Takashi Ebata

Shangri-La follows the lives of a group of homeless people in Japan who run into a man who nearly commits suicide and decide to help him out of his financial troubles. Using their various ingenious resources they embark on a complex scheme to blackmail a crooked businessman, whose bankruptcy claim has put people out of work. It’s a fun romp as these seemingly homeless people manage to outsmart the very people who cast them from society.

Two newlyweds decide to build their dream home, and hire an old friend named Yanagisawa to design it. Unfortunately, Yanagisawa isn’t licensed to build homes, so they call in the wife’s father, a retired carpenter, to help out. When Yanagisawa’s contemporary ideas clash with the old carpenter’s traditional Japanese methods, the project becomes a huge mess.

This hard-boiled action starring Naoto Takenaka is directed by popular manga artist Kazuhiro Kimchi. 8 years ago Brazilian mafioso Carlos had brought the Japanese yakuza organization to its knees. He breaks out of prison while being transported back to Brazil and then begins to seek to get even with the organization.

Kasaki the hitman needs to set scores with his target Ri after the syndicate hunts him and blackmails his childhood friend to kill him.

Some of the greatest battles during the Age of Civil Wars were fought between the Uesugi and Takeda clans. Leading up to them was the incredible life of Uesugi Kenshin, who rose from a son out of favor with his...

Older, wiser but still a wandering loner, the blind, peace-loving masseur Ichi seeks a peaceful life in a rural village. When he's caught in the middle of a power struggle between two rival Yakuza clans, his reputation as a deadly defender of the innocent is put to the ultimate test in a series of sword-slashing showdowns.

A trading company employee's girlfriend loses her memory while on a trip. In place of the friend who was supposed to have accompanied her the whole time is a mysterious man.

Hunting master Ginzo kills a man-eating bear. When he finds out the bear had a cub, Ginzo decides to raise the cub, but the bear later becomes a troublemaker.

A young boy named Jiro finds his mother and sister murdered in his home. Falsely accused of the crime, he flees from his village and meets a priest named Tenkai, who has him kill a rogue ninja named Tarouza. After fulfilling that task, Jiro undergoes training to become a master assassin. Many years later, Jiro finds out that he was an orphan and his real father was Tarouza, who had worked for Tenkai until he aborted his mission when he fell in love with an Ainu woman. The young ninja discovers that the Shogunate was to retrieve the lost treasure of Captain Kidd and use it to once again isolate Japan from the rest of the world. Using the clues that Tarouza had kept secret, Jiro - along with the female ninja Oyuki and a slave named Sam - travels to Russia and America to search for the treasure in hopes of using it to extract revenge from Tenkai.

This story is based on the novel "Jo no mai" by Tomiko Miyao which is based on the life of painter Shōen Uemura (1875–1949), the first woman to be awarded the Order of Culture. The title refers to the masterpiece bijinga ("picture of a beautiful woman") that Uemura painted at the age of 61. The main character, Tsuya Shimamura, is born in Kyoto as the second daughter of a tea trader who dies before her birth. Tsuya, who loves painting more than anything and is hopeless at housework, attends art school and at age 15 receives the name Shōsui (from the characters for "pine" and "green") from her teacher. The crown prince of England purchases one of her works, propelling her to fame overnight. The novel portrays the remainder of her stormy life, during which she is impregnated by her teacher and raises a fatherless child; through it all she devotes herself to her painting, undaunted.

Wakayama Tomisaburo plays the role of Ichibei. His father is denounced from his clan and murdered, his family is hamed, and Ichibei is no longer a member of the Kurokuwa ninja. Living with his daughter as a peaceful pharmacist by day, Ichibei exerts his vengeance against the powers that be in the dark of night, under the pseudonym "Fangs of Darkness". Unaware of the true identity of the burglar who's bringing disgrace upon the noble houses, the efforts to stop him are being doubled by the day. Will they ever be satisfied? Can they be stopped or will the lords be shamed in the eyes of the Tokugawa Shogun? See how far a father and his daughter can take their quest for vengeance in this action-packed tale of honor!

The president of the Japanese National Railways is found dead during a period in which train service is plagued by numerous layoffs, strikes and shutdowns. The government says that the president was murdered; the police claim it was a suicide. A quizzical reporter follows the case for years, but the basic question remains unanswered: was the victim killed by members of the burgeoning Communist movement in Japan, or was the death stage-managed by the authorities in hopes of discrediting the Communists?

Akira Kurosawa's lauded feudal epic presents the tale of a petty thief who is recruited to impersonate Shingen, an aging warlord, in order to avoid attacks by competing clans. When Shingen dies, his generals reluctantly agree to have the impostor take over as the powerful ruler. He soon begins to appreciate life as Shingen, but his commitment to the role is tested when he must lead his troops into battle against the forces of a rival warlord.

The story of the silk industry and the young girls who worked as silk spinners in the early 1900s in Japan. The silk mills were located in Okaya which lies just beyond the Nomugi Pass. The women and girls worked in a hot, humid atmosphere without rest, and endured those conditions and sexual harassment to earn money for their poor families. Across the ocean, it was the great depression in America.

The eighth sequel of the series by the successful “Fukasaku and Bunta” collaboration revolves around the men of a lesser organization that are constantly bullied by the upper organization and “bleed in vain” in gang wars.

The Maccherone organization is out to get a priceless national treasure. But when they see third-generation cat-burglar Lupin as an obstacle, countless assassins are sent to kill him on sight and kidnap his girl Fujiko! Can Lupin get the loot before the Maccherone gang, rescue Fujiko, and stay alive at the same time?

The Bohachi Clan, the most vile, corrupt organization with ties deep in the Shogunate, have controlled the flesh trade in Japan for generations. When threatened by a competitor, they employ Saburai, a nihilistic ronin on the verge of self destruction. Blood gushes and limbs fly for anyone who stands against Saburai as he instills the Way of the Bohachi.

When 150 guns are stolen from Iwakuni base and two police officers are shot dead, a detective criminal tries to find out the truth.

In the teeming black markets of postwar Japan, Shozo Hirono and his buddies find themselves in a new war between factious and ambitious yakuza...

The third movie following the exploits of bounty hunter Shikoro Ichibei. The theft of almost a half ton of gold from the shogunate's official mine threatens to bankrupt the government of Japan. Despite a desperate search the gold has not been found, causing officials of the Tokugawa bakufu to call on their most skillful secret agent, Shikoro Ichibei.

Ninkyo with Hideki Takahashi.

In the second film of the Lone Wolf and Cub series, Ogami Itto battles a group of female ninja in the employ of the Yagyu clan and must assassinate a traitor who plans to sell his clan's secrets to the Shogunate.

President of the territorial yakuza organization is being manipulated by a crooked leader in the military and some capitalists Ishikiri. The plan is to get multiple family of the organized crime groups based in Osaka to war it out and order the Shima to the Onishi group of the branch to expand the territory. Now members of the same yakuza gang are forced to fight each other over territory and honor.

A high-ranking yakuza rises to national notoriety.

Laughter is brought about by a teacher-husband and student-wife couple.

Gengobe Satsuma, an exiled samurai cast out as an Asano clan retainer is given a second chance to join his brothers in arms to become the 48th Ronin against the Shogunate. His faithful servant gathers the 100 ryo required for his acceptance. Gengobe is also in love with a greedy geisha named Koman. About to be sold to another man, Gengobe learns that for him to keep her, her debt is exactly 100 ryo.

This film follows the daily lives of a group of people barely scraping by in a slum on the outskirts of Tokyo. Yet as desperate as their circumstances are, each of them—the homeless father and son envisioning their dream house; the young woman abused by her uncle; the boy who imagines himself a trolley conductor—finds reasons to carry on.

An outlaw pushes the residents of Edo's red light district to rebel against a growing number of stifling, moralistic laws.

Kuruma Torajiro is discovered looking around Kyoto for someone special to him.

Part 7 in the Gambling Den series. This time Koji Tsuruta is a gambler who feels sympathetic towards a woman whose naive husband is driven to a debt trap by a rotten gambling den owner (Tatsuo Endo) and his dishonest card dealer (Isamu Nagato). The plot is standard stuff and features too much talk, but there's also a decent balance between melodrama and lyricism in the form and storytelling. Tsuruta was a perfect fit for these kind of roles, with the stoic and emotional sides nicely mixed in his screen persona.

Just released on parole, one young man hurtles towards a face-off with the gangsters controlling Shinjuku and its lucrative prostitutes.

Forth film in the Gokudo series with Tomisaburô Wakayama

The long awaited second film in the Wicked Priest series is a masterpiece of sword swinging fury as Shinkai is asked by a man on the run to bring his young son to live with his grandfather, the master of a ju-jitsu dojo during the Taisho period of the early 20th century. Shinkai then runs afoul of a gangster group using strong-arm tactics to take over the profits from local gambling. When he proves to be more than they can handle, they hire the one man who has the ability to kill Shinkai and exact revenge, Ryotatsu, the karate priest whom Shinkai blinded in the first film. This ultra-violent entry has long been considered the best movie in the series and never made its way to home video before. See a spectacular display of Wakayama Tomisaburo’s martial art expertise in this action packed film. The Holy Grail of sword movies has arrived at last! /Winterheart of CG

Story of loyal sailors giving their lives for their country as human torpedoes towards the end of the War.

Sixth film in the "Kyodai Jingi" series. Three gangsters challenge an underworld group in northern Japan.

Tsunetaro Asakura AKA "Dynamite Tsune" is a talented gambler, but not infallable. After losing his Boss's money in a dice game he repays his debt by serving as a pit boss for a struggling coal mine in Kyuushu. Quickly there's trouble with the local mining competition, who doesn't always play a fair game. True to his hot-headed nickname, Tsune only gets into deeper trouble.

Ninkyo with Kôji Tsuruta. An elderly yakuza brother tries to clear an underling’s name.

The second part of the Gamblers series.

Three closely associated gamblers have adventures in Yokohama, Hokkaido, and Macao. Gambling trio endure hardships to rescue Naojiro’s family.

A group of ne'er-do-wells live happily in the slums of what is now Tokyo and have a number of adventures: they get drunk and go whoring, revenge themselves on cruel landlords, animate the corpse of a money-lender in order to frighten people. Then they assist at the marriage of a lovely girl and almost kill themselves gambling to provide her with a dowry.

A young woman begins murdering all those responsible for her ailing father's condition. Because the girl is so outwardly sweet and innocent, the detective looking into the deaths does not suspect her.

Tsuiseki is a 1961 crime film.

Ryoji, a wanderer, arrives in a remote mountain town, carrying a shotgun and claiming to be a hunter. He quickly becomes embroiled in a web of trouble surrounding the town's mill.

Wada Kōji is a chivalrous young man who leads a group of youths that take on a yakuza boss.

Kaji is sent to the Japanese army labeled Red and is mistreated by the vets. Along his assignment, Kaji witnesses cruelties in the army and revolts against the abusive treatment against the recruit Obara. He also sees his friend Shinjô Ittôhei defecting to the Russian border, and he ends in the front to fight a lost battle against the Russian tanks division.