Kazuo Mori

Directing

Kazuo Mori

Born 1911-01-15 · Matsuyama, Japan

Kazuo Mori, also known as Issei Mori, got his start as a jidai-geki director in silent films of the 1930s. In postwar years he became a leading director at Daiei, working regularly with the studio's familiar stars like Shintaro Katsu and Raizo Ichikawa. In the 1960s and '70s, Mori established himself alongside Kenji Misumi as one of the most dependable names in chambara franchise series, directing some of the best installments of Zatoichi, Kyoshiro Nemuri and Shinobi No Mono. Mori's work is marked by clear, intelligent storytelling and innovative camera techniques.

Acting credits

Behind the camera

Wakaki hi no kōdōkan poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Wakaki hi no kōdōkan

1971

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Tree of Life

1947

Zenigata heiji torimono hikae: Kiniro no ōkami poster
NR

A series of murders surrounds the 70,000 ryō in buried treasure hidden by the Kanayama Magistrate.

Zenigata heiji torimono hikae: Kiniro no ōkami

1953

The Man Disappears Yesterday poster
NR

Tired of everyday life, the 8th Shogun Yoshimune flees Edo Castle and asks Ooka Echizen to become his personal assistant. In a rice shop, Yoshimune meets a simple ronin Ohashi Kenshiro, and receives permission to stay at his house, but a mysterious corpse awaits him in the house... And then the second, third and fourth murders occur...

The Man Disappears Yesterday

1964

Zatoichi at Large poster
6.7

Blind masseur and master swordsman Zatoichi finds a robbed and fatally wounded pregnant woman, whose baby he delivers before she dies. He takes the baby in search of its father and finds the child's aunt, who is about to be forced into prostitution for want of a payment the dead mother was bringing. Zatoichi determines to save the woman from her cruel fate.

Zatoichi at Large

1972

Wrath of Daimajin poster
6.3

In a mountainous region of Japan, Lord Arakawa kidnaps the men of nearby villages to use as slave labor, producing gunpowder from his sulfur pits. A band of young boys decide to rescue their enslaved fathers on their own.

Wrath of Daimajin

1966

The Tale of Zatoichi Continues poster
7.1

Returning to the village where a year before he had killed Hirate, a much-admired opponent, Zatoichi encounters another swordsman and former rival in love.

The Tale of Zatoichi Continues

1962

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Coming Up of Kodokan

1953

Duel at Omagatsuji poster
NR

The sword of the chivalrous warrior is drawn amid the struggle for a legendary sword and a plot to assassinate a young princess.

Duel at Omagatsuji

1951

Three Young Samurai poster
6.7

During Japan's Warring States period three young Tokugawa vassals head their separate ways after Takeda Shingen's forces overran their castle. When they next meet they have all joined opposing sides.

Three Young Samurai

1961

Yoidore nitōryū poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Yoidore nitōryū

1954

I Am Being Targeted poster
NR

A thriller of deduction and duels, in which a newspaper reporter bravely takes on a gang in the city’s skyscraper district over a mysterious recording by a diva.

I Am Being Targeted

1950

Shinobi no Mono 3: Resurrection poster
7.0

[Period covered: 1595-1600] We last saw ninja Ishikawa Goemon, as he was about to be boiled alive. But a good ninja is both hard to find, and even harder to kill. With the help of the enigmatic Hattori Hanzo, Goemon lives to skulk another day, and sets his sights on bringing down the warlord who tried to turn him into soup – Toyotomi Hideyoshi. And as always, in the background, the suble hand of Tokugawa Ieyasu is pulling strings as he plots to rule all of Japan!

Shinobi no Mono 3: Resurrection

1963

Shinobi No Mono 6: The Last Iga Spy poster
6.3

[Period covered: 1637-1651] This is one of the most complicated plots of any of the Shinobi no Mono films! This film tells the story of Saizo’s son, Kirigakure Saisuke, who after seeing his father die at the Battle Of Shimabara, grows up to be an expert ninja. Before he dies, “Mist” Saizo tells his children Saisuke, and Yuri that they are not really brother and sister. She, in fact, is the daughter of the late lord Sanada Yukimura, and must be saved from the shogun’s forces. In the chess match of spy versus spy, can Saisuke defeat the shogun’s chief strategist, Matsudaira Izunokami at his own game? Showing many exciting ninja tactics, it is not to be missed.

Shinobi No Mono 6: The Last Iga Spy

1965

Zenigata heiji torimono hikae: Karakuri yashiki poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Zenigata heiji torimono hikae: Karakuri yashiki

1953

The Radiant Prince poster
7.0

Hikaru Genji, the haunted romantic hero of Lady Murasaki Shikibu’s “Genji Monogatari” (Tale of Genji) comes to life in this new tale of his further romantic adventures. Young Genji, the emperor’s illegitimate son cuts a swath through the women of the imperial court, while still mourning the spirit of his late mother who died while he was still a child. Driven to an obsession with the emperor’s new concubine, Lady Fujitsubo, whose resemblance to his late mother originally caught the eye of the emperor, young Genji embarks upon a reckless affair with her that could cost him his life.

The Radiant Prince

1961

Kenkaku Shōbai: Tsujigiri poster
NR

Kohei Akiyama, a popular master swordsman, and his son Daijiro live in the town of Edo in good faith. While running a dojo, Daijiro and his father find themselves wrapped up in a series of events with the town's people.

Kenkaku Shōbai: Tsujigiri

1982

The Blind Menace poster
6.9

This is the story of a blind masseur who tricks people, steals, and kills; he is the anti-Zatoichi.

The Blind Menace

1960

Guren bosatsu poster
NR

Set against the backdrop of the Great Fire of Edo, this story depicts the conflict between the town fire brigades and the daimyo’s fire brigades.

Guren bosatsu

1949

刑事部屋 poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

刑事部屋

1956

The Killer's Killer poster
NR

Takeshi Ijuin leaves for Chicago to be a cameraman, and a few years later returns to Japan. But he only learned the technique of homicide in Chicago. When he visits the graveyard with his father to pray at his mother's tomb, his father is shot by someone. Now he thirsts for revenge.

The Killer's Killer

1970

Shinobi no mono 7: Mist Saizo Strikes Back poster
6.3

[Period covered: 1616] Kirigakure Saizo returns for the final time as he sets out to assassinate Tokugawa Ieyasu in order to avenge the death of Lord Sanada Yukimura. But first he must contend with Ieyasu’s own ninja group led by the powerful Fuma Daijuro, who has a score to settle with the men of Iga that dates back 280 years to the war between the Genji and the Heike at the Battle of Dan-no-Ura. Tremendous fighting and great plot twists highlight this exceptional look into the lives of the mysterious ninja of Japan.

Shinobi no mono 7: Mist Saizo Strikes Back

1966

Satan's Sword III: The Final Chapter poster
7.0

Disguised as a beggar monk, Ryunosuke is harassed along the road by the rowdy members of a country dojo or fencing school malingering outside their fencing hall. The third film in the Satan's Sword trilogy.

Satan's Sword III: The Final Chapter

1961

Zatoichi and the Doomed Man poster
6.8

Blind swordsman Zatoichi, jailed briefly, is implored by another prisoner to aid him in proving his innocence of a crime for which he is sentenced to death. Zatoichi is reluctant to get involved, because he knows how often such involvement has led to trouble in the past. But events conspire to thrust him repeatedly into involvement, and gradually he comes to believe in the man's innocence and determines to free him.

Zatoichi and the Doomed Man

1965