Katsuo Nakamura

This film contains four distinct, separate stories. "Black Hair": A poor samurai who divorces his true love to marry for money... (imdb)

'The inner workings of the human psyche are featured in this study of relationships between different leading characters. The action weaves around playwright Matsuzaki (Yusaku Matsuda) -- who is sleeping with Shinako (Michio Okusu), a married woman -- and his other "lover," Ine (Eriko Kasuda), a fairly corporeal spirit. The film is set in 1926, when cinema was silent -- and that era is evoked in Kagero-za.' - All Movies.com

When the legendary blind swordsman attempts to make up for his role in the death of an elderly woman by rescuing her daughter from a life of prostitution, he soon finds himself beset by deadly foes on all sides.

Feudal Japan. Kamo Serizawa and Isami Kondo turn a collection of student fencers into a band of assassins known as the Shinsen Group, devoted to the Tokugawa shogunate and to an elegant code of action and behavior. Kondo leads the band against the forces of the Emperor in hopes of preventing his restoration to the throne. (imdb)

A story set in the year 1872 in Japan. In a poor district of Edo lives a young samurai named Soza. He has been sent by his clan to avenge the death of his father. He isn't an accomplished swordsman however, and he prefers sharing the life of the residents, teaching the kids how to write etc. When he finally finds the man he is looking for, he will have to decide whether he follows the way of the samurai or chooses peace and reconciliation.

Kae, a college student who dreams of becoming a teacher, discovers a notebook in the house she has just moved into. The notebook turns out to be the diary of a woman, Mano Ibuki, who had just started teaching in primary school. Kae becomes absorbed by the woman's pure heart, reading about her life and love. She falls for a painter, Ishitobi, while working at her part time job. As time passes, she finds out an unexpected sad truth. (movies.yahoo.com)

Kenji, abandoned by his mother, scrapes out a meager existence doing odd jobs including driving bar hostesses and their customers home. Besides this he takes care of the sister of an old friend in jail and a young illegal immigrant. But his life reaches a turning point when he happens to meet Chiyoko, his long lost mother. She is now married to Mamiya, the owner of an express package delivery service. They also have a teenage son, Yusuke. (imdb)

''Sorekawa'' is set in Tokyo in 1909 and is based on a novel by Soseki Natsume, which was published in that year, when the modernization of Japan was well along though far from being universally accepted. Daisuke (Yusaku Matsuda), the 30-ish younger son of a rich and powerful businessman, has broken away from his family to the extent that he lives in his own modest house, though the bills for it and for his servants are paid by the older brother who runs the family business. (nytimes)

Adrift and unable to be with the love of his life, a man spends two years spending a huge sum of cash that isn't his to spend on a series of mistresses.

A stark, desperate tale of vengeance, Shura examines the plight of Gengobe - a Ronin and his quest to right the wrongs done unto him. (imdb)

Kansuke Yamamoto (Toshirō Mifune) is a general of warlord Shingen Takeda (Kinnosuke Nakamura). Yamamoto has a ruthless but effective approach to battle and politics, and advises Takeda on almost everything he does, including the assassination of the lord of neighboring Suwa. Of Lord Suwa's household, Princess Yu (Yoshiko Sakuma) refuses to commit suicide, and the film comes to center on a love triangle between the lord, his general, and the princess. (Wikipedia)

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.

In this engaging animated children's story a young and very brave boy spends three years receiving special instructions from a hermit in the woods. After the three years are up, the little boy is possessed of magic powers that will help him subdue the source of unhappiness and evil in the forest - a wicked witch. As these exponents of white and black magic go at it, the animals in the forest line up on the side of Magic Boy and help him out whenever they can. (starpulse.com)

Based on a centuries-old traditional Japanese fairy tale, a country couple finds a baby girl in some bamboo and raises her as their own daughter. Not the same as the original tale, though, in which the girl was a fairy from the moon and was finally taken home. Instead, the film ends with the girl taken home by a spaceship. (imdb)

Can a sinful man change and find peace? It's unlikely in gang-plagued Japan. Jokichi of Mikogami, a drifter (and hired sword), goes straight after protecting a woman in distress: they marry, have a son, and Jokichi pursues his father's craft. After three years, the gangs he embarrassed when he saved his wife find the family and leave Jokichi in grief, vowing revenge.... (imdb)

Lake of Tears (湖の琴 Mizuumi no Kin?) is a 1966 Japanese film directed by Tomotaka Tasaka. It was Japan's submission to the 39th Academy Awards for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, but was not accepted as a nominee. (en.wikipedia.org)

The movie centers on Shotaro, who is living in the modern age with his widowed mother. Tetsujin 28 is accidentally discovered, and Shotaro's mother explains that it was left for Shotaro. He, with the help of Chief Otsuka and an older female classmate, learns to control Tetsujin. In the meantime, a Dr. Reiji Takumi activates Black Ox and plans to attack Tetsujin. (Wikipedia)

37,000 Peasants perished in the Shimbara Revolt: among them, the leader of that uprising, Shiro Amakusa. Amakusa is resurrected from hell bent on revenging the death of his fellow comrades ... (imdb)

Ignoring the protests of his working-class mother, a young man becomes wrapped up in the world of delinquents and yakuza. (Hulu+)

Lord Oda Nobunaga,gains control of nearly all Japan,and try to enlist the aid of Magoichi and his 3.000 gunners. (The Movie Database)

A 1969 Japanese drama

The life and times of Kûkai, a Japanese monk who studies Esoteric Buddhism in the far reaches of India, China and Tibet, then uses their combined influence to establish the Shingon school during the Heian period in early 9th Century AD. (letterboxd.com)

Love Letter illustrates a retrograde societal schema in which the recluse woman exists only through her man. Thus the dramatic turning point equates a flirtation of the abandoned lover with a betrayal of a man who does not bother with such considerations. The film portrait attempts to show the boredom and idleness of a cloistered and dependent woman.

1957 film directed by Miyoji Ieki. Winner of the Crystal Globe at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival. (themoviedb)

In 16th century Japan, a young man has to choose between becoming a master steel maker like his father and grandfather before him, or becoming a samurai so that he can help protect his village from attacks by the various clans which want the high-quality steel made there. (imdb)

A worldwide maestro Nozomi Naruse was boycotted by members of the orchestra during the concert and was dismissed in charge of its responsibility. And now he's stuck in a mountain hut. Occasionally he visits the liquor store but no one else comes to visit. He hasn't worked for more than a year. However, everything changes when he starts working at local middle school. By spending time with students, teachers and villagers, Naruse gradually changes. (imdb)

A hard working salaryman takes off five days from his busy job and sets off with his wife and two children to visit his parents in his hometown for the 1991 new year holidays. He decides that they will go by car to save on expenses. Unfortunately, the long drive from Tokyo to his hometown becomes a much longer journey than expected due to traffic, sickness and other misfortunes and by the time they arrive three days later, they only have time for a short but happy visit.

The tale of Taira Kiyomori who started as a young inexperienced warrior who led the Heike into the battle against the brutal pirates on Setouchi.

Genshiro is a famous Kenkaya of Edo. He turns up in incidents to get interfering fees but gets involved in a terrible incident… the Shichikudano Whistles known as Akinonanakusa and her seven sisters. The sisters were killed one after another. The whistle, in fact, shows the place of 300 thousand Ryo that their ancestors left. Genshiro gets one of the whistles and devotes himself try and solve the mystery.

A pair of black-robed thieves who robbed many wealthy merchants in Edo one after another. One of them is a young woman who is called "Aoi no Kozo" because she always takes off her skin to show the tattoo on her back. The target of the robbers was the Kogi, and in particular, the big stores that were under the control of Hotta Bizen. Itami Hanzo, a Doshin known as "Kamisori Hanzo" discovers when he tracks down the Aoi no Kozo! What is the truth?!

The great epic drama about a Nichiren's life. Nichiren was a Buddhist monk who lived during the Kamakura period (1185–1333) in Japan. Nichiren taught devotion to the Lotus Sutra, entitled Myōhō-Renge-Kyō in Japanese, as the exclusive means to attain enlightenment and the chanting of Nam-Myōhō-Renge-Kyō as the essential practice of the teaching. Nichiren Buddhism includes various schools with diverging interpretations of Nichiren's teachings. (KG)

In the desert of Egypt, Kurata, the CEO of the Japanese corporation Tokokaihatsu, is killed by a sniper. After the news reaches Japan, the CEO's lawyer, Yamamoto, receives a visit from two men who attempt to steal the deceased CEO's will. This is witnessed by two detectives, Tsuzuki and Onuki, but they fail to catch the culprits. Yamamoto hands the detectives a set ...