Mitsuko Mito

Struggling to elevate himself from his low caste in 17th century Japan, Miyamoto trains to become a mighty samurai warrior.

After years on the road establishing his reputation as Japan's greatest fencer, Takezo returns to Kyoto. Otsu waits for him, yet he has come not for...

Chuji Kunisada runs into strange adventures which tests his skill as a samurai as he untangles intrigue and murder against the backdrop of the...

1962 Japanese movie

Shuhei Horikawa, a poor schoolteacher, struggles to raise his son Ryohei by himself, despite neither money nor prospects.

Early film directed by Kenji Misumi.

1948 Japanese movie

In Depression-era Japan, a courteous bus driver carries an eclectic group of passengers from the mountainous Izu to Tokyo.

A Japanese wartime film directed by Yasushi Sasaki.

1939 Japanese movie

A 1959 Yoshiaki Bansho adaptation of an Osaragi Jiro story.

A woman's struggle for equality in Japan in the 1880s. Eiko Hirayama leaves Okayama for Tokyo, where she helps the fledgling Liberal Party and falls...

A talent scout moves sharply, dead-set on signing a promising athlete to the baseball team the Toyko Flowers.

Like many women after the war, Toshiko works as a chorus girl; her boyfriend Tadashi wishes she'd join him more frequently, but she detests his...

Shinpachi Morimura, who was born in a fusuma craftsman's house, wants to join the Japanese navy. However, his father wants him to continue in the...

The daughter of a Prime Minister turns down the proposal of a young teacher when she falls for the wrong man. Despite the continual degradation by...

Based on the original work by Fumiko Hayashi, this is a story about a woman and two men. The lust is restrained and indifferent. The story even has...

Hana wa itsuwarazu (1941) is the second directorial work by Shochiku's Oba Hideo. Oba had previously worked as an assistant director to Shimizu...

Amusing masterpiece from director Yoshimura Kazusabu divided in two parts taken from the newspaper serial novel of Shishiko Shishi. Like in "Warm...

The upstart Godai family conglomerate plans to strengthen ties with the hardliners in the Kwantung Army as they plan military expansion into...

Pu Zhe , the younger brother of the Emperor of Manchukuo, Pu Wen, marries Ryuko the daughter of a long-established aristocratic family - all in the...

Yuki is a young, single mother supporting herself and her son, Haru, with a job as a bar hostess.

Final part of epic drama about war and its effects upon human beings, follows the fortunes of the Godai family through the Sino-Japanese War through...

Japanese war film.

Japanese drama

Genji, the illegitimate offspring of a Japanese potentate, goes by the philosophy of "love 'em and leave 'em" as a matter of course. Only when his...

1949 drama film

The sweet but naive denizens of a charming port town are hoodwinked by a couple of con men at the outset of World War II. But the hustlers’...

Yoshida Denkichi does loses sight of his wife Chiyoko and daughter Toyoko during the war, and is taken in by a familiar woman, Oshige, and becomes...

Shogi, a Japanese form of chess, is a game that requires skill and determination. When poor sandal-maker Sakata decides to pursue his dream of...

A boy aviator endures rigorous training and a sad fate, and grows into a strong man with his eyes set on becoming an eagle.

1958 Japanese movie

An Inn at Osaka, rarely seen outside Japan, follows the story of an insurance company executive from Tokyo, Mr. Mito, who is demoted to the Osaka...

In this comic sequel to Yoshimura Kozaburo's original, Minami no Kaze, ex-baron (Saburi Shin) is in Singapore where he meets an old friend who...

Japanese life during the past thirty-five turbulent years is depicted in this film through the eyes of two police detectives. One is Henmi, who comes...

Suzuko, a woman in her twenties who has a brother with political problems (due to communist reprisals), lives for over five years in a love affair...

A lifetime story of a woman who stubbornly lives in a poor mountain village in post-war Japan.

Kazuo, a Japanese army intelligence agent, reveals a foreign intelligence network in Japan and then sent to Borneo Island with a special mission.

Drama which shows the struggle of Fumiko, a female teacher, at work and at home.

Tokyo, 1890. Through avarice, a series of misunderstandings, and failures of courage, the engagement of Kan-ichi (a student) and Miya (the daughter...

A Japanese screwball comedy about the battle between the sexes: two timid men, egged on by their wives, end up in a bitter duel over an expensive...

The few residents left on the streets in Tokyo share their individual stories and come to understand the melancholy of saying goodbye.

A woman becomes dissatisfied with her marriage and joins a political theater troupe to protest the U.S. Security Pact.

A hostile Chinese nurse (Yamaguchi) who works in an orphanage is won over by the care and commitment of the Japanese doctor (Sano) who treats her...

Japanese Warmovie

A young man, convicted of a crime and imprisoned in the penitentiary, comes to believe that his wife is being unfaithful to him. He contrives his...

Second part of an epic drama of war and its effects upon human beings, follows the fortunes of the Godai family from 1935 through Japan's invasion of...

Sixth film in the long-running series Daiei Studio's Woman Gambler with Kyoko Enami starring where she plays the woman gambler Ogin.

A humble and simple Takezo abandons his life as a knight errant. He's sought as a teacher and vassal by Shogun, Japan's most powerful clan leader....

Episode in the life of a composer of a popular Japanese song.

Kondo Isami, the “Devil” commander of the Shinsengumi was one of Japan’s greatest national heroes and a peerless swordsman who...

Contrast between two outlooks on life: one of a poor factory worker and the other the heir to millions.

A 1937 Japanese film.

Group of women escape Chinese controlled area for Japanese occupied lands during Pacific War.

Japanese suspense film.

The story tells of Tsuchiya, a university professor and a widower who is in love with a widow who runs a small restaurant, and his son is in love...

Hikaru Genji, the haunted romantic hero of Lady Murasaki Shikibu’s “Genji Monogatari” (Tale of Genji) comes to life in this new...

Adaptation of a famous Kyouka Izumi novel. Set in the early 1900's, it tells the story of the impossible love between a young scholar a beautiful...

A young woman is attacked by a serial rapist and murderer whom her detective father is investigating. Though she survives, the impact of the event...

An intellectual couple in a staid and tedious marriage are surprised when the wife’s niece, who has run away from home, turns up unexpectedly...

Hibari no komoriuta (ひばりの子守唄, literally "Hibari's Lullaby") is a 1951 black-and-white Japanese film directed by Koji Shima. The movie...

A ghost story about a woman who dies a violent death and appears to the man she loves as a vengeful spirit. This film marked the turning point in...

A young doctor, Kozo Tsumura, falls for young nurse Katsue Takaishi. But she's got a secret: she's a widow with a son. Kozo and Katsue decide to run...

Adaptation of Kishida Kunio's novel. Set against the backdrop of a power struggle within a hospital, depicts the love lives of the director's...

Otama, daughter of a poor candy vendor, becomes the mistress of a man whom she believes to be a widower and owner of a prosperous dry goods store....

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...

Japanese war movie.

Dedication of the Great Buddha is a 1952 Japanese film directed by Teinosuke Kinugasa. It was entered into the 1953 Cannes Film Festival.

During college military training exercises, the bond between two friends and athletic rivals is tested when one of them becomes involved with a woman...

A family story in the year of 1943 during the war. The director is Shunkai Mizuho, who worked on "Hibari no Circus Sad Kobato" starring Hibari Misora...

The movie follows a young woman (Kinuyo Tanaka), a daughter of a high-ranking businessman and his neglected mistress, as she struggles to ease her...

Jie (Michiko Kuwano) attended a women's university with the financial support of her geisha sister Oha (Hiroko Kawasaki) and became a lawyer. The...

Kinuyo is a daughter of rice cracker shop in downtown. She fell in love with her sister's boyfriend. It is a story whose theme is warm human...

Japanese propaganda film about the Normanton Incident.

Contemporary musical drama film by Yasuzo Masumura.

A timely masterpiece that boldly reveals women's secrets on the issue of when abortion is acceptable...

The head of Oshu, Harumichi Honma, was ordered by the boat bugyo (Commissioner of the board) Tajima Kuze to extract five gold coins to the Shogun...