Saburô Date

In mediaeval Japan a compassionate governor is sent into exile. His wife and children try to join him... (imdb)

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)

While performing in a touring kabuki troupe, leading female impersonator Yukinojo comes across the three men who drove his parents to suicide twenty years earlier (imdb)

In the post-war Gion district of Kyoto, the geisha Miyoharu agrees to apprentice the 16 year-old Eiko... (imdb)

The story of a Ronin (i.e. a masterless samurai) who wanders the countryside of Japan with his small child, having various adventures. (imdb)

A giant stone statue comes to life to protect the residents of a small town against the depradations of an evil warlord. (imdb)

In the third film of the Lone Wolf and Cub series, Ogami Itto volunteers to be tortured by Yakuza to save a prostitute, and is hired by their leader to kill an evil chamberlain. (imdb)

Zatoichi arrives in a town where a gambling house is kidnapping its poor, debt-ridden patrons. A rival establishment moves to pay those debts and free the peasants, but this house's seemingly altruistic boss is actually laying the groundwork for a ruthless money-grabbing scheme.

Blind swordsman/masseur Zatoichi is pursued by the retainers of a lord who fear that he will reveal a secret weakness of their master. 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: his own brother... (imdb)

Zatoichi makes friends with a dangerous chess player, while fending off angry yakuza and bloodthirsty relatives out for revenge, and trying to save a sick child. Meanwhile, his luck with dice is turning... (imdb)

Blind swordsman/masseuse Zatoichi befriends a young woman returning home with her baby. When gangsters mistake her for Zatoichi and kill her, Zatoichi determines to escort the baby to its father. He gains the reluctant help of a young pick pocket and together they travel to find the baby's father... (imdb)

Itinerant masseur and master swordsman, the blind Zatoichi, is near the village of his teacher, Hikonoichi, so he decides to visit. He learns of Hikonoichi's recent robbery and murder and the imprisonment of his virginal daughter, Osayo, in a brothel... (imdb)

Zatoichi is mistaken for a thief. To clear his name he must find and defeat the real villain. Spiffy. (imdb)

In this 14th installment of the series, our reluctant warrior, Zatoichi (Katsu), is ambushed by a gang of bandits, and is forced to kill a young man in self-defense. In an odd quirk of fate, Zatoichi meets his victim's sister, Okichi (Yasuda), who attacks him in a fit of uncontrolled anger. Later, realizing that he had no choice in his actions, Okichi's conscience gets the better of her, and as she cares for Zatoichi's wounds, the two fall in love. (amazon)

Shunya Ito directed this unusual women's prison film which spawned three direct sequels and a pair of spin-offs... (Amazon.ca)

Yonosuke was lived in insatiable pursuit of love affairs with women and men as well, and a celebrated courtesan; the son first made love to a woman at the age of seven. Thereafter, always devoting himself to the affairs, Yonosuke ended up, at 60, sailing to Nyogogashima ("Isle of Women"). This film was adapted for the famous novel, Koshoku ichidai otoko which narrates 54 years of his adventures in affairs of women. (Twitchfilm.net)

Mako stars in this action packed drama about a man's struggles.

Told in an intricate flashback structure, Enjo dramatizes the psychological collapse of Goichi (Raizo Ichikawa), a young Buddhist acolyte from a dysfunctional family who arrives at a Kyoto temple - the Golden Pavilion - for further study. (Wikipedia)

Criminals plant a bomb on a high-speed train. It will explode when the train slows down, unless a ransom is paid. (imdb)

Ishikawa Goemon, a talented young ninja becomes embedded in a twisted scheme to assassinate Oda Nobunaga, an evil warlord bent on ruling feudal Japan with an iron fist. Deceit, treachery and loads of ninjas lurk around every corner as Goemon travels the countryside to complete his task of winning back his honor, and ultimately his life.

The first stage of Nobunaga Oda's (Tomisaburo Wakayama) plan to unify Japan -- a dangerous mission that involved annihilating the Iga ninjas -- was a resounding success. But full unification will come only if he can bring the country's far-flung warlords together. Nobunaga's task is made all the more difficult by a renegade Iga ninja who managed to survive Nobunaga's initial attack and is now hell-bent on revenge.

A class of Japanese teens experience their first feelings with the opposite sex while a typhoon storm is rising. (imdb)

The main character is a man from the WW2 generation who has lost his dreams in post-war Japan. While working as a cook in a restaurant he also earns some money as a contract killer. (imdb)

Intrepid ninja Ishikawa Goemon (Raizo Ichikawa) escapes a gruesome fate and sets out to seek vengeance on the warlord who tried to boil him alive as the legendary Shinobi No Mono saga continues in this action-packed sequel. Ishikawa was staring death square in the eyes when the enigmatic Hattori Hanzo rescued him from certain death. (allmovie.com)

The fourth installment of the legendary Japanese film series starring Ichikawa Raizo, Shinobi No Mono 4: Siege opens to find Tokugawa Ieyasu poised to rule all of Japan. Before Ieyasu can cement his reign, however, he will have to destroy the Toyotomi clan once and for all. The Toyotomi clan is currently besieged in Osaka castle, and Ieyasu's ninja are the only ones capable of penetrating the heavily guarded fortress. (allmovie.com)

On May 8, 1615 the summer campaign of Osaka has reached the climax. This film takes place immediately following Kirigakure Saizou. After Yukimura escapes, Ieyasu orders everyone to be killed. He gets a report after the battle that they are unable to find Yukimura`s body. He offers a big reward for the body. Hanzo reports that a small boat escaped from the castle with 3 men in it. Tokugawa Ieyasu deduces that it must have been Kirigakure Saizou and Yukimura and that they will go to Satsuma. (shinobinomono.oninohana.com)

Kyoshiro demonstrates his skill by slicing the clothes from the body of a female opponent, and gets involved in a plot that could spell his doom! (imdb)

During a time when Christians were severely persecuted in Japan, a dying Christian man begs Kyoshiro to protect a saint who is in hiding. In doing so he encounters resistance from a group of opium smugglers and learns much about his own shadowy past.

When the lord of clan has a son, the son will take his father's place. However, as the child gets older, the clan lord realizes that he is not the father of the child, and decides to have him murdered. Saved by a servant, the son is put into hiding and believed to be dead. So when his father dies, the son decides to claim what is rightfully his, namely, the leadership of the clan. The clan, however, has different ideas, so the young man decides to let his sword reason with his would be usurpers.

Sonny Chiba is Wolfguy, the only survivor of a clan of werewolves who relies on his feral, full-moon-activated superpowers to solve mysterious crimes. One night, a bizarre and bloody death in the Tokyo streets plunges him into a far-reaching conspiracy populated by crooked politicians, naked white women, a phantom tiger, and a shadowy organization (called the J-CIA) out to steal the secret of Wolfguy's powers and the blood right out of his veins.

The wife (Ayako Wakao) and mother (Hideko Takamine) of a nineteenth-century physician battle for his love in this extraordinary drama from the perennially underrated Yasuzo Masumura.

This early Kenji Misumi picture recounts the story of a band of samurai loyal to the Shogunate, the Shinsengumi, saving Kyoto from a conspiracy of Imperialists. (imdb)

The Son of the Black Mass returns in this ninth installment in Daiei's longstanding Nemuri Kyoshiro series. This time Raizo Ichikawa as Nemuri is called to see that a gold statuette of the Virgin Mary gets safe passage to Kyoto from the prying hands of a sect of murderous Christian ronin that call themselves the Black Finger Group. (imdb)

Nemuri arrives at a small village, a fight is posed then postponed, there's a place called the Devil's Fortress and people are being kept locked there and tortured by the villainy occupants, then at some point the villainy occupants are introduced to us by name and a shadowy connection to the Shogun is implied. (imdb)

Just when you think Kyoshiro's life can't get any stranger, someone starts running around raping and murdering, and leaving notes proudly proclaiming that he did it. Tracking down the real culprit willtake him along a twisted trail that involves the Shogun's harem, hidden christians, and positively pregnant politics! (animeigo.com)

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 lascivious head priest Kikuchi. She is drawn to a melancholy young acolyte, Jinen, who has observed the profligacy of his cruel master and Satoko's utter dependence on the man...The story unfolds in a dreamlike manner, a flashback inspired by a now-infamous image on a silkscreen in the souvenir shop at the so-called Temple of the Wild Geese. (KG)

Loosely based on the H.G. Wells 1897 classic novel THE INVISIBLE MAN, the Japanese take on the story, still has a scientist using a special chemical to become invisible. The story begins when jewel thieves becomes interested in an invisibility formula invented by Professor Nakazato. The thieves kidnap the professor and want to use his invention to acquire a diamond necklace called the "Tears of Amour".

After the victory of Japan-Russia War, boss of the Nanjo family is stabbed to death. His son abandons his naval position in order to succeed as the new boss of the family. (imdb)

Masakichi was a troublemaker until he found a right girl to marry. Unfortunately, his happiness is short-lived - she kills herself after being raped.

Reprising his role from the popular TV series "Koya no Suronin" (The Lowly Ronin), Mifune Toshiro stars in this full-length, stand-alone made for TV movie. He travels about Japan, and while he may seek happiness, violence and tragedy always cross his path. This time, he reluctantly agrees when a girl hires him to kill a local official who has unfairly taxed her villagers. But he soon discovers that not all is as it appears when he finds a direct link to his past.

Ronin samurai Ibuki-san enters a town and sells his skills to the warring families. He falls in love with the beautiful horse stable owner but like all heroes, cannot stay.

Bakyo is a talented but unsuccessful rakugo artist. The very successful Rokyu wants to take Bakyo under his wings, but Bakyo refuses, claiming that Rokyu's rakugo is compromised by the elements of kabuki. But Bakyo changes his mind and determines to learn (or steal) Rokyu's craft and makes it his own.

Sixteen people are to stay at a desolate country station. Since a train accident during the war, a ghost train has been coming there at midnight. And it is said that anyone who sees the train will die. ...... A film adaptation of a popular radio drama.

The woman gambler Ginko risks her life for her brother-in-law.

A father decides to put his delinquent daughter into a temple in Kyoto known for its austere novitiate. Initially resistant to all forms of discipline, she ends up falling in love with the nun who is in charge of her.

The story of Sasaki Kojiro, a young swordsman, and his quest to train under master Seigen and develop his own style.