Akitake Kōno
Also Known As: Akitake Kono, 山崎進蔵, Akitake Kôno
Biography: Akitake Kōno (河野 秋武 Kōno Akitake, 8 October 1911 – 17 March 1978) was a Japanese film actor. He appeared in more than sixty films from 1943 to 1973. Kōno started acting with the Zenshinza theater troupe before joining the Toho studio in 1942. Mostly a character actor, he appeared in films by directors such as Akira Kurosawa and Kenji Mizoguchi as well on television.
Department: Acting
Place of Birth: Nagasaki, Japan
Adult: No
Birthday: October 08, 1911
Age: 113 years old
Gender: Male
Deathday: March 17, 1978
Popularity:
Known For:
Lantern Under a Full Moon
Overview:
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1951-07-11
Popularity:
Sisters
Overview:
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1955-04-10
Popularity:
Flesh Smuggling
Overview: A true semi-documentary drama depicting a record of a sheriff's challenge to the vivid evil of a sailor who embarked on a single underworld to uncover the crime of an inhumane international prostitution organization called "Japanese women's smuggling."
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1956-10-09
Popularity:
Sansho the Bailiff
Overview: In medieval Japan, a woman and her children journey to find the family's patriarch, who was exiled years earlier.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1954-03-31
Popularity:
The Human Condition I: No Greater Love
Overview: After handing in a report on the treatment of Chinese colonial labor, Kaji is offered the post of labor chief at a large mining operation in Manchuria, which also grants him exemption from military service. He accepts, and moves to Manchuria with his newly-wed wife Michiko, but when he tries to put his ideas of more humane treatment into practice, he finds himself at odds with scheming officials, cruel foremen, and the military police.
Genres: War Drama History
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1959-01-15
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A Dead Drifter
Overview: A Dead Drifter / Hyoryû shitaî
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1959-05-13
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Sanshiro Sugata
Overview: The story of Sanshiro, a strong stubborn youth, who travels into the city in order to learn Jujutsu. However, upon his arrival he discovers a new form of self-defence: Judo. The main character is based on Shiro Saigo, a legendary judoka.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1943-03-25
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Hunting Opium-Eaters
Overview: The Chase after Opium Dealers
Genres: Crime Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1960-09-04
Popularity:
The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail
Overview: Yoshitsune Minamoto, disguised with his retinue as monks, must make do with a comical porter as their guide through hostile territory en route to safety.
Genres: Drama History Thriller Adventure
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1952-04-24
Popularity:
No Regrets for Our Youth
Overview: Over more than a decade, the daughter of a Kyoto Imperial University professor comes of age as she witnesses her father fired for opposing the rise of fascism in Japan and becomes involved with two of his students.
Genres: Drama War History
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1946-10-29
Popularity:
お洒落狂女
Overview:
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1952-04-03
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Sanshiro Sugata Part Two
Overview: In this government-suggested sequel, Sugata again grows as a judo master, and demonstrates his (and by extension, all Japanese) superiority to the foreign warrior.
Genres: Action Drama Adventure
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1945-05-03
Popularity:
Taira Clan Saga
Overview: Japan, 1137. The Taira family, a samurai clan, becomes involved in the disputes between Emperor Toba and the monks of Mount Hiei.
Genres: Drama History
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1955-09-21
Popularity:
Cell No. 8
Overview: A man and a woman meet through a strange fate. This unique melodrama depicts the course of their budding love in a corner of the big city.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1956-01-15
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Dotanba
Overview: Dotanba - Last Minute
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1956-11-10
Popularity:
The Scarlet Camellia
Overview: A young woman begins murdering all those responsible for her ailing father's condition. Because the girl is so outwardly sweet and innocent, the detective looking into the deaths does not suspect her.
Genres: Drama Crime
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1964-11-21
Popularity:
Adventures of Zatoichi
Overview: Blind swordsman/masseuse Zatoichi befriends a young woman looking for her father, a village leader who has disappeared. As he helps her investigate the disappearance, Zatoichi also becomes involved with another young woman who is trying to help her brother, who has murdered someone at about the same time and place as the missing man was last seen.
Genres: Adventure Action Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1964-12-30
Popularity:
Small Rats of the Edo Town
Overview: The action of this historical drama takes place against the background of poverty and hunger in the city of Edo and depicts young people rebelling against the contradictions of feudal society.
Genres: Drama History
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1957-10-15
Popularity:
Hatsu sugata ushimatsu gōshi
Overview: Fukagawa's chef Ushimatsu of the restaurant Kawatake fell in love with a maid named Omame and changed dramatically. He stopped gambling and womanizing much to the surprise of his friends. As their wedding day approached, Minosuke who had long been infatuated with Omame threatened her mother Okuma by using a promissory note for three ryō that he lent to her.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1954-11-30
Popularity:
Saga of the Vagabonds, Part Two: Forward at Dawn
Overview: Story of a bandit king part 2.
Genres: Action Adventure Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1937-02-20
Popularity:
The Outsiders
Overview: A drama about relations between Japanese immigrants and the indigenous Ainu on Hokkaido, the most northerly island of Japan. From a novel by Taijun Takeda.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1958-11-26
Popularity:
Mid-August Commotion
Overview: A suspense work based on the "Miyagi Incident," an attempted coup d'etat led by some officers working for the Ministry of the Defense and the General Staff of the Konoe Division on the eve of the end of the Pacific War.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1962-08-22
Popularity:
A Sun-Tribe Myth from the Bakumatsu Era
Overview: Saheji, a man-about-town, gets stuck at a high-class brothel when he can’t pay the bill. He makes the best of his situation by performing various tasks amidst the tumult of the end of the shogunate—but always by making sure to get a “commission” for his troubles.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1957-07-14
Popularity:
Crimson Bat, the Blind Swordswoman
Overview: A young girl named Oichi is abandoned by her mother and blinded by a lightning strike. When her guardian is killed, she learns to wield a sword from a traveling ronin. As she develops into a master swordsman, her profession becomes that of a bounty hunter. Many test her sword and many die by her skills. She travels throughout the countryside to seek her mother and her revenge.
Genres: Drama Action Adventure
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1969-03-15
Popularity:
A Tale of Archery at the Sanjusangendo
Overview: In A Tale of Archery, young, timid bowmaster Kazuma (Akitake Kôno) seeks to beat the archery record set by Hoshino Kanzaemon, a mysterious figure who, it is rumored, drove the previous champion (Kazuma’s father) to suicide. Possessed of much raw talent, Kazuma is also very much a coward, holing himself up in an inn run by the kindly Okinu (Kinuyo Tanaka) and generally avoiding confrontation of any sort. Despite his clandestine manner, enough of the locals know of Kazuma’s purpose and an attempt is made on his life. He is saved by Karatsu Kanbei (Kazuo Hasegawa), a samurai who offers to help Kazuma hone his archery skills, though it soon becomes clear that this apparently selfless stranger has several potentially shady ulterior motives.
Genres: War Drama History
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1945-06-28
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Zankokuna tsuki
Overview: 1962 Japanese movie
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1962-05-27
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Police Precinct Part 12
Overview:
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1960-01-27
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One Passed Through Hell
Overview:
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1960-04-19
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Kantaro of Ina
Overview: War-time jidaigeki by Eisuke Takizawa.
Genres: Drama History
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1943-01-03
Popularity:
Umineko ga tonde
Overview:
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1962-12-05
Popularity:
治郎吉格子
Overview: Aboard a ship connecting Kyoto and Osaka, Osan was pickpocketed by a sham blind biwa player. A man who looked like a merchant retrieved the wallet for her. Osan was a woman being sold off for the sake of her yakuza-like brother, Nin'kichi. The man in the guise of a merchant turned out to be the Rat Thief, Jirokichi, the infamous thief of Edo. Due to this chance encounter, the two ended up staying at the same hot spring inn. However, one morning, as Jirokichi was about to leave alone, Osan, with the intuition of a smitten woman, confessed she knew he was the famed Rat Thief.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1952-02-22
Popularity:
Kurama tengu: Aomen yasha
Overview: At the end of the Edo period - On his way back after being invited by the three Mikados of Higashi Shirakawa, Kurama Tengu was attacked by the Shinsengumi. Given the circumstances, he began to suspect a connection between the Mikado and the Shinsengumi.
Genres: History Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1953-09-22
Popularity:
Hana no shôgai
Overview: In 1842, in the Umemoku Mansion within Hikone Castle, Naosuke Ii, despite the tumultuous times, was engrossed in the world of tea ceremony. His friend, the Kokugaku scholar Nagano Shuzen, introduced him to a captivating shamisen master named Murayama Taka. Naosuke became deeply infatuated with her, disregarding the jealousy of his consort Shizu and the warnings of his senior retainer, Gaiji. However, upon discovering Taka's relationship with Shuzen, Naosuke promptly ended his ties with her.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1953-10-14
Popularity:
The Story of Shunkin
Overview: Based on the novel by Junichiro Tanizaki. Story of the beautiful blind daughter of a wealthy businessman who falls in love with a servant.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1954-06-27
Popularity:
振袖釼法
Overview: In Marugame Domain of Shikoku, a low-ranking foot soldier named Tagami Genbachi was envied for marrying Tsuji, the most beautiful woman in the domain. However, due to a personal grudge held by Horikawa Gentazaemon, the swordsmanship instructor, Genbachi met an untimely and bitter death through foul means within the precincts of the Hachiman Shrine. Due to the domain's oppressive treatment of those of low status, Tsuji, now with her infant son Botaro, was dispossessed of her home and exiled.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1955-07-26
Popularity:
Ejima and Ikushima
Overview: This period film is inspired by one of the most notorious scandals to have taken place in Edo-period Japan. The heroine, Ejima, was a lady of the Ooku, the harem of Edo Castle in which the Shogun’s mother, wife and concubines resided, forbidden from contact with any other man except in the presence of the Shogun. The institution played a key role in the Byzantine world of Japanese court politics during the Edo era. In 1714, Lady Ejima was sent to pay her respects at a Buddhist temple in the city, and chose to pay an unauthorised visit to the kabuki theatre – a violation of protocol that was to have tragic consequences.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1955-10-30
Popularity:
When a Woman Loves
Overview: Story of a romance between a middle-aged journalist and a young woman.
Genres: Romance Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1959-09-24
Popularity:
Kizu-darake no futeki-sha
Overview: 1963 Japanese movie
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1963-03-09
Popularity:
The Shape of Night
Overview: Yoshie Nogami, a factory worker by day, works as a bar hostess at night. She begins a passionate affair with one of her regulars, but his changing demeanor and constant demands for money lead Yoshie down a dark path.
Genres: Crime Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1964-11-01
Popularity:
The Temptress and the Monk
Overview: Nominated for Golden Berlin Bear.
Genres: Horror Drama Fantasy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1957-08-14
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Tokyo Untouchable: Escape
Overview:
Genres: Crime Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1963-03-15
Popularity:
The Revenge of Yukinojo, Part 1: Revenge and Love
Overview: The first part of an entertaining historical drama depicting the eventful story of the revenge of an actor with a strange fate, with a variety of characters and exciting developments.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1954-03-31
Popularity:
Taikoki - The Saga of Hideyoshi
Overview: From birth Hideyoshi was a restless, defiant spirit--a child of the poorest of the poor. Cast out of his peasant cottage, he would live by his wits, driven by his burning ambition to become a samurai and to find a warlord worth pledging his sword to. This is the story of his rise, and the thunderous battle he pinned his hopes on. The challenge that had already ruined and bloodied the armies of higher-ranking samurai than Hiyoshi. The battle that brought him rank, fame and fortune and transformed him into Hashiba Hideyoshi, right-hand man to the ruthless Lord Oda Nobunaga, and would drive him on to conquer Japan.
Genres: History Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1958-08-10
Popularity:
The Revenge of Yukinojo, Part 2: Dance of Revenge
Overview: The second part of an entertaining historical drama depicting the eventful story of the revenge of an actor with a strange fate, with a variety of characters and exciting developments.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1954-04-07
Popularity:
The Revenge of Yukinojo, Part 3: Sword of Revenge
Overview: The final, third part of an entertaining historical drama depicting the eventful story of the revenge of an actor with a strange fate, with a variety of characters and exciting developments.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1954-04-20
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Chronicle of the Bulbul
Overview: Early jidaigeki by Tai Kato
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1952-10-23
Popularity:
The Lord's spy
Overview: Maeda Tsunanori, the lord of Kaga Domain, had two young princes - Katsumaru, the son of his legitimate wife, who died, and Yasunosuke, the son of his concubine. However, Katsumaru suddenly lost his mind and appealed to the shogunate to hand over the reins of the family Yasunosuke, but the request was rejected. Vassal Osawa Kuranojo suspects that this is the work of Ishikawa Torajiro, a swordsman from the Katsumaru group, and begins an investigation.
Genres: Drama History
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1964-01-26
Popularity:
The Most Beautiful
Overview: The stories of several young women who work in a 'precision optical instruments' factory during the second World War. Despite illness, injury, and tremendous personal hardship, the women persevere in their tasks, devoted to their work and their country's cause.
Genres: Drama War
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1944-04-13
Popularity:
Six Assassins
Overview:
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1955-06-05
Popularity:
The Dancer and Two Warriors
Overview:
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1955-06-26
Popularity:
Listen to the Voices of the Sea
Overview: This film is strongly anti-war film. The film is based on the collection of writings by Japanese student soldiers who died during World War II. The film is located to Burma. It shows the everyday problems of soldiers in contrast of their ideas and the cynicism of their commanders. Soldiers are also victims of military bullying by their commanders.
Genres: Drama War
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1950-06-15
Popularity:
Hibari's Tale of Pathos
Overview: Hibari Misora plays a singing guide, who is secretly in love, her fortunes turn for the worse when a gangster’s henchman hears her singing and takes a liking to her beautiful voice. The trouble starts when her family borrows money from the gangsters, setting off a series of incidents which lead to tragedy.
Genres: Music Romance Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1962-10-06
Popularity:
Snow Trail
Overview: Three bank robbers, Eijima, Nojiri, and Takasugi, flee the police and escape into the mountains. At an inn high in the Japanese Alps, Eijima and Nojiri encounter a young woman and her father, as well as Honda, a mountaineer. The inn folk do not realize their guests are wanted criminals and the visitors are treated with great kindness. Honda volunteers to lead them over the mountains, but Eijima's paranoia endangers all of them as they make the perilous trip.
Genres: Drama Crime
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1947-08-05
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Kobushidake denki
Overview: 1956 Japanese film, originally released in three parts.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1956-08-22
Popularity:
Battle Troop
Overview: Three IJN flyers Mikami (Susumu Fujita), Kawakami (Masayuki Mori) and Murakami (Akitake Kono) are good friends, and they are all renowned for their torpedo techniques. Mikami is posted as a staff officer at a base on an island in the Pacific. Kawakami and Murakami later joins him as the base squardron is reinforced. The enemy task force approaches the island and all three of them attack the fleet, killing themselves in the process.
Genres: War
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1944-12-07
Popularity:
Till We Meet Again
Overview: Saburo and Keiko fall in love with each other but the tide of war separates them.
Genres: Romance War Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1950-03-21
Popularity:
Heiji, the Detective
Overview: Famous for his coin tossing when capturing criminals, an Edo detective, Heiji, launches an investigation into the mysterious murder of his friend Seigoro.
Genres: Mystery
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1967-10-10
Popularity:
The Conspirator
Overview: Young lord Saburo Nobuyasu struggles to find comfort in life. His arranged marriage to Tokuhime, daughter of one-time family enemy Oda Nobunaga, provides little happiness. His manipulative mother adds further complications through her constant interference and attempts at defeating the Nobunaga family.
Genres: Drama History
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1961-11-08
Popularity:
快傑耶茶坊
Overview: 1956 Japanese film, originally released in two parts.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1956-04-18
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Military Song of the Morning Mist
Overview: At the beginning of the Meiji era, three brothers of a samurai family each stand up to the times.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1943-04-29
Popularity:
A Fishwife's Tale
Overview: Hibari Misora plays Yoshiko, the popular daughter of a fish market owner. After discovering that she was adopted, she sets out to help her biological father who has fallen victim to an evil plot orchestrated by those who would take over his successful business.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1961-05-31
Popularity:
Points and Lines
Overview: Based on Matsumoto Seicho's classic mystery novel of the same name, the story centers around a group of detectives who are determined to find the truth behind an apparent double suicide.
Genres: Crime
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1958-11-11
Popularity:
Duel at Yagyu Valley
Overview: During the Warring States era, Hozoin Kakuzenbo and Yagyu Tajima-no-kami, being best friends, spend their days acquiring skills of the spear, sword and martial arts. Hozoin loses a series of matches with master swordsman Kozumi Ise-no-kami. Bitterly ashamed, Hozoin embarks on a journey, trying to perfect his skills. A few years later, Hozoin is ready and it's time for the ultimate showdown with Ise-no-kami!
Genres: Action
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1945-05-17
Popularity:
The Man of Seven Faces
Overview: Detective Tarao investigates the deaths of police officers who were involved in solving a kidnapping case.
Genres: Mystery
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1960-04-26
Popularity:
The Wolves
Overview: A group of five rookie insurance salespersons, driven to desperation by the impossibility of their work in Japan's failing postwar economy, form a plan to rob a cash delivery truck in order to provide for their families.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1955-07-03
Popularity:
Outlaw Under a Blue Canopy
Overview: Sheriff Goro goes undercover to investigate drug smugglers.
Genres: Action
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1960-05-10
Popularity:
Satan's Town
Overview: A yakuza boss and his right-hand, Hawasaki, escape from prison. the film concentrates on their relationship, emphasizing loyalty and thier eventual betrayal, enroute they get involved in money trafficking, a cop killing and horse racing scams before the inevitable tragic ending. A patch-work production.
Genres: Crime
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1956-07-11
Popularity:
Street of Violence
Overview: An attempt is made to suppress a journalist's investigation of collusion between a rural police chief and the local gangster bosses.
Genres: Drama Crime
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1950-02-26
Popularity:
Tange Sazen
Overview: In 1730, the Tokugawa Shogunate orders the Yagyu Clan to repair a huge shrine. Since it cannot refuse the Shogunate's request, the impoverished Yagyu Clan tries to raise funds by obtaining a sword which holds the key to a wondrous, hidden treasure. After learning the sword's secret, Tange Sazen sides with the Yagyu Clan, but his motive seems to be more than just pure interest in the treasure...
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1963-11-17
Popularity:
寛美の三等社員
Overview: Japanese comedy film.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1961-09-09
Popularity:
Sword of Vision
Overview: Yagyu Jubei proves his skills in this early adventure film.
Genres: Drama Action Adventure
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1959-10-04
Popularity:
Three Women of the North
Overview: The story of an airport and its air traffic control crew in a remote and northern Japanese town. Three of the air traffic controllers are female with one of them working with her dead fiancé's sister. The engaged man had gone to war and never returned.
Genres: War Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1945-08-05
Popularity:
Toward the Decisive Battle in the Sky
Overview: Young men endure challenging flight training in the Yokaren, a program feeding new pilots into the Army and Navy. By the time of the filming, the pressure of the war had led the government to shorten the training and expand the age range of the recruits. Yokaren was highly selective, and thus an object of great fascination and desire for boys and young men. In this Navy–sponsored film, Setsuko Hara plays the daughter of a family that often entertains recruits on their days off—a surrogate sister to many trainees. Her fragile younger brother aspires to join the program, but is rejected. With perseverance and much support from Hara and their mother, he surmounts his weaknesses and becomes a flier.
Genres: Action War Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1943-05-01
Popularity:
The Cannery Boat
Overview: Describes the oppressed life of the crab fishermen and their final revolt which is bloodily suppressed by the Royal Navy.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1953-09-10
Popularity:
Wind, Woman and Road
Overview: 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.
Genres: Action Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1958-04-14
Popularity:
Flame and the Code
Overview:
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1966-03-05
Popularity:
Broken Swords
Overview: The tragic, yet exciting story of the friendship between Nakayama Yasubei, a member of the 47 Ronin, and Tange Tenzen, a relative by marriage of the vile Lord Kira.
Genres: Drama Action
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1969-05-30
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The Viper Brothers
Overview:
Genres: Comedy Action
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1971-06-01
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Miyamoto Musashi
Overview: 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.
Genres: Drama Action
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1973-07-13
Popularity:
Castle of Owls
Overview: Movie adaptation of the 1959 ninja novel. With war against Korea looming on the horizon, Hideyoshi Toyotomi, the 'Taiko' becomes the target of an assassination attempt to be carried out by the Iga Clan of ninja spies. Master spy Juzo Tsuzura (Ryutaro Otomo) is assigned the task, but first he must defeat a former Iga spy who has become a traitor, and outwit the treacherous woman that is trying to seduce him.
Genres: Action Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1963-03-24
Popularity:
The Shogun’s Guard, Shinsengumi
Overview: The Shinsengumi is a special unit of ronin commissioned by the Tokugawa shogunate to counter anti-shogunate activities in Kyoto. A sinister plot to overthrow the shogun is set in motion and Kondo Isami and his fellow samurai must answer the call and expose those behind it.
Genres: Action
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1958-07-13
Popularity:
The Black Current
Overview: A reporter Takuo, who is sleeping in the newspaper room of the Maichō newspaper company, receives a sudden report from a reporter that the missing Akiyama JNR president was found dead.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1954-08-31
Popularity:
Travels of Hibari and Chiemi
Overview: Playhouse employees Okimi and Otoshi become involved in an undercover officer’s investigation of a gang when they accidentally walk in on a drug deal taking place at their theater.
Genres: Adventure Comedy Music
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1962-01-03
Popularity:
Tales of Young Genji Kuro 2
Overview: Thanks to a secret message hidden on the two sacred swords Kaen and Suien, the samurai Genji Kurô (Nakamura Kinnosuke) found the hidden treasure of Lord Yoshitsune. When he gives a piece of the treasure to a couple of poor but honest people so they can pay their debts, it attracts the unwanted attention of several dishonest people, such as pirates, greedy merchants and rebels. While the government is fighting a battle for power against rebels and royalists, all want the treasure by any means possible.
Genres: Action
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1958-03-11
Popularity:
A History of the Japanese Underworld - The Bloody Resistance
Overview:
Genres: Crime
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1967-06-17
Popularity:
The Escape
Overview: Film about the 2-26 Incident.
Genres: Thriller
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1962-03-14
Popularity:
Farewell, My Beloved
Overview: During the early days of the war a young student, Makito (Kazuo Funaki), falls in love with Yuko (Mayumi Ozora), the widow of a naval officer. She, however, is living with the memories of her husband and it is her younger sister, Yumiko (Nana Ozaki), who grows fond of the student. Then, one day, a young naval officer, Tadayuki (Ken Ogata), a friend of her late husband, comes to see the widow and she becomes attracted to him. Though Makito is inspired to study for the navy, he is much upset when he learns that Yuko and Tadayuki are to marry.
Genres: Drama Romance
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1969-02-21
Popularity:
Ken
Overview: Kokubu, captain of his university's kendo team, is a mystery to those who know him: An ascetic dedicated to a point of obsession with the simplicity and beauty of the sword arts. Kagawa, a promising but arrogant kendo student, is attracted to Kokubu's devout leadership but kept at a distance by his standoffish nature. With the national championships fast approaching, the pair clash as Kokubu drives his students with increasingly rigorous training and Kagawa tests Kokubu's grip on the class.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1964-03-14
Popularity:
Souls in the Moonlight II
Overview: This is the second installment of the trilogy based on Japan’s greatest novel “The Great Bodhisattva Pass”, following the life and times of bloodthirsty samurai, Tsukue Ryunosuke. Blinded in an explosion and further injured from a fall, the master swordsman is taken in by Otoyo, a woman who falls in love with him. Under Otoyo’s dedicated care, Ryunosuke’s physical and emotional wounds seem to heal. However, deep inside, the demons that drive him to kill yearn to resurface. Meanwhile he is being pursued by Utsugi Hyoma, a young samurai seeking to avenge his brother’s death at Tsukue’s hands. Hyoma is being aided along the way by the clever thief Shichibei.
Genres: Action Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1958-04-20
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Souls in the Moonlight III
Overview: Master swordsman, Tsukue Ryunosuke is confronted by the families of his victims. Will justice be served for the lost innocent lives? The conclusion of the famed Jidaigeki series is an amazing film, with a completely different perspective on the story from the later versions. While the international audience is more familiar with the “Sword of Doom” and “Satan’s Sword” versions of Daibosatsu Toge (The Great Bodhisattva Pass), the “Souls in the Moonlight” trilogy casts an entirely different light on Ryunosuke and his motives. Can this brutal killer be brought to justice, or is living his life as a blind wanderer a more terrible fate? His sword skills have not diminished, nor has his desire to kill!
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1959-04-28
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Officer Morgan and a Man of Mystery
Overview: Detective Morgan and the Japanese police cooperate to unveil the truth of the mysterious death of Morgan’s friend in Arizona.
Genres: Action
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1961-08-13
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King of the Highway
Overview:
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1965-12-18
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Traveling in Party
Overview: A comedy about Hikoichi, a mediocre train conductor who falls in love with a beautiful widow Sayuri.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1967-11-12
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The Hidden Treasure
Overview: Shochiku's commemorative 3000th film production; a suspenseful period drama.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1959-04-05
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Men in a Rough Town
Overview: An action-packed, dramatic gangster film.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1959-01-28
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Love is Lost
Overview: Based on the novel by Torahiko Tamiya.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1956-02-05
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Castle of Flames
Overview: In 17th century Japan, Young Lord Masato returns after years abroad to find everything changed: his peace-loving father has died in what he soon finds to be mysterious circumstances, and his mother's married to his uncle, whose ruthless ambition is causing turmoil in the kingdom. Not knowing who to trust, Masato feigns madness, vowing to get to the truth, even though his act causes distress to the girl he loves, who's waited for him all these years. The ghost of his father turns up now and then to show him the way. Meanwhile a peasant revolt is brewing... It all ends tragically.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1960-10-30
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Nerves for Victory
Overview: A young yakuza who respects obligation and humanity must face cruel and heartless turf wars leading to a fight to the death with his own brother.
Genres: Crime Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1966-08-26
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The Envoy
Overview: Sinza who is secretly the well known "Sea Glow Burglar", gives to the poor the money he takes from the bad lords and greedy merchants, who live just to exploit the poor for their small coins. On his travel he meets a man and his little girl Onatsu. The man gets ambushed and killed in front of his daughter, so Sinza promises the man he will take his daughter safely to their destination, so the little girl is now his responsibility. The kind, non-violent Sinza now finds himself entangled in something far bigger than he expected.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1958-09-16
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The Harbor Lights
Overview:
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1961-02-26
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Okatsu the Fugitive
Overview: Okatsu the Fugitive is the third film in the "Ohyaku/Okatsu" series. Okatsu; a "tomboy" who is good with a sword. Her father has found her a man to marry and actually she doesn't seem too upset about the situation. At the same time, a bunch of farmers are being slaughtered by a corrupt group running a tobacco smuggling ring. They're being investigated by a man who is documenting their crimes and when they find out about it, they torture him for information but get none. It's not long before he and Okatsu's mother wind up dead and she sets out for revenge.
Genres: Crime Action
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1969-10-01
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Four Marriages
Overview: Based on a short story by Dazai Osamu, produced under the national film law. The film's hero falls in love with the youngest daughter of a family he is visiting to arrange an engagement for his friend who has been drafted to fight in the war.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1944-09-28
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Tower of Lilies
Overview: A group of Okinawan high school girls are drafted as nurses during the American invasion of the island. As the enemy army advances further, the situation for the girls becomes increasingly desperate as food and shelter run out and the number of injured climbs, leading to the film's tragic finale.
Genres: War Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1953-01-09
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New Prison Walls of Abashiri 2
Overview: Suehiro Katsuji, a prisoner of Abashiri, is sent to Shikoku to work at a dock where a fierce turf battle takes place between a local gang and the dock operator.
Genres: Drama Crime
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1969-08-13
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Three Gamblers
Overview: Three closely associated gamblers have adventures in Yokohama, Hokkaido, and Macao. Gambling trio endure hardships to rescue Naojiro’s family.
Genres: Crime Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1967-01-12
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Tragedy of the Coolie Samurai
Overview: Gonza was a handsome young laborer, a footman and spear-carrier, working hard for his meager wage. All Gonza wanted was to marry his young sweetheart, but despite their mutual poverty, her status as the daughter of a samurai blocked their path to happiness. A chance opportunity to achieve samurai status would come one day, but Gonza will regret trusting the so-called honorable samurai who extended this fateful offer, and the terrible price he'd pay, fighting for his life in one of the most blood-spattered samurai battles ever filmed.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1963-04-21
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Mother Country
Overview: In 1919, a group of Japanese immigrants arrives in Hawaii. Among them Yoshio Inoue and his wife Kishimo and Sumi, a young woman ready to get married soon. With the soil that is hard to work and the subtroipical climate, the immigrants have to cope with a hard life. But after years of hard work, Yoshio finds work as a teacher while his wife manages to open a small grocery store. But with the war around the corner, life becomes more and more complicated for the Japanese immigrants in a foreign country.
Genres: War Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1962-04-29
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Actress
Overview: Sumako, a country girl, becomes a great actress with the help of Hogetsu,a scholar who brought some of European realism to the Japan's stage. The relationship leads to the end of his marriage and the breakup of his Arts Society. This is another version of Kenji Mizoguchi's film "The Love of Sumako the Actress" ("Joyû Sumako no koi"), from the same year. Both tells the story of the famous actress Sumako Mitsui (1886-1919), considered the first great modern theater actress in Japan. Mizoguchi himself is said to have preferred Kinugasa's version.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1947-12-29
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As Long as I Live
Overview:
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1946-08-01
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Lady From Hell
Overview: Three and a half years after Japan was bombed, the tax authorities organized the T-Men. Nango is in love with a girl called Mibu, and the two are against the T-Men organization. Mibu whats to kill all of the T-Men one-by-one.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1949-03-15
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The Last Women
Overview: The events of the film are based on the real facts of the Pacific War, when in June 1944 the American troops began landing on the Saipan island. On July 7, an order comes that everyone must die in order not to be captured by the enemy.
Genres: War Drama History
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1954-11-22
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Restoration Fire
Overview: 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)
Genres: Drama History
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1961-10-14
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Japan's Most Chivalrous
Overview:
Genres: Crime
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1966-03-19
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Fearful Witch
Overview:
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1962-12-16
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Policeman's Diary, Part 2
Overview: From runaway brides to a typhoon, the continued adventures of Ushikata police station.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1955-11-16
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I Want to Be a Shellfish
Overview: Television production of I Want to Be a Shellfish. On a post-war peaceful day in Japan, Toyomatsu Shimizu, a barber as well as a good father and husband, is suddenly arrested by the Prefectural Police as a war criminal and sued for murder. According to the accusation by GHQ, Toyomatsu "attemped to kill a US prisoner", which was nothing but an order by his superior and failed after all with hurting the prisoner by weak Toyomatsu. Also, Toyomatsu was driven to corner at the trial by the fact that he fed the US prisoner some burdock roots to nourish him. Toyomatsu believes nothing but being not guilty, but he is sentenced to death by hanging. Prior to the execution, Toyomatsu writes a long farewell letter to his family, the wife and the only son: "If I ever incarnate, I hate to be a human being any more.... Oh yes, I would like to be...a shellfish living on the rock-bottom of the sea."
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1958-10-31
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An Enemy of the People
Overview: Tadashi Imai 1946 movie
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1946-04-25
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Happily Tied to the Road
Overview: With flashing swordwork and a terrific story, wandering gambler Kusama Hanjiro inspires the wrath of Boss Jirotaro who has been terrorizing travelers along the route through his territory. When Hanjiro steps in to gamble with him one-on-one it leads to a deadly vendetta that will show no mercy. Along the way Hanjiro is called upon to help sisters with no one else to depend on. Will the feud end in tragedy, or can the honest wanderer prevail against the bloodlust of an angry yakuza boss whom he had scarred for life?
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1959-04-21
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You and I
Overview:
Genres: Action Crime
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1966-07-13
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Invitation to Jail
Overview:
Genres: Action Crime
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1967-09-02
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Ninja Assassins
Overview: Saotome Mondonosuke pursues the culprit who placed a malicious curse upon Shogun Tsunekichi.
Genres: Action
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1960-06-29
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The Samurai of Edo
Overview: This historical film depicts the life of a man who was at the mercy of the waves during transition from the end of the Edo period to the Meiji Restoration, and therefore, shows audience the dynamic change from Edo to Meiji. Before the war, the director, Eisuke Takizawa, together with the writers, formed a scenario writer group "Narutaki-gumi and they shot many historical masterpieces.
Genres: History War Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1955-10-23
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Ayausgî G-Man - ânkoku gai no yagû
Overview:
Genres: Crime Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1960-03-01
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The Great Road
Overview: The story of a certain engineer from his youth until he retired from the Japanese National Railways after the war .
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1960-03-08
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White Cliffs
Overview: 1960 Toei film.
Genres: Crime Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1960-04-05
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Ocean Floor Crime #1
Overview:
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1964-09-05
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Case of a Young Lord 9: Black Camellia
Overview: Escaping the hustle and bustle of Edo, the Young Lord came to Oshima Island in Izu to take a vacation. Unexpectedly, the island's boss, Amimoto, was brutally murdered with a harpoon. As usual, the Young Lord sets out to solve the case. However, most of the islanders have a grudge against Amimoto, and there are so many suspects that he is at his wits' end this time. Set against the beautiful sea of Izu and the majestic Mt. Mihara, the Young Lord's brilliant deductions and his secret sword Ichimonjo-Kakureshi cut through the mystery!
Genres: Mystery
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1961-09-23
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Challenge Beneath the Waves
Overview: 1960 Toei action film.
Genres: Action
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1960-09-28
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Midair Circus
Overview: 1958 Toei movie.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1958-08-12
Popularity: