Jun Fujikawa

山男の歌

Mitsuo Murayama

Jun Fujimaki, Mako Sanjō

二十九人の喧嘩状

Kimiyoshi Yasuda

Raizō Ichikawa, Shintarō Katsu

山椒大夫

Kenji Mizoguchi

Kinuyo Tanaka, Yoshiaki Hanayagi

In medieval Japan, a woman and his children journey to find the family's patriarch, who was exiled years before.

Ugetsu

Kenji Mizoguchi

Machiko Kyō, Mitsuko Mito

In 16th century Japan, peasants Genjuro and Tobei sell their earthenware pots to a group of soldiers in a nearby village, in defiance of a local sage's warning against seeking to profit from warfare. Genjuro's pursuit of both riches and the mysterious Lady Wakasa, as well as Tobei's desire to become a samurai, run the risk of destroying both themselves and their wives, Miyagi and Ohama.

近松物語

Kenji Mizoguchi

Kazuo Hasegawa, Kyōko Kagawa

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.

Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart at the River Styx

Kenji Misumi

Tomisaburō Wakayama, Akihiro Tomikawa

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.

Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance

Kenji Misumi

Tomisaburō Wakayama, Akihiro Tomikawa

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.

座頭市物語

Kenji Misumi

Shintarō Katsu, Masayo Banri

The adventures of a blind, gambling masseur and master swordsman. Zatoichi targets a yakuza-controlled village, because war with a neighbouring town's smaller gang is brewing.

The Third Shadow Warrior

Umetsugu Inoue

Raizō Ichikawa, Hizuru Takachiho

In the mountain regions of Hida, the dreams of a peasant named Kyonosuke, who longed to be a samurai, come true when he becomes one of three doubles, of shadows, of Lord Yasutaka. After months of intense and cruel training, he faces his destiny when the Lord and the other two shadows are killed in battle and he must take on the role of Lord Yasutaka....

お遊さま

Kenji Mizoguchi

Kinuyo Tanaka, Nobuko Otowa

Shinnosuke is introduced to Shizu as a prospective marriage partner, but he falls in love with her widowed sister Oyu. Convention forbids Oyu to marry because she has to raise her son as the head of her husband's family. Oyu convinces Shinnosuke and Shizu to marry so that she can remain close to Shinnosuke.

大阪物語

Kōzaburō Yoshimura

Raizō Ichikawa, Shintarō Katsu

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.

怪談雪女郎

Tokuzō Tanaka

Shiho Fujimura, Izumi Hara

A master sculptor and his apprentice are trapped in a bad snow storm after finding a special tree for carving a statue for the local temple. Finding refuge in an abandoned hut they celebrate their luck in finding the tree but soon they are visited by the Snow Witch who freezes the sculptor to death but takes pity on the apprentice. He must promise to never speak of this or she'll return and kill him.

眠狂四郎 勝負

Kenji Misumi

Raizō Ichikawa, Kôichi Aihara

Wandering samurai Nemuri Kyoshiro (Raizô Ichikawa) finds a bulls-eye on his back after befriending the shogunate's tightfisted financial adviser, Asahina, who's earned the wrath of the shogun's self-indulgent daughter for cutting off her allowance. The enraged princess promptly hatches a scheme to have Asahina bumped off -- along with his protector, Kyoshiro. Shiho Fujimura also stars in this installment of the enormously popular film series.

続花頭巾

Katsuhiko Tasaka

Raizō Ichikawa, Shintarō Katsu

座頭市の歌が聞える

Tokuzō Tanaka

Shintarō Katsu, Shigeru Amachi

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.

The Temple of Wild Geese

Yūzō Kawashima

Ayako Wakao, Masao Mishima

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.