Tai Katō
1916 - 1985
日本侠花伝
Tai Katô
Hiroko Maki, Tetsuya Watari
Tai Kato’s early 20th century set yakuza epic about an ordinary merchant girl (Hiroko Maki) who crosses paths with an assassin (Tetsuya Watari). The encounter sends her to jail as a suspected accomplice. Years later she marries a yakuza boss, whose gang is affiliated with working class people.
The Blossom and the Sword
Kаze to onna to tabigarasu
Tai Katô
Kinnosuke Nakamura, Rentaro Mikuni
A chance meeting between two traveling gamblers leads to a case of mistaken identity when the farmers transporting gold to the governor think they are about to be robbed as the two gamblers face off against each other swords in hand.
Wind, Woman and Road
ざ・鬼太鼓座
Tai Katô
Eitetsu Hayashi, Toshio Kawauchi
A documentary profiling a Japanese taiko drumming group based in the remote Sado Island, Japan. The film blurs the line between real-life documentary footage of the troupe's training and practice regimes, and staged performances of their varied musical acts, with sets designed by artist Tadanori Yokoo and an additional experimental electronic music score by Toshi Ichiyanagi.
The Ondekoza
丹下左膳 乾雲坤龍の巻
Tai Katô
Ryutaro Otomo, Chiyonosuke Azuma
This movie depicts a familiar samurai Tange Sazen story realistically. A Tange loses one of his eyes and arms in an attempt to recover a masterpiece sword for his lord. However, his efforts are not appreciated and he becomes a man of hatred.
Sazen Tange: Heavenly Clouds, Earthly Dragon
Blood of Revenge
Tai Katô
Koji Tsuruta, Sumiko Fuji
Osaka, 1907: Asajiro lives between a rock and a hard place: he has to keep his business clean and running, tame his late oyabun’s hot-blooded son and suffer the throes of his impossible love for beautiful geisha Hatsue.
Blood of Revenge
Cruel Story of the Shogunate's Downfall
Tai Katô
Hashizo Okawa, Chōichirō Kawarasaki
A headstrong young man seeks to join the Shinsengumi, but while his determination impresses his superiors, questions begin to arise as to his true identity and intentions.
Cruel Story of the Shogunate's Downfall
Miyamoto Musashi
Tai Katô
Hideki Takahashi, Jirō Tamiya
In Part I we see the young would-be swordsman setting out to achieve greatness in war, achieving nothing because fighting on the losing side, & then beginning his long period of wandering & training, with the goal always in mind of his duel with Kojiro. Part II builds toward that great duel on Ganryu Island, with considerable focus on Musashi's planning & forethought as to how to gain an advantage.
Miyamoto Musashi
車夫遊侠伝 喧嘩辰
Tai Katô
Sumiko Fuji, Chōichirō Kawarasaki
Richshaw man Tatsu has wandered to Osaka from Tokyo. He has quarrels with Kimiyakko, a geisha, and throws her into the river. But later, he falls in love with her. Yasaburo, the oyabun of the Nishikawa Gang, loves her very much too. However, as he likes Tatsu's dynamic personality, he volunteers to become a go-between for their marriage. Yasaburo gets tipped off by Yajima who wants to take over the territory of the Nishikawa Gang, and is arrested and imprisoned. After his release, Yajima tries to kill him. Ginjiro, a lover of Tamaryu respects Kimiyakko as an older sister and a follower of Tatsu, is murdered. After the third marriage ceremony just between Tatsu and Kimiyakko, Tatsu goes off to the place of fighting.
Fighting Tatsu, the Rickshaw Man
沓掛時次郎 遊侠一匹
Tai Katô
Kinnosuke Nakamura, Junko Ikeuchi
Tokijiro has the unfortunate duty according to the code of the gamblers to join in the fighting when afforded a night’s stay and meals at the home of a town boss. Though he dislikes killing, the strength of his swordsmanship will be tested time and time again in the bloody tale.
Kutsukake Tokijiro: The Lonely Yakuza
瞼の母
Tai Katô
Kinnosuke Nakamura, Hiroki Matsukata
Period piece about a young man who, because of his hard life alone in the world, has become a yakuza. When he hears that his mother may be living in Edo (Tokyo), he travels there, intent on finding her and leaving the swordsman's life behind. But a team of rival gangsters is hot on his heels.
In Search of Mother
緋牡丹博徒 お命戴きます
Tai Katô
Sumiko Fuji, Tomisaburō Wakayama
The seventh chapter of the stunning Hibotan Bakuto series. Many years have passed since Oryu the Red Peony began her soul-searching journey after her father was killed. In her travels, she meets villagers whose crops and livelihoods are being destroyed by pollution from a local factory. They seem to work out an agreement, but Oryu must help the poor villagers when the greedy factory owner and corrupt politicians betray them…
Red Peony Gambler: Here to Kill You
