Sôji Kiyokawa

In this government-suggested sequel, Sugata again grows as a judo master, and demonstrates his (and by extension, all Japanese) superiority to the foreign warrior. (imdb)

The stories of several young women who work in a 'precision optical instruments' factory during the second World War. Despite illness, injury, and tremendous personal hardship, the women persevere in their tasks, devoted to their work and their country's cause. (imdb)

The Yagyu family's elder son sends an old, cheap-looking pot to his younger brother, ignoring that the pot contains a map showing where a treasure of a million ryo has been hidden. He tries to recover it but his brother's wife has sold it to some junk dealers. The pot ends up with Yasu, a kid whose father was killed and who Tange Sazen now looks after.

This film depicts a troupe of wandering kabuki players traveling through rural Japan. (imdb)

Set in the Osaka theater world, the story is dominated by a self-righteous troupe leader (Roppa Furukawa) who bravely risks his popularity by selecting only plays that support the Japanese military cause, and who decides to break up the love affair between his star actor (Kazuo Hasegawa) and a shamisen player (Isuzu Yamada) in order to purify the actor's commitment to his craft. (Dan Sallitt)

Made as World War II wore on, This Happy Life is pure wartime propaganda, but of an unusual sort. There's little, if any, militarist feeling expressed - although the most sympathetic character preaches the joys of German cuisine. Rather, the film's mission is to instruct the home front, in great detail, on how to make do with the odd scraps of food and supplies available, and to demonstrate in various ways that people can be happy no matter what straitened circumstances they find themselves in (KG)

Ohara Shosuke-san lived about 200 years ago in Aizuwakamatsu. He loved sleeping late, hot springs baths and, of course, sake. He was gregarious, generous and famous for his extravagant merrymaking. Ohara Shosuke-san began his life rich. Yet he loved the simple joys of life such as taking a bath in the morning (Japanese normally bathe in the evening) that he soon spent his fortune. Despite the loss of his wealth he remained a kind and helpful friend and neighbour to all who knew him. (KG)

A rich bourgeoisie family has little care in the world and knows no other lifestyle. It is only the family's second daughter who has an insecure bone in her body and ponders a day when the good times might end. Then one day the family-owned company goes bankrupt and a new era begins. (imdb)

The film was produced during Second Sino-Japanese War, before the Pearl Harbor Attack in 1941. The film mainly concerns the training of newly-recruited pilots and their daily life, then their subsequent fighting experiences in China. Army supported the production, providing all the authentic airplanes, training and actual actions. They even provided the older biplanes disguised as Chinese fighter planes.

Ine Onoda, the eldest daughter of a poor family of farmers, raises a colt from birth and comes to love the horse dearly. When the horse is grown, the government orders it auctioned and sold to the army. Ine struggles to prevent the sale. (imdb)

A documentary style film that depicts the battle in Shanghai during World War II using the city and its actual ruins as an actual backdrop to the narrative. The realism extended to the use of actual armaments and a tank as film devices. The film features Japanese star Hara Setsuko playing the role of a Chinese maiden. (imdb)

It was supposed to be about a love story, but it was and was not. An aircraft mechanic working for the government is matched by his boss with the latter man's daughter (Setsuko Hara) who is both beautiful and aggressive. Yet, he picks a woman who is less assertive as his bride. (imdb)

Two British brothers who are making money for their homeland are meeting buyers for opium in China. There is a police force to counter the dealers, but is not only ineffectual, but also corrupt and dealing in narcotics itself. Confronting the situation the government assigns an incognito bureaucrat to the issue. He confronts and arrests the police, but the bulk of the drugs is with the Britons. (imdb)

Toward the Decisive Battle in the Sky describes the challenging training of young boys in the Yokaren, a program feeding new pilots into the Army and Navy. By the time of the filming, the pressure of the war had led the government to shorten the training and expand the age range of the recruits. Yokaren was highly selective, and thus an object of great fascination and desire for boys and young men. In this Navy–sponsored film, ... (letterboxd)

Tanuma Kandayuu is a high class samurai of the house of Nabeshima. He finds a lavish board of Go at Kinbei's store. He recommend Kinbei to offer it to his lord. Kinbei hesitates at first, since he knows the board has some weird history. It is believed that one game played on the board requires one death. (imdb)

1930s Japanese film based upon the novel series Daibosatsu toge by Kaizan Nakazato.

Young girl Kichiza searches for her missing brother and the person responsible for the death of her parents. (letterboxd)

After the Onin War ended in 1477, Kyoto was left in ashes and the nation was in complete disorder. Bands of roving samurai called the "nobushi" terrorized the country under the leadership of Akagaki Genba and overthrew Mangetsu Castle in Tanba Province scattering the few survivors. Lord Niwa's two sons have been studying in China and return to Japan upon hearing of the tragedy in an attempt to restore the clan.

After mastering swordsmanship at the dojo of Chiba Shusaku, and being unable to serve a clan due to his illness, Hirate Miki became a ronin who wound up as bodyguard to Shigezo of Sasagawa leading up to an epic battle.

16 year old orphan Tomi (played by Hideko Takamine) was a wild and unsettled girl. The juvenile court punishes her to be sent into the mountains of Aoyama for reeducation. Here she is taken care of by the teacher Miss Yamada, which is kind but has troubles getting along with the girls that are sent to her.

A bizarre murder at a hot springs resort threatens to disrupt an Edo detective’s (Hasegawa) vacation. When his hot-blooded wife (Yamada) starts snooping around, however, he finds himself reluctantly drawn into the case.

Twin princesses are separated at birth because there is a belief that twins bring bad luck to the family, Thus the twins are raised separately. Yukihime, the twin who was sent to Edo to be raised by a Yakuza family, returns after many years. She of the two is designated the heiress to the clan fortune, however some disagree... violently. (imdb)

Jiromaru (Kinnosuke Nakamura) investigates the dark "Ghost Ship" in search of his father. Meanwhile, Princess Yuki (Yumiko Hasegawa) and Chacha (Eiko Maruyama) are kidnapped by pirates, so after dedicating himself to rescuing them for the second time, he decides to accept his grandfather's challenge to become a navigator, just like his deceased father.

First in an adventure trilogy.

2nd film in the Eight Brave Brothers trilogy.

The long-awaited Hakkenshi arrives at Takita Castle, which is saddened by successive defeats.

In Numada, Jyoshu, Seijun's mistress dies a horrible death at the hands of a gang of vicious vassals plotting to embezzle the Kuroda family, and her beloved cat takes revenge by becoming an incarnation of the cat.