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.

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.

While Hirono is in prison, his rival Takeda turns his own crime organization into a political party, whose two executives stir up new tensions in their thirst for power.

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.

With a Kansai syndicate setting their sights on Tokyo, a former yakuza boss gets dragged back into a world of violence.

As Japan gears up for the 1964 Olympic games, the cops start to crack down on the gangs, under pressure from the public and the press, adding a new dimension in the war for power among the yakuza families of Hiroshima.

Shozo Hirono has managed to separate from the Yamamori family and create his own small family, and extend his circle of acquaintances. These new friendships include a powerful underboss of the Muraoka family, Noboru Uchimoto.

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

고이조의 대대로 노나카 테츠고로는 무전취식을 해 심하게 시달리던 테츠헤이와 타케시를 구했다.감격한 텟페이는 도세인이 되고 싶다고 말했지만… 깡패를 지원하는 젊은이, 그것을 말리는 대대차, 조를 무너뜨리려는 깡패 연합군과의 싸움 속에서 대문을 지킨 남자의 모습을 그리는 활극.시리즈 제2탄

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.

“I like shady dealings,” purrs undercover superspy Yabuki en route to infiltrating a sadistic, trigger-happy gang of international jewel thieves. Gone renegade from the shadowy espionage bureau that honed his killer instincts to a razor’s edge, the implacable Yabuki teams up with fellow mercenary crime fighter Yamawaki. Together, they follow a trail of stolen gems leading from the final days of WWII to a contemporary conspiracy that reaches into the highest corridors of corporate power and nefarious international villainy.

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.

20세기 초의 혼란스러운 아사쿠사 거리. 무라타 건설회사와 후지노 건설회사는 계약을 둘러싸고 권력 다툼을 벌인다. 이들은 폭력을 동원해 준공식을 지연시키는 등 목숨을 건 싸움을 벌인다. 임신한 아내를 둔 무라타 건설회사의 오가타 역시 이 싸움에 휘말려 어쩔 수 없이 나쁜 임무를 수행해야 한다.

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.

야쿠자 두목의 딸인 도키코는 단순한 호기심에 친구 하나코와 함께 도박장에 구경을 간다. 그러나 경쟁 조직의 조직원인 후유가 하나코에게 마음을 뺏기고 일은 점점 커지기 시작한다.

A noir action whodunit with Kobayashi his usual jaunty self as the smart aleck private eye whose missing person search soon becomes a murder case. Nightclub-managing, drug-dealing gangster Uchida is the prime suspect in the case until he commits suicide. Kobayashi then discovers evidence that points to the doctor sibling of an innocent girl. The climax in a rural snowy locale is suspenseful and well-staged.

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.

Arriving in the town of Hakodate, a wandering musician, Shinji Taki, is soon recruited by the local gang as a hired hand. However, with the arrival of a sinister gunman, Taki's mysterious past catches up with him.

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.

호리에 집안에 시집을 간 요코는 자신과 나이차가 별로 나지 않는 의붓아들 히로시 때문에 걱정이 많다. 그녀를 잘 따르는 듯 보이던 히로시는 곧 함부로 행동을 하기 시작하고, 엎친 데 덮친 격으로 요코는 7년 전 성폭행을 당했던 기억을 떠올리고 큰 충격을 받는다.

버스회사에서 근무하는 게이코는 비행청소년을 위한 사회단체에서 활동하다 노부를 만난다. 게이코는 노부를 바른 길로 이끌기 위해 갖은 노력을 하지만 노부의 옛 친구들이 노부를 가만히 두지 않는다.

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?

시대는 막부. 시나가와 유곽에 위세 좋게 뛰어든 사베이지는 사실은 한 푼없는 가난뱅이다. 일해서 빚을 갚으려고 여관에 남은 사베이지는 요령 좋게 일하는 척을 한다. 친한 손님을 둘러싼 유녀들끼리의 싸움이나 밀린 돈을 받아내는 일 등, 끊임없이 일어나는 귀찮은 일들을 차례차례 해결하여 모두의 보배로, 유녀 오소메와 코하루는 완전히 마음을 빼앗기고 말았다. 장기 숙박을 하고 있는 쵸슈(長州)의 무사 다카스기 신사쿠 일당이 영국 영사관을 불태울 계획을 세우는 것을 알고 사베이지는 출입하는 목수에게 도면을 만들게 한다. 슬슬 철수하려고 여행 준비를 하는 사베이지 앞에 행방불명의 코하루를 찾는 억만장자 노인이 나타난다. 코하루는 죽었다고 거짓말을 하고 엉터리 묘지로 안내 하지만, 묘비에 새겨진 글자를 잠깐 보아도 이는 아이의 이름. 속았다고 화를 내는 노인을 무시하고 사베이지는 동해의 소나무 가로수 길을 가볍게 뛰어서 사라진다.

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.