
Acting
Shirō Yanase
Born — Died
1930-02-16 — 2021-01-04
Place of birth
Gunma Prefecture, Japan
Known for
Acting
Credits
60 titles
Known for
6.9When a mysterious stranger muscles into two rival yakuza gangs, Tokyo's underworld explodes with violence.
Youth of the Beast
1963
5.9The young Takako Kuramoto has come to Tokyo to study and starts working for the rich Tashiro family as tutor of the daughter, Kumiko, while she receives attention from her two older brothers, Yukichi and Shinji. Meanwhile, the exact parentage of Shinji comes to light.
A Slope in the Sun
1958
6.3Akemi is a dragon tattooed leader of the Tachibana Yakuza clan. In a duel with a rival gang Akemi slashes the eyes of an opponent and a black cat appears, to lap the blood from the gushing wound. The cat along with the eye-victim go on to pursue Akemi’s gang in revenge, leaving a trail of dead Yakuza girls, their dragon tattoos skinned from their bodies.
Blind Woman's Curse
1970
NRMineoka Group executive Okitsu Seiji is imprisoned for the 13th time for attacking rival Kuronuma. While in prison, he learns that the Kuronuma Group has retaliated by killing its leader and seizing territory. Upon his release, he embarks on a revenge campaign.
Thirteen Times a Loser
1969
6.8Shoichi Kokubun is a roughneck street musician, who has a brother that is determined to propel him into stardom. In attempt to catch the attention of a popular jazz band, his brother appeals to their manager who has the power to make him a star. In a graphic portrayal of love, betrayal and success, Shoichi brews up a storm with a 'rat-a-tat-tat' on the drums.
Man Who Causes a Storm
1957
6.7Everything goes wrong when Jiro tries to break up his mother's relationship with a business man. The young rebel Jiro has to deal with an environment of crime and prostitution, and the impact of its choices on personal relationships: one with his mother, one with her business man lover and one with the girl in love with him.
Everything Goes Wrong
1960
Film credits
1970s · 6 titles
6.3Akemi is a dragon tattooed leader of the Tachibana Yakuza clan. In a duel with a rival gang Akemi slashes the eyes of an opponent and a black cat appears, to lap the blood from the gushing wound. The cat along with the eye-victim go on to pursue Akemi’s gang in revenge, leaving a trail of dead Yakuza girls, their dragon tattoos skinned from their bodies.
Blind Woman's Curse
1970
8.0Kagari (Akira Kobayashi), a scout and overseer of Ginza bar hostesses, receives an urgent phone call from Sawako, a hostess at the bar Rie, and rushes to Tokyo International Airport to meet her. When he arrives she is gone. At the bar he learns that Tabuchi, a steady customer, had been quite friendly with Sawako and may know something. Tabuchi claims he knows nothing and Kagari lets the matter drop. Over time Kagari learns from Takijima, a businessman, that Sawako is in a hospital in Yokohama. Takijima explains that he found her in Singapore working as a street girl and brought her back to Japan. Sawako had lost her memory after being subjected to narcotics. Kagari swears to find the person responsible.
Woman's Police: Appointment with Danger
1970
7.0A 1971 crime film
Night Butterflies
1971
NRPost World War II, Minoru lives by selling supplies that had been stolen from the U.S. military. One day, he is arrested due to the plotting of Kurahata, a member of the Yakuza who doesn't like him.
Records of Bloodshed
1970
NREnd of the Taisho period. In the city of Kiryu, where the wind is constantly blowing, the heads of the yakuza families of Kanhasshu (eight Kanto provinces) were to raise funds for the construction of the Chuji Kunisada monument. Responsible for the fundraiser was Jokichi from the Asami family, but Matsugoro from the Kuromatsu family, who wanted to become the greatest boss of the Kanhasshu yakuza, is trying to take over the textile market that Jokichi controls and intercept the fundraiser.
Chivalrous Man: Junkyard of Life
1971
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Abare chōhan
1970
1960s · 41 titles
6.9When a mysterious stranger muscles into two rival yakuza gangs, Tokyo's underworld explodes with violence.
Youth of the Beast
1963
NRMineoka Group executive Okitsu Seiji is imprisoned for the 13th time for attacking rival Kuronuma. While in prison, he learns that the Kuronuma Group has retaliated by killing its leader and seizing territory. Upon his release, he embarks on a revenge campaign.
Thirteen Times a Loser
1969
6.7Everything goes wrong when Jiro tries to break up his mother's relationship with a business man. The young rebel Jiro has to deal with an environment of crime and prostitution, and the impact of its choices on personal relationships: one with his mother, one with her business man lover and one with the girl in love with him.
Everything Goes Wrong
1960
7.1A gang lord hires Kamimura, a hit man, to take out a rival boss who's gotten greedy.
A Colt is My Passport
1967
7.0A Japanese intelligence officer faces personal crises in the years preceding the Manchurian conflict.
The Symbol of a Man
1963
NRA young yakuza just released from prison for a crime he didn't commit, a police inspector determined to clean up the corruption in his own hometown, and a deranged assassin who lives to kill collide in a port town overrun by rival gangs, with two women, both stuck in relationships they are trying to escape from, stuck in-between.
The Gun Like Lightning
1960
7.2After his own gang sets him up to kill a rival mobster, a hit man is forced to flee with his younger brother.
Tattooed Life
1965
6.9A college student takes over the family business in the field of organised crime.
Tokyo Knights
1961
8.0In 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.
A Man with Dragon Tattoos
1962
NR1962 Japanese movie
Wakai futari
1962
10.0Newly out of prison after killing his boss' rival, Akio Maki is eager to move on and start a new life with the boss' daughter. However, the chains of the past are not so easily broken and Maki is soon ordered to kill again.
Black Strait
1964
8.0Hamada, Izumi, and Aki Jo, a rising singer from Toshiba Records, form a fresh trio who risk their youthful energy to bravely confront violence in this bright and cheerful coming-of-age action film.
Stardust Wharf
1968
6.2Like a girl runaway, Tsuyu moves to Osaka to work as a bar hostess. She meets the owner of a model school, Yoko, and seriously thinks about becoming a fashion model. Yoko tells her that she can move in to Yoko’s house to take lessons, while making a living at the same time.
Carmen from Kawachi
1966
6.3Katiri is a reporter so ambitiously amoral that he’ll sell out anyone—including his partner and the drug dealer he’s sleeping with—to get a scoop. But what happens when an even more ruthless female gang boss kidnaps his sister?
Smashing the 0-Line
1960
7.0A young doctor falls into a despair of developments. He plans to revenge the disgrace inflicted upon his sister, whose engagement was broken as a result.
Jungle Block
1960
7.2Based on the loosely autobiographical novel of the same name by Toko Kon. Ken Yamanouchi stars as Togo Konno, the titular bastard.
The Incorrigible
1963
NR1967 Nikkatsu film.
The Debt of Blood
1967
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Girl Boss: Broken Justice
1969
NRA violent story of loyalty and revenge among the many "yakuza" or gambling groups in Japan.
The Dragon Crest
1963
NRHideo Ishizaki, who was painting on the shore of the lake, saves a woman named Keiko.
Acacia no Ame ga Yamu Toki
1963
NRA young lawyer looking for a true culprit to save his innocent friend. But behind the case is the father of a woman he loves.
Night of Sorrow
1966
NRA song-based action drama featuring hit songs by Hiroshi Inoue about a daughter who cries over an innocent crime and a young man who bravely stands up for the truth to help her.
Flowers in the rain
1960
8.0Nomi-gumi, who plans to control Tama City, has begun to hurt Takase-gumi. Muraki, an executive, was entrusted with the destruction, but he was a brother of Takase-gumi's substitute, Tsukada. Muraki, who missed Tsukada and the old days at Tsukada's wife Shizue's shop, took the future of turning to the enemy painfully.
Lone Rebel
1969
5.8Two brothers seek revenge on the yakuza responsible for the death of their father.
The Call of Blood
1964
NR1962 Japanese movie
Otoko to otoko no ikiru machi
1962
NRAfter World War II life in Japan was hard. There was lawlessness, rapine, never enough food or money. One girl, raped by three men, called out the name of Kentaro before she died and this was something that people in this small section of downtown Tokyo remembered. Life went on, however, and local boss Hiramatsu Daizo decided to build a market, aided by his daughter Aya. They met opposition until one day a young man named Kentaro appears who it is rumored he was the vengeful lover of the murdered girl. He lives with Sabu and Yukari, the children the girl looked after before she died, and helps with the market, coming to the rescue with a bulldozer when Daizo is threatened by a rival group. When Daizo is finally killed, Kentaro carries on the work. Finally the market is completed, the rival group makes a last stand but is machine-gunned down by Kentaro who, after saying that he was not the one whose name the dying girl called out, leaves town for good.
The Aftermath of War
1967
NR1962 Japanese movie
Hageshī kawa
1962
8.0At Tokyo Gakuen University, Takema, son of Tatsunosuke, chief of the Waku gang, is a freshman who wishes to prepare himself for a better life away from gang activities despite the wishes of his father who wants him to assist strengthen the gang against the Kawano group. Takema's classmate, Akiko, is the daughter of Eiko who operates a restaurant, and through her he obtains a lodging in the house of Shiu, a dancing mistress. The students enjoy their life, but most have their troubles. Sakamoto works as a laborer on the docks to help pay for his schooling, and Akiko worries over the relationship between her mother and Sakurai, a corrupt politician, suspected to be involved in graft over jet aircraft.
The Day of Youth
1960
6.6Handsome young Katsuta tries to follow the yakuza code, but even his boss doesn't believe in it. Diamond Fuyu is less ethical, and allows the idiotic Tetsu to trick a schoolgirl he fancies, Hanako, into a type of bonded prostitution. Because of gang conflict, the Izu family (to whom Katsuta belongs) has their last gambling den taken over, and he seeks revenge. This brings him back into contact with a former lover who is also a card trickster - she is also Diamond Fuyu's sister, and is now married to Okaru-Hachi, who has mastered a clever card cheating trick called Okaru, which involves the deft use of mirrors.
Kanto Wanderer
1963
6.9A high-school vigilante protects his community from the extortions of mobsters from a neighbouring city.
Teenage Yakuza
1962
6.0Ryuji Oshima, a gambler, kills Saiga in self-defense, and considering himself unfit to lead men, secludes himself in a temple to atone for his misdeeds. At home, when his mother, the boss of a construction gang, bids for and gets the job of building the Town Hall, other gangs set out to disrupt her business and try to kill her.
Fight of the Gamblers
1963
7.5An unofficial sequel to Million Dollar Match (1961) which also starred Koji Wada as a young energetic boxer. This story deals more with betting action surrounding a boxing match, concentrating mostly on the high-powered Yakuza gambling dens.
The Guys Who Put Money on Me
1962
NRA 1960 crime film
The Cards Will Tell
1960
NRThe love story between a traveling guest and a geisha who inadvertently becomes the leader of her father's yakuza clan, after his death.
Gambler's Dilemma
1969
NRKosuke Suzuki returns to Hakata's hometown after learning that his best friend Takehara has disappeared. Kosuke is persistently hindered by Hasebe from Omura Sangyo. Kosuke's partner Kumagoro investigates and finds out that Hasebe, who killed the head of the Muraoka clan, made Takehara disappear in order to keep him silent. The third film in the series.
The Reckless One
1967
6.6A young man with a strong sense of justice is torn between two girls: the flighty Taneko and the serious Suzuko. With wisdom, courage and honor in a Japanese spirit of manliness he wins the day.
Born Under Crossed Stars
1965
1962 Japanese movie
Wakai tsume ato
1962
NRTommy, a tornado boy who arrived at Arima Onsen in search of his father, whom he separated from when he was young, meets a girl named Eiko after driving away a group of thugs causing trouble at a variety show venue. Additionally, a drifter named Nanajo, impressed by Tommy's skills, approaches him with a story about a smuggling ship sinking off the coast of Kobe...
Tatsumaki kozō
1960
NRA film from Nikkatsu's "moodo akushon" (mood/action) subgenre.
Love and Desire in the Night Mist
1966
NROn 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.
A World For Two
1966
10.0It 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 boss, however, became ill and the boat is taken due to unpaid debts to the local thugs. His new life has not begun well and he is determined to rebuild the shattered business. The Yakuza, however, have added the ferry business to the rest of their portfolio of local concerns.
Duel in the Storm
1968
1950s · 13 titles
5.9The young Takako Kuramoto has come to Tokyo to study and starts working for the rich Tashiro family as tutor of the daughter, Kumiko, while she receives attention from her two older brothers, Yukichi and Shinji. Meanwhile, the exact parentage of Shinji comes to light.
A Slope in the Sun
1958
6.8Shoichi Kokubun is a roughneck street musician, who has a brother that is determined to propel him into stardom. In attempt to catch the attention of a popular jazz band, his brother appeals to their manager who has the power to make him a star. In a graphic portrayal of love, betrayal and success, Shoichi brews up a storm with a 'rat-a-tat-tat' on the drums.
Man Who Causes a Storm
1957
6.5Shortly after arriving in Kobe, "Jiro the Lefty", a killer with a natural talent, witnesses a man die in a crane accident which turns out to be a cover-up for a murder. Jiro soon finds himself on the run, tailed by a determined cop.
Red Pier
1958
NRIn a fictional mining city in northern Kanto, a Tokyo drifter named Shiro (Ishihara Yūjirō), caught in a conflict between two transportation companies, plays the role of both the good and bad guy.
We Live Today
1959
5.9The moment he's released from prison, the honorable gangster Miyamoto recovers the stolen diamonds he had stashed before getting pinched. When he returns to his haunt to make good by friend who took a bullet for him, he is diverted by the greedy boss Oyane and his insatiable taste for Miyamoto's precious stones.
Underworld Beauty
1958
7.5A man is wrongfully accused of murder.
Break Down that Wall
1959
NRThis typhoon spectacle is bursting with the charm of tough guy Yujiro, a student of architecture at Hokkaido University, who takes on a conspiracy involving a mysterious accidental death at a construction site.
The Man Who Rode the Typhoon
1958
6.5A former boxer gets involved with a club hostess trying to escape the clutches of her gangster employer.
I Am Waiting
1957
6.2College students come up with a scam to rob a gambling house. When it comes time to collect, the money isn't there, leading the young men into even more serious crime.
The Perfect Game
1958
10.0Five years have passed since the three comrades who saved their lives in the Burma Campaign, namely Kenichiro Kishi, Eiji Shiga, and Daizo Kobayashi, promised to meet again five years later at the platform of Tokyo Station. Meanwhile, Shinagawa Station's crowded with repatriates. Upon returning to their homeland, their lives have changed dramatically. Daizo works as a railway construction worker. Eiji has established himself as a boxer. Kenichiro's become a gangster. In 1955, the day of their reunion is approaching. Now it is a matter of whether the three will be able to meet each other at the platform of Tokyo Station, as they had agreed on back in 1950.
The Three Faces
1955
NRMaki, a porter at the Sakura Hotel, finds a body in Room No. 2 and picks up a piece of paper on which is written "one-third of the key", also the part of a key. From a newspaper he learns that the dead man is an official who has been detained as a suspect in a bribery case involving 150,000,000 yen and that another suspect named Matsunaga is still in custody. Maki realizes that if he can obtain the other two-thirds of the key, he will be a multi-millionaire.
A Turning to Hell
1959
NRThe story of three brothers who struggle to shake free of the father's ties to the yakuza underworld. A star vehicle for the popular singer/actor Yūjirō Ishihara.
Tomorrow is Another Day
1958
NRA conflict between two yakuza families in Tokyo, the Izus and the Yoshidas, has recently broken out. When an Izu underling starts a fight with a Yoshida man, Fuyu, the Izu family sends Tsuruta, a senior member of the clan, to make a personal apology to Fuyu. Tsuruta discovers that the woman he is in love with is Fuyu's sister, Tatsuko. Tsuruta ends up gambling with a swindler, who is in fact Tatsuko's husband. (The general plot of the film was re-used for Seijun Suzuki's Kanto Wanderer).
Song of the Underworld
1956
