Ganjirō Nakamura II

A touching story following young shamisen string maker, Saku. Beautiful Saku moves to Lake Yogo, known for its production of quality shamisen...

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...

Learning of his family's collapse, acolyte Goichi, sent to study silently at the Temple of the Golden Pavilion, must endure acute psychological...

A theater troupe master's visit with his old flame unintentionally sets off a chain of unexpected events with devastating consequences.

A war widow with a young boy manages a farm with her bossy mother-in-law. When a reporter comes to interview her, the two begin an affair. He turns...

Floating Vessel (源氏物語 浮舟 , Ukifune) is a 1957 color Japanese film directed by Teinosuke Kinugasa. Drawn from parts of the famous Genji...

A middle-aged husband of a younger woman finds her youth intimidating to the point that he cannot become aroused. His solution involves the...

A former Buddhist monk turned erotic filmmaker, Subuyan lives with hairdresser Haru and her two teenage children. Shooting two skin flicks per day,...

The family of an older man who runs a small sake brewery become concerned with his finances and his health after they discover him visiting an old...

In Edo Japan, a kabuki actor seeks revenge against the three men who drove his parents to their deaths years ago.

A poor peasant, after years of scraping, becomes a rich and powerful Osaka merchant. Mizoguchi Kenji's final project; he died before completing it...

Taking its title from an archaic Japanese word meaning "ghost story," this anthology adapts four folk tales. A penniless samurai marries for money...

Once upon a time, Okuro (Ayako Wakao), a young female racoon, lived poorly with her drunken father. One day after they disguised themselves as...

In 39 interviews with actors and actresses, writers, producers and staff members, interspersed with film excerpts and stills, Shindō recounts the...

An Indian prince leaves his world of comfort and riches behind to wander and meditate for six years in search of spiritual enlightenment. Siddartha...

[Period covered: 1614-1615] Tokugawa Ieyasu is now the ruler of all Japan. But one last loose thread must be tied up before his domination is...

Kisuke, a young bamboo worker marries Tomoe, a courtesan who was once involved with Kisuke's late father.

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 Fencing Master tells the story of a man trying to survive as the only world he knows is becoming increasingly irrelevant. Danpei Ichikawa lives...

In 221 BC, Qin Shihuangdi conquered the rest of China. Qin's great accomplishments and also his serious faults are showed in this film. Qin adopted...

Ushimatsu's father told him never to reveal his lower-caste heritage; years later, he now contemplates confiding in an activist fighting against such...

Lord Mito Mitsukuni, the vice-shogun of the whole country, left the family estate and went on a trip to various provinces with his students...

Taka, the daughter of Naniwa-ya, a longtime Osaka store owner, married Kichisaburo Kawashima-ya, the son of a kimono wholesaler. Her husband just...

Yahagi Michiko is accosted and raped walking home one evening. From there she maneuvers the logistics of the police, hospital, and criminal justice...

1962 Japanese movie

Set in the middle of the Edo period (1603-1867), this tragic love story takes its cue from a celebrated historical case tried by magistrate Tadasuke...

Kikuji is the scion of an Osaka merchant family whose traditional power is matrilineal. Instructed by his overbearing mother and grandmother to give...

Seppuku Day 17 Ako ronins, including Kuranosuke Oishi, who were entrusted to the Hosokawa family, and the events of the two days before are depicted...

During the reign of Hidetada, the second shogun of the Tokugawa dynasty, the advisor Okubo Hikozaemon (Ganjiro Nakamura) entrusts the young Takechiyo...

Japan, 1701. A group of samurai become rônin after their lord is forced to commit seppuku for assaulting a court official, who will become the...

Follows the murder of a money-lending masseur by an impoverished samurai. The slain masseur's daughter will also fall victim to his curse, so that...

One day, a funeral was held at one of the tenements in Asakusa. It was the only son of a wealthy merchant named Matasaburo, who had run away from...

About small-time gangster Asakichi's chaotic life in the 1930s. His gambling addiction means that he must not continue working in the family...

The film won 1959 Blue Ribbon Awards for best actor Raizo Ichikawa and for best cinematography Kazuo Miyagawa. The film also won 1959 Kinema Junpo...

Tradition and modernity clash when a young woman inherits a sweet-making firm in Kyoto.

Keiko, whom everyone calls Mama, narrates her story: she's a hostess on the Ginza, 30, a widow. She describes life's vicious cycle: acting cheerful...

A band of warriors journeys to Mount Oe to rescue abducted women from a demon, overcoming supernatural threats like a giant spider and a diabolical...

A unique story of a life of romance, divided into three episodes about the profound secrets of the path deeply rooted in the essence of human nature,...

Satoko is a mistress by trade or fate: when her master, the silkscreen artist of the Kohoan Temple in Kyoto, dies, she is given to the temple's...

A young man who followed his father's wishes and became a travel actor causes a big commotion with his fellow members of the Gurentai group during...

The legend of the birth of Shintoism. In Fourth Century Japan, the Emperor's son Ouso expects to succeed his father on the throne, but Otomo, the...

Film directed by Kenji Misumi.

Fascinated with women from an early age, Yonosuke had his first sexual encounter at the age of seven. From that day on, he recklessly and forwardly...

The lives of a family of kelp (kombu) merchants in Osaka across three generations, spanning from the Meiji era through the aftermath of World War II.

Ayako Wakao portrays a downtown rice ball shop girl whose heart is set on her business. Involved in her life are three young men—stage actor Goro,...

A light comedy with Ayako Wakao charming her patients.

The first story concerns an attractive young woman who works in a Tokyo nightclub. Her plan for a solid financial future has a double whammy. In the...

AKA Family of Women. A story about a wealthy family and the greed and selfishness of three daughters and relatives, after the passing of their old...

At sixteen, due to illness, Tsuruko goes blind, and has no choice but to become a massage therapist. One day, stumbling on a staircase, she meets a...

After a fight with his wife, Yahachirō, a carpenter, meets a sinister "Shinigami" who teaches him how to spot people who won’t die. He profits by...

The story of three sportsman brothers living in the Ginza. One day, the three meet a raving beauty on separate occasions and are unaware they have...

1961 Japanese movie

During the reign of Shogun Hidetada, both Hirate Musashi and Okamoto Musashi strive to become the finest swordsman in the land by defeating the Yagyu...

Eiichiro, a talented young salesman, grows disillusioned with office politics and returns to his family’s traditional tofu business, applying skill...

A privileged son betrays his family for the favors of a geisha in 18th century Osaka.

1961 Japanese movie

A Japanese adaption of the story of the Prodigal Son.

In the ruins of postwar Osaka, performers and drifters gather in a rundown tenement known as "Geinin Mura." Osen, a kind-hearted seamstress, supports...

In postwar Osaka’s bustling textile district, a tough and highly rational moneylender named Katsumi builds a successful lending business in a world...

In a peaceful town near the Seto Inland Sea, a threatening letter arrives along with the ringing of a telephone... A thriller-comedy that sets this...