Matsumoto Hakuō II

Acting

Matsumoto Hakuō II

Born

1942-08-19 (84)

Place of birth

Tokyo, Japan

Known for

Acting

Credits

34 titles

Matsumoto Hakuō II was born on August 19, 1942 in Tokyo, Japan. He is an actor, known for 13 Assassins (2010), Dai Chûshingura (1957) and Tokugawa bugei-chô: Yagyû san-dai no ken (1993).

Known for

Suzume poster
7.9

Suzume, 17, lost her mother as a little girl. On her way to school, she meets a mysterious young man. But her curiosity unleashes a calamity that endangers the entire population of Japan, and so Suzume embarks on a journey to set things right.

Suzume

2022

13 Assassins poster
7.3

A bravado period action film set at the end of Japan's feudal era in which a group of unemployed samurai are enlisted to bring down a sadistic lord and prevent him from ascending to the throne and plunging the country into a war-torn future.

13 Assassins

2010

Ōgon no Hibi poster
NR

Luzon Sukezaemon is a merchant who imports vases from the Philippines. The vases are highly valued as tea utensils and he makes a huge profit. This was the first taiga drama to concentrate on the lives of commoners and the reviled merchant class of the Tokugawa period. It documents the rise and fall of the merchant city of Sakai, as seen by its most famous resident, the semilegendary Luzon.

Ōgon no Hibi

1978

王様のレストラン poster
7.4

No synopsis available yet.

王様のレストラン

1995

Burning Mountain River poster
8.0

The three Amaba brothers are second-generation Japanese Americans, whose allegiances are torn by the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Determined to show his loyalty to his adopted country, Isamu volunteers for the U.S. Army and is shipped off to fight in Europe. A second brother, studying in Japan at the outbreak of hostilities, is conscripted to fight against the Americans as a Japanese soldier. The third brother Kenji (Matsumoto) avoids conflict by enlisting as a military interpreter, in which capacity he witnesses the war crimes trials that followed Japan's defeat.

Burning Mountain River

1984

竜馬がゆく poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

竜馬がゆく

2004

Film credits

2010s · 3 titles

13 Assassins poster
7.3

A bravado period action film set at the end of Japan's feudal era in which a group of unemployed samurai are enlisted to bring down a sadistic lord and prevent him from ascending to the throne and plunging the country into a war-torn future.

13 Assassins

2010

八代目市川染五郎 密着3650日~12歳・若武者が生まれるとき~ poster
NR

Includes footage of the oral presentation of the third generation of Ichikawa Somegoro VIII and others. In June 2007, when he was two years old at the Kabuki-za theatre, he played the chivalrous Harusamegasa in his first appearance under his real name 'Fujimasai'. Koshiro Matsumoto IX says he started jumping around in the middle of the day and was made to study without knowing he wanted to play Benkei Rokkata By the age of four, he had become Kintaro Matsumoto IV and is now Somegoro Ichikawa VIII. The film presents 10 years of close-up footage.

八代目市川染五郎 密着3650日~12歳・若武者が生まれるとき~

2018

高麗屋 三代の春〜襲名・松本幸四郎家 歌舞伎に生きる〜 poster
NR

Documentary programme closely following the simultaneous one-year succession of three generations of the prestigious Koraiya theatre. Koshiro IX and Shiro Matsumoto II, Somegoro VII and Koshiro Matsumoto X, and Kintaro IV and Somegoro Ichikawa VIII performed the succession on 2 January 2008 at the Kabuki-za theatre in Tokyo. The film follows the unwavering transmission of the art of father and grandson. Testimony from Koshiro X's sister, Noriyasu Matsumoto, and younger sister, Takako Matsu. Also features family ties and rare glimpses of Koshiro away from the stage. An insight into the amazing feat of three generations of Kabuki actors who assumed the name simultaneously, a rarity in the 400-year history of the Kabuki theatre.

高麗屋 三代の春〜襲名・松本幸四郎家 歌舞伎に生きる〜

2018

2000s · 4 titles

1960s · 7 titles

The River Fuefuki poster
7.7

In a time of continuous civil wars ravaging the fields of feudal Japan, the eldest son of a very poor peasant family, living alongside the bridge over the Fuefuki river, decides to serve a warlord to escape his miserable condition, being soon followed by his younger brothers. Although not all the men of the family take this tragic path of death, women of the family will be doomed to endure the pain of loss during the next five generations.

The River Fuefuki

1960

Admiral Yamamoto poster
8.5

As Japan joins in a political pact with Nazi Germany and fascist Italy, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto is appointed supreme commander of the Japanese fleet. With Japan headed inexorably toward war, Yamamoto, despite his misgivings, believes the only possible victory lies in destroying the American fleet by surprise at Pearl Harbor. The attack succeeds, but fails to sink the American carrier fleet. Thus Yamamoto must lead the Japanese navy into war with ever-diminishing likelihood of success.

Admiral Yamamoto

1968

Bandits on the Wind poster
9.0

1961 Japanese movie

Bandits on the Wind

1961

Whirlwind poster
6.6

Set at the end of the Siege of Osaka this film follows the exploits of several members of the defeated Toyotomi clan as they cope with the post battle chaos and the persecution of the Shogun's army. Five samurai decide on different fates when it becomes clear that their side is being destroyed. One wants to attack the enemy head on in a final honorable death. Another decides to commit hari-kiri but wants to find a glorious view to do it. His close friend, the "coward", just wants to run and give up the life of a samurai. The final two set their own castle on fire to garner favors from the enemy and therefore avert their own death during the massacre of all defeated soldiers as

Whirlwind

1964

Our Failures poster
NR

Tells the story of Shintaro, a lawyer who quits his job to work at a camera factory, and his love adventures.

Our Failures

1962

Young Swordsman poster
6.7

This Japanese action-adventure is set in the 17th century when all forms of swordplay were banned. One fighter, an excellent swordsman believes the law is unfair. His brother keeps his opinions about the law to himself. The swordsman vents his frustration by cutting off the thumbs of an enemy. The fighter is then banished. To live, he becomes a thief. To restore the family's lost honor, the other brother is forced to challenge the fighter to a duel.

Young Swordsman

1963

The Rabble poster
10.0

1964 Japanese movie

The Rabble

1964

1950s · 3 titles

荒木又右衛門 poster
NR

Watanabe Kazuma and Kawai Matagorō from the Bizen Okayama Ikeda clan were close friends, but they inevitably became enemies after Matagorō killed Kazuma's younger brother, Gentayū, and fled. Seeking assistance, Kazuma asked his brother-in-law, Araki Mataemon, for help, but Mataemon refused, saying that it was against the code for a brother to avenge another brother's death. On the other hand, the lord of the clan, Ikeda Tadao, ordered a search for Matagorō, who was found to be sheltered by the Hatamoto, including Andō Jiemon, in Edo. Tadao was furious but unable to act. Matagorō, in Edo, came to regret his birth as a samurai. He met and fell in love with Okō, a bathhouse maid. As the discord between the Hatamoto and the Ikeda clan deepened, Tadao died of illness. Seizing the opportunity to ease the conflict, the shogunate ordered the Ikeda clan to be succeeded by the young lord Katsugorō and to relocate to the Ikeda clan of Inshū Tottori. Meanwhile, Matagorō was exiled from Edo.

荒木又右衛門

1955

Growing Up poster
7.2

A boy falls in love with a girl. Neither of them know that she's to be sold to a brothel.

Growing Up

1955

A Matter of Valour poster
8.0

Chushingura has been made into a movie several times before, but this time it will be presented in a widescreen version with all natural colors and a new look. Written by Masato Ide and directed by Tatsuo Osone. This is a magnificent scroll of images that depicts on a grand scale the triumph of the Genroku era that shook the citizens of Edo, the peaceful capital of Japan. The top stars of the film, shinpa, shingeki, and kabuki worlds at the time of production were lavishly cast, and a huge budget was invested to create a large set for this highly acclaimed and moving epic.

A Matter of Valour

1957

Series credits

Ōgon no Hibi poster
NR

Luzon Sukezaemon is a merchant who imports vases from the Philippines. The vases are highly valued as tea utensils and he makes a huge profit. This was the first taiga drama to concentrate on the lives of commoners and the reviled merchant class of the Tokugawa period. It documents the rise and fall of the merchant city of Sakai, as seen by its most famous resident, the semilegendary Luzon.

Ōgon no Hibi

1978

王様のレストラン poster
7.4

No synopsis available yet.

王様のレストラン

1995

Burning Mountain River poster
8.0

The three Amaba brothers are second-generation Japanese Americans, whose allegiances are torn by the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Determined to show his loyalty to his adopted country, Isamu volunteers for the U.S. Army and is shipped off to fight in Europe. A second brother, studying in Japan at the outbreak of hostilities, is conscripted to fight against the Americans as a Japanese soldier. The third brother Kenji (Matsumoto) avoids conflict by enlisting as a military interpreter, in which capacity he witnesses the war crimes trials that followed Japan's defeat.

Burning Mountain River

1984

竜馬がゆく poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

竜馬がゆく

2004

モナリザの微笑 poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

モナリザの微笑

2000

The Battle of Port Arthur: Will Love Die? poster
NR

An epic of love and death that depicts how soldiers and ordinary people lived and fought during the Russo-Japanese War, when Japan's very existence was at stake in the face of the great power of Russia.

The Battle of Port Arthur: Will Love Die?

1981

Father and Son Hawk poster
NR

The life of Katsu Kaishū and his father.

Father and Son Hawk

1994

Tensai Yanagisawa Kyouju no Seikatsu poster
NR

This drama is based on a story that ran for 14 years in the Kodansha published weekly manga Morning. Yoshinori Yanagisawa is an economics professor at International Cultural University. He keeps to the right of the sidewalk when he walks, and doesn't cross the street any place other than a crosswalk. He loves low-cost, great tasting dried fish, and will walk to the end of the earth to get one. No matter what has happened to him during his day, he always goes to bed at 9 p.m. Today, Yoshinori's day began with an argument with his daughter Setsuko about whether to cross the street at a crosswalk or not.

Tensai Yanagisawa Kyouju no Seikatsu

2002

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Asu o dakishimete

2000

Three Generations of the Yagyu Sword poster
NR

After the 'Incident at Honnoji' (assassination of Oda Nobunaga by Akechi Mitsuhide, a former trusted general), a group of Tokugawa samurai are rescued by a youth named Yagyu Munenori (2nd son of Yagyu Sekishusai from Yamato) and Kizaru (a Ninja), as they are chased by a bloodthirsty group of samurai. Tokugawa Ieyasu, the lord of his clan, then lave a very special gift to Munenori; a samurai's pillbox, (a veritable work of art, with beautiful lacquered designs) which signifies that he is to be hired by the Tokugawa Clan when he grows up. As a result of the assassination, Toyotomi Hideyoshi became the sole ruler of Japan, and confiscated the Yagyu lands since they had sided with the traitorous Akechi. The Yagyu Clan was considerably weakened, and all but disappeared during Hideyoshi's reign as 'Taiko'.

Three Generations of the Yagyu Sword

1993