Tsunashige, the next Shogun. The best strategist in Japan, Yamaga, leads a plot to stop the Elder, but his cabal is betrayed and most of the conspirators are captured and tortured.
The Great Killing
1964
8.5Mine, the only daughter of Kiyagen, is faced with running the family's timber business when her father falls ill. Under a great deal of pressure to continue the five generation long run of the business, Mine is put to the ultimate test when a former gangster sets his sights on closing her down.
The Protector
1966
6.5The 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 path to fame and fortune. One of the smartest and strongest of all the gang bosses, he went on to survive the end of the samurai era and become a successful businessman. But first, he must survive against all odds in order to build his reputation and develop his strength. Powerful portrayals of the group are led by the great Tsuruta Koji with help from the likes of Matsukata Hiroki.
The Kingdom of Jirocho 1
1963
Japanese comedy film.
How to Make a Big Hit
1968
NR1961 Japanese movie
The Preacher of Love
1961
NR1962 Japanese movie
Whirlpool of Love
1962
NRAn old man who has spent his life being respectful, honest and married for 35 years suddenly has thoughts of cheating with a young girl. He goes on a trip with the girl, but they are followed by a yakuza and all hell breaks loose.
Dislikes
1964
NRPart 3 of the 'Onna bangaichi' series
The Pretty Jade
1966
NR1961 Japanese movie
Kawachi fudoki zoku oiro ke seppō
1961
8.0A comedy directed by Yasuzo Masumura starring Yunosuke Ito.
Fools at Work
1964
NRNo synopsis available yet.
大安旅行
1968
7.0A comedy about a good-natured train conductor Shinsaku helping his old friend Miwako find her missing brother.
New Year Trip
1968
9.0The desires and pretensions of woman of the Ginza are depicted.
Downtown Blues
1968
NRYoung Sentaro struggles to avenge the murder of his younger sister Osuga and their father.
Snake Princess: Oshima and Sentaro
1965
10.0Part two.
Showdown of Men 2
1967
NRGhost comedy film.
Travel with Ghost
1961
NRNo synopsis available yet.
喜劇・大安旅行
1968
9.0A humorous yakuza action melodrama with gangsters, drugs and that old comedy-standby, white slavery.
Yakuza Wanderer: Villainous Livelihood
1969
NRA hobo exposes the misdeeds of a new yakuza.
Debt of Honor
1966
9.01968 film
Kawachi's Futen Tribe
1968
