Shunji Sasaki

Acting

Shunji Sasaki

Born

1941-02-10 (85)

Place of birth

Kyoto Prefecture, Japan

Known for

Acting

Credits

55 titles

Known for

Oxen Split Torturing poster
5.8

Two short stories set in Edo during the Shogun era. The first, during a time when Christians are persecuted vehemently, Iori falls in love with a young Christian girl. When she and her family are captured during a raid, his sadistic master takes her as his personal slave to torment Iori. The second follows Sutezo who, forced to serve the barbarous master of a brothel in order to repay his debts, befriends a young girl. Together, they both escape and struggle to get by on scams and petty theft.

Oxen Split Torturing

1976

Female Yakuza Tale poster
6.1

Ocho is accidentally captured by a drug trafficking cartel who use Chinese women to smuggle drugs into Japan by hiding it in their vaginas. She is tortured, and manages to escape, fighting both the male yakuzas and a gang of female thieves.

Female Yakuza Tale

1973

Sex and Fury poster
6.2

Sex & 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

Fall Guy poster
6.5

Ginshiro, threatened by poor repute and upcoming star Tachibana, forces his friend Yasu to marry Konatsu, Ginshiro's pregnant mistress; Yasu becomes a stuntman to make ends meet.

Fall Guy

1982

Battles Without Honor and Humanity: Deadly Fight in Hiroshima poster
7.3

Repeatedly beat to a pulp by gamblers, cops, and gangsters, lone wolf Shoji Yamanaka finally finds a home as a Muraoka family hitman and falls in love with boss Muraoka's niece. Meanwhile, the ambitions of mad dog Katsutoshi Otomo draws our series' hero, Shozo Hirono, and the other yakuza into a new round of bloodshed.

Battles Without Honor and Humanity: Deadly Fight in Hiroshima

1973

Battles Without Honor and Humanity poster
7.3

In the teeming black markets of postwar Japan, Shozo Hirono and his buddies find themselves in a new war between factious and ambitious yakuza.

Battles Without Honor and Humanity

1973

Film credits

1980s · 14 titles

Fall Guy poster
6.5

Ginshiro, threatened by poor repute and upcoming star Tachibana, forces his friend Yasu to marry Konatsu, Ginshiro's pregnant mistress; Yasu becomes a stuntman to make ends meet.

Fall Guy

1982

Ninja Wars poster
5.6

A fortuneteller prophesizes that whoever marries the beautiful Ukio will become the ruler of the world. Naturally, this makes her very popular with those vying for power, particularly the insatiably greedy Lord Donjo. Only the ninja Jotaro can stop Donjo's plan, but to do so, he must first battle the deadly team of "Devil Monks" serving the lord. Will Jotaro succeed in his mission? And if so, will Ukio marry him, thus making him the ruler of the world?

Ninja Wars

1982

Onimasa: A Japanese Godfather poster
6.2

Onimasa is the egocentric boss of a small yakuza clan on Shikoku Island, whose criminal duties conflict with his self-image as a chivalrous samurai. His struggles with his boss, the Shikoku Godfather, and the tumultuous life of his adopted daughter, Matsue, form the backdrop of this epic tale of justice, obedience, and bloody vengeance.

Onimasa: A Japanese Godfather

1982

Fireflies in the North poster
5.6

Set in the icy wilderness of Hokkaido during the early days of the Meiji era, where the brutal warden of Kabato Prison terrorizes convicts sentenced to forced labor to build the roads needed to open up the territory.

Fireflies in the North

1984

Yakuza Ladies poster
5.5

When her crime boss husband is sent to prison, a woman assumes control of one of the most powerful gangs in Japan.

Yakuza Ladies

1986

The House Where Evil Dwells poster
4.1

At the prompting of his diplomat friend, Alex, writer Ted Fletcher takes his wife, Laura, and daughter, Amy, on an extended working holiday. Alex finds a house for them in Kyoto, Japan, and the Fletchers move in, laughing off rumors that the place is haunted. But the ghost of 19th-century samurai Shigero turns out to be very real, and is intent on making the family re-enact an ancient murder-suicide.

The House Where Evil Dwells

1982

Goryokaku poster
NR

After the fall of the Tokugawa Shogunate, there was a series of battles fought while the former supporters of the Tokugawa shogunate retreated to the north where they actually started a sovereign nation that was recognized by more than one European country. Survivors of the Shinsengumi were among the followers of Enomoto Takeaki who took them to the northernmost island of Ezo where they fought their final battle at the star shaped fort, Goryokaku. The Japanese Civil Wars fought in the name of the emperor signaled the complete end of the feudal system and Japan’s entry into the modern world as those brave samurai tried to halt progress and learned that the age of modern warfare and weaponry had passed them by. Swords were no match for rifles and cannons, nor was any man a match for the power of the imperial flag. Japanese loyalty to the emperor has long defined the nation and culture despite the changing times.

Goryokaku

1988

The Second Is a Christian poster
6.0

The story of beautiful Christian nun, Kyoko who is the object of affection for two very different men - one the happy-go-lucky yakuza gangster, Haruhiko who is the next-in-line to takeover the ragtag "Tenryu Gumi" gang and the other bumbling police detective Kumashiro. The Tenryu Gumi is a collection of misfits and other troublemakers but are relatively peaceful due to their Christian beliefs. Their bitter rivals are the more traditional "Kuroiwa Gumi", a much more sadistic and violent group led by godfather Kuroiwa.

The Second Is a Christian

1985

Roaring Fire poster
6.5

On his death bed the man who raised Joji reveals that he is not his real father and that Joji’s real parents died tragically in a plane crash. Shortly thereafter Joji goes to Japan is search of his sister and his twin brother Toru. Joji’s quickly finds his sister Chihiro who is now blind and lives with their uncle. Joji one evening accidently over hears his uncle who has ties to the criminal underworld discussing his various illegal operations. Joji ‘s eavesdropping is discovered by his uncle who offers him a chance to join the organization. Joji promptly turns his uncle’s offer down which immediately puts his life in danger.

Roaring Fire

1981

The Shogun's Vault IV: The Gold Mines of Sado poster
NR

Account magistrate Wakisaka Bizen Mamoru asks Yoshibei, the chief priest of Iriya and Myohoji Temple to explore the Sado Gold Mine. They suspect that large amounts of money are being diverted to somewhere else. Yoshibei, a former official secret-head accepts the job and recruits three skilled Karadogumi… Nanikiri, Hayashi, and Kumonryo. In Sado, where the four infiltrate, the magistrate Okubo Hitachi Mamoru who plans to overthrow the shogunate is trying to buy a large number of firearms from Russia.

The Shogun's Vault IV: The Gold Mines of Sado

1983

No artwork available
8.0

Samon Kamiyama, a yoriki of the Minami-machi magistrate infiltrates the Denzū-machi prison disguised as Mushuku Sahēji. Samon is mistaken for a snitch and about to be beaten up when he was saved by the quick thinking of a ferryman Sanji. The infiltration is the plan of Samon and chief elder Abe Isenokami, who has asked Samon to obtain smuggling evidence against shipping whole retailers Kawachiya Senemon and his son Sennosuke.

Samon’s Hell Revenge: Unauthorised Jutte Records 2 - The Assassination of the Shogun

1983

No artwork available
NR

The second installment of the special drama "Kawaiteshimau" features Masakazu Tamura playing the role of "Udege Shujo," the official taster for the shogunate. Tamura's unmatched charm in portraying cynical characters is fully showcased in this exhilarating period drama. Audiences can thoroughly enjoy the familiar "Ten'ichibō Incident" in this lively historical play.

A Samurai's Sorrow: The Deadly Sword

1984

The Duel in the Forbidden Territory poster
NR

The wandering swordsman, Ino Heihachiro, defeats Ichima, the youngest of the famed swordsmanship trio, the Nikis, but sustains an injury. In the mountains of Tohoku, he is aided by a young boy named Shosuke. Heihachiro finds refuge in the home of the boy's parents, Magoichi and Shino, only to discover that Magoichi was a skilled ninja from Koga. The peaceful days with the family are short-lived as Ichima, bent on revenge, along with his brothers Kurodo and Ryuma, pursue Heihachiro. Heihachiro and Magoichi head towards the duel's location, but the village headman, Seibei, blinded by the allure of gold dust in the mountains, abducts Shino...

The Duel in the Forbidden Territory

1983

No artwork available
NR

Samon, who had left his position as a police constable, embarks on a journey. During his travel, he is attacked by a group of masked bandits and sufferes a deep wound on his way back to Edo at the request of Magistrate Toyama. Saved by Dr. Kazumichi, Samon is asked by Toyama to identify an informant among the members of the lightning gang, a group of cruel thieves wreaking havoc throughout Edo. Samon then becomes an assistant to the firefighter squad led by Naito Hayato-masamune. One night, while rushing to the oil merchant Tambaya, who is attacked by the robbers, Samon and his group discovered a trembling young girl Oso who is the only survivor of the massacre and has lost her voice due to terror.

Samon’s Hell Revenge: Unauthorised Jutte Records 4

1984

1970s · 37 titles

Oxen Split Torturing poster
5.8

Two short stories set in Edo during the Shogun era. The first, during a time when Christians are persecuted vehemently, Iori falls in love with a young Christian girl. When she and her family are captured during a raid, his sadistic master takes her as his personal slave to torment Iori. The second follows Sutezo who, forced to serve the barbarous master of a brothel in order to repay his debts, befriends a young girl. Together, they both escape and struggle to get by on scams and petty theft.

Oxen Split Torturing

1976

Female Yakuza Tale poster
6.1

Ocho is accidentally captured by a drug trafficking cartel who use Chinese women to smuggle drugs into Japan by hiding it in their vaginas. She is tortured, and manages to escape, fighting both the male yakuzas and a gang of female thieves.

Female Yakuza Tale

1973

Sex and Fury poster
6.2

Sex & 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

Battles Without Honor and Humanity: Deadly Fight in Hiroshima poster
7.3

Repeatedly beat to a pulp by gamblers, cops, and gangsters, lone wolf Shoji Yamanaka finally finds a home as a Muraoka family hitman and falls in love with boss Muraoka's niece. Meanwhile, the ambitions of mad dog Katsutoshi Otomo draws our series' hero, Shozo Hirono, and the other yakuza into a new round of bloodshed.

Battles Without Honor and Humanity: Deadly Fight in Hiroshima

1973

Battles Without Honor and Humanity poster
7.3

In the teeming black markets of postwar Japan, Shozo Hirono and his buddies find themselves in a new war between factious and ambitious yakuza.

Battles Without Honor and Humanity

1973

Bohachi Bushido: Code of the Forgotten Eight poster
6.6

A Ronin with a death wish reluctantly joins the Clan of the Forgotten Eight, a nasty crew of ronin who are wrapped up in a clan war over local prostitution.

Bohachi Bushido: Code of the Forgotten Eight

1973

The Street Fighter poster
6.8

Takuma Tsurugi takes on the government, the police, the mafia and an international ring of kidnappers who aim to dispossess a beautiful young heiress of her millions.

The Street Fighter

1974

Battles Without Honor and Humanity: Police Tactics poster
7.0

As Japan gears up for the 1964 Olympic Games, the cops start to crack down on the gangs, under pressure from the public and the press, adding a new dimension in the war for power among the yakuza families of Hiroshima.

Battles Without Honor and Humanity: Police Tactics

1974

Nuns That Bite poster
5.9

A woman on the run is raped, rescued, then raped again. Escaping, she heads for the hills and finds safe haven at a convent. After becoming a postulant (trainee nun), she catches her fellow sisters engaging in lesbianism, fighting over nothing, hurling snakes at each other, and engaging in mild flesh eating.

Nuns That Bite

1977

The Street Fighter's Last Revenge poster
5.5

Terry Sugury is hired to recover one of two tapes containing a formula for making heroin for a price of 200 dollars a pound. But he gets double crossed. So he wants the tape back.

The Street Fighter's Last Revenge

1974

The Tattooed Hitman poster
6.2

The most dangerous hired gun in Kyushu's underworld has managed to trigger a vicious gang war, and now, there's a contract on his life. Though nobody is more skilled in the arts of dealing death, can the tattooed hitman fend off the entire Japanese mafia as he searches for the man who wants him dead?

The Tattooed Hitman

1974

Return of the Street Fighter poster
6.1

Martial artist Takuma Tsurugi returns to take on a Yakuza family that may be embezzling money from charities to finance their own operations. Both the police and the Yakuza find themselves battling Tsurugi, but Tsurugi's fight ultimately is with the mob, and he concentrates on them.

Return of the Street Fighter

1974

Battles Without Honor and Humanity: Proxy War poster
7.0

Shozo Hirono has managed to separate from the Yamamori family and create his own small family, and extend his circle of acquaintances. These new friendships include a powerful underboss of the Muraoka family, Noboru Uchimoto.

Battles Without Honor and Humanity: Proxy War

1973

Japan's Don poster
7.2

A yakuza leader must balance his violent tactics necessary for the rough streets of 1960s Tokyo with the domestic needs of his daughters.

Japan's Don

1977

Sister Street Fighter: Fifth Level Fist poster
5.5

Kiku Nakakawa, the only daughter of an old kimono shop owner in Kyoto, is enthusiastic about karate. To help her friend Michi avenge her brother, she sneaks into a movie studio in Kyoto where a drug dealing syndicate is based.

Sister Street Fighter: Fifth Level Fist

1976

Golgo 13: Assignment Kowloon poster
5.5

Duke Togo (codename: Golgo 13) is a ruthless assassin who's accepted a tricky assignment from an American drug syndicate. His mission is to "rub out" Hong Kong's underworld kingpin. His main obstacle is the relentless Detective 'Smitty' Smith, determined to stop Togo no matter the cost. The result is an explosive adventure through the seamy, violent streets of Hong Kong.

Golgo 13: Assignment Kowloon

1977

Hokuriku Proxy War poster
6.9

A Yakuza group from Osaka with dreams of national dominance moves into the snowy Hokuriku region, sparking a bloody turf war with local gangs.

Hokuriku Proxy War

1977

The General and His Empire of Joy poster
4.6

Zenjiro (Masaru Shiga) is a lowlife criminal, roaming the country with his merry band of crooks, gamblers and rapists. When he gets done with his latest escapade of banging a samurai's wife, he finds that his love Okoyo (Eiko Matsuda), has managed to be recruited as one of Shogun Tokugawa Ietsuna's (Kantaro Suga) concubines. While attempting to win her back, Zenjiro becomes involved in increasingly murderous palace intrigues.

The General and His Empire of Joy

1977

Operation Plazma in Osaka poster
7.7

Amidst Japan's postwar economic boom, yakuza factions in Osaka fight for survival when Japan's largest crime syndicate plans a hostile takeover.

Operation Plazma in Osaka

1976

Yakuza Graveyard poster
6.6

A police investigator cracks down on yakuza business, but once he realizes the police are in negotiations with certain factions, he sides with his own syndicate of choice.

Yakuza Graveyard

1976

Doberman Cop poster
6.6

Joji Kano is a loose cannon cop from backwoods Okinawa, sent to Tokyo to investigate the grisly murder of an Okinawa woman. As he probes deeper into the sleazy world of flesh-peddling, talent agency corruption and mob influence, Kano uncovers the shocking truth.

Doberman Cop

1977

Violent Panic: The Big Crash poster
6.5

Takashi, a bank robber, dreams of his final heist and escaping to Brazil... but in his way, stands a woman that loves him, his dead partner's brother, a corrupt cop, a motorcycle gang and every police officer in the Kanto region.

Violent Panic: The Big Crash

1976

Japanese Humanity and Justice poster
7.0

When a mob boss retires under political pressure, his successor and yakuza family are tested to their limits as new alliances and enemies are formed.

Japanese Humanity and Justice

1977

Decapitation of an Evil Woman poster
6.2

An unusual blending of elements comes together in this crime story drawn from Japanese history. During the early Meiji period a number of “Dokufu” (Poison Women) committed a significant number of murders. These crimes were most often committed by wives on their husbands in order to be together with their lovers. At that time women were executed in the same manner as men, to wit: by being decapitated. This is the story of the most notorious of all, Takahashi Oden who, in 1879, was the last woman executed by decapitation in Japan.

Decapitation of an Evil Woman

1977

The Decisive Power of Aikido poster
7.8

It is about the life of Ueshiba - the founder of aikido. We can see how he decided to develop aikido and how he did it. We can see why he developed aikido and where he has learned martial arts.

The Decisive Power of Aikido

1975

Kanto Street Peddlers:  Clan Violent Loyalty poster
NR

The second film in the Kanto Street Peddlers Clan series starring Bunta Sugawara.

Kanto Street Peddlers: Clan Violent Loyalty

1970

Winter's Flower poster
6.5

Kanno is a Yakuza. He had to kill Matsuoka who betrayed their boss. Kanno knew Matsuoka had a 3-year-old daughter named Youko. Before he gave himself to the police, he asked his trusted man to take care of her. While in prison, Kanno kept sending letters to Youko, disguising as an uncle in Brazil. 15 years later, Kanno is released. He is determined to live legitimately, however the Yakuza has not forgotten his wicked deed!

Winter's Flower

1978

A Savage Beast Goes Mad poster
6.9

Test driver Hayami loses control of his car and rolls over. His company then learns that he has kept secret that he is visually impaired, and he is fired. Without the prospect of returning to his old job he makes a plan to rob several jewelry stores. A few days later, Hayami escapes with stolen goods worth 80 million yen in a violin case on a Kyoto city bus. A wild chase ensues.

A Savage Beast Goes Mad

1976

The Maizuru Showdown between The Yakuza Brothers poster
10.0

With a Kansai syndicate vying for Tokyo, one man reunites with his roguish half-brother in the midst of negotiations, when all hell breaks loose.

The Maizuru Showdown between The Yakuza Brothers

1974

A Cheerful Yakuza poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

A Cheerful Yakuza

1976

The International Gang of Kobe poster
5.7

In 1947, in Kobe, Japan, a local street gang fights for their survival when its turf is overrun by United States occupation forces and international gangs.

The International Gang of Kobe

1975

Brave Red Flower of the North poster
6.8

An exciting tale of action on the distant northern island of Hokkaido around the beginning of the 20th Century starring two of the biggest names in Yakuza film history, Fuji Junko and Takakura Ken. Since the death of death of her father, Yuki who has traveled from her home in the southernmost part of Japan must fight corrupt local officials seeking to fill her late father's post. As her life is in danger a mysterious rifleman, played by Takakura Ken watches from the shadows. Can she finish the work her dear departed father started in an untamed land?

Brave Red Flower of the North

1970

Prison Tales poster
7.0

No synopsis available yet.

Prison Tales

1970

The Karate 2 poster
7.0

This is the second film of the ZA KARATE trilogy (AKA BRONSON LEE CHAMPION). Tadashi Yamashita reprises his role as the Karate World Champion and must faces dozens of worldwide pretenders, such as the Guillotine Brothers of New Guinea, Killer Samson, Dracula Jack (Bolo) who all want a shot at him at all cost and also to steal the famous Orikirimaru Sword.

The Karate 2

1974

The Karate poster
9.0

Bronson Lee, a Japanese-American raised by his grandma in the harsh, poverty-stricken desert Southwest, returns to Japan to demonstrate his mastery of karate by entering the tournament that will determine the first World Karate Champion.

The Karate

1974

Hanjiro, A Great Philanderer poster
NR

Based on the comic by Kazuo Koike and Satomi Kôe.

Hanjiro, A Great Philanderer

1975

The Karate 3 poster
6.3

This is the third and final film of the ZA KARATE trilogy. Tadashi Yamashita reprises his role as the Karate World Champion. Local Japanese karate schools are not happy that a Chinese master will take over the Japanese karate organization and will do everything they can to prevent it.

The Karate 3

1975