Sumiko Hidaka

In 18th Century in Japan, the paper merchant Jihei (Kichiemon Nakamura) falls in love for the courtesan Koharu (Shima Iwashita), but he can not afford to redeem her from her master and owner of the brothel, since he spent all his money in the place with Koharu. Jihei's wife Osan tries to keep her husband with his two children and asks Koharu to leave him. The two lovers make a pact of double suicide to escape from the rigid rules of the Japanese society of 1720 and stay together after death. (imdb)

A man travels to Akitsu Springs to die, only to be nursed to health by a young woman who works at the springs. The film follows their lives through the years as the man leaves, grows, and marries, but never stops coming back to Akitsu Springs.

An ambitious department store worker endeavors to improve his station in life by manipulating women to get what he wants - money that is.

The main character blames himself for the deaths of his two sons in a boating accident and leaves his wife and parents behind. He takes on a mistress, to the shame of his family, and he pops stimulants to keep up with his work schedule as a truck driver. Growing increasingly irritable and irrational, he goes through various conflicts with his brother, his colleagues, his boss, and his wife. (mubi.com)

First part of the famous Dai-bosatsu toge trilogy, based on Kaizan Nakazato's unfinished long series of novels (41 books, written from 1913 to 1941). Set in the last period of the Tokugawa Shogunate, Daibosatsu Toge tells the story of Tsuke Ryunosuke, a nihilistic swordmaster who doesnt hesitate to kill anyone, bad or good. (mubi.com)

Chikamatsu's Love in Osaka (1959) places Chikamatsu, the author of the original play, as a character in the drama. Relatively classical at first, the film grows increasingly self-conscious as it proceeds. Chikamatsu, initially an observer taking inspiration for his writing from the events he views, begins eventually to intervene in events, saving the heroine from suicide, substituting a gentler ending for the tragedy which seems likely. (Sense of Cinema)

Before government censorship was instituted full force in 1928, the proletarian novel was the ascendant form in Japanese prose. Takiji Kobayashi was the leading writer in this genre, which attempted to expose the oppression of the lower classes, until he was murdered in prison by the government in 1933. So Yamamura's The Crab-Canning Ship is based on one of Kobayashi's better-known novels. A group of sailors is forced to work under unbearable conditions on a Japanese fishing vessel.

When a married woman has an affair with a young musician, feudal Japanese law requires that both offenders pay with their lives. However, the woman's husband blames himself for his wife's straying and attempts to thwart the law demanding capital punishment. (imdb)

The Last Bakuto (1985), directed by the genre specialist Kosaku Yamashita, is Toei's last major effort to revive yakuza films in 80s.

A family of weavers deals with an uncertain future after the father commits suicide. (imdb)

A soldier deserts his position and travels to a small town on the Sea of Japan to start over. When a young maid falls for him, he talks her into sleeping with an older man for money. The woman is told by a Geisha that she gave up her virginity cheaply. The resort town begins to feel the influence of the modern world as the sabre-rattling that preceded World War II begins to change their lives forever.

Shusei Tokuda's starkly realistic novel about a poor girl pressed into becoming a sex worker/entertainer forcefully adapted by Kaneto Shindo (Onibaba). Ginko (Nobuko Otowa, Shindo's wife) born into a dirt poor family is sold to a brothel when her father falls ill as she is the only item of worth the family has. Follows her progress from brothel to brothel & personal change as she is blown about by circumstance, all the time trying to earn enough to keep her family together (imdb)

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.

Based on the true story of Yamashita Kiyoshi, a brilliant artist who passed away in 1971 at the age of 49. He is often regarded as the "Japanese equivalent to Van Gogh." Delves into interesting encounters, heartwarming moments, and Yamashita's likable personality as documented in his diary and through Harie (a traditional Japanese paper-cutting technique).

A talented sculptor is hired to erect a giant Buddha statue when the capital is moved to Nara, in 745 AD. Those opposed to the statue try to use the artist's girlfriend to get him to stop it from being completed.