Eitarô Ozawa

In the civil wars of 16th century Japan, two ambitious peasants want to make their fortunes. The potter Genjuro intends to sell his wares for vast profits in the local city, while his brother-in-law Tobei wishes to become a samurai (imdb)

The legendary samurai Sasuke Sarutobi tracks a the spy Nojiri, while a mysterious figure named Sakon... (imdb)

With his closest friend, Matahachi, Takezo (the town's wild, orphan kid) leaves his village to join an army on its way to battle... (imdb)

A guilt-haunted samurai warrior attempts to stop a massacre taking place. (imdb)

Thirty years after the original monster's rampage, a new Godzilla emerges and attacks Japan. (imdb)

Ichiro Aoye, a young painter, encounters a famous singer, Miyako Saijo, while on holiday in the mountains. He gives her a ride and coincidentally stays at the same inn. A tabloid magazine specializing in scandals blows this encounter up into a huge falsehood designed to humiliate Miyako, who has been uncooperative with the press. (imdb)

In 17th century Kyoto, Osan is married to Ishun, a wealthy miserly scroll-maker. When Osan is falsely accused of having an affair with the best worker... (imdb)

Ichi is staying at an inn when a woman dies. Her dying wish is that Ichi take her son to his father, an artist living in a nearby town. After arriving in the town, Ichi finds out that the father has been forced by a local boss to create illegal pornography to pay off his gambling debts... (imdb)

In post-war Japan, a man brings a lost boy to his tenement. No one wants to take the child for even one night; finally, a sour widow, Tané, does. The next day, complaining, she takes the boy to his neighborhood and finds his father has gone to Tokyo; it seems the boy has been abandoned. Tané wants to leave him there, but he follows her home... (imdb)

The death of the Inugami Family head leaves behind a complicated series of relationships, both personal and business, that results in increased danger, some murders and deaths, and a subsequent investigation by Tokyo Private Detective, Kindaichi. (twitchfilm.net)

This is the story of Mama, a.k.a. Keiko, a middle-aged geisha who must choose to either get married or buy a bar of her own. Her family hounds her for money, her customers for her attention, and she is continually in debt. The life of a geisha is examined as well as the way in which the system traps and sometimes kills those in it. (imdb)

In eighth century China, the Emperor is grieving over the death of his wife. The Yang family wants to provide the Emperor with a consort so that they may consolidate their influence over the court. General An Lushan finds a distant relative working in their kitchen whom they groom to present to the Emperor... (imdb)

Oshima's most overtly political film, The Ceremony uses the backdrop of Japanese rituals (several weddings and more than one funeral) to mount a scathing attack on Japanese politics. Depicting the story of one family over 30 years, its promotion of a more tolerant society and the freedom that comes with it occasionally makes way for some genuinely moving depiction of everyday family life... (Channel 4)

The stage director Shimamura, who is bringing western theater to Japan, falls in love with the outspoken actress Sumako Matsui, and leaves his family to be with her, while trying to keep his Art Theatre solvent. (imdb)

A strange world of the criminal underground during Samurai times where a trio of mute assassins hack their way across ancient Edo looking for evil in a dreamlike world of corruption, where priests rob the dead and daughters get a hand at the family business of killing. (hkdvdstore.com)

Kinichi and Akiko meet when they visit their fathers in prison. After successfully gambling on a bicycle race, they spend an enjoyable day together at the beach. Akiko, who tries to make money as an artist's model to pay for her mother's medical expenses, now has to find 100,000 yen to pay off the company from which her father embezzled. Kinichi also requires 100,000 yen as bail for his father, who is accused of election fraud. (imdb)

A young woman on a mountaineering holiday is accused of murdering her husband. Tied to a mountain between her brutalising spouse and her secret lover, disaster strikes. To prevent all three from plunging to their deaths, the woman is forced to choose between cutting her husband's rope or that of her lover. An elliptical narrative structure shot in Masumura's trademark 'scope explores dark themes of gender, guilt and voyeurism in this blistering film.

The film revolves around the character of Hachiro Kiyokawa, a farmer turned master swordsman and scholar. We first meet him after his arrest for the killing of a detective working for the Shoganate. As a supporter of the Emperor and a conspirator plotting to destroy the Shogunate and kill all foreigners, he is most wanted by the Shoganate forces who are interested in gaining power thru foreign technology. (imdb)

Kiyoko is 23 and works as a tour guide. She lives with her mother and has two sisters and a brother, all from different fathers. Despite and because of various forms of pressure, the problems she sees and experiences around her make her suspicious of men and marriage, and very ambivalent about her relations to her own family.

An underlying theme of "Onimasa" is its portrayal of 20th century Japanese gangsters as cartoonish incarnations of the ancient samurai caste (the armed enforcers of feudal rule) in the era of modern capitalism. (imdb)

A woman's struggle for equality in Japan in the 1880s. Eiko Hirayama leaves Okayama for Tokyo, where she helps the fledgling Liberal Party and falls in love with its leader Kentaro Omoi, just as the party is being disbanded by the government. (imdb)

A sarcastic movie that takes jabs at the practices of the medical profession.

Domestic drama shot almost entirely on a set inside a house.

Japan's timeless tale of honor and revenge, the Loyal 47 Ronin is the true story of group of samurai who became ronin (masterless samurai) after their Lord was forced to commit seppuku (ritual suicide) for assaulting a court official, Kira Yoshinaka, who had insulted him... (AnimEigo.com)

When a narcotics deal goes sour and a suspect disappears, leaving only his clothes, Tokyo police question his wife and stake out the nightclub where she works. His disappearance stumps the police - until a young scientist appears who claims that H-Bomb tests in the Pacific, evidenced by a "ghost ship" that has turned up in the harbor, have created radioactive creatures - "H-Men" - who ooze like slime and dissolve anyone they touch. (imdb)

When the enigmatic woman Ryoko (played by Mishima-discovered female impersonator Akihiro Miwa) arrives at the Black Rose Mansion to perform, not only do the gentleman patrons seem smitten by her mystery and beauty, but past flames arrive to vie and die for her affections, as well. But things get even more complicated when the Mansion's manager and his wayward son both fall for the same dangerous woman...

In the 12th century, Buddhism was still a relatively new religion in Japan. Various Zen schools offered students a lengthy path, literally composed of a blank wall and unceasing meditation and were designed to cater to the few who were able to give up everything else in their lives and focus on liberation. This is the situation that The young Shinran discovered when he began exploring Buddhism as an alternative to the violence and ceaseless civil wars that racked Japan at the time.

A girl who had left her small Japanese village for the excitement and adventure of the big city--in this case, Tokyo--returns home years later for a visit. (imdb)

A samurai warrior is haunted by the spirit of his first wife. (imdb)

A young man named Sadao returns to the rich family that abandoned him as a youth to find his lost mother, only to find himself fighting against criminals.

Drama about a group of rank-and-file Japanese soldiers jailed for crimes against humanity adapted from the diaries of real prisoners. (criterion.com)

A romantic drama depicting the lives of two generations of a family who run a florist shop in Tokyo. (KG)

An ageing fishing boat, Dai-go Fukuryū Maru ("Lucky Dragon No. 5") sets out from the port of Yaizu in Shizuoka Prefecture. It travels around the Pacific, line fishing. While the ship is near Bikini Atoll, the ship's navigator sees a flash. All the crew come up to watch. They realize it is an atomic explosion, but take the time to clear their fishing gear. A short time later, grey ash starts to fall on the ship. By the time the ship returns to port, the sailors have been burned brown.

Toshiko (Mitsuko Mito) joins her criminal lover at a beach resort, where he tries to convince her to run away with him. Expressively shot on-location, Woman captures the tense struggle of a person attempting to break free of the past. (huluplus)

When her husband dies in an accident, a rough-mouthed former bar hostess is suspected of murder and insurance fraud. In this courtroom drama she is defended by a lawyer who is a cool and elegant business woman.

Two devious retainers are competing to take control of a fief when the current Lord dies, but involving Kyoshiro in the conflict against his will is the textbook example of a bad idea - especially when the collateral damage starts to tick him off. (imdb)

In one of the best films of this type, famous detective Kindaichi solves a series of mysterious murders in a wealthy family. An excellent blend of intrigue and betrayal, set against the backdrop of wealth, this film is loaded with twists and turns and surprises at every corner. Things are never as they seem, and it will keep you guessing until the very end. A rare treasure of a mystery, like none before or since!

A tragic affair between a soldier involved in the Manchurian campaign and a prostitute. (en.wikipedia.org)

The long awaited second film in the Wicked Priest series is a masterpiece of sword swinging fury as Shinkai is asked by a man on the run to bring his young son to live with his grandfather, the master of a ju-jitsu dojo during the Taisho period of the early 20th century. Shinkai then runs afoul of a gangster group using strong-arm tactics to take over the profits from local gambling. (japanesesamuraidvd.com)

The story is based on the author's personal experience as a teacher dispatched to Matsuyama on the island of Shikoku. Set at a middle school in Matsuyama. Botchan (young master) is the first-person narrator. He grows up in Tokyo as a reckless and rambunctious youth. In the opening he hurts himself jumping from the second floor of his elementary school, fights the boy next door, and tramples a neighbor's carrot patch by wrestling on the straw that covers the seedlings.

The sweet but naive denizens of a charming port town are hoodwinked by a couple of con men who prey on them at the outset of the war. But the hustlers' plan backfires when they come down with severe cases of conscience. Kinoshita's directorial debut is a breezy, warmhearted, and often very funny crowd-pleaser that's a testament to the filmmaker's faith in people. (imdb)

When a wealthy, selfish family decides to take care of an elderly hobo who collapsed near their home, they are beset by visits from his numerous friends. (Criterion)

Kuroki, a journalist for a trade paper, is investigating clandestine arms sales to Southeast Asia. He discovers that the point man in the illegal arms trading (Takayama, played with nihilistic menace by Tetsuro Tanba) was also involved in the cover-up of a murder on an American base during the Allied Occupation. The film rolls along as a suspenseful thriller while offering a critique of political corruption, hypocrisy, and journalistic cowardice in postwar Japan. (imdb)

An attempt is made to suppress a journalist's investigation of collusion between a rural police chief and the local gangster bosses. (The Movie Database)

A young man, convicted of a crime and imprisoned in the penitentiary, comes to believe that his wife is being unfaithful to him. He contrives his escape from the prison in order to seek her out and learn the truth, but the police give chase and he must flee into the mountains. (imdb)

A girl rebels against her mother, who runs a brothel in Yokohama, and attempts to find freedom on her own. (The Movie Database)

Shinkichi, a peasant employed as a cloth-dyer, has a dream: in the midst of the civil war which ravages Japan, he hopes to revive the long-banned custom of the Kyoto Gion Festival, and by doing so, bring together the warring clans and rampaging brigands in peaceful celebration. (imdb)

Chronicles the chain of events that lead to the hanging of German-journalist Richard Sorge, who was executed in 1944 after he was found supplying classified information to the Russians.

In postwar Japan a young woman is unable to marry her sweetheart because her family's in difficult circumstances and needs her income to keep afloat. (imdb)

A Buddhist priest becomes also a magician, dedicating himself to the protection of life wherever it's needed, whereupon he finds himself in direct service of the Queen. Political intrigue tightens around him as it is increasingly assumed that he harbors ulterior motives. (imdb)

A 1957 drama starring Kinuyo Tanaka based on a story by Hideji Hôjô

WWII is at an end. Baby boomers are in full bloom. Minister Araki is introducing a healthcare bill that aims to establish "Birth Control Consultation Centers" across Japan. As his speech echoes in the national assembly, his wife receives a different message from the doctor: She is pregnant. (mubi)

A bored warlord becomes obsessed with a married woman.

With plenty of action, and a strong story about the growth and development of an expert swordsman, who just happens to be from an extremely privileged background.

In Hiroshima Prefecture during the Meiji era, simple housemaid Seki accepts the proposal of Moichi, an educated mail carrier, who has decided to quit his job and save money for a warehouse by transporting goods with his wooden cart. Seki's parents disown her for not asking for their approval, and also Moichi's mother, a widow, does not accept her as her daughter-in-law, treating her disdainfully.

From Hokkaido to Tokyo, hunting dog Goro embarks on a long and grueling journey to reach home. Goro's master held a weapons smuggling case and the corruptions of those who are involved.

Hamakichi was a former detective respected by everyone but he was arrested after he helped a criminal flee for money, which he needed for his child’s medical treatment. Five years later, he is allowed to enter Edo with a fresh start. He make ends meet by selling toys. One day, he meets Otoki, a woman who is a lookalike of his late wife and who is being pursued by a mysterious man.

Newly graduated Miyamoto Otone is to inherit a fortune from a distant relative on the condition that she marries Takato Shunsaku, a man she has never heard of. The lawyers haven't located Shunsaku yet, allowing Otone to think about whether she accepts the conditions of the will. One month later after, Takato Shunsaku is found. Murdered. At the birthday party of Otone's uncle. With Shunsaku dead and thus making it impossible for Otone to marry him, the inheritance is split amongst all (living) fa

Mori Kojiro, a member of the Akō Ronin, fails to identify Kira Kozukenosuke before their attack and is publicly banished by Ōishi Kuranosuke. Ōishi later apologizes privately, revealing that Kira has a decoy and assigning Mori a secret mission to kill the real Kira if necessary. Devastated, Mori finds solace with Okame, a local bar owner. After the ronin avenges their master, Mori, believing their mission complete, plans to leave his samurai life for Okame.