Michitarō Mizushima

Near the end of Japanese civil war, several disgraced ronin living in Edo's red light district attempt to regain their honor by defending a brothel from a hostile militia bent on wiping out local prostitutes.

An old man falls into a coma and dreams about his childhood during WWII.

In one of the districts of Tokyo, an old school is planned to be torn down after the summer holidays. The only person who is seriously worried about this is the Japanese language teacher Nakajima. He decides to hold special additional classes for the lagging students during the summer holidays, which they will keep as a memento of the old school.

Ogami Itto volunteers to be tortured by Yakuza in order to save a prostitute and is hired by their leader to kill an evil chamberlain.

Sachiko is the leader of a girl gang from Shinjuku who wind up in Kyoto and make a bid to take over the local girl gangs there.

The Americans are swiftly closing on Okinawa, an island just south of the Japanese mainland. The Imperial command sends top generals and several army divisions to defend it at all costs. The mission quickly degenerates as vital resources and troops are diverted to other islands. After a civilian evacuation ends in tragedy most of non-combatants are forced to remain on the island. Many convert to soldier status. Tokyo sends mixed messages that squander time and resources, as when they order the defenders to build an airstrip for aircraft that never come. The truth soon becomes obvious: the high command decides that the island cannot be held and effectively abandons the Okinawan defenders. When the Americans land many troops are deployed in the wrong places. As the slaughter mounts, a suicidal attitude takes hold. Okinawa becomes a death trap, for civilian volunteers and non-combatants as well.

A boy born in a poor village in Tokushima spends his days idly until a chance meeting sets him on the road to becoming boss of Japan's largest gang. This epic film is the first part of greatest true-life series based on autobiography of the Yamaguchi-gumi's third leader, Taoka Kazuo.

The Ni Family is the most well know and respected group of firefighters in the Kanto region. When their leader dies and the successor disappears, Tsuruji, a beautiful yet tough geisha, becomes the boss. But will she be able to confront a yakuza gang trying to take over the area?

8th part of the Gamblers / Bakuchi-uchi series.

No synopsis available yet.

A boss from a trucking company has run-ins with evil yakuza during the American occupation of Okinawa. Her hometown is threatened by usurers, gangsters and indirectly by American GI influences. She must battle a yakuza organization with her employees to help settle things.

Detective Kikuchi is sent to Okinawa to investigate why a girl jumped from a window after shooting heroin. There, he encounters the usual assortment of addicts, dealers, pimps and sleazy American GIs.

The ninth and final film in the Contemporary Tales of Chivalry series.

Based on Kazuo Taoka's autobiography, this film follows a Kobe gangster as he builds the small Yamaguchi-gumi into Japan's largest criminal clan.

Three men, the skilled ninja Ryuichi Koga, the deadly assassin and former drug detective Takeshi Hayato, and the criminal mastermind Ichiro Sakura work together to take out an infamous drug dealer.

No synopsis available yet.

This biopic of notorious yakuza-turned-actor Noboru Ando focuses on the days leading to his arrest after the shooting of businessman Hideki Yokoi.

A reporter is framed for murder while investigating organized crime. Upon being released from prison the plan for his revenge unravels.

Japanese movie.

Fujiko wanders aimlessly through the country, seeking vengence on the man she onced loved, who betrayed her, and destroying her family and her life. When she discovers that man had already died, she loses her will to live. But in a twist of fate, she meets Tatsumi, a raising star in the Horikawa Family. She quickly falls in love with him and his yakuza lifstyle. But when Tatsumi is chosen to but the next Boss of the family, his jealous sworn brother Morito kills him with the help of a mysterious man behind the scenes. Now Fujiko becomes a Bakuto, a wandering yakuza gambler, and once again, walks the bloody path of vengence...

A dramatic captivating tale tells of widowed Tei (Junko Fuji), she has become a coalmine operator and is determined to be successful despite mining being a predominately male domain. Overcoming the natural hardships, a more serious threat to Tei and her mine, the menacing presence of rival mining gangs who sense her vulnerability... Nihon jokyo-den:ketto midarw-bana is an outstanding drama, highlighted by wonderful characterizations/performances. Yamashita's excellent direction maintains a rich emotional flow from the opening seconds to the last. Intense and bloody encounters punctuate throughout the engaging multi layered tale!

Seijiro and Shizue meet in Niigata and fall in love. Seijiro has to go back to Tokyo soon after, and they promise each other to meet again a year later. However, Seijiro gets jailed for five years. Unable to find him, Shizue gets married to a yakuza boss who can help her family business.

No synopsis available yet.

A sadistic Daimyo (feudal lord) rapes a woman and murders both her and her husband, but even when one of his own vassals commits suicide to bring attention to the crime, the matter is quickly hushed up. Not only will there be no punishment, but because the Daimyo is the Shogun's younger brother, he will soon be appointed to a high political position from which he could wreak even more havoc. Convinced that the fate of the Shogunate hangs in the balance, a plot is hatched to assassinate the Daimyo. The two most brilliant strategic minds of their generation find themselves pitted against each other; one is tasked to defend a man he despises, and has a small army at his disposal. The other is given a suicide mission, and has 12 brave men. They are the 13 Assassins.

Coming out of jail and hoping for a quiet life, Yokohama yakuza has to take the lead of his gang after the death of his boss. His small group is is taken in a crossfire between a big yakuza group from Osaka at war with the Tokyo alliance for the control of the city. He tries to keep to the old yakuza code but he is no match for the new thugs who live and fight without honor.

Former soldier, Suehiro Katsuji, fights violent gangs and powerful Chinese merchants during the post-war period in Japan.

No synopsis available yet.

The life of entertainers in Asakusa’s pleasure quarters. An exciting yakuza story with superb action.

Goro had grown up in the yakuza world. As an active member of the Mizuhara family crime syndicate, he expressed his loyalty by always putting himself in the forefront of every battle. Violence never bothered him. However, after being sentenced to three years in prison for stabbing a rival gang’s hit man, he becomes disenchanted with the Yakuza life style. Goro is determined to start anew, but karma catches up. His two closest friends are murdered by his ex-boss. He is left with two options: to kill or be killed.

No synopsis available yet.

No synopsis available yet.

The third part of the story about feudal boss Jirocho and his underlings.

A Western-inspired film where a pair of traveling beekeepers odyssey by covered wagon from Kyushu, the southernmost of the Japanese archipelago's major islands, to Hokkaido, it's northernmost.

Kosaka Hiroshi is a small time swindler and the boss of a motorcycle gang in Shinjuku. Living only to make money, he never made the big time until he gets involved with a Yakuza's daughter. But when he gets involved in a scheme to blackmail a Yakuza gang and a land developer, he realizes he's gone way over his head…

It is the end of the Taisho era (1912-1926), and at the Hanazuki-tei theatre in Asakusa, the famous performance of storyteller Koiso Kikuji and performer Kataoka Koshin is reaching its climax when the Tawaraya family interferes... This is an entertaining action film bursting with righteousness and humanity, centred on men who try to live righteously against a corrupt boss who preys on the performers.

A sniper kills two prisoners in a police van, and the driver sets out to find the killer.

The 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.

Jirocho and his henchmen befriend Ishimatsu, a wanderer in Mishima.

A former soldier is caught working the black market and sent to prison while his partner escapes and goes on to become a gangster, but their paths cross again as they both fall in love with the same woman.

Fierce war breaks out when Shujiro’s rival clan attempts to sabotage his lucrative construction business.

First movie of the Inu series directed by Tokuzō Tanaka

The son of a prominent member of a fishing community returns home after a stint with the yakuza to find his father has died under orders of a local gang leader. He sets out to avenge his father, keeping his plans secret from his mother who is cold to him since his perceived abandonment of the family. This wonderful, if little-seen, Fukasaku gem deals with family, community and what it means to do right by both.

The film takes place in a dark area of the giant city of Osaka and tells about a group of people who find themselves at the bottom of society, and about the courage of a man who defies the city of violence in search of his beloved sister.

After World War II, their town was a pile of rubble. Gennosuke, the second generation boss of the Kamizu Group was upholding yakuza chivalry by keeping black-market and illegal items out of their open-air market. Taking advantage of the mess, Iwasa and his gang take hold of goods from the US military, black-market and controlled items in order to become the most powerful group in Enko area.

This is one of the many films based on the legend of Chuji Kunisada, a wandering gambler and a defender of the weak in the Edo period. In other words, he was the Japanese Robin Hood. In this film Kunisada (Chiezo Kataoka) arrives to a small town terrorized by an evil gang. He insists that he is not Kunisada, as the word is Kunisada has been executed, but of course the audience know better. Sonny Chiba plays an unusual supporting role as a helpless young man unable to defend himself from the gangsters. He does, however, get to play taiko drums and dance with Junko Fuji (who makes her film debut here). Chiba's father, an old judge who helps Kunisada, is played by Takashi Shimura. The film hardly anything exceptional, but it's a pretty decent jidai geki / yakuza drama.

Katsuji takes revenge on evil Tamaru who forcefully took control of the fishery business run by Katsuji’s friend.

Adventures of famous yakuza boss Jirocho and his disciples who settle in Kofu.

No synopsis available yet.

The story of a young police officer who risks his career to save the soul of a woman who curses societal evils and chooses the path of self-destruction.

The 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.

A Tokyo newspaper reporter goes after the Japanese king of cocaine trafficking but he's tricked by a woman who works for the gangster and gets framed for a murder he didn't commit.

Five 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.

No synopsis available yet.

A legendary gangster raises himself out of a small town and gathers followers on his rise to power.

With the help of famous yakuza Jirocho, brave and quick tempered Eijiro takes revenge on the death of his close friend.

This film depicts the fighting spirit of the frontline troops on Guadalcanal.

A counterintelligence film about an American spy who conspires to spread infectious bacteria inside a Japanese factory.

A war propaganda film centered on the mobilization of student soldiers.

A unique tale of romance and action in which an escaped convict fights villains to save his comrade’s sister from danger, only to fall in battle.

The life, adventures and exploits of warlord Date Masamune the One-eyed Dragon: his early youth as an aggressive warrior, the battles he won until subduing almost all his enemies, the lonely comprehension of knowing that he actually can not take over the whole country because he was born too late.