Yūjirō Ishihara

Acting

Yūjirō Ishihara

Born — Died

1934-12-28 — 1987-07-17

Place of birth

Kobe, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan

Known for

Acting

Credits

69 titles

Yūjirō Ishihara (石原 裕次郎, Ishihara Yūjirō, December 28, 1934 – July 17, 1987) was a Japanese actor and singer born in Kobe.[1] His elder brother is Shintaro Ishihara, an author, politician, and the Governor of Tokyo between 1999 and 2012. Yujiro's film debut was the 1956 film Season of the Sun, based on a novel written by his brother. He was beloved by many fans as a representative youth star in the films of postwar Japan and subsequently as a macho movie hero. He was extravagantly mourned following his early death from liver cancer.

Known for

Film credits

1970s · 10 titles

Men and War I: Prelude to Destiny poster
6.8

The upstart Godai family conglomerate plans to strengthen ties with the hardliners in the Kwantung Army as they plan military expansion into Manchuria.

Men and War I: Prelude to Destiny

1970

Shadow Hunters poster
7.2

Set during the declining years of the Tokugawa shogunate, Shadow Hunters details the questionably noble exploits of three ronin who act as "Shadow Hunters". These three ronin are not your normal ornery ruffians who are looking for a drink, a broad and someone to jab a sword into, but are in fact former samurai who, rather than follow their destroyed fiefs and murdered masters into death via seppuku, have dedicated their combined sword prowess to stopping the government from raping its daimyos for valuable resources.

Shadow Hunters

1972

Shadow Hunters 2: Echo of Destiny poster
7.7

The great Daimyo enlists the aid of the three Shadow Hunters in ensuring the delivery of an illegal cannon in this sequel to Toshio Masuda's bloody adaptation of the manga by Takao Saito. Despite the Shadow Hunters's remarkable skill, this mission is no walk in the park, and in order to survive they must face a relentless army of ninjas and female warriors willing to sacrifice their lives to disrupt the delivery and claim the cannon for themselves.

Shadow Hunters 2: Echo of Destiny

1972

Men and War II: Land of Love and Sorrow poster
6.4

As the Japanese military has established the puppet state of Manchukuo and is advancing its invasion of Asia, fighting intensifying battles against anti-Japanese partisans, the Godai zaibatsu becomes involved in large-scale opium smuggling. Shunsuke, second son of the Godai family, falls in love with a married woman. Meanwhile, Kohei, the love of the second daughter, Junko, throws himself into the anti-war movement.

Men and War II: Land of Love and Sorrow

1971

Incident at Blood Pass poster
6.9

In the Edo period, a nameless ronin accepts an assignment to go to a mountain pass and wait. Near the pass he stops at an inn where a collection of characters gather, including a gang set on stealing shogunate gold that's soon to come over the pass. When the Ronin's assignment becomes clear, to help the gang, he's ordered to kill the inn's residents, including a woman he's rescued from an abusive husband. He's reluctant to murder innocent people; then he learns that the gold shipment is a trap and he's part of a double cross. How he sorts through these divided loyalties tests of his samurai honor, and perhaps of his love for a woman.

Incident at Blood Pass

1970

Spartan Education poster
NR

In a match where professional baseball referee Yuzo Tagami was observing a young referee, Hara, a player who got angry at the indecisive judge, knocked the referee down. Tagami lived with his wife and five children, but when he returned home, Hara, who had been suspended for a month, wanted to receive Tagami's Subaruta training.

Spartan Education

1970

Frozen River poster
3.0

A young doctor starts working at a mental hospital in the Yokohama region and falls in love with one of the patients there.

Frozen River

1976

The Summit of Mt. Fuji poster
NR

The Japanese government decides to install a radar on the top of Mt. Fuji, in order to detect typhoons as far as 800 km south of the Japanese archipelago, but the task will not be easy.

The Summit of Mt. Fuji

1970

The Walking Major poster
6.0

U.S. Army Captain Clark Allen gains attention by walking back and forth, the length of Japan, gambling with U.S. servicemen in order to raise funds to rebuild an orphanage. Suspicious of Allen's motives, a Japanese newsman, Hiroshi Kitabayashi, traces the American's background until he discovers the motive behind Allen's long walk.

The Walking Major

1970

The Earth is Born Again poster
NR

A dramatic film that recorded the history of Japan in the period of high economic growth. This work deals with Kashima Rinkai industrial zone development. The men who dream of making the overlooking wasteland as a big industrial area draw the courage to realize the ideal purely with the fishy desire swirling back to the coastal industrial area of Kashima Nada in Ibaraki prefecture.

The Earth is Born Again

1971

1960s · 27 titles

Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines or How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 Hours 11 Minutes poster
6.8

In order to boost circulation of his newspaper, Lord Rawnsley announces an air race and offers £10,000 to the first person who can fly across the English Channel. But one of the participants, Percy, plots to sabotage his competitor's planes. Will Percy triumph?

Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines or How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 Hours 11 Minutes

1965

Tenchu! poster
7.0

A ronin desperately seeks a way out of financial straits; he allies with the Tosa clan under the ruthless leader Takechi, who quickly takes advantage.

Tenchu!

1969

Wait for Tomorrow poster
NR

Kohei Misugi works in a vegetable market, but his ambition is to be a photographer. He is given his first opportunity to demonstrate his talent by the Sakura Film Company which offers him an assignment to "Cover Tokyo" with a camera. But he is disillusioned when he is told he must work together with Miharu, a good looking girl in the film company's publicity department. Then the fun begins.

Wait for Tomorrow

1960

I Hate But Love poster
7.0

A celebrity, dissatisfied with his personal and professional lives, impulsively leaves fast-paced Tokyo to deliver a much-needed jeep to a remote village. When his controlling manager, the woman he loves, follows, the two must reconcile while dodging reporters.

I Hate But Love

1962

Samurai Banners poster
7.4

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?

Samurai Banners

1969

Yakuza sensei poster
7.0

No synopsis available yet.

Yakuza sensei

1960

A Warm Misty Night poster
NR

When Toru Sagara (Yujiro Ishihara) returns home from a foreign cargo route, he proposes to his beloved girlfriend Akiko (Ruriko Asaoka). She joyously agrees, promising a life together. On the day they were to be joined in matrimony, Akiko suddenly goes missing. Toru waits hours for her to show, but he is only greeted by the darkness of night. Four years later, his fiancée turns up at a night club in Yokohama with another man.

A Warm Misty Night

1967

零戦黒雲一家 poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

零戦黒雲一家

1962

Love in Ginza poster
5.0

Hanjiro is a struggling painter that shares a tiny apartment in the back streets of Ginza with his jazz pianist friend who works at a bar. When he and his sweet heart, Hisako decide to get married, Hanjiro is faced with a tough decision. Needing to buy a ticket back home to tell his mother the good news, he compromises his creative principles for love and sells his portrait of Hisako. Hisako heads to the station to see him off, but gets hit by a car...

Love in Ginza

1962

Facing to the Clouds poster
NR

A rookie newspaper journalist, Takema Sakaki, has a strong sense of justice. In the Diet Building he gets acquainted with a library worker, Reiko Nakafuji. Reiko's father was a member of the Diet who was assassinated six years ago. Through Reiko, Takema joins Tsūkai-kai, a group of young people who respect her late father's political ideas. With the assistance of Tsukai-kai, Takema eventually uncovers the political scandal related to postwar compensation which led to the murder of Reiko's father.

Facing to the Clouds

1962

The Cards Will Tell poster
NR

A 1960 crime film

The Cards Will Tell

1960

The Sands of Kurobe poster
7.0

Kitagawa is an engineer charged with construction of a gigantic tunnel through the Japan Alps for the transportation of equipment in the building of the massive Kurobe Dam. The tunnel crosses an earthquake fault and Kitagawa is beleaguered not only by cave-ins and flooding, but by strife between management and the workers's union. Adding to Kitagawa's stress is the knowledge that as his attention is pulled inexorably toward the tunnel construction, his youngest daughter is dying from leukemia.

The Sands of Kurobe

1968

I Shall Not Forget poster
7.0

Hearing that his friend Yosuke Tsumura had died, Shiro Okabe returned to Kyoto. He felt that Yusuke's wife, Yusuke Tsumura's former love Yuko, knew something about Yosuke's death, but he was unable to find out what she knew. Okabe investigates Yosuke's death, but someone kills the people who provide clues one after another. Okabe follows Rumi, a woman at a bar who was close to Yosuke, to Mt. Hiei, and to his surprise learns that Yosuke is still alive.

I Shall Not Forget

1968

Black Strait poster
10.0

Newly 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

Safari 5000 poster
7.2

A Japanese racing driver for Nissan named Godai (Yujiro Ishihara) have a rivalry with a French driver named Pierre (Jean-Claude Drouot). Godai is enlisted to race in an annual endurance race, The East African Safari Rally. Peripheral to this is the story concerning Godai's former lover Yuko (Ruriko Asaoka), a fashion designer, and her friend Anna (Emmanuel Riva), who happens to be Pierre's wife.

Safari 5000

1969

Love and Desire in the Night Mist poster
NR

A film from Nikkatsu's "moodo akushon" (mood/action) subgenre.

Love and Desire in the Night Mist

1966

Fresh Leaves poster
7.0

Keiko is pretty and intelligent but her home life is not a happy one. Never having known a father's love, she develops a possessive attachment to Mr. Mazaki, the new mathematics teacher.

Fresh Leaves

1962

Foggy Night Blues poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Foggy Night Blues

1963

The Cleanup poster
10.0

A real all-star cast turns out for this modern yakuza yarn.

The Cleanup

1969

Alone Across the Pacific poster
7.0

Kenichi Horie is determined to challenge his family, the law and the nature crossing the Pacific to America in a small sailboat. Despite his careful planning, many unforeseen events will test his determination.

Alone Across the Pacific

1963

Taking the Castle poster
9.0

The Sengoku Era was coming to an end. The monopoly of the ever powerful shogun, Ieyasu Tokugawa, was at a near. Only one man was brave enough to stand in Ieyasu's way - A lone wolf samurai by the name of Kagekatsu Uesugi. Inspired by Uesugi's courage to revolt, a young samurai warrior, Touzou Kuruma decides to join the fight. Their target: the Tamonyama Castle.

Taking the Castle

1965

Showdown in the Red Valley poster
9.0

Ken Watanabe, a young man from Tokyo, comes to the great plains of Rumo, Hokkaido to see his hometown with his own eyes. Ken, who was entangled in this land's boss Samejima and collapsed, was rescued by Shingo Kazama, a mountain man who works at the quarry. Samejima, who doesn't like Shingo, tries to interfere with Shingo's work...

Showdown in the Red Valley

1965

Eliminate The Killer poster
NR

A man who is fed up with his office job finds himself targeted by a hitman after he unexpectedly agrees to act as stand-in CEO for a major corporation. However, for some reason, the hitmen start getting killed off one by one.

Eliminate The Killer

1964

A Man with Dragon Tattoos poster
8.0

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.

A Man with Dragon Tattoos

1962

Otoko to otoko no ikiru machi poster
NR

1962 Japanese movie

Otoko to otoko no ikiru machi

1962

The Harbor of No Return poster
7.0

A jazz pianist named Shiro Tsuda returns from an overseas tour unwittingly carrying drugs that have been sewn into his jacket. When he stops by to see his girlfriend Kyoko, he walks in to find an unknown man attacking her. While struggling with the man, who is armed, Shiro accidentally shoots and kills her. The intruder knocks Shiro down and takes the drugs from Shiro's jacket. Shiro realizes that he was being used as a drag smuggler. He is sent to prison for three years for killing his girlfriiend. When he is released, he is determined to find out who set him up.

The Harbor of No Return

1966

My Sweetheart poster
NR

It had been a year and four months since Mitsuo was last on a movie set. Welcomed back by director Ishizaki and his film crew, Mitsuo is excited to star as the lead in "My Sweetheart". One day, half way through production, he meets his friends from a popular rock group, "The Spiders". Through their discussion regarding the climax scene, they criticize that the script is too grim. In a notion to protect their friend's career, they decide to pay the scriptwriter a little visit.

My Sweetheart

1967

1950s · 22 titles

Crazed Fruit poster
6.9

Two brothers compete for the amorous favors of a young woman during a seaside summer of gambling, boating, and drinking.

Crazed Fruit

1956

A Slope in the Sun poster
5.9

The 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

A Sun-Tribe Myth from the Bakumatsu Era poster
7.0

Saheji, a man-about-town, gets stuck at a high-class brothel when he can’t pay the bill. He makes the best of his situation by performing various tasks amidst the tumult of the end of the shogunate—but always by making sure to get a “commission” for his troubles.

A Sun-Tribe Myth from the Bakumatsu Era

1957

Man Who Causes a Storm poster
6.8

Shoichi 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

Lunar Eclipse poster
NR

A unique and controversial film directed by Umeji Inoue, based on the original story by Shintaro Ishihara, which depicts the image of a group of young people in the agony of mistrust, love and hate with a powerful touch.

Lunar Eclipse

1956

Red Pier poster
6.5

Shortly 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

The Champion poster
6.7

Eikichi Yamashiro, who is a former contender for the boxing title, works as a manager at a Club Champion owned by his fiancé Natsuko’s father. He lost a title match five years ago as he was besotted by Natsuko, but Eikichi actually cannot give up the dream of the championship. One day, he meets Shuntaro Fuma, who is a punk kid but a promising boxer, and realizes the dream that he himself could never fulfill. Then, they together start to train with the aim of the title. Mari Shiraki is an up-and-coming ballerina under the patronage of Eikichi as well. Eikichi forbids Shuntaro and Mari to be romantically involved with someone during their training, however, they start to go on a date.

The Champion

1957

Human Torpedoes Attack poster
10.0

No synopsis available yet.

Human Torpedoes Attack

1956

This Day's Life poster
8.0

No synopsis available yet.

This Day's Life

1957

Rusty Knife poster
5.9

Udaka is a new, post-war city where corruption has already taken hold. A persistent district attorney wants to arrest and convict Katsumata, a laughing, self-confident thug. The D.A. gets an anonymous letter about the suicide five years' before of a city council member. Evidence about the case leads the D.A. to Tachibana, struggling to go straight after involvement with the mob and a prison sentence for killing the man responsible for the rape and suicide of his fiancée. One of Tachibana's friends is Keiko, the daughter of the dead councilman and the ward of another powerful official. How do these stories connect?

Rusty Knife

1958

The Stream of Youth poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

The Stream of Youth

1959

Birth of a Jazz Maiden poster
NR

Kawai Midori's father left the family a long time ago and since her mother passed away, she has taken care of her younger siblings by herself by working with a group of itinerant camellia oil peddlers. While she is In Izu selling camellia oil, she meets a young student, Katō Yutaka, who asks her to let him take her picture. The peddlers also meet a jazz band, and when Midori sings a song, teased by the band's star singer Nanjō Haruo, the band members are enraptured by her beautiful voice. She eventually joins the band and quickly becomes a popular jazz singer.

Birth of a Jazz Maiden

1957

We Live Today poster
NR

In 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

Song of the Underworld poster
NR

A 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

A Man Explodes poster
NR

Kensaku Muro and his father manage a farm in Sakudaira at the foot of the Yatsugatake Mountains. One day Kensuke saves a suicidal woman, Fukiko Uzu, who jumps into a waterfall. Having injured his eyes in the process, he is brought to Tokyo for medical treatment. In Tokyo, Kensaku visits his mother Kaneko who left her son years ago. She now owns an exclusive club and has a son, Isao, with the president of Kobe Concern. Isao plots to steal Kensuke's farm as part of a land development scheme with Fukiko's husband. Without knowing they are blood related, their conflict over the farm intensifies.

A Man Explodes

1959

Dancing Sisters poster
NR

It’s been five years since her husband had passed away. Fuyuko lives in the quiet suburbs, in a small but loving home with her three beautiful daughters. Haruko, the eldest, is the lead vocalist in a band. Natsuko is the conscientious type, who spends her days in ballet classes beautifying herself. The youngest of the three, Akiko is a bookworm who found her niche in philosophy. Although the sisters may appear to have nothing in common, there is one thing they all agree on; "Mom needs a new husband".

Dancing Sisters

1957

When a Man Risks His Life poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

When a Man Risks His Life

1959

Tomorrow is Another Day poster
NR

The 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

The Baby Carriage poster
8.0

Upon discovering that her father has a mistress, a young girl befriends the "other woman" and her child. Realizing that her half-sister is doomed to being regarded as an outcast, the heroine sets about to spiritually legitimize the girl.

The Baby Carriage

1956

I Am Waiting poster
6.5

A former boxer gets involved with a club hostess trying to escape the clutches of her gangster employer.

I Am Waiting

1957

The Wild Reporter poster
NR

Seven years ago, Ishimatsu Toshio, a talented radio producer at Zen Nihon Hōsō, witnessed a crazed drug addict murder his wife and then commit suicide, though Toshio was able to save the lives of their two children. Just transferred from Shimizu to Tokyo, Toshio hopes to produce a program that will expose the drug trade in Tokyo. One day, Toshio stops into a noodle shop where he is mistaken for a drug dealer and passed a bagful of drugs. The real dealer arrives in time to follow Toshio home. That night Toshio is attacked by the dealer, who turns out to be Kenji, one of the children Toshio had saved. Kenji can't bring himself to kill Toshio, so he runs away and goes into hiding from the mafia. While continuing to investigate the drug trade, Toshio searches for Kenji to get Kenji's testimony for his program.

The Wild Reporter

1959

Fangs of Night poster
5.0

A young doctor discovers that the city hall of records has a record of his death. He and some friends try to seek out the person who reported it, and uncover a shady group of criminals with a sinister plot.

Fangs of Night

1958

Series credits

Behind the camera

Shadow Hunters poster
7.2

Set during the declining years of the Tokugawa shogunate, Shadow Hunters details the questionably noble exploits of three ronin who act as "Shadow Hunters". These three ronin are not your normal ornery ruffians who are looking for a drink, a broad and someone to jab a sword into, but are in fact former samurai who, rather than follow their destroyed fiefs and murdered masters into death via seppuku, have dedicated their combined sword prowess to stopping the government from raping its daimyos for valuable resources.

Shadow Hunters

1972

Shadow Hunters 2: Echo of Destiny poster
7.7

The great Daimyo enlists the aid of the three Shadow Hunters in ensuring the delivery of an illegal cannon in this sequel to Toshio Masuda's bloody adaptation of the manga by Takao Saito. Despite the Shadow Hunters's remarkable skill, this mission is no walk in the park, and in order to survive they must face a relentless army of ninjas and female warriors willing to sacrifice their lives to disrupt the delivery and claim the cannon for themselves.

Shadow Hunters 2: Echo of Destiny

1972

The Walking Major poster
6.0

U.S. Army Captain Clark Allen gains attention by walking back and forth, the length of Japan, gambling with U.S. servicemen in order to raise funds to rebuild an orphanage. Suspicious of Allen's motives, a Japanese newsman, Hiroshi Kitabayashi, traces the American's background until he discovers the motive behind Allen's long walk.

The Walking Major

1970

Wild Cop poster
6.5

Based on the comic Gokiburi Deka.

Wild Cop

1973

Wild Cop 2 poster
6.7

Based on the comic Gokuburi Deka.

Wild Cop 2

1973

Yujiro in Europe poster
NR

Travelogue made by Yujiro Ishihara during the location shooting of his 1959 film Love and Death (Sekai o kakeru koi) in Europe.

Yujiro in Europe

1959