Jiro Shirai

Acting

Jiro Shirai

Born 1950-09-18 · Kyoto, Japan

Acting credits

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

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

Legend of the Eight Samurai poster
5.8

The evil Hikita clan rises from the dead to fulfill a curse on the Satomi clan by restoring the face of their warlord by using the skin of Princess Shizu. In the process of trying to capture her, the clan murders her entire family, but Princess Shizu escapes their clutches. She enlists the aid of eight samurai warriors, possessors of powerful magic crystal, led by Dosetsu (Sonny Chiba!) to help rescue the remaining members of her court and revenge her family. Along the way, they must fight undead warriors, evil spirits, poisonous beauties and a giant centipede.

Legend of the Eight Samurai

1983

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

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

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

The Shogun Assassins poster
5.4

This is a film about a real person. Sanada Yukimura fought a war against Tokugawa Ieyasu.

The Shogun Assassins

1979

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

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

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

Doberman Cop poster
6.5

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

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

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

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

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

Decapitation of an Evil Woman poster
6.3

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

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

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

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

Third Generation Boss poster
8.0

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.

Third Generation Boss

1974

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

Hell Riders in Kyoto poster
9.0

The rich punk Junya has only one thing in mind: to race with the police on his motorcycle. That makes him unpopular, not only with the police, even with his Bosozoku buddies, who slowly but surely distance themselves from him. Junya falls in love with the equally speed-hungry Hiroko.

Hell Riders in Kyoto

1973

Abarenbo Shogun: The Bride of Edo Castle poster
NR

The Shogun gets engaged to a princess who rebels against the prospect, because she wasn't consulted.

Abarenbo Shogun: The Bride of Edo Castle

1991