Down-on-his-luck veteran Tsugumo Hanshirō enters the courtyard of the prosperous House of Iyi. Unemployed, and with no family, he hopes to find a place to commit seppuku—and a worthy second to deliver the coup de grâce in his suicide ritual. The senior counselor for the Iyi clan questions the ronin’s resolve and integrity, suspecting Hanshirō of seeking charity rather than an honorable end. What follows is a pair of interlocking stories which lay bare the difference between honor and respect, and promises to examine the legendary foundations of the Samurai code.

After their lord is tricked into committing ritual suicide, forty-seven samurai warriors await the chance to avenge their master and reclaim their honor.

Following the detonation of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Japanese military and the government clash over the demand from the Allies for unconditional surrender. Minister of the Army Anami leads the military officers who propose to fight on, even to the death of every Japanese citizen. Emperor Hirohito, however, joins with his ministers in asking the unthinkable, the peaceful surrender of Japan. When the military plots a coup to overthrow the Emperor's civilian government, Anami must face the choice between his desires and loyalty to his Emperor.

The mother of a feudal lord's only heir is kidnapped by the lord. Her husband and his samurai father must decide whether to accept the unjust decision, or risk death to rescue her.

After the Japanese defeat to the Russians, Kaji leads the last remaining men through Manchuria. Intent on returning to his old life, he faces great odds in a variety of different harrowing circumstances as he and his men sneak behind enemy lines.

Kansuke Yamamoto is a samurai who dreams of a country united, peaceful from sea to sea. He enters the service of Takeda, the lord of Kai domain. He convinces Takeda to kill the lord of neighboring Suwa and take his wife as a concubine. He then convinces the widow, Princess Yu, to accept this arrangement and to bear Takeda a son. He pledges them his life. He then spends years using treachery, poetic sensibility, military and political strategy to expand Takeda's realm, advance the claim of Yu's son as the heir, and prepare for an ultimate battle with the forces of Echigo. Has Kansuke overreached? Are his dreams, blinded by love, too big?

Japan, 1860. The men of the Mito clan, victims of the Ansei purge, anxiously prowl around the Sakurada Gate of Edo Castle with the intention of assassinating Naosuke Ii of Hikone, tairō of the Tokugawa shogunate and responsible for their misfortune.

After a salary-man's fiancée attempts suicide, he recounts his gruesome family history which saw generations of his ancestors suffer and sacrifice themselves for the sake of their cruel lords.

A ronin desperately seeks a way out of financial straits; he allies with the Tosa clan under the ruthless leader Takechi, who quickly takes advantage.

Two interwoven stories. The first is a biography of anarchist Sakae Osugi which follows his relationship with three women in the 1920s. The second centers around two 1960s students researching Osugi's theories.

The remake of Yoshikawa's novel continues with the second installment in which Takezo, soon to be Miyamoto Musashi, emerges from the Himeji Castle after three years of intense contemplation and philosophical study and starting on his epic quest to complete his skill in the Way.

During the raging war between the Toyotomi and Tokugawa clans, the swordsman Mohei (whose family has been completely decimated) is recruited by Toyotomi to overcome the seat of power, Osaka Castle. Mohei's daredevil skills will be put to severe tests.

Near the end of the nineteenth century, as the balance of power shifts from Shogunate towards the Emperor, Japan restlessly awaits the dawning of a new age. But not all are content...The Shinsengumi, a small army of samurai, farmers and peasants, band together to do battle against the tide of history. Their leader, Isami Kondo is a man who rises from farmer to fighter to head the fierce Shinsengumi brigade. Using a stern hand and a heart of gold, he rallies his men in defense of the tottering Shogunate. But bloodshed and treachery lurk around every corner.

Sentaro is been severely beaten for his defiance of the government and the high taxes during a time of famine. He is befriended by Kada Gentaro, a leader in the Mito Tengu group, which plans to overthrow the shogunate.

In a time of continuous civil wars ravaging the fields of feudal Japan, the eldest son of a very poor peasant family, living alongside the bridge over the Fuefuki river, decides to serve a warlord to escape his miserable condition, being soon followed by his younger brothers. Although not all the men of the family take this tragic path of death, women of the family will be doomed to endure the pain of loss during the next five generations.

The fifth and final installment with the build up of the epic battle between Sasaki Kojiro and Miyamoto Musashi. With all the familiar characters making appearances: Otsu (Musashi's great love), Akemi, Matahachi (his former fellow soldier), old lady Osugi (still doggedly trying to defeat Musashi), and even the return of Priest Takuan (the man responsible for his journey towards enlightenment). But most of all, the boastful, long-haired and long-sworded Sasaki Kojiro.

The sequel to Daibosatsu tôge (1960) and the second of the trilogy follows the adventures of Ryunosuke Tsukue after he is blinded.

This anthology film consists of nine incidents in the late 19th and early 20th centuries when assassins changed the course of Japanese history.

A tea master and his daughter Ogin are both Christians in feudal Japan. Ogin falls in love with a married feudal prince who shares her faith. When the Shogun bans Christianity, the situation worsens.

In 221 BC, Qin Shihuangdi conquered the rest of China. Qin's great accomplishments and also his serious faults are showed in this film. Qin adopted autocratic dictatorship and led a luxurious life: abolition of feudalism and the centralization of power in the form of a now-hereditary bureaucracy loyal to himself; burning books and burying scholars; the construction of a sumptuous palace for his concubines and also the Great Wall.

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.

Megastar Kataoka Chiezo is Vice-commander Hijikata Toshizo of the Shinsengumi in this realistic tale of Japan’s inner battles that led to the downfall of the Tokugawa shogunate. Excellent performances and extremely good swordplay highlight this glimpse into the heart and soul of Japanese history. Although known as “Razor Blade” Hijikata, the vice-commander is a man of deep conviction with a little-known sense of humanity. Starting after the famed Ikedaya Incident, in which they saved Kyoto from Choshu’s plot to burn the city to ashes, they work hard to change the public’s view of them as merciless killers to their true mission of protecting the shogun. This is an extraordinary tale of blood and guts! From the pen of award winning author Shotaro Ikenami (Bandit Vs. Samurai, Hunter in the Dark, Misumi's The Last Samurai)

The Fencing Master tells the story of a man trying to survive as the only world he knows is becoming increasingly irrelevant. Danpei Ichikawa lives for swordfighting – he was once a renowned kabuki swordfight choreographer, and as the Chairman of the New National Theatre Company, he wants nothing more than to choreograph the swordfights for the modern plays put on by the company.

The plot is based on the novel "Akechi Samanosuke no Koi," the final work in a trilogy by Hiroshi Kato about the forced suicide of Oda Nobunaga at the temple Honnoji. Historically, the general Akechi Mitsuhide is credited with causing Nobunaga's downfall. Kato's novel focuses on Mitsuhide's nephew Samanosuke, who fought alongside his uncle during the assault on Honnoji.

One of Japan's most popular stories is the tale of Kutsukake Tokijiro, a traveling gambler who finds that he must take care of the wife and child of a yakuza he had been forced by the code of the gamblers to fight man to man. In a brilliant performance from super-star Ichikawa Raizo, with strong support from two of the greats from Toho, Shimura Takashi (7 Samurai) and Aratama Michiyo (Sword of Doom) the heartfelt story reaches new heights. Tokijiro, having learned the true nature of the boss to whom he was obligated for having spent a night and eaten at the gang's headquarters takes up arms against them in a running battle fought across the back roads of the entire nation. Another powerful rendition of this superb story, it is not to be missed!

Japan and Russia clash in what comes to be known as the Russo-Japanese War. An attempt by the Japanese fleet and army to take Port Arthur fails, and a Russian fleet bears down on the Sea of Japan. Admiral Heihachiro Togo sends his fleet to confront the Russians, with results which stun both nations. Meanwhile, Major Genjiro Akashi makes secret negotiations with the Bolshevik revolutionaries in Russia, negotiations that have repercussions far beyond the conflict at hand.

In the fourth installment, Musashi's potentially greatest opponent Kojiro jumps in and out of the story at the oddest and most coincidental moments. As his great love Otsu has succumbed to madness. Musashi then sets off to beat the functionaries of a treacherous clan in an arranged duel. 73 against one. Boastful Kojiro watches, secure in the knowledge that only he is a worthy opponent.

In the third installment of Yoshikawa's novel Musashi, things continue from the 2nd film at the end of battle, where Miyamoto continues on a mission of learning; with the introduction of his arch-rival Sasaki Kojiro; and lastly the large cast of characters rendezvouses for a fateful finale.

In this first episode, we are introduced to Takezo, what Musashi used to be before he became the man of legend. His beginning are not exactly auspicious. He sides with the Toyotomi at Sekigahara, and as a result finds himself on the losing side of the historic battle. He and his friend Matahachi manage to escape the slaughter although the latter is wounded in his leg. They stumble across the young Akemi who makes her living with her mother Oko by robbing corpses of their armor and anything else they can sell. Oko takes it into her head to seduce Matahachi, which she does first by skillfully sucking the gangrene from his blood, and then just by sucking.

After their father quarrels with local military men, Anju and Zushio are forced to flee, but they are captured and sold into slavery. When their mother dies, they are sold to Sansho the Bailiff, a cruel man who subjects them to hideous torments. While Anju falls into a lake and is transformed into a swan, Zushio escapes and after being adopted to a nobleman grows to a young man. He will then fight to defeat the evil Dayu and free all the slaves.

The first film in the 2 part series about Ryuzen, a renegade martial-arts priest who, in addition to breaking all the commandments against sex and gambling, opens his own gambling den in direct defiance of the local yakuza boss. Exciting action and a twisty plot this movie breaks new barriers in Japanese cinema. Katsu Shintaro is superb in one of his better non-Zato Ichi roles as he fights off the advances of a love-lorn woman and risks his life to defeat the powerful gambling boss who has a stranglehold on the town.

Based on the Chinese classic "Jin Ping Mei". Original Japanese cut directed by Koji Wakamatsu and produced by Shochiku. Set in Song-dynasty China, Wu Song rises to fame and becomes a guard captain. He is captivated by his brother’s wife, Pan Jinlian, whose beauty also ensnares the wealthy libertine Ximen Qing. To possess her, Ximen Qing has Wu Song’s brother murdered. When the corrupt authorities refuse justice, Wu Song is imprisoned, escapes with the help of the Liangshan bandits, and joins their ranks. Ximen Qing descends further into decadence, but Wu Song eventually returns, leading an attack on the town.

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.

On New Year's Day 1716, Munenaga of Owari and Yoshinao of Kii were both named as candidates for the title of 8th Shogun. The wise and just Munenaga is plunged into a dispute with Tokugawa Yoshinao that will lead to one of them ascending the throne. This is an exciting and informative film that brings the brilliant history of Japan to the surface in a new light.

Farmer Abare Goemon is confronted by brigand-like samurai. He raises an army of farmers to fight them and does so brilliantly. When Lord Asakura sees the success Goemon has achieved, he attempts to recruit him to fight in a conflict between Asakura and another clan. Goemon refuses, and Lord Asakura sets out to destroy him.

Continuation of the biographical film about the monk Shinran, based on the novel by Eiji Yoshikawa. Shinran, born of the fading aristocratic class, was placed in a monastary on Mount Hiei when still a child. He did not come down for twenty years, when his wanderings begin as he spreads his ideas for achieving enlightenment through the Pure Land sutra. Because his teachings contradict the powerful Tendai sect, he comes to grief with the government, his followers persecuted, himself exiled to far coastal Echigo where he married & began raising a family but soonafter was wandering & teaching again. He lived to be ninety.

The epic battles between the Heike and Genji (Taira and Minamoto clans) take centerstage as the defeated leader of the Genji, Minamoto Yoritomo resolves to end his clan's exile and avenge the brutal loss in December, 1159 as they had fought under the white banner of the Emperor, while the Taira fought under their red flags in a battle to the death. The fight only took one day, with the Genji suffering utter defeat which led to their exile. His father, Yoshitomo, took responsibility for the loss and rather than live in humiliation, he decides to commit suicide with all his sons following him. However, the bravest warrior among them, Yoritomo stands tall and declares that he will not kill himself, but rather will fight to restore the clan.

Adventures of famous yakuza boss Jirocho and his disciples who settle in Kofu.

Zatoichi is sworn to protect the life of a young girl and without any real allies finds himself in the middle of a bloody turf war.

At the end of the Edo period in Kyoto, the ronin Kurayoshi Norizen rents the second floor of a hardware store and lives a carefree life, running a temple school. However, his true identity is Kurama Tengu, who appears to help a patriot in a difficult situation when he is attacked by the Shinsengumi, and then disappears like smoke.

The second film in the "Suruga yukyoden" series, in which Shintaro Katsu plays Jirocho Shimizu. The film features Omasa, Komasa, Ocho, who will become Jirocho's wife, as well as other members of his future family. There is a particularly great swordfight near the end where Katsu and cronies attack the rival villainous yakuza clan to rescue their ailing, elderly boss. The action choreography, cinematography and editing of this sequence is quite brilliant, treading a difficult tightrope act between genuinely goofy antics and exhilirating, bloody violence.

Ryutaro Otomo as the Edo magistrate Umon Kondo is out to solve a crime that centers around the murder of a jail guard & the escape of a criminal who is later himself killed. His dying words in Umon's arms were, "I didn't kill the guard." The murdered criminal had been a safe-cracker & only his girlfriend knows where he hid a fortune. She is kidnapped, so the plot gets thicker & thicker.

Umon’s services are called upon when innocent bystanders, Kayo and Minokichi, along with the ronin, Gontaro are mistakenly identified as suspects in several recent murder cases. To prove their innocence and uncover the truth, Umon launches his own investigation.

A successful textile industrialist from the provinces, who is beloved by his employees for his kindness, cannot find a wife because of a disfiguring birthmark on his face. Even the courtesans in Yoshiwara refuse to entertain him, until an indentured peasant prostitute, Tamarazu, takes the unsavoury assignment and treats him with brash tenderness.

Yasugoro, goes to live in a quiet town where he falls in love with the priest's daughter-in-law. His does not declare his love because she is married, but he goes on a mission to please her, and is blinded. Then her husband dies and she remarries before Yasugoro can confess his love.

In Edo-period Japan, Shingo is born the son of an assassin who was executed for murdering her lord’s concubine. Decades later, his adoptive family is massacred for keeping the secret. Armed with an unbeatable swordfighting technique, Shingo embarks on the path of the masterless samurai in search of vengeance and a path beyond his own ignominious origins.

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

An exciting historical drama that dynamically depicts the life of Minamoto no Yoshitsune from the period of his stay on Mount Kurama to his reconciliation with his brother Yoritomo.

The stormy tale of the Shinsengumi is told from its birth by master filmmaker Sasaki Yasushi, with an all-star cast based on the original story by Shirai Kyoji. The battles between the royalists and Shogunate supporters come to a fever pitch during the Gion Festival as the exclusionists plot to burn Kyoto and kidnap the Emperor. From its earliest beginnings as a group of ronin brought from Edo to protect the Shogun when he is in Kyoto to see His Imperial Highness, the group had to face difficulties both from within and without. Commander Serizawa Kamo's corrupt practices threaten the group's very existence, as they try to recover from the bad reputation he left them with. Their redemption comes when they learn of Katsura Kogoro plans to gather men at Kyoto's Ikedaya Inn for his attack on the city. Along with Hijikata Toshizo and Okita Soji, Kondo leads the group in an attempt to save Japan from the rebels.

Taisuke is kind-hearted but overall lacks ambition. Taizo is smarter, but given to fits of emotion and impulsive violence. The samurai brothers fight against corruption in a castle.

The second film in the 20 Duels of Young Shingo trilogy directed by Sadatsugu Matsuda.

The death of a samurai in a palanquin leads girl detective Oshichi to take action to crush a plot to overthrow the Shogunate.

In Tokugawa-era (1637) Shimabara, oppressed peasant Christians revolt against the shogunate with the aid of charismatic Christian rebel leader Shiro Amakusa.

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

The famed ninja Yagyu Jubei fights to suppress a coup d’etat plotted against Tokugawa Shogunate.

A detective investigating a serial rapist discovers that he and the perpetrator come from the same lineage of depraved individuals, a genealogy of violent and sexually perverse deviants that stretches through the Meiji, Taisho and Showa eras and can even be traced back to the Edo era.

Based on the loosely autobiographical novel of the same name by Toko Kon. Ken Yamanouchi stars as Togo Konno, the titular bastard.

After Aoi Shingo, the illegitimate son of Shogun Yoshimune has gained prominence as the finest swordsman in the land, he tries to lead a peaceful life with his mother far away from the seat of government in Edo. Not wanting to inconvenience his father anymore his plan is to stay away from the city and enjoy life like a normal man. Unfortunately for him, his past comes back to haunt him in the person of his mortal enemy, the one swordsman that is skillful enough to defeat him. This is the most perilous moment of Shingo's life as he must face his deadliest foe in a battle to the death!

[Period covered: 1614-1615] Tokugawa Ieyasu is now the ruler of all Japan. But one last loose thread must be tied up before his domination is complete -- the destruction of the Toyotomi clan, now beseiged in Osaka castle. Ieyasu's ninja are the only ones who can penetrate the fortress, but unfortunately for Ieyasu, Kirigakure Saizo and the other Toyotomi ninja can just as easily get out. As armies of samurai maneuver for battle, the fate of the nation will be decided by a desperate struggle in the dark!

He was married to his lover's butterfly and started a new residence. But good things do not last. In his uncle, Uzaemon in Kawashima, Yoshiji Akaji, Yoshimoto's lender, and Kanehira Akagi, the older brother of the former loan of Mishima, played a challenge. It is said to open the ladies' room to the settlement of Wada island. Although Jiro headed to Shigetsugu for arbitration, he was forced to surrender. In such a case, Jiro became chased by Kinpei and others.