Tetsurô Tanba

The Katakuri family has just opened their guest house in the mountains. Unfortunately their first guest commits suicide and in order to avoid trouble they decide to bury him in the backyard. Things get way more complicated when their second guest, a famous sumo wrestler, dies while having sex with his underage girlfriend and the grave behind the house starts to fill up more and more. (imdb)

A family drama set in the late nineteenth century Japan, as the feudal Shogun period was giving way to the Meiji Restoration. (Empire Pictures)

One woman searches for the truth about her husband's death in World War II.

Agent 007 and the Japanese secret service ninja force must find and stop the true culprit of a series of spacejackings before nuclear war is provoked.

After helping a cat, a young girl finds herself involuntarily engaged to a cat prince in a magical world where her only hope of freedom lies with a dapper cat statuette come to life. (imdb)

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

An elder ronin samurai arrives at a feudal lord's home and requests an honorable place to commit suicide. But when the ronin inquires about a younger samurai who arrived before him things take an unexpected turn. (imdb)

The story is set in the year of 2001 in a prison owned by a major company. A new prisoner sees his friends... (imdb)

After Kunisada (Riki Takeuchi)'s Yakuza leader and father figure is brutally murdered, he and his best friend (Kenichi Endo) go on a two-man mission to avenge his death, killing other Yakuza leaders leading to a final confrontation by the old man's killers. (imdb)

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

In the middle of the 16th century, Hideyoshi, a power hungry warlord sets out to destroy the Momochi clan... (imdb)

A barkeeper saves a Yakuza boss' life and thus makes his way up in the organization. However his fear of nothing soon causes problems. (imdb)

A steel samurai blade that was to be given to the American ambassador by the Emperor of Japan is stolen. American sailors and Japanese samurai are sent to find it. (imdb)

Seiji and Yoshifumi are the only members of the Muto branch of the Date Family. The two respect and love their leader, Mr. Muto, like a father and the three share a firm bond. But their fate is sealed when the Family is involved in a conflict... (imdb)

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

This movie is based on the true life story of a Korean fighter named Choi Bae-dal (who later changed his name to Masutatsu Oyama), the founder of Kyokushin Karate in Japan. (imdb)

Teen hoodlum Kinta is excited to be given the plum job of supervising the pig pen at the local US base, for which he'll be responsible diverting the food scraps to the black market, and scoring a good income for his yakuza gang. His girlfriend Hiroku earnestly hopes he'll leave the yakuza and get an honest job, but neither is she a paragon of virtue - she is drawn into prostitution and petty thievery. (IMDB Comments)

Two detectives investigate the murder of a 60-year-old policeman. The victim is well-liked, and there does not seem to be any motive for the murder. The investigation finally leads to the discovery of the hidden past of a young rising composer. (hkflix.com)

DEMON POND is the modern-day story of a man searching for a friend who has mysteriously disappeared, with a magical tale involving strange creatures, a heartbroken princess, and a pact that can't be broken. Conflicts between faith and skepticism, and between social obligation and personal desire drive the narrative toward a dramatic conclusion where the worlds of the real and the surreal inevitably collide. (imdb)

Attempting to capture a vital staging area for an invasion of the Japanese homeland, Allied forces launched a massive attack on the island of Okinawa in March of 1945. When the Japanese military fought back, the bloodiest battle in the Pacific Theater was underway.

Shiba, a wandering ronin, encounters a band of peasants who have kidnapped the daughter of their dictatorial magistrate, in hopes of coercing from him a reduction in taxes. Shiba takes up their fight, joined by two renegades from the magistrate's guard, Sakura and Kikyo. The three outlaws find themselves in a battle to the death. (imdb)

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)

Yataro Tanigawa, a one-eyed hired assassin, impresses yakuza boss Gomyo Kiyoemon with his skill. Gomyo hires Tanigawa as his bodyguard, or yojimbo, to protect him during an inter-clan conflict. Tanigawa quickly rises in stature in the clan, but finds his boss's enemies almost overwhelming. (imdb)

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)

The story of a Yakuza gangster convicted for life imprisonment, who learns that his mother is about to die and runs for an escape, to ask for forgiveness of her

In PORNO PERIOD DRAMA, Tetsuro Tanba plays a nihilistic ronin who faces down the "Clan of the Forgotten Eight", who got their name because they lost all their basic emotions like conscience, gratitude, loyalty, shame etc. With his sword Onibouchou (literally: Ogre's Kitchen Knife!) Tanba's character hacks into their ranks in ways that has limbs and severed heads fly everywhere and the blood flows in rivers! On his way, he only stops to take every woman he meets, forcefully if need be! (imdb)

A wealthy landowner named Chobei Onuma is haunted after a curse is placed upon him by one of his tenants whose untimely death was a direct cause of the landowners' greed. Onuma forces the dead farmers' wife and daughter to work for him to help pay off the remaining debt that he left behind. After each new evil dead the curse soon expands to the rest of the Onuma clan who like their patriarch Chobei Onuma start seeing those who they wronged come back from beyond as ghost. (10KBullets.com)

When the Tokugawa Shogunate ruled the land, Tatsuno castle in Wakisaka Clan's home of Harima held an established custom: an inspection of the arms warehouse. During one of these inspections, government inspector Magodayu Okuno finds a slight bit of dirt on the tip of a spear, which sparks an argument with a low-ranking member of the Wakisaka Clan.

Spaghetti western about a group of bandits, led by Peter Graves, who plan on robbing a train transporting gold for the Mexican army. (imdb)

Miki Sugimoto plays Agent Zero, a cop who tends to shoot first and ask questions later. After she kills a would be rapist, she's sent to prison for her unorthodox methods. Soon though, when the daughter of a prominent Japanese politician is kidnapped by a gang of lowlifes, the politician has Agent Zero sprung from prison so that she can infiltrate the gang and save his daughter on the down low, without causing a lot of publicity and thus avoiding a big scandal.

Political and personal intrigues surround a group of characters in Malaya, after the close of the Second World War. (imdb)

Professor Nishiyama, after studying and interpreting the prophecies of Nostradamus, realizes that the end of the world is at hand. Unfortunately, nobody listens to him until it is too late. As the effects of mankind's tampering of the earth - radioactive smog clouds, hideously mutated animals, destruction of the ozone layer - rage out of control, the world leaders hurtle blindly toward the final confrontation. (imdb)

A trio of characters in Edo intersect during a time of puritanical social reform. A ner-do-well, Naojiro, wants to become an actor and get his face in prints (this was the Japanese version of the supermarket tabloids in olden times) and he wants to marry a geisha but his overbearing mother disapproves. A man who abandoned his wife and child returns to discover tragedy has befallen his small family. A "buraikan" plots to overthrow the despotic lord who is imposing the strict social reforms. (imdb)

Blackmail Is My Life follows the exploits of a ring of small-time punk extortionists who go up against Japan's corrupt establishment. Up-from-the-slums Shun (Hiroki Matsukata) is a young swinger who will do anything to keep his freewheeling lifestyle intact. His lucky streak of blackmailing unravels in violent fashion when he unwisely targets business allies of a powerful gang boss. (movietome)

Based on a true story, this compelling drama relates the difficulties of a young woman married to a Japanese diplomat during World War II, victim of suspicion and animosity from her husband's government. (imdb)

Ryoko Itakura returns as the government tax agent willing to tackle the toughest cases. This time she takes on a fanatical but lucrative religious cult run by a vile lecher. (imdb)

Oishi is an honorable warrior who serves obediently under Lord Asano. After an angry exchange with the villainous Lord Kira, Asano impulsively draws his sword, an act that draws the wrath of the emperor. The emperor gives Asano strict instructions to commit suicide as punishment for his actions; Oishi is devastated by Asano's passing, and he organizes a band of fellow swordsmen to seek revenge against Kira and restore Asano's good name. (allmovie.com)

A minister unofficially asks a samurai to lead a squad of assassins to eliminate an annoying Lord. Director Eiichi Kudo plays with the absurdity of the feudal system; where loyalty and honor are used to enslave men; where samurais are only tools of the political game. (asiatorrents.com)

It has been two years since unsuccessful cartoonist, Tsube (Asano), started to live with Kuniko (Fujitani) in a small apartment which they had to leve because of their depts. One day Kuniko visits Tsube at the apartment while Kimoto is out. Tsube secretly tries to steal some money from Kuniko's purse and surprisingly finds a condom instead. He starts to suspect her infidelity. At one point the film becomes increasingly surreal, with Tsube having more and more alienated erotic experiences (division 1656)

Who doesn't want to see what's going on in hell? Lord Enma gives that chance to a girl who is a member of an organisation that made a sarin attack in Tokyo. A fiction of hell and the pervert community in Japan with special bonus the nihilist Ronin shino by Tetsura Tanba

Chapters 64-68 of Water Margin.

During a military training exercise in snowy mountains, things go awry.

Three nubile fighting teen girls help a man from the past.

The final Crimson Bat film sees Oichi with a large price on her head, which brings several bounty hunters out of the woodwork trying to catch her. In the meantime, Oichi busies herself by standing up for a group of fishermen being bullied by a corrupt magistrate.

Tetsuro Tamba portrays Kotaro Takamura, one of Japan's most celebrated artists. A poet and sculptor, Takamura is married to Chieko (Shima Iwashita), who has artistic aspirations of her own. She gradually comes to realize that her husband has all the talent in the family; as she sinks deeper into depression, Takamura tries to comfort her by writing several poems in her honor. She descends into insanity, while Takamura manifests his despair into some of his greatest artistic achievements. (Rovi)

Teenage cousins Masao and Tamiko fall in love when she comes to his riverside brewery house to take care of his sickly mother. On the day of the Autumn Festival, while picking cotton in a mountain field, they accidentally embrace, affirm their love, and liken each other allegorically to flowers. Family objections ensue as Tamiko is older than Masao, and the two cannot marry in peace.

Around a perfunctory premise of a rich merchant wishing to marry a kind-hearted young woman against her and her boyfriend's will, a plot is spun of betrayal in the highest levels of the Tokugawa shogunate. (Rotten Tomatoes)

The most dangerous hired gun in Tokyo's underworld has managed to trigger a vicious gang war, and now, there's a contract on his life. Though nobody is more skilled in the arts of dealing death, can the tattooed hit man fend off the entire Japanese mafia as he searches for the man who wants him dead? Bunta Sugawara, Tsunehiko Watase and Mayumi Nagisa star in this Japanese martial arts cult classic.

Hama-chan gets his construction company a big contract to build a museum through one of his fishing friends. But the man proves difficult to work with, especially after the he insists on a ludicrous design that will make everyone look foolish. The contract in jeopardy, Su-san enlists Hama-chan's help.

Three ronin put themselves for hire against a powerful Shogunate. Ninjas, blood, and boobs ensue.

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.

A blind masseur visits a samurai to request the return of a loan. The samurai kills him in anger, then has his servant dump the body in the Kasane swamp. However, the ghost of the masseur returns to haunt the samurai, who kills his wife by mistake and then goes to the swamp and drowns himself. 20 years later, the masseur's daughter unknowingly falls in love with the samurai's son who has been brought up to be a servant. (imdb)

Those cold-blooded Ninja-nailing killers-for-hire are back, and bloodier than ever! Echo of Destiny, the kinetic second film in the Shadow Hunters saga, is a tale rich in intrigue, betrayal, and gory death. Retained by a great Damiyo to escort an illegal cannon to safety, the three Shadow Hunters must carve their way through a legion of Ninja (and more of those sexy female assassins) in order to complete their commission. (rightstuf.com)

This movie shows the blood-soaked battles of Sakai, the highest-scoring Japanese naval fighter ace (at least 65 confirmed kills; some unconfirmed reports state 130) who survived World War II. It also depicts the final suicide mission of a Japanese bomber over port Moresby and the August 7, 1942 mission by Zeros and Betty bombers to attack the American landing force on Guadalcanal.

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)

The story of men devoted to the yakuza lifestyle and their struggles during a time of fading yakuza power. (thehawaiiherald.com)

An international gang fights with other families at postwar Kobe. (thehawaiiherald.com)

Kosaka Hiroshi is the leader of a motorcycle gang in Shinjuku and a small time swindler. He lives for money but has never been able to hit the jackpot. His luck seems to change when he hits it off with the daughter of a Yakuza. When he gets involved in a scheme to blackmail a Yakuza gang and a land developer, he soon realizes he might have chewed more than he could bite. (imdb)

Dramatic story of one man trying to make a difference. (imdb)

During the raging war between the Toyotomi and Tokugawa clans, the swordsman Mohei (whose family has been completely decimated) is recruited by Toyotomi to overcome the seat of power, Osaka Castle. Mohei's daredevil skills will be put to severe tests. (The Movie Database)

Somewhat unique as it appears to be one of the very rare appearances of master thespian Itô in a yakuza role. (imdb)

Mizuhara did his time in jail for Boss Komori. Now that he is out, the old gang wants to say welcome back with a bullet. (imdb)

This sequel to "Gokiburi deka" shows further dealings with criminals by a "Cockroach" detective.

In 1929 the fossil of a 500,000 year old man is discovered in China. In 1941 the Japanese army confiscates this find, but during the war the remains disappear. Based on these factual events, this movie takes off with a science fiction story involving a space rocket which places a satellite in orbit containing a secret cargo. The satellite crashes on a remote island and footprints are found in the sand leading away from the crash site. (themoviedb)

Tokyo is suddendly covered by a dome shaped electromagantic cloud for an unknown reason and is totally blocked and isolated from other parts of the world. The temperature inside the cloud is slowly increasing. The Soviet Pacific fleet is getting closer. The U.S. is forcing Japan to form a new government. Scientists and research workers outside Tokyo have to race against time to find out how to get through the cloud in order to rescue the 12,000,000+ lives in Tokyo and the fate of the country.

Set in Osaka in 1907, it centers on a yakuza, Asajiro (Koji Tsurata), a man of honor, who must deal with a conflict over a prostitute while struggling to compete with another clan; both are hoping to go legitimate as the city is poised to develop its port for international trade. (latimes.com)

Racked by earthquakes and volcanos, Japan is slowly sinking into the sea. A race against time and tide begins as Americans and the Japanese work together to salvage some fraction of the disappearing Japan.

Naomi, a corporate heiress from Japan, vacations to Hong Kong with her two colleagues. Bored, she sneaks out to visit the city and befriends a local rock band and, appreciative of the company, later helps the members with their debit issues. Meanwhile, Naomi's colleagues received news that the big boss of their company succumbed to a heart attack and that Naomi must sign a document to prevent the company from being turned over to a corrupt executive... (imdb)

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)

Favorable portrayal of Japanese Prime Minister Hideki Tojo, who approved of the bombardment of Pearl Harbor, as a patriot. The film is a jingoistic defense of Japanese imperialism.

In 1870's Tokyo, Den steals to support the daughter of her first marriage and her consumptive second husband. She falls in love with a young policeman, but is coerced into becoming the mistress of and procurer for a vice boss. (themoviedb)

Chutaro of Banba is a lone yakuza searching for the mother who abandoned him when he was five. During his travels, he is pursued by the henchmen of a yakuza boss whom he'd attacked. (imdb)

Upon the passing of the Sakanishi Clan's boss, a fierce battle between his wife Hazuki and his disciple Terada breaks out. Will Hazuki be able to assume her husband's position as the head of the established yakuza clan? (themoviedb)

AKA Renegade Ninjas; This is a film about a real person. Sanada Yukimura fought a war against Tokugawa Ieyeasu. In the beginning the film shows Yukimura fighting to defend the Osaka Castle. He used very unconventional methods, wich were not approved by the other defenders. When the Osaka campaign was lost, Sanada is shown dedicating all his efforts to assassinate the shogun Ieyeasu. (letterboxd)

A new prisoner arrives at a prison where the prisoners have their own obscene culture. There he gets involved in a plot to steal government gold from the Shogun's vault. (imdb)

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.

A killer who only hits people who deserve it is tricked into killing an innocent man. He then seeks revenge against the people who employed him. (imdb)

The story of Japan's victory in the battle of Tsushima Strait. (imdb)

The fictional British royal Prince George travels to Japan and falls in love with a local female tour guide named Sumi. He considers breaking the rules and staying with her there, but a Japanese gangster wants him dead. (imdb)

The adventures of a ronin, a samurai without a feudal lord, trying to achieve safety in a neighbouring domain.

The shogun’s half-brother, Matsudaira Naritsugu has been slated to join the Roju Council of Elders as a senior adviser even though he is criminally insane. His outrageous acts cause one of his top retainers to commit ritual suicide in protest over his lord’s crimes. Alerted to these crimes, Roju Councilor Doi asks Inspector General Shmada Shinzaemon to assassinate Naritsugu before he can be seated on the council. Gathering a band of 13, Shimada sets out on a death-defying journey to cut down

After a successful robbery the culprits, from very different backgrounds, at once turn on each other. (imdb)

A Francophile filmmaker in a creative rut tries to pass off a free-spirited young actress as his movie-star wife in order to fool a chief from the South Seas. (imdb)

Samon Kamiyama, a yoriki of the Minami-machi magistrate infiltrates the Denzū-machi prison disguised as Mushuku Sahēji. Samon is mistaken for a snitch and about to be beaten up when he was saved by the quick thinking of a ferryman Sanji. The infiltration is the plan of Samon and chief elder Abe Isenokami, who has asked Samon to obtain smuggling evidence against shipping whole retailers Kawachiya Senemon and his son Sennosuke.

From his early days as Matsudaira Motoyasu through his rise to the most powerful man in Japan as Tokugawa Ieyasu, the first of the Tokugawa Shoguns, this is the story of the man who truly unified Japan under one ruler. Tokugawa Ieyasu is quoted as saying: “People carry burdens through life as they travel a long road. Never rush” “If you think of privation as normal, you’ll be contented. If you know only about winning and losing, harm may fall upon you. Being inferior is batter than being superio

Byakkotai was part of Aizu’s four-unit military, set up in the domain’s drive to finalize its military modernization, in the wake of the Battle of Toba-Fushimi. The other three units were Genbutai, Seiryūtai, and Suzakutai. Each of the four was named after the protecting gods of compass directions. Byakkotai was meant to be a reserve unit, as it was composed of the young teenage 16 to 17-year-old sons of Aizu samurai in a group of around 350, who fought in the Boshin War (1868–1869)

Keiko Inagawa (Asami Kobayashi) pays a visit to neurologist Aizawa about her fiancé Tatsuo Tamura (Kaoru Kobayashi). A mysterious case involving the disappearance of Tatsuo’s three brothers, one after the other, is yet to be resolved and now Tatsuo, seized with the idea that he too may disappear, has had a nervous breakdown. Aizawa suggests that Tatsuo recounts his dreams as a means of solving the mystery since human beings have an instinct that foretells the near future in the form of a dream…

Yutaro Kida, a worker at the Sasebo Naval Arsenal, volunteers for the navy but finds himself a cook's mate in the galley of a gunboat. But his dream is eventually realized when he is transferred to the new and powerful destroyer Yukikaze which he helped to build. When the Pacific War breaks out Yukikaze performs valiantly in the South Pacific, and while on shore leave...

A girl suffering from an incurable disease gets into a coma, while her boyfriend visits her at the hospital, she visits the beyond.

During the Showa era, a young yakuza survives war and injury and rises to become a clan boss with the help and respect of his sworn brothers.

Film director Mario Baba meets a mysterious gentleman and realizes he is an important man from his boyhood. The two chase each other around, causing a lot of commotion.

Visualization based on Tetsuro Tamba's best-selling "Great Reikai". A story about a physicist who dies in an accident and experiences the afterlife as a spirit. The leading role is Tamba Tetsuro's biological son, Tamba Yoshitaka.

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.