Musei Tokugawa

In Edo Japan, a kabuki actor seeks revenge against the three men who drove his parents to their deaths years ago.

Tsukitaro, a young man who comes to Edo, meets a blind girl named Ochiyo. Ochiyo’s father, the grinder Yasujiro, was asked to sharpen a sword called Kongomaru, which was planned to be presented to the shogun Iemitsu, but he died due to a yakuza attack. In addition, the sword was stolen, and Ochiyo’s sister was also kidnapped.

A chronicle of the eight-year battle against the construction of the Matsubara dam at Ogunimachi Shimouke, Asogun, district of Kumamoto. Tomoyuki Murahara constructs the “beehive fortress,” the point of reference for the protest movement opposing the decision to expropriate land.

1961 Japanese movie

Also Known As: Otogi's Voyage Around the World

No synopsis available yet.

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

An adaptation of the famous 16th century novel, Journey to the West.

1958 Japanese movie

Set in a bustling 1950s parlor, a beautiful counter clerk falls for a wealthy businessman’s son, only to have their romance derailed by a ruthless loan shark and a mounting family debt. As the parlor faces ruin, the narrative weaves through slapstick antics, musical numbers by Enka legends, and surreal interviews with real-life cultural figures. A chaotic "blueprint" for the Pachinko subgenre, this musical dramedy captures the obsession and desperation of the silver balls.

Released on the same date as Shochiku's version.

No synopsis available yet.

Jidai-geki by Nobuo Nakagawa. Most likely a star vehicle for Kanjuro Arashi

Minako, a ballerina who has been dating since her school days, and Koheta, a banker. It was Koheta who was finally about to get married as a result of his promotion, but just then, a big change occurs in Minako's body..

A little girl who falls into a lake and is saved by a god who then takes her up to the clouds and shows her what the world was like before she was born and what the world would be like if she where never born. While in the clouds she meets her grandparents and a few other people she loved who have passed on.

No synopsis available yet.

The mythical adventures of the legendary Chinese trickster Monkey, who must outwit a variety of wily demons who stand in the way of him and his fellow Buddhist travelers. Though portrayed as a literal, if rather anthropomorphized, monkey in the original legends, this film substitutes the spindly comic actor Norihei Miki, sans makeup.

Two residents of Edo city Yaji and Kita make a journey to the temple of Ise, as part of a religious pilgrimage, but actually to get away from their wives for a little while. As they travel, they are constantly beset by complications involving women, mistaken identity, and misunderstood events. Another film adaptation of the famous novel Ikku Jippensha Footing It Along the Tokaido (Tokaidochu Hizakurige)

The fifth entry in the Company President Series

No synopsis available yet.

A bar girl tries to pass her three children, each from a different father, to rural relatives.

Costume comedy

At a time when the USSR and the USA fervently vied to develop nuclear arms, the mass media buzzed with terms inspired by nuclear testing on Bikini Atoll such as the “Daigo Fukuryu Maru Incident,” the “ash of death,” “radioactive tuna,” and “radioactive rain,” and nuclear testing continued, Japan, the only nation to have suffered an atom-bomb attack, felt massive anxiety. “What is the radioactive ash of death?” “What effect does it have on living creatures?” Against the background of the era, the film scientifically describes the terrors of radioactivity with the cooperation of many scientists, physicians and research institutions.

film directed by Tai Katô

No synopsis available yet.

No synopsis available yet.

A wealthy family will not allow the military to grow crops on their fields due to their superstitious beliefs about their son's illness.

No synopsis available yet.

Ren Yoshimura directed this Daiei melodrama that was based on the novel entitled "Pandora's Box" by Dazai Osamu.

No synopsis available yet.

The story of a young lady who brightens up the neighborhood.

Horror film directed by Kôzô Saeki.

Tobisuke, puppeteer in Kyôtô, saves O-fuku's life. Wounded in the head, it can now count to three. O-fuku invited him to meet her mother so she can heals him with a golden fruit. But O-fuku and Tobisuke had to cross the valley of death filled with fantastic creatures, will they survive?

At the wedding of Kohei (Hasegawa) and Michiko (Todoroki), a whisper echoes along with a gust of wind. As if manipulated by the mysterious voice, Kohei takes Michiko to stay at a dilapidated mountain villa in his hometown. What awaited him there...

This film focuses on Koreans living in Japan. The filmmaker’s humanism comes across in the portrayal of a girl living in a shabby tenement, the warmth of a Korean girl she meets, and the friendliness of this Korean girl’s family.

A pure love story between a former member of the imperial family who has been demoted to commoner status and a young girl.

No synopsis available yet.

1944 war movie

No synopsis available yet.

1945 Japanese movie

Japanese adaptation of Marcel Pagnol's play "Marius", set in early XXth century Japan.

A small-town boy with a learning disability attempts to fit in with his classmates.

Dr Sogawa is considering making his son, Taro, take over the family business, but Taro is completely absorbed in music. Nevertheless, he makes him enrol in a medical school. Taro's songs are recorded by the popular singer Shintaro.

A dead beauty is found in the trunk. Kubota (Miaki), Okayama (Kawazu) and Tsuji (Funakoshi) begin investigating this mysterious crime at the investigation headquarters. Since the cause of death was poison gas, he asked Yusaku Tominaga (Tsukigata), a now retired drug crime specialist, to cooperate. Kubota and his friends soon find the house of the murdered beauty and upon entering, they are surprised to find another corpse, this time of a man…

Baseball comedy.

Based on a novel by Tei Fujiwara

This epic depicts the battle between Uesugi Kenshin and Takeda Shingen. The focus of the story is the struggle by the unit leader in charge of the main supply wagons and the supply troops to transport materiel to the Uesugi army. To this are added episodes involving an itinerant woman.

An Invention laboratory is working on the creation of a performance 'bomb' in the shape of a rocket that could be delivered to the front in order to entertain and amuse the national troops. Inside this rocket would be tiny performers. Once launched from the laboratory and landed amidst the Japanese troops the soldiers could enjoy the performers. The laboratory succeeds and the rocket is built. It bears the insignia, 'until the victory days.' The Japanese government began a program of shooting and disseminating propaganda and entertainment movies for its troops during World War II. Only 15 minutes of the film survives.

A documentary short highlighting the cultural attractions of Ise-Shima National Park in eastern Mie Prefecture, a popular coastal sightseeing destination and home to the Ise Grand Shrine.

The film uses the haiku of early 19th century poet Kobayashi Issa as its motif to portray the lives of farmers residing deep in the mountains of Nagano. Commissioned by the Nagano Prefectural Department of Tourism, the movie became instead, in the hands of Kamei, a depiction, sometimes ironic, of poverty and the harsh life of the inhabitants of the area. The short movie is often considered Japan’s first “poetic documentary”.

In 1930s Japan, a beer seller and a struggling music student fall in love while chasing their dreams.

Masako, the daughter of an impoverished itinerant tinsmith, wins a grammar school composition contest with an essay about her neighborhood. The much publicized essay ends up causing the family problems and their chronic money troubles threaten Masako's further education.

This is the only surviving “Mito Komon Manyu-ki” film. This release also known as "Adrift Tour Memoir" or literally "Mito Komon's Pleasure Trip" is an 80-minute compilation of the first (東海道の巻 or "Tokaido no maki") and second (日本晴れの巻 or "Japan's Fine Weather Reel") parts (147 minutes), which were re-edited and screened at a time when presentable films were dried up immediately after the defeat of the war.

Hikoroku Laughs a lot

A large family scrapes by on the meager salaries of the father and three eldest sons, who left school in order to work and support the family. The fourth eldest is soon to graduate and follow in their footsteps, though he'd rather continue schooling. The eldest finally decides to break free and set out on his own against his parents' wishes, with the support and sympathy of his siblings.

No synopsis available yet.

The first in a series of films featuring the comedy duo Entatsu-Achako, providing them with a background story to do their popular manzai-routines on film. Here, Entatsu and Achako start out as rivals for the affection of a young woman but ultimately pair up to face a bigger rival. Entatsu chooses to become a boxer to get his chance at punching the rival out of the way.

1935 P.C.L. adaptation of Natsume's novel.

An early Japanese sound film, notable for being the only Japanese film ever to use the Western Electric Sound System. Contrary to most Western sources that give sole directing credit to Eizo Tanaka, it was actually co-directed by six different directors, Tanaka, Kazue Kimura, Kazuo Takimura, Ryoji Mikami and Hidekuni Ouchi.

1936 P.C.L. adaptation of Natsume's novel.