
Acting
Taiji Tonoyama
Born 1915-10-17 · Kobe, Japon
Taiji Tonoyama (殿山 泰司, Tonoyama Taiji, 1915–1989) was a Japanese character actor who made many appearances in films and on television from 1939 to 1989. He was a close friend of Kaneto Shindo and one of his regular cast members. He was also an essayist. In 1950 he helped form the film company Kindai Eiga Kyokai with Shindo and Kōzaburō Yoshimura.
Acting credits
6.6A passionate telling of the story of Sada Abe, a woman whose affair with her master led to an obsessive and ultimately destructive sexual relationship.
In the Realm of the Senses
1976
5.7To satisfy her lover's fetish for tattooed women, Akane agrees to have her body covered in eloborate tattoos by Kyogoro, an old craftsman. Kyogoro has developed a special technique, by which his assistant, Harutsune, keeps Katsuko's mind off the pain while Kyogoro does his work. After the work is done, Harutsune makes the shocking discovery of how Kyogoro mastered his technique.
Irezumi
1982
5.9The world-famous woodblock artist Hokusai (1760-1849), a widower in need of a steady income, lives with his daughter Oei in the house of his friend Bakin.
Edo Porn
1981
6.9A married woman and her lover murder her husband and dump his body into a well, but his ghost returns to haunt them as the local gossip intensifies.
Empire of Passion
1978
7.7Two boys beg their parents for a television set, nagging them until all patience is lost. The parents order the boys to be quiet and the boys do exactly that--refusing to utter a word. The boys' silence ultimately puts the whole neighborhood into turmoil.
Good Morning
1959
6.7Seeking revenge against the guard who tormented him, a young man returns to the island where he was imprisoned in reform school. But his plans for vengeance are disturbed when he encounters a strange and beautiful young woman.
Captive's Island
1966
7.8The tragic, true story about Hachikō, an Akita dog who was loyal to his master, Professor Ueno, even after Ueno's death.
Hachiko
1987
7.4Tokyo engineer Kariya arrives on a primitive tropical island, where he interacts with the Futori clan, to drill a well to power a sugar mill.
Profound Desires of the Gods
1968
8.1After handing in a report on the treatment of Chinese colonial labor, Kaji is offered the post of labour chief at a large mining operation in Manchuria, which also grants him exemption from military service. He accepts and moves with his newlywed wife Michiko, but when he tries to put his ideas of more humane treatment into practice, he finds himself at odds with scheming officials, cruel foremen, and the military police.
The Human Condition I: No Greater Love
1959
6.2Sex & Fury chronicles Ocho's exploits as she searches for her father's killers, each identified by unique tattoos on their backs (a deer, a boar, and a butterfly). Along the way, she also crosses paths with Shunosuke, a radical set on murdering prominent politician Kurokawa, and Christina, an American spy posing as a gambler.
Sex and Fury
1973
7.6A thief, a murderer, and a charming lady-killer, Iwao Enokizu is on the run from the police.
Vengeance Is Mine
1979
7.5In a small village in a valley everyone who reaches the age of 70 must leave the village and go to a certain mountain top to die. If anyone should refuse they would disgrace their family. Old Orin is 69. This winter it is her turn to go to the mountain. But first she must make sure that her eldest son Tatsuhei finds a wife.
The Ballad of Narayama
1983
7.6In postwar Tokyo, a blunt, alcohol-soaked doctor diagnoses a swaggering young yakuza with tuberculosis, forging an uneasy bond that’s tested when the gangster’s ruthless former boss returns and drags him back toward the swampy underworld he can’t escape.
Drunken Angel
1948
5.3A girl named O loves a rich, and much older man. She is subjected to a variety of humiliating experiences to prove her unconditional obedience to him in a Chinese brothel. A poor boy sees her and falls in love with her. To get the money needed to sleep with her, he takes part in rebellious acts.
Fruits of Passion
1981
6.9Police beat a murder confession out of four innocent men who are then sentenced to death. Based on a true story.
Darkness at Noon
1956
7.7While her son, Kichi, is away at war, a woman and her daughter-in-law survive by killing samurai who stray into their swamp, then selling whatever valuables they find. Both are devastated when they learn that Kichi has died, but his wife soon begins an affair with a neighbor who survived the war, Hachi. The mother disapproves and, when she can't steal Hachi for herself, tries to scare her daughter-in-law with a mysterious mask from a dead samurai.
Onibaba
1964
6.9A celebrity photograph sparks a court case as a tabloid magazine spins a scandalous yarn over a painter and a famous singer.
Scandal
1950
4.7After the bankruptcy of her foster-father's condom factory, Tamae sets out to make a living on her own and ends up working as a geisha at a hot spring resort. After rising in popularity, a climactic sex battle is held to decide who gets to lay claim to her.
The Revelation of a Geisha
1970
8.2Tora-san's opinions about Americans get challenged when another wandering peddler Michael Jordan stops by Shibamata.
Tora-san's Dream of Spring
1979
7.4Two detectives are tasked to investigate the murder of an old man, found bludgeoned to death in a Tokyo rail yard.
The Castle of Sand
1974
NRThe anonymous partnership Investment Economic Association, led by its president Ryuichi Amano, collected money from many ordinary people and paid out large dividends, making it famous as "Japan's only investment bank for ordinary people." On the other hand, Detective Muneharu Matsumoto of the Metropolitan Police Department's Second Investigative Division has suspicions about this organization, and has been spying on the business association for many years. However, Matsumoto was having a hard time getting any solid proof of the nature of the incident...
Irohanihoheto
1960
8.0A family of four are the sole inhabitants of a small island, where they struggle each day to irrigate their crops.
The Naked Island
1960
NRNo synopsis available yet.
Saijoke no kyoen
1951
7.0It's the evening before the day all brothels must be shut-down, according to the new law, in 1958. At the Kofukuya's (literally, the house that sells happiness), five prostitutes decide to celebrate the day. Eroticism, drama, and comedy mix as each hour a different event passes, in which all the women's stories come to the surface.
Street of Joy
1974