Akira Kobayashi

Remake of The Story of a Man Among Men (1984)

The anti-gangster law has been very bad for business, but one yakuza boss is running his syndicate like a ruthless conglomerate -- and thriving.

A story about the development of a bright and strong yakuza. Otaki is an old-fashioned respectful yakuza who tries to protect his small yakuza family. When his boss gets shot, he decides to go after the plotters.

昭和58年に創立70周年を迎えたにっかつが70周年を記念して作った名場面集映画。年老いた殺し屋がかつて共演したライバルを捜し求めて彷徨するという構成をとっている。構成・脚本・監督は作家ではじめて映画を手がける矢作俊彦。

The 224-minute compilation edition of Battles Without Honor and Humanity compiles these four movies: Battles Without Honor and Humanity, Deadly Fight in Hiroshima, Proxy War, Police Tactics

Tarao’s services are called upon to solve the mysterious death of bride-to-be, Mariko, who was found dead with an eerie mask of a devil.

Legendary detective returns

After spending eight years in prison for murder, Hiroshi leaves his yakuza family to start a new life as a labor racketeer.

Amidst Japan's postwar economic boom, yakuza factions in Osaka fight for survival when Japan's largest crime syndicate plans a hostile takeover.

A violent upstart forms an alliance with the powerful Tensei-kai syndicate to fight on the front lines of an underworld war and take over all of Japan.

Mainly the story of Shinsuke and his stepmother, ranging from Shinsuke's infanthood to his mid-teens. Coal workers and the mines dominate nearly every aspect of the life of the characters. Shinsuke's father dies while bravely using dynamite to rescue a group of trapped Korean miners. Several older men attempt to help he and his mother cope, including a kind Korean and a Harley-riding yakuza.

In gangster-infested 1920s Yokohama, gambler Ishiguro gets in with the local gang -- but his view of life changes after the Great Kanto Earthquake.

Vice Admiral Takajiro Ohnishi could see that Japan's defeat in WWII was inevitable. He came to realize that the only way to force a negotiated solution was to convince the Americans that invading Japan would cause massive casualties on both sides. The cold logic of suicide attacks, where one man and one plane could kill hundreds, seemed the only solution. In one of the cruel ironies of fate, Ohnishi actually succeeded; he convinced the Americans that invading Japan would be too costly in lives. But what he could not foresee was that America had another way of ending the war.

広能組・打本会の連合と山守組との広島抗争は、警察による組長クラスの一斉検挙、いわゆる「頂上作戦」によって終息に向かう。打本会は解散し、広能組長・広能昌三は網走刑務所に収監された。一方、山守組側では逮捕されるも未決保釈となった最高幹部・武田明が広島に散在するやくざ組織に大同団結を呼びかけ、市民社会からの厳しい視線をかわすため政治結社「天政会」として統一組織を立ち上げた。しかし天政会は、会長・武田明、理事・江田省一らの主流派と副会長・大友勝利、幹事長・早川英男らの反主流派とに分かれ一枚岩ではなかった。

With a Kansai syndicate vying for Tokyo, one man reunites with his roguish half-brother in the midst of negotiations, when all hell breaks loose.

インテリやくざ・安藤昇、ゴロやくざ・菅原文太、金筋やくざ・小林旭、影の顔役・丹波哲郎の＜BIG4＞が暴力街に集結した！全国制覇を狙う関西広域暴力団が、遂に最後の拠点・東京に進出してきた。銀座のクラブ買収を口火に、関西VS関東の凄まじいやくざ戦争の幕が切って落とされる!!巨匠・五社英雄監督が、アクション映画の醍醐味を存分に盛り込み描いた大スペクタクル暴力巨編！

1963年（昭和38年）、東京オリンピックを翌年に控え高度経済成長の真っ只中にある市民社会は、秩序の破壊者である暴力団に非難の目を向け始めていた。しかし広能昌三の山守組破門に端を発した広能組・打本会の連合と山守組との抗争は、神戸を拠点に覇を争う２大広域暴力団・明石組と神和会の代理戦争の様相を呈し、激化の一途を辿っていた。

昭和35年の広島市繁華街、白昼にやくざの杉原が殺される。所詮、ばくちのもつれによる殺しだが杉原は病気療養中の村岡組長の舎弟であり、彼の死で村岡組の跡目が空席となる。組の継承は組長から直盃を下ろされた者のみ資格があり順当にいけば村岡舎弟である打本昇[打本組]のはずだが、杉原の仇を討たないため周囲から推されずにいた。

A former gang leader and lone wolf who has left the organization works behind the scenes in a new city to take revenge on a giant alliance of organizations. This film is amongst the last "straight" yakuza films made at Nikkatsu before the studio's switch-over to pinku eiga.

A 1970 crime film.

Hanamura, widely known in gangland a professional trouble shooter has the sign of the Jack tattooed on his chest. His follower is his sworn partner Kurahara. They attempt to help the Towada-Gumi gang against its rival group the Kamioka-Gumi which is seeking the chance to conquer the Towada-Gumi in collusion with Noda, a big shot in the town operating a real estate firm.

Aboard a night ferry in the Inland Sea, Masaaki Kagari (Akira Kobayashi), a young tough, who supplies hostesses to night spots, encounters Yuko, his ex-sweetheart. He considers himself a private underworld sort of policeman-in the com- munity of such women. Yuko, now a bar proprietress, is under the protection of Tahei Daigo, a sinister gang boss who in his quest for chances of good investments abroad plans to offer young girls to rich foreigners. Asked to gather attractive girls by Yuko, now Tahei's puppet, Masaaki collects many only to find them mysteriously missing...

Kagari (Akira Kobayashi), a scout and overseer of Ginza bar hostesses, receives an urgent phone call from Sawako, a hostess at the bar Rie, and rushes to Tokyo International Airport to meet her. When he arrives she is gone. At the bar he learns that Tabuchi, a steady customer, had been quite friendly with Sawako and may know something. Tabuchi claims he knows nothing and Kagari lets the matter drop. Over time Kagari learns from Takijima, a businessman, that Sawako is in a hospital in Yokohama. Takijima explains that he found her in Singapore working as a street girl and brought her back to Japan. Sawako had lost her memory after being subjected to narcotics. Kagari swears to find the person responsible.

Yakuza Ryuichi, nicknamed the Dragon-killer, went on a journey with his son Tatsuo after he lost his wife. Due to Tatsuo's sudden illness, Ryuichi had money problems, and he became dependent on the head of the local tekiya and finds himself involved in the tekiya war with the Yakuza.

A once-powerful yakuza clan disbands as a result of a police crackdown, but one small group refuses to bow to police pressure, and launches a campaign to take over Tokyo's drug, prostitution, and gambling rackets. Someone wants to stop them. Is it the police? Rival gang members? Or is it an entirely new group of hired killers who will stop at nothing to gain complete control of Tokyo's "bloody territories"?

Japanese crime film

A tale of wannabe yakuza youths. When not cooking up scams with his buddies, Zenkichi develops a crush on Taro's disgusted sister, Miki. But soon the young hoods run afoul of their underworld idols when they rob the wrong gang, led by brutal boss Konno. When Zenkichi's pals start to bite the dust, he hooks up with a more traditional yakuza, Tetsugoro, to retaliate.

Follows the struggles of a yakuza wife after his husband gets hurt in a knife fight.

Masaaki Kagari (Akira Kobayashi) is the recruiter and protector of hostesses at the Club Rose. One day he visits Club Aron, to complain about attempts to lure hostesses from Club Rose. Aron's madam Hisayo reminds him of a tragic experience five years before, when a lovely girl named Kumi committed double suicide with a man in a hotel. For Aron's madam is Kumi's elder sister. Kagari's friend Hayazaki introduces him to Chie, the young sister of the man who died with Kumi, who has come to Tokyo to learn the truth about her brother's death. Kagari sends them both away. But he continues to be haunted by the warmed-over memories. When Club Aron is found selling bootleg whisky Kagari learns that Hisayo has been a tool in the hands of the Akune group who are also responsible for trying to steal his girls, and that Fujikura, the public prosecutor who presided over the case of Kumi's death and ruled it suicide, is now the personal lawyer of the Akune group...

Japanese crime film

Around Ginza there is a night-city of bars and cabarets, hostesses, customers. Assisting to keep order here is Kagari (Akira Kobayashi) who specializes in the women, their problems and troubles. He has saved many a girl from blandishments of pimps, makes customers pay up and women play straight. So he is called 'the woman's police-man' and he takes his job seriously. One day, Chiyoko (Yukiyo Toake), a former hostess, comes to him. Her husband has been murdered and she wants help. The man had been a college classmate and Kagari decides to do what he can. In his investigation he overturns a whole nest of intrigue. Men he had thought irreproachable turn out to be corrupt; solid citizens are seen as the worst kind of scoundrels. Until now, Kagari has specialized in women and their problems. But, realizing the real state of affairs, he rolls up his sleeves for a good cleaning- up-at the same time discovering the murderer of his friend.

It is the end of the Taisho era (1912-1926), and at the Hanazuki-tei theatre in Asakusa, the famous performance of storyteller Koiso Kikuji and performer Kataoka Koshin is reaching its climax when the Tawaraya family interferes... This is an entertaining action film bursting with righteousness and humanity, centred on men who try to live righteously against a corrupt boss who preys on the performers.

Two years before they collaborated on the immortal Stray Cat Rock series, director Yasuharu Hasebe and soon-to-be-superstar Meiko Kaji teamed up for this potent gangster flick that also stars the great Joe Shishido (Branded to Kill) and Akira Kobayashi, who would shortly thereafter star in Kinji Fukasaku's epic yakuza series Battles Without Honor and Humanity. Emerging from a stint in prison, yakuza lieutenant Sumukawa (Kobayashi) discovers that his gang has disintegrated while he was in the pen. An ambitious type, he quickly hooks up with another gang (led by Shishido) who promise him a prominent position if he helps them deal with a rival family. But bonds are made to be broken, and pledges of loyalty soon give way to competition, betrayal and — naturally — retaliation. Tough, cynical and violent, Retaliation cheerfully overturns romanticized notions of underworld honour, paving the way for Fukusaku's revisionist yakuza pictures of the 1970s.

Romantic action film set against the beautiful backdrop of Rio de Janeiro. Jiro Ibuki has decided to leave the world of the yakuza and live with his fiancée Reiko.

The year is 1926. It has been three years since the Great Kanto earthquake hit Tokyo. Everything is being rebuilt from the ground up. Odera crime syndicate saw this as an opportunity to expand its territory. The Odera boss arranges marriage between his daughter Orin (Ruriko Asaoka) and the son of notorious Gyotoku clan, but Orin’s heart belonged to Shinjiro (Yujiro Ishihara), a member of her father’s clan.

It had been a year and four months since Mitsuo was last on a movie set. Welcomed back by director Ishizaki and his film crew, Mitsuo is excited to star as the lead in "My Sweetheart". One day, half way through production, he meets his friends from a popular rock group, "The Spiders". Through their discussion regarding the climax scene, they criticize that the script is too grim. In a notion to protect their friend's career, they decide to pay the scriptwriter a little visit.

戦時中に日本軍が某国から略奪した財宝をめぐって、熾烈な争奪戦が展開。大藪春彦の原作をもとに、小林旭が極秘の破壊工作員に扮して活躍するハードボイルド・アクション。原作は大藪春彦の「破壊指令No.1」

Daisuke Honda, a war photographer in Vietnam, meets Yuriko Sawanouchi, a stewardess on his plane back to Japan. After drinking with her at a Tokyo bar, he becomes involved in saving Yuriko from assassination by stylish, female ninjas. When trying to rescue Yuriko from kidnappers, Daisuke discovers a group of foreigners are hunting for a WWII-era treasure hidden on an island by Yuriko's father.

The fictional land "Pandora" sends three (numbered) graduates of the "National Gambling University" to Japan. You should defeat the master player Kôji, control the international casino empire and use the profits to achieve world domination. But Japan's most famous left hand knows what to do.

Ryu (Akira Kobayashi) sets foot on the Yokohama port with a suitcase filled with 300 thousand dollars. He was sent by a jewelry company in Hong Kong to retrieve a certain diamond that was stolen from them. The "Himalayan Star" is worth couple hundred million yen and unbeknown to Ryu, it now lays in the hands of Aizu (Jo Shishido), the infamous ”Pirate of the Tokyo Bay."

Place your bets! Koji Himuro (Akira Kobayashi) is a makeout artist with unparalleled gambling skills. Shortly after his return to Tokyo, he is invited to attend a reception being held at the Suvenian Embassy of Tokyo. This “reception” was an undercover gambling operation that was run by an international gambling syndicate. Up against a cardsharp by the name of Inumaru and his mistress Reiko, Koji plays a flawless game of Seven Bridge. Outraged by his loss, Inumaru orders Reiko to stalk Koji like a shadow.

a crime film from 1965

Two brothers seek revenge on the yakuza responsible for the death of their father.

Koji Himuro, a brilliant gambler, was killed by his brother and lover for discovering cheating gambling. As a result, he vows never to roll the dice, but gets involved in the incident everywhere he goes. The first in the "Black Gambler Series". The feature of this series is that the existing gag was mainly created by accumulating lines and small actions, but in this series, gag is done by exaggerated gimmicks. Film critic Hideo Nishiwaki points out that it may be the influence of the 007 movie series.

A young yakuza in love with the girl who's to marry his clan oyabun, kidnaps the girl before fleeing with her. In Tokyo, he hides under the identity of a worker while the young woman becomes a waitress in a restaurant.

The film is set in Fukagawa in the early Showa period and depicts a fateful confrontation between two men who rise and fall in a black stream, trying to live a real human life, violating the cruel laws of the passing generation.

Handsome young Katsuta tries to follow the yakuza code, but even his boss doesn't believe in it. Diamond Fuyu is less ethical, and allows the idiotic Tetsu to trick a schoolgirl he fancies, Hanako, into a type of bonded prostitution. Because of gang conflict, the Izu family (to whom Katsuta belongs) has their last gambling den taken over, and he seeks revenge. This brings him back into contact with a former lover who is also a card trickster - she is also Diamond Fuyu's sister, and is now married to Okaru-Hachi, who has mastered a clever card cheating trick called Okaru, which involves the deft use of mirrors.

阿久根純一が開設した探偵事務所に最初に訪れたのは夏木瑛子という看護婦だった。数日前に姿を消した姉、伸子を探して欲しいという依頼だった。伸子は新宿のクラブに勤めていたが、事件数日前からヤクザ風の男に自室のアパートに監禁されていたらしい。阿久根は伸子の男関係から捜査を開始し、クラブの支配人である篠村の元を訪れた。篠村は裏で大量の麻薬を動かしいたうえに、麻薬中毒の伸子と深い関係にあった。監禁について問い詰めると、麻薬を断って伸子を更生させるためだったという。篠村からの情報を頼りに捜査を進めていくと、伸子は父の遺産一千万円を手にしていたことがわかった。それは異父姉妹の瑛子も初耳の驚くべき情報だった。一千万円が怪しいと睨んだ阿久根は、秘書の瑠理と共に事件当日の状況を徹底的に洗い出していく。

Final installment of THE WANDERING GUITARIST series.

A crime film released in 1962

Satake Shoji had been a trapeze artist in the Ezaki Circus, but when Shingo, his team mate, slipped and fell to his death, he had felt responsible and, sick at heart, left the circus for a life at sea. On land again Shoji goes to a cabaret where he is soon involved in a brawl. Kasamatsu, the owner of the cabaret, impressed by Shoji's strength, offers him a job as his bodyguard. The next morning Shoji visits Shingo's grave and meets Miyako, Shingo's former sweetheart, who is still a trapeze performer and now the star of the Kuroko Circus which Shoji realizes Kasamatsu intends to control.

In the nine part Wataridori series (1959-1962), Kobayashi played a wanderer on Japan’s back roads with most of the accoutrements of a Western hero, from a horse to fringes, guitar and even a trusty bullwhip.

A yakuza frames another yakuza who goes to jail for 5 years. When he is released he goes to seek revenge only to fall in love with the daughter of the man who framed him.

Strife between competing lumber mills.

Japanese Western set at a mountain ranch in Kyushu.

Seventh in the nine-film series, "The Wandering Guitarist".

The Ginza Whirlwind (Akira Kobayashi) attempts to solve a murder.

In the nine part Wataridori series (1959-1962), Kobayashi played a wanderer on Japan’s back roads with most of the accoutrements of a Western hero, from a horse to fringes, guitar and even a trusty bullwhip.

In this fifth episode of the "Wataridori" series, Taki Shinji (Kobayashi Akira) drifts north to Hokkaido, where he helps protect an Ainu village from unscrupulous land developers.

Set in Uwajima, Shikoku, an action film starring Akira Kobayashi who uncovers evils related to pearl farming.

Mega star Akira Kobayashi stars as Jiro in the rambunctious tale of a chef who opens a restaurant in the busy Ginza district. His culinary skills and dashing good looks bring in the women as well as unwanted trouble, while an explosive political scandal builds around his girlfriend’s business...

The young rambler, Shinji Taki, with his guitar arrives a hot spa town at the foot of Mount Aizu Bandai. Of course he solves the problems in the town while encountering the sinister rival, Masa "the pistol guy".

An airplane loaded with 50 million yen for the reconstruction of Amami Oshima crashes en route from Kagoshima, Kyushu, but neither the money nor the remains of the pilot can be found.

The 3rd film of the famous "Wataridori" (The Rambler) series from Nikkatsu. The young rambler, Shinji Taki (Akira Kobayashi), with his guitar arrives in Sadogashima Island, Niigata, Japan. Of course, Shinji meets yet another beautiful girl named Noriko, who closely resembles the famous actress Ruriko Asaoka again. Of course, Noriko is in trouble. Of course, Shinji's yet another skilled rival named "Tetsu, the Gunman" comes to Sado shortly. Of course, the villain tries to kill Shinji and Tetsu. Of course, Shinji solves the problem and leaves Sado suddenly.

Takuya witnesses the homicide of the detective leading an investigation into the murder of the chairman of the People’s Economic Association, and he disguises himself.

Plans to build a touristic hot spring on the island of Izu Oshima run afoul of the Kobe yakuza group, which intends to use the island as a relay base for drug smuggling.

Rambler Shinji arrives in town armed with nothing but a guitar. With assistance from an old gun-for-hire friend, he sets about to stop the mob from turning an honest ranch into a gambling resort.

背中にギターを背負った「流し」の男が函館に降り立つ。用心棒として彼を雇った地元のボスは、土地再開発のために住民を立ち退かせるよう彼に指示する。そんなある日、港で密輸取引を行ったボスは、取引相手と彼を同時に始末しようとする。

Story of an ex-con trying to go straight, but of course the old ways die hard.

Kenichi, who lives like a stray dog among fellow gangsters, finds his love for the first time while the police are trying to catch him on suspicion of murder.

College students come up with a scam to rob a gambling house. When it comes time to collect, the money isn't there, leading the young men into even more serious crime.

A delinquent young man (Kobayashi Akira) from a wealthy family decides to get in on a blackmailing scheme targeting his young stepmother (Watanabe Misako). However, he doesn't realize that his fellow blackmailers have their eyes on his girlfriend next.

Nobuo is a hot-headed hoodlum fresh out of reform school who struggles to make a clean break with his tearaway past.

Udaka is a new, post-war city where corruption has already taken hold. A persistent district attorney wants to arrest and convict Katsumata, a laughing, self-confident thug. The D.A. gets an anonymous letter about the suicide five years' before of a city council member. Evidence about the case leads the D.A. to Tachibana, struggling to go straight after involvement with the mob and a prison sentence for killing the man responsible for the rape and suicide of his fiancée. One of Tachibana's friends is Keiko, the daughter of the dead councilman and the ward of another powerful official. How do these stories connect?

幕末の混沌とした時代、にぎわいを見せていた品川宿の遊郭旅籠の相模屋にひとりの町人・佐平次が訪れる。女郎のおそめを気に入り豪遊するが、実は佐平次は一文無しだった。その翌朝、佐平次は金がないことを若い衆に打ち明けるが、口八丁でその場に居座ってしまう。そして金を返済するためと相模屋で番頭まがいの仕事を始めた佐平次は、下働きから女郎衆、遊郭に出入りする人々のトラブルを持ち前の度胸と機転で解決してみせ、さらにお礼の金をしっかりためこんでいた。また、相模屋に逗留し攘夷の計画を練る長州藩士の高杉晋作、久坂玄瑞らとも交友を深め、いつしか佐平次は遊郭内で一目置かれる存在になっていく。

Harsh film about a car dealer who gets into financial trouble.

Eikichi Yamashiro, who is a former contender for the boxing title, works as a manager at a Club Champion owned by his fiancé Natsuko’s father. He lost a title match five years ago as he was besotted by Natsuko, but Eikichi actually cannot give up the dream of the championship. One day, he meets Shuntaro Fuma, who is a punk kid but a promising boxer, and realizes the dream that he himself could never fulfill. Then, they together start to train with the aim of the title. Mari Shiraki is an up-and-coming ballerina under the patronage of Eikichi as well. Eikichi forbids Shuntaro and Mari to be romantically involved with someone during their training, however, they start to go on a date. (source: Nikkatsu International)

A continuation of Hungry Soul, from the same year. Reiko, who tolerates abuse in her marriage to a man 23 years her senior, is friends with Mayumi, a beautiful widow. Reiko meets her husband’s business rival, a young, capable businessman, and falls for him. Meanwhile, Mayumi enters into a relationship with Shimotsuma, a friend of her late husband.

Reiko, who tolerates abuse in her marriage to a man 23 years her senior, is friends with Mayumi, a beautiful widow. Reiko meets her husband’s business rival, a young, capable businessman, and falls for him. Meanwhile, Mayumi enters into a relationship with Shimotsuma, a friend of her late husband.