Sumao Ishihara

In this first film of the Lone Wolf and Cub series, adapted from the manga by Kazuo Koike, we are told the story of the Lone Wolf and Cub's origin. Ogami Itto, the official Shogunate executioner, has been framed for disloyalty to the Shogunate by the Yagyu clan, against whom he now is waging a one-man war, along with his infant son, Daigoro.

BLOOD END is one of the great unknown films from Japan's golden era of the late 1960's. Starring NAKADAI Tatsuya in one of his best roles, this is the story of the Mito Tengu Group who attempted to overthrow the Shogunate at the beginning of the Bakumatsu Period. Their political aspirations led to countless assassinations, as well as senseless killing of innocent people who got in their way. Sentaro (NAKADAI), a farmer who's been severely beaten for his outspoken defiance of the government and the high taxes during a time of famine is befriended by one of the group's leaders, KADA Gentaro (KATO Go) and joins up. This is the masterpiece of director YAMAMOTO Satsuo (who is best known for the first film in the NINJA, BAND OF ASSASSINS series) the erstwhile 'Leftist' director, who used his films to make his political points. Stunning fight choreography, and ultra-violence make this one of the bloodiest films of that era. A powerful film Rare classic!

Ichikawa Raizo’s last film. He plays a Yakuza enforcer who kills a man on his boss's orders. He’s then sent to a provincial town to lie low, only to be caught in another war orchestrated by his original boss who has set him up.

One of the nuns at Senjuan is Sister Shunko (Michiyo Yasuda). Unlike the usual nun, however, she often goes out to see the world, being of the opinion that nuns should not lead cloistered lives but should see something of modern life. She makes the acquaintance of a young girl named lkuko (Kayo Mikimoto) and saves her from the advances of a gangster named Goro (lchiro Nakatani). In the meantime she turns down several propositions and, in revenge, one of her admirers denounces her to the Mother Superior (Kuniko Miyake). This lady is of liberal views, however, and refuses to do anything about it. Then Shunko is visited by Goro's gang boss who wants lkuko back and says he will blackmail Shunko unless she agrees.

The first film in the 2 part series about Ryuzen, a renegade martial-arts priest who, in addition to breaking all the commandments against sex and gambling, opens his own gambling den in direct defiance of the local yakuza boss. Exciting action and a twisty plot this movie breaks new barriers in Japanese cinema. Katsu Shintaro is superb in one of his better non-Zato Ichi roles as he fights off the advances of a love-lorn woman and risks his life to defeat the powerful gambling boss who has a stranglehold on the town.

When a local gambling house kidnaps some peasants because they failed to pay their debts, a rival gambling house pays their debts and sets them free.

Third film of the yoidore hakase series

日本陸軍のスパイ養成機関、中野学校を卒業して、中国北部に派遣された次郎。だが上司の草薙中佐は彼を日本に呼び戻し、神戸港を出発して日本軍の新兵器を極秘輸送中だった軍用船の爆破犯を次郎と別のスパイ、杉本に追わせる。杉本は神戸港に警備員となって潜入。尾行した夜警のひとりが派手に遊んだり、上海にある親日派新聞社の神戸駐在員と会っているのを見て、その夜警を怪しいとにらむが、第2の軍用船爆破事件が発生する。

Zatoichi comes upon a dying man who asks him to give a bag of money to "Taichi". Zatoichi has no idea who this is but when he comes upon a small town harassed by gangsters, he finds that "Taichi" was the man's young son. Along his travels he also met a blind monk who makes Zatoichi question his murderous lifestyle. In trying to help the town, Zatoichi kills some gangsters and becomes a hero to the boy. He must make a choice of whether to use non-violence and set a good example, or violence and set the boy on the wrong path in life.

A wandering gambler strolls into a village searching for his father's killer, unaware that the village is run by criminals who sell the poorest peasants into slavery.

Based on a novel by Tsutomu Mizukami, this haunting melodrama focuses on a young bamboo worker who takes his father's prostitute as his wife.

人気痛快時代劇シリーズの第４作。上州・下仁田にやってきた座頭市。折しもその地では、地元の若い親分・佐吉の二代目の襲名披露が近く行なわれようとしていた。市が投宿した旅籠の娘のぶは、佐吉と恋仲にあったが、のぶの養父・島蔵は、かつて先代の親分と諍いを起こした末、やむなくカタギの旅籠の主人となった過去の宿縁があり、今なおやくざ渡世に未練を残していた。矢切の東九郎は、そんな島蔵をたきつけて、佐吉の襲名披露を兼ねた花会を邪魔しようと企む。

As winds of change sweep Japan, an honest man joins the Shinsenhumi out of admiration for its leader and because he wants to live and die as a samurai. However, as his involvement grows, reality and idealism come into deadly conflict.

The Fencing Master tells the story of a man trying to survive as the only world he knows is becoming increasingly irrelevant. Danpei Ichikawa lives for swordfighting – he was once a renowned kabuki swordfight choreographer, and as the Chairman of the New National Theatre Company, he wants nothing more than to choreograph the swordfights for the modern plays put on by the company.

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. Jinen is both fascinated and disturbed by Satoko's interest in him; he is similarly caught between loathing of Kikuchi and of the dark circumstances of his birth and his own moral weakness. 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.

釈迦の生誕から入滅までを壮大なスケールで描いた歴史スペクタクル。世を憂えて修行の道に入ったシッダ太子は、悪魔の誘惑を退けついに悟りを開く。だが彼に嫉妬するダイバ・ダッタは、バラモンの法力を以て、シッダ太子と仏教徒を様々な方法で迫害していくが......。

One of Japan's most popular stories is the tale of Kutsukake Tokijiro, a traveling gambler who finds that he must take care of the wife and child of a yakuza he had been forced by the code of the gamblers to fight man to man. In a brilliant performance from super-star Ichikawa Raizo, with strong support from two of the greats from Toho, Shimura Takashi (7 Samurai) and Aratama Michiyo (Sword of Doom) the heartfelt story reaches new heights. Tokijiro, having learned the true nature of the boss to whom he was obligated for having spent a night and eaten at the gang's headquarters takes up arms against them in a running battle fought across the back roads of the entire nation. Another powerful rendition of this superb story, it is not to be missed!

A gripping historical drama full of suspense and a mysterious bewitching mood. A puzzle of a turbulent era in which various characters fall into a maelstrom of events - a pretty girl, a strange beggar woman, a charming thief, a clever detective, the famous magistrate Toyama Saemon no jo, they all struggle to unravel this mystery of the white bell, which provoked the sudden disappearance of two beautiful women caught in one place at the same time at midnight.

大映版シリーズの第一作。富士を遠望する大菩薩峠の頂上、机竜之助は居合わせた老巡礼を一刀の下に切り捨てた。御岳山奉納試合で宇津木文之丞の命を奪った竜之助は霧の御坂で剣陣を突破すると、力ずくで手篭めにした文之丞の妻、お浜を伴って江戸へと出奔する。それは竜之助の流浪の旅の始まりだった――。

During the 1200's, legendary Buddhist monk Nichiren returns from his studies to lead Japan out of moral crisis and prepare to fight Mongol invaders by creating a new form of Buddhism. He runs afoul of the existing Buddhist sects and their government supporters and is persecuted. Can Nichiren persevere before the Mogol fleet reaches Japanese shores?

溝口吾一は父の親友が住職をつとめる驟閣寺に住み込むことになった。驟閣寺はこの世で最も美しいものと教え込まれた吾一だったが、やがて観光客が多数訪れるようになり、信仰の場ではなく単なる観光地に成り下がってしまうのを目の当たりにする。古谷大学に通うようになった吾一は戸苅という学生と知り合うが、戸苅は驟閣寺の美を批判し、住職の私生活を暴露した。

From the pen of Yoshikawa Eiji comes this exciting story. The Naruto Strait separates Tokushima from the islands of Awaji and Honshu. On Tokushima the mad lord dreams of conquest and forges a bloody revolt against the Tokugawa shogunate. A mysterious swordsman named Noriyuki Gennojo has crossed Naruto’s waters to uncover the Awa clan’s secrets. He puts his life on the line after finding a testament of Awa’s secrets, written in blood by a dying man. Joining Noriyuki are a female ninja who loves him, and the beautiful daughter of an enemy who’s sworn to kill him. Awa’s defenders willl stop at nothing to prevent the blood-soaked letter from reaching the shogun.

A poor peasant, after years of scraping, becomes a rich and powerful Osaka merchant. Mizoguchi Kenji's final project; he died before completing it and directing duties turned over to Yoshimura Kozaburo.

In Kyoto a young kimono maker with traditional ideas gets involved with a married professor.

Special Forces commander Captain Tadamori returns to Kyoto after successfully defeating the uprising of pirates in the western sea of Japan. But because the high courtiers dislike career soldiers gaining power and influence, they ignore the will of ex-Emperor Toba and refuse to reward the captain. Reward recommender Lord Tokinobu is punished, and the captain sends his son Kiyomori to the Lord's residence, where he falls in love with Tokiko, the Lord's daughter. Meanwhile, Kiyomori finds out that he is possibly the ex-Emperor's son... Written by L.H. Wong

A kabuki actress is murdered. Her pet cat laps its mistress's blood and becomes a demon possessed by the vengeful murder victim.

In 17th century Kyoto, Osan is married to Ishun, a wealthy miserly scroll-maker. When Osan is falsely accused of having an affair with the best worker, Mohei, the pair flee the city and declare their love for each other. Ishun orders his men to find them, and separate them to avoid public humiliation.

Yukiko's fiance learns her mother runs a geisha house and ends their engagement. She despises what her mother does until one of her clients shows interest and starts to woo her.

森鴎外の同名小説を、八尋不二と依田義賢が共同で脚色し、溝口健二がメガホンをとった文芸作品。特に美術と撮影はレベルが高く、ヴェネチア国際映画祭で銀獅子賞を受賞した。美しいラストシーンは、ゴダールが「気狂いピエロ」において引用したことでも知られる。 　平安時代末期、農民を救うため将軍にたてついた平正氏が左遷された。妻の玉木、娘の安寿と息子の厨子王は越後を旅している途中、人買いにだまされ離ればなれになってしまう。玉木は佐渡に、安寿と厨子王は丹後の山椒大夫に奴隷として売られた。きょうだいはそれから十年もの間、奴隷としての生活を続けるが、ついに意を決して逃げ出すことにする。しかし追っ手に迫られ、安寿は厨子王を逃すため池に身を投げるのだった。

Japan, 1159. Moritō, a brave samurai, performs a heroic act by rescuing the lovely Kesa during a violent uprising. Moritō falls in love with her, but becomes distraught when he finds out that she is married.

祇園ではちょっと名の知れた芸妓・美代春の許に、母を亡くしたばかりの少女・栄子が舞妓志願にやってきた。栄子の熱意に負けた美代春は、彼女を引き受けることに。やがて、1年間の舞妓修行を経て、初めて店に出た栄子。ほどなく大会社の御曹司・楠田に見初められる。一方、美代春も楠田の取引先である神崎から言い寄られるのだったが…。

Clothes of Deception initiated Yoshimura’s most characteristic vein. This geisha story is often described as a loose remake of Mizoguchi’s pre-war masterpiece Sisters of Gion (1936), but this is inexact. Whereas in Mizoguchi’s study of two sisters, both women had been geisha, in Yoshimura’s film only Kimicho (Kyo Machiko) is, while her sister works in the Kyoto tourist office. Juxtaposing a traditional Kyoto profession with a modern one, Yoshimura shows how life in the old capital was changing in the wake of wider transformations in Japanese society.

In late 19th century Tokyo, Kikunosuke Onoue, the adopted son of a legendary actor, himself an actor specializing in female roles, discovers that he is only praised for his acting due to his status as his father's heir. Devastated by this, he turns to Otoku, a servant of his family, for comfort, and they fall in love. Kikunosuke becomes determined to leave home and develop as an actor on his own merits, and Otoku faithfully follows him.

dir: Teinosuke Kinugasa

Two cowardly palanquin carriers know the culprit of a murder but are too scared to report it to the police. In the mean time, an innocent man is arrested as the murderer and chaos ensues. Pre-war jidaigeki film.

This 1932 adaptation is the earliest sound version of the ever-popular and much-filmed Chushingura story of the loyal 47 retainers who avenged their feudal lord after he was obliged to commit hara-kiri due to the machinations of a villainous courtier. As the first sound version of the classic narrative, the film was something of an event, and employed a stellar cast, who give a roster of memorable performances. Director Teinosuke Kinugasa was primarily a specialist in jidai-geki (period films), such as the internationally celebrated Gate of Hell (Jigokumon, 1953), and although he is now most famous as the maker of the avant-garde silent films A Page of Madness (Kurutta ichipeji, 1926) and Crossroads (Jujiro, 1928), Chushingura is in fact more typical of his output than those experimental works. The film ranked third in that year’s Kinema Junpo critics’ poll, and Joseph Anderson and Donald Richie noted that 'not only the sound but the quick cutting was admired by many critics.