Minoru Chiaki

Acting

Minoru Chiaki

Born — Died

1917-04-28 — 1999-11-01

Place of birth

Hokkaido, Japan

Known for

Acting

Credits

61 titles

Minoru Chiaki (April 28, 1917 - November 1, 1999) was a Japanese actor who appeared in such films as Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai and The Hidden Fortress. In Seven Samurai he was the good-natured samurai Heihachi. Later in his career he appeared as a secondary actor in many Toei films. In 1986 he was given the Best Actor prize at the Japan Academy Prize ceremony for his performance in Toei's Gray Sunset (1985). Description above from the Wikipedia article Minoru Chiaki, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Known for

Film credits

1960s · 22 titles

High and Low poster
8.4

A Yokohama shoe executive faces a wrenching choice when kidnappers mistakenly seize his chauffeur’s son but demand the ransom anyway.

High and Low

1963

The Face of Another poster
7.8

A businessman with a disfigured face obtains a lifelike mask from his new doctor, but the mask starts altering his personality and causing him to question his identity.

The Face of Another

1966

A House in the Quarter poster
6.4

With her family suffering from extreme poverty, Yuko, as the eldest daughter, is sold to a successful brothel in Kyoto. There she is assigned to serve Takamatsu, one of the brothel’s top customers. But while Takamatsu falls madly in love with Yuko, she finds herself attracted to a young priest named Kunugida. Torn by jealousy, Takamatsu hatches an evil plan to tear them apart.

A House in the Quarter

1963

Hero of the Red Light District poster
8.7

A successful textile industrialist from the provinces, who is beloved by his employees for his kindness, cannot find a wife because of a disfiguring birthmark on his face. Even the courtesans in Yoshiwara refuse to entertain him, until an indentured peasant prostitute, Tamarazu, takes the unsavoury assignment and treats him with brash tenderness.

Hero of the Red Light District

1960

Love Under the Crucifix poster
7.1

A tea master and his daughter Ogin are both Christians in feudal Japan. Ogin falls in love with a married feudal prince who shares her faith. When the Shogun bans Christianity, the situation worsens.

Love Under the Crucifix

1962

The Inheritance poster
7.3

A dying businessman intends to will ¥200 million to his three illegitimate children, but his associates scheme to take advantage of the situation.

The Inheritance

1962

Shinran poster
10.0

A biographical movie about Shinran

Shinran

1960

Song of Love poster
6.5

The life in a small village in Shikoku and the love story between two young people.

Song of Love

1967

Sasuke and His Comedians poster
6.6

Osaka in the early 1600s, aftermath of the historical Battle of Sekigahara; a group of orphan children are wandering through the battlefield scavenging for armour when they encounter a young boy named Sasuke with magical powers he says came from a meteor that crashed onto the Earth…

Sasuke and His Comedians

1963

Cold Rice, Osan, Chan poster
7.0

Three stories revolve around independence, a man searching for his wife, and a poor craftsman trying to make money.

Cold Rice, Osan, Chan

1965

Cases of Umon: The Woman with an Umbrella poster
10.0

Ryutaro Otomo as the Edo magistrate Umon Kondo is out to solve a crime that centers around the murder of a jail guard & the escape of a criminal who is later himself killed. His dying words in Umon's arms were, "I didn't kill the guard." The murdered criminal had been a safe-cracker & only his girlfriend knows where he hid a fortune. She is kidnapped, so the plot gets thicker & thicker.

Cases of Umon: The Woman with an Umbrella

1963

A Carpenter and Children poster
7.5

A carpenter, Shigetsugu, learns a lesson of love and humanity from five orphaned children and an affectionate woman named Oritsu. It's a winning combination of drama and humor. The warm friendship that grows between the carpenter, the woman and the children making this into a true masterpiece.

A Carpenter and Children

1962

Koto—The Lake of Tears poster
7.2

A touching story following young shamisen string maker, Saku. Beautiful Saku moves to Lake Yogo, known for its production of quality shamisen strings, only to find her peaceful life turned upside down when a master musician takes personal interest in her.

Koto—The Lake of Tears

1966

The Sharks poster
9.0

A film adaptation of Masatsugu Nobuhiko's novel of the same name, directed by Tasaka Tomotaka and starring Nakamura Kinnosuke. This literary epic tells the story of how the protagonist, who has become mired in evil due to his poverty and low position, eventually awakens to humanity through an encounter with a nun. Shark was born without a father in a fishing village where the main occupation is catching sharks. In his poor and humiliating life, his only source of comfort is the tender love of his mother. However, on the night of a festival, the village burns to the ground and his mother dies. Left alone, Shark sets off for Kyoto with an old caster.

The Sharks

1964

The Christian Revolt poster
6.7

In Tokugawa-era (1637) Shimabara, oppressed peasant Christians revolt against the shogunate with the aid of charismatic Christian rebel leader Shiro Amakusa.

The Christian Revolt

1962

Won't Stand for Dying poster
NR

The son of the murdered Yakuza, Kenji, at the request of his mother, worked in a stable company. However, soon the girl Kenji Amy, who was in favor of the director of the company, is sexually harassed by him. Kenji beats the director and resigns. He asks his brother Ryota, the manager of the cabaret, to find a job, but his brother refuses him, and he is taken in by Senba, a yakuza boss specializing in smuggling and drugs...

Won't Stand for Dying

1960

Five Ronins poster
NR

The story of five easygoing Yakuza who come together to save the live of a young innocent girl, Oichi, from an evil vassal.

Five Ronins

1963

Japan's No. 1 Disconnected Man poster
7.0

Maruyama, a day laborer, is living on an abandoned ship at the port of Osaka when he meets an elusive man offering a job.

Japan's No. 1 Disconnected Man

1969

Case of a Young Lord 8 poster
9.0

A family is brutally murdered in their own home and the official government's sake dealer is framed as a rebel by a corrupt member of the Shogun's Council of Elders. Young Lord decides to take on the Shogun's vile chief attendant.

Case of a Young Lord 8

1960

Case of a Young Lord 9: Black Camellia poster
7.0

Escaping the hustle and bustle of Edo, the Young Lord came to Oshima Island in Izu to take a vacation. Unexpectedly, the island's boss, Amimoto, was brutally murdered with a harpoon. As usual, the Young Lord sets out to solve the case. However, most of the islanders have a grudge against Amimoto, and there are so many suspects that he is at his wits' end this time. Set against the beautiful sea of Izu and the majestic Mt. Mihara, the Young Lord's brilliant deductions and his secret sword Ichimonjo-Kakureshi cut through the mystery!

Case of a Young Lord 9: Black Camellia

1961

The Youth and His Amulet poster
9.0

Gen is a lonely orphan boy. His sole sense of companionship comes from an imaginary friend, the god Prince Fudo-Myo. Prince Fudo-Myo comes to the boy's rescue in times of difficulty.

The Youth and His Amulet

1961

Uogashi no senpū musume poster
NR

1963 Japanese movie

Uogashi no senpū musume

1963

1950s · 34 titles

Seven Samurai poster
8.5

A samurai answers a village's request for protection after he falls on hard times. The town needs protection from bandits, so the samurai gathers six others to help him teach the people how to defend themselves, and the villagers provide the soldiers with food.

Seven Samurai

1954

Ikiru poster
8.3

Kanji Watanabe is a middle-aged man who has worked in the same monotonous bureaucratic position for decades. Learning he has cancer, he starts to look for the meaning of his life.

Ikiru

1952

Throne of Blood poster
7.9

Returning to their lord's castle, samurai warriors Washizu and Miki are waylaid by a spirit who predicts their futures. When the first part of the spirit's prophecy comes true, Washizu's scheming wife, Asaji, presses him to speed up the rest of the spirit's prophecy by murdering his lord and usurping his place. Director Akira Kurosawa's resetting of William Shakespeare's "Macbeth" in feudal Japan is one of his most acclaimed films.

Throne of Blood

1957

The Hidden Fortress poster
8.0

In feudal Japan, during a bloody war between clans, two cowardly and greedy peasants, soldiers of a defeated army, stumble upon a mysterious man who guides them to a fortress hidden in the mountains.

The Hidden Fortress

1958

Rashomon poster
8.0

Four people recount different versions of the story of a man's murder and the rape of his wife.

Rashomon

1950

The Human Condition II: Road to Eternity poster
8.2

Kaji, sent to the Japanese army labeled Red, witnesses cruelties in the army and revolts against the abusive treatment against a fellow recruit. He also sees his friend Shinjô defecting to the Russian border, and he ends in the front to fight a lost battle against the Russian tanks division.

The Human Condition II: Road to Eternity

1959

Godzilla Raids Again poster
6.0

Two fishing scout pilots make a horrifying discovery when they encounter a second Godzilla alongside a new monster named Anguirus. Without the weapon that killed the original, authorities attempt to lure Godzilla away from the mainland. But Anguirus soon arrives and the two monsters make their way towards Osaka as Japan braces for tragedy.

Godzilla Raids Again

1955

Gigantis, the Fire Monster poster
6.4

A prehistoric monster called Gigantis emerges alongside another creature named Angurus.

Gigantis, the Fire Monster

1959

Samurai III: Duel at Ganryu Island poster
7.2

A humble and simple Takezo abandons his life as a knight errant. He's sought as a teacher and vassal by Shogun, Japan's most powerful clan leader. He's also challenged to fight by the supremely confident and skillful Sasaki Kojiro. Takezo agrees to fight Kojiro in a year's time but rejects Shogun's patronage, choosing instead to live on the edge of a village, raising vegetables. He's followed there by Otsu and later by Akemi, both in love with him. The year ends as Takezo assists the villagers against a band of brigands. He seeks Otsu's forgiveness and accepts her love, then sets off across the water to Ganryu Island for his final contest.

Samurai III: Duel at Ganryu Island

1956

The Idiot poster
7.0

A gentle, war-shattered ex-soldier, Kinji Kameda, arrives in wintry Hokkaidō and is pulled into a volatile tangle of love and pity between the disgraced Taeko Nasu, the proud Ayako, and his possessive friend Akama. Kameda’s saintly compassion exposes everyone’s wounds, steering the quartet toward jealousy, violence, and inexorable tragedy. Adapted from Dostoevsky’s novel.

The Idiot

1951

I Live in Fear poster
7.3

An aging foundry patriarch, gripped by terror of nuclear annihilation, tries to uproot his family to Brazil. When they petition to have him declared incompetent, a family-court counselor witnesses his obsession slide into ruin—and asks whether ignoring the atomic threat is any saner.

I Live in Fear

1955

Scandal poster
6.9

A celebrity photograph sparks a court case as a tabloid magazine spins a scandalous yarn over a painter and a famous singer.

Scandal

1950

The Lower Depths poster
7.1

Residents of a rundown boardinghouse in 19th-century Japan, including a mysterious old man and an aging actor, get drawn into a love triangle that turns violent. When amoral thief Sutekichi breaks off his affair with landlady Osugi to romance her younger sister, Okayo, Osugi extracts her revenge by revealing her infidelity to her jealous husband.

The Lower Depths

1957

Chikamatsu's Love in Osaka poster
5.2

Chubei, the adopted son of an Osaka courier, falls desperately in love with the courtesan Umegawa. To prevent a wealthy client from purchasing her, he steals money from his employer to buy her freedom himself. Now hunted criminals, the lovers flee toward Yamato, pursued by the law.

Chikamatsu's Love in Osaka

1959

The Bell of Love poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

The Bell of Love

1959

Vendetta of a Samurai poster
6.6

Mataemon Araki, a renowned swordsman, helps a young man find vengeance.

Vendetta of a Samurai

1952

A Girl Who Delivers Happiness poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

A Girl Who Delivers Happiness

1955

Talkative Wife poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Talkative Wife

1959

Mole Alley poster
8.0

33-year-old poor writer Ogata was able to endure his miserable life cheerfully thanks to Yoshie, a 19-year-old innocent young wife. After graduating from a girls' school in Hokuriku, she immediately moved to Tokyo to meet and marry Ogata. After neatly writing Ogata's manuscript, he would buy dorayaki as a gratuity and devour it.

Mole Alley

1953

The Mandarin Room poster
8.0

After running away from her mother, Ashiko works as a maid at an inn and changes her name, but she finds herself torn between her past and a new relationship with a lonely trader on the beach of Atami.

The Mandarin Room

1956

A Wife's Heart poster
6.9

A young woman tries to raise money to open her own coffee shop. She arranges a loan when her rigid family won't help and then her husband becomes jealous of the loan officer.

A Wife's Heart

1956

Daigaku no kotengu poster
NR

With his mother’s wishes and a young woman’s prayers in his heart, a spirited young man fights to uphold the honor of college judo.

Daigaku no kotengu

1952

Gendai no yokubô poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Gendai no yokubô

1956

The Unleashed Lord poster
9.0

No synopsis available yet.

The Unleashed Lord

1959

All Sold Out poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

All Sold Out

1956

Little Peach poster
6.1

Anzukko (Little Peach) is the daughter of a successful writer. She turns down each one of her suitors, until she marries a beginning writer named Ryokichi. Their life quickly sinks into despair.

Little Peach

1958

Sunflower Girl poster
10.0

Young Setsuko Fujino begins a new job at Tokyo Chemical Company. She likes her boss, Ippei Hitachi, and enjoys serving him tea, despite the fact that her fellow workers think the women employees should not have to act in such a servile manner. When the women go on strike over the issue, Setsuko finds herself caught in the middle. When the heir to the company, Ryosuke Tanabe, proposes marriage to Setsuko, she is honored, but realizes that her real affection is for Hitachi.

Sunflower Girl

1953

The Immortal Pitcher poster
NR

Baseball movie about Eiji Sawamura.

The Immortal Pitcher

1955

Bodyguard from Hell poster
NR

Kitagawa, a drug control officer in the Kanto Shinetsu area, was ordered to investigate the situation of drug trafficking around Yokohama.

Bodyguard from Hell

1955

Vampire Moth poster
4.7

After a successful fashion designer receives a disturbing package, a series of bizarre murders begins to claim the models around her. As rumours of a grotesque, fanged killer spread, detective Kōsuke Kindaichi investigates the secrets connecting the victims, their employer and a mysterious figure from the past.

Vampire Moth

1956

A Bridge for Two Alone poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

A Bridge for Two Alone

1958

Saga of the Vagabonds poster
6.8

Lord Taro must deliver a money chest but is robbed by brigands led by Jibu. One of Jibu's men, Rokuro, steals the money from Jibu, but after meeting and befriending Taro, Rokuro decides to return the money to Taro. But Taro's unscrupulous brother Jiro falsely accuse Taro of the theft, and Taro reactively joins the outlaw band and encourages them to steal from the nobles and give to the poor.

Saga of the Vagabonds

1959

Talkative Company President poster
9.0

A former company man turned drifter is pulled back to lead a struggling toy company, enforcing bold reforms that shake up its corporate culture. Just as success arrives, he quietly walks away, leaving a changed company behind.

Talkative Company President

1957

Three 'Black Crow' Wives poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Three 'Black Crow' Wives

1959

Series credits