Kei Satô

Set during Japan's Shogun era, this film looks at life in a samurai compound where young warriors are trained in swordfighting. A number of interpersonal conflicts are brewing in the training room, all centering around a handsome young samurai named Sozaburo Kano. The school's stern master can choose to intervene, or to let Kano decide his own path. (imdb)

Ryunosuke is a sociopathic samurai without compassion or scruples. When he is scheduled for an exhibition match at his fencingschool, the wife of his opponent begs Ryunosuke to throw the match, offering her own virtue in trade (imdb)

After enlisting as a volunteer in a war in 14th century Japan, his wife and mother remain living in a swamp... (imdb)

An elder ronin samurai arrives at a feudal lord's home and requests an honorable place to commit suicide. But when the ronin inquires about a younger samurai who arrived before him things take an unexpected turn. (imdb)

Second part of a trilogy. Conscientious objector Kaji, now forced to serve in the Japanese army during the Second World War... (imdb)

Zatoichi runs across a childhood comrade who has grown up to be a cruel and powerful yakuza who mercilessly steals everything the peasants have. Fortunately, the super-perceptive Zatoichi soon takes care of him and his gang. (Sandra Brennan - Rotten Tomatoes)

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... (imdb)

Kazuo Kuroki's Ronin-Gai transpires during the final years of the time when samurais figured prominently in Japanese society. The title town is filled with prostitutes and samurai who have been disgraced. The hedonistic warriors are presented with the possibility of redemption when the women of the town are threatened. (Perry Seibert, Rovi)

A Korean man is sentenced to death by hanging, but he survives the execution. For the following two hours, his executioners try to work out how to handle the situation in this black farce. (imdb)

A woman and her daughter are raped and murdered by soldiers during a time of civil war. Afterwards, a series of samurai returning from the war through that area are found mysteriously dead with their throats torn out. The governor calls in a wild and fierce young hero, to quell what is evidently a ghost. He encounters the two beautiful women, in an eery, beautiful scene. After spiritual purification, he meets the demon in a thrilling fight. (imdb)

Oshima's most overtly political film, The Ceremony uses the backdrop of Japanese rituals (several weddings and more than one funeral) to mount a scathing attack on Japanese politics. Depicting the story of one family over 30 years, its promotion of a more tolerant society and the freedom that comes with it occasionally makes way for some genuinely moving depiction of everyday family life... (Channel 4)

A man wanders into a seemingly deserted town with his young son in search of work. But after a bit of bad luck, he joins the town's population of lost souls. (imdb)

It is the early 19th century in Japan. Nariatsu, a high ranking official and son of the former Shogun, is engaged in an animal hunt. In his reckless pursuit of the game, he crosses borders to a neighboring fief and kills a peasant who happens to be in his way. The lord of that fief also happens to be nearby, and witnessing the incident, calls him out on his ruthlessness.

The story takes place in feudal Japan, when any commerce with the rest of the world was strictly prohibited. An idealist suddenly appears in an isolated inn (the one that the title refers to), the head-quarters of a group of smugglers, with stolen money intended to ransom his loved one who is forced to work in a brothel. (imdb)

Shinjuku Thief is the story of a bookstore thief named Birdey who is led through various adventures in Tokyo's Shinjuku district by salesgirl Umeko. (imdb)

Director Masumura used a full palette of primary colors (with very vivid reds) to tell us about the story of Otsuya, a beautiful young woman from a middle-class merchant family who is abducted into geisha work, and who catches one day the eye of Seikichi, a tattoo master who marks her back with a huge, monstrous spider. From that moment on, Otsuya will take her revenge with every man who shared her bed. (IMDb)

He's Hanzo "The Razor" Itami; the incorruptible and uncompromising samurai cop, and he packs a weapon more devastating than any sword. In the name of justice, there's no torture he won't endure, no pain he won't inflict, and no superior he'll bow to. (surrealmoviez.info)

Seeking revenge against the guard who tormented him, a young man returns to the island where he was imprisoned in reform school. But his plans for vengeance are disturbed when he encounters a strange and beautiful young woman. (imdb)

A sensationalistic and surreal love triangle develops between a serial rapist, his schoolteacher wife, and one of his past victims.

During WWII a soldier is beaten so badly by a superior officer he is left deaf. After the war he is an inventor and meets this officer at the patent office. The man is still the bully he was. (imdb)

In this reworking of the traditional Japanese tale of double suicide, a paranoid young man on the run from local crime bosses falls into a torturous relationship with a woman who just wants someone to make love to her, no strings attached. (cinema.wisc.edu)

An ambitious department store worker endeavors to improve his station in life by manipulating women to get what he wants - money that is.

A misfit high-school science teacher decides to build his own atomic bomb. (imdb)

Asakura is an accountant for Towa oil by day and a dangerous assassin by night. A bank heist has just landed him 100 million yen. His perfect plan goes up in smoke when he leans that all the bills have been marked. He decides to buy heroin with the money and then sell it for a bigger profit. Asakura isn't the only con artist in town. Sakurai with the help of his girlfriend have been blackmailing top officials who work for the Towa Corporation. Soon Asakura and Sakurai's paths will intersect... (10kbullets.com)

The director takes a very serious subject - the return of Okinawa to Japan from American control - and gives it a pop, almost parodic feel, with a floating camera and free-form narrative.

In 1960, during the wedding ceremony between Nozawa, a journalist and former student radical of the 1950's, and Reiko, a current activist, some of the people present recall the student demonstrations against the AMPO treaty, attributing responsibility and faults one another.

An abandoned temple in the mountains outside of the old capital city of Kyoto is the scene of a fated meeting between a traveling priest, two women, and a vicious killer, known thoughout Japan as "Mumyo no Taro". Bloody violence erupts whenever strangers approach the temple. Can the traveling priest bring his belief in the Buddha and rid the three temple residents of the devils that hold their souls?

Three students spend their holidays at the seaside where they are mistaken for Koreans, a minority which is looked down on in Japan (imdb)

Kaiji Ito moves to Japan after graduating from high school. Unable to find a job and frustrated with society at large, Kaiji spends his days gambling, vandalizing cars and drinking booze. Two years later and his life no better, a debt collector named Endo arrives to collect money, offering two choices to Kaiji: spend 10 year paying off his loan or board a gambling boat for one night to repay his debt and possibly make a whole lot more. (film.com)

"Mosquito on the Tenth Floor" centers around a police officer and his out-of-control life style. (asianmediawiki)

Bushido, a.k.a. "The Way of the Warrior" is the chivalrous code of the samurai that has influenced the Japanese way-of-life for centuries. This epic film spans several generations of a typical samurai family, and illustrates the intricate system of loyalty, honor and sacrifice which bound the samurai in ages past, and which, in many ways, persists to this very day. (amazon)

Hanpei, son of the only servant of a concubin who has turned mad, rumored to have been fathered by a dog, is rejected by his fellow samurais. He becomes a great gardener. But the local lord, son of the mad concubin of the beginning, turns out to be mad as well. Hanpei can run quicker than a horse, and is a natural born swordsman. These talents allow him to be a professionnal killer. Now Hanpei has a place. But the one that follows the path of the sword will have to pay a price. (thelostforum.net)

Kobayashi has edited the enormous material recorded at the Tokyo trials 1946 - 1948, released by the Pentagon in 1980. The narrator explains the complex issues that arose during the trial, among these some that are discussed vigorously to this day. To what extent can a court set up by an occupying nation be considered legal? How should one regard the act of declaring that "crimes against peace" have taken place - when no precedent exists? Is the starting of a war a war-crime in itself? (imdb)

It is the story of the ship Kaijin Maru, that is left adrift after losing all means of navigation in a storm, and the four people on it, becoming increasingly desperate as food and water run out.

On his deathbed, a wealthy businessman announces that his fortune is to be split equally among his three illegitimate children, whose whereabouts are unknown to his family and colleagues. A bevy of lawyers and associates then begin machinations to procure the money for themselves, enlisting the aid of impostors and blackmail. (criterion.com)

Rie and Kishi runs a detective agency in Paris. Fallen flooding not directly and they supplement their budget with guiding Japanese tourists. This takes over when the crime boss Okuyama gives them the assignment to shadow his French mistress. Kishi falls head over heels for her while Okuyama has something weird in sight.

Early Kaneto Shindô post-war drama starring Nobuko Otowa and featuring stunning black and white cinematography with Shindô's beautiful use of deep focus to bring depth to the imagery. (KG)

Deep in the mountains of feudal Japan, a group of children endure cruel and unorthodox training in order to become the Shogunate's most secret and deadly weapons - the Demon Spies! Their ... (imdb)

His name is Baian; his professions are acupuncture and murder. A needle deftly inserted into the human body can bring relief and healing. For the defense of justice and honor -- and for the right price -- it can also bring instant death. Set in a world of corrupt samurai lords, ruthless merchant princes, fawning geisha, and deadly ninja, Ninja Justice introduces Baian and his friend and accomplice Hikojiro in six tales of murder and deceit, jealousy and revenge.

During the Warring States Period, the struggle for absolute supre-macy stood between two mighty warlords, Takeda Shingen, ruler of Shinano and Kai provinces and Oda Nobunaga, ruler of Owari province. In an attempt to finish off his rival, Takeda sends his master ninja Chidoken to assassinate Oda Nobunaga. Three Iga ninja loyal to Nobunaga learn about the assassination plot and set out to intercept Chidoken. (Japanesesamuraidvd.com)

The Killing Game (1978) commences in flashback, depicting Narumi's infiltration of the Tosan chairman's office to assassinate his target. Five years later, Narumi returns to town and quickly runs across the chairman's daughter (Kaori Takeda), now working happily as an escort, and the chairman's mistress (Yutaka Nakajima), now a "super deluxe" madam and the companion of Kotobuki yakuza boss Shoichi Katsuda (Kei Satô). (makeminecriterion.wordpress.com)

The Execution Game (1979) opens with Narumi's abduction, his torture, and his guns-ablazing escape from an abandoned warehouse, a lengthy, violent passage that proves to merely be a test by a mysterious group who wants Narumi to assassinate the hitman currently in their employ. (makeminecriterion.wordpress.com)

Two killers revenge a wirepuller of the underworld in Yokohama. (thehawaiiherald.com)

Osaka in the early 1600s, aftermath of the historical Battle of Sekigahara; a group of orphan children are wandering through the battlefield scavenging for armour when they encounter a young boy named Sasuke with magical powers he says came from a meteor that crashed onto the Earth. (imdb)

A black comedy about a former Rock'n'Roll singer, who becomes the mayor of Tokyo. (The Movie Database)

A Japanese detective, Kikuchi, is framed for a murder and sent to prison. When he is paroled, he joins a private detective agency to investigate his case and investigates Mitsue Takazawa, the wife of a local trading firm whom is really a crime lord responsible for Kikuchi's imprisionment and now sets sights on Setsuko, a woman Kikuchi becomes romantically involved with. (imdb)

When a young soldier is killed while trying to prevent his younger sister, Kaoru, from being sold into a life of prostitution, his commander, Col. Miyagi, tries to honor his dying wish to rescue his sister. Upon finding Kaoru at a party working as a geisha and later rescuing her from committing suicide, Col. Miyagi allows her to move in with him. Over time, the two grow close, but in spite of Kaoru's growing feelings for him, Col. Miyagi is unable to bring himself to return her love... (The Movie Database)

Inspired by a female tattooed dice dealer, a country-man decides to leave his hometown in order to accomplish his dream: to become a mounted bandit in Manchuria. Working as a docker, he later meets a young woman from Hiroshima who wants to go to Brazil.

A young leader of the Yamazaki family of Nagasaki, Takida is an A-bomb survivor. He fiercely battles violent elements in southern Japan without fear of consequences. (imdb)

Eiji, also known as Choji, quits the shipyard to start Izakaya Choji (snack bar) with his wife Shigeko on the outskirts of Hakodate. (imdb)

Saotome Mondonosuke is a "Hatamoto" or direct retainer of the Shogun. The crescent shaped scar on his forehead is a license given him by the Shogun to kill anyone he deems to be a villain. A strong performance that reflects well upon his father with interesting stories, these films are required viewing. When Saotome hears news about counterfeit gold and of an old friend that has gone missing, he begins to suspect that things are not what they seem... (japanesesamuraidvd)

The crescent shaped scar on his forehead is a license given him by the Shogun to kill anyone he deems to be a villain. A strong performance that reflects well upon his father, with interesting stories, these films are required viewing. When Saotome hears rumors of a Daimyo's plot to overthrow the Shogun, he launches an investigation. With the help of his sister Kikuji, his stewart, Kinai and a mysterious woman they begin to unravel the web of treachery. (japanesesamuraidvd)

After the victory of Japan-Russia War, boss of the Nanjo family is stabbed to death. His son abandons his naval position in order to succeed as the new boss of the family. (imdb)

AKA The Oiwa Phantom; About 1786 the doings of a demented lord results in many masterless samurai, including Iyemon who is used to luxury and cannot adjust to the hand-to-mouth conditions & piecework of umbrella making. Having hired ruffians to make him look like a superior swordsman, he arranges for himself the opportunity of a profitable marriage. He hires the half-blind masseur Takuetsu to seduce or rape his wife, so that she can be divorced or killed for adultery. (themoviedb)

Recently released from prison for a murder sentence, a yakuza boss's wife leaves Hong Kong for a fresh start, but a betrayal leads to her return. (themoviedb)

After leaving high school, Michio Yamada (Norio Nagayama in the real life incidents) becomes involved in the shudan shushoku, a post-war Japanese government work program which involves taking almost an entire high school graduating class from the countryside to Tokyo to work for a fruit company. Some terrible things happened to his family in the past and that explains why Michio came later to have perpetrated so many killings. (imdb)

A soldier deserts his position and travels to a small town on the Sea of Japan to start over. When a young maid falls for him, he talks her into sleeping with an older man for money. The woman is told by a Geisha that she gave up her virginity cheaply. The resort town begins to feel the influence of the modern world as the sabre-rattling that preceded World War II begins to change their lives forever.

Mika Hino is a sharp-shooting investigator that belongs to the infamous "Gator Branch." When an executive board member of a trading company is accused of being involved in a bribery, Mika is assigned to keep watch over him.

Byakkotai was part of Aizu’s four-unit military, set up in the domain’s drive to finalize its military modernization, in the wake of the Battle of Toba-Fushimi. The other three units were Genbutai, Seiryūtai, and Suzakutai. Each of the four was named after the protecting gods of compass directions. Byakkotai was meant to be a reserve unit, as it was composed of the young teenage 16 to 17-year-old sons of Aizu samurai in a group of around 350, who fought in the Boshin War (1868–1869)

This horror anthology features nine independent episodes, each 30 minutes long, that revolve around bad karma and terror.

A yakuza man is released from prison after serving a long sentence. He immediately sets about creating a new gang and attempts to pull off a huge ransom score.