Ayako Wakao
Also Known As: Аяко Вакао, آیاکو واکائو
Biography: From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Ayako Wakao (若尾 文子, Wakao Ayako, November 8, 1933 in Tokyo, Japan) is a Japanese actress who was one of the country's biggest stars of the 20th century. Wakao began her career contracted to Daiei Studios in 1951 as part of the fifth "New Face" group. She has gone on to appear in over 100 feature films, plus numerous television movies and series. She was a favorite actress of director Yasuzo Masumura, starring in 20 of his films. In addition to her many collaborations with Masumura, she was a favorite of Kon Ichikawa, having starred or co-starred in seven of the director's works. She appeared in Kenji Mizoguchi's A Geisha and Street of Shame. She also appeared in Yasujirō Ozu's Floating Weeds. Description above from the Wikipedia article Ayako Wakao, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Department: Acting
Place of Birth: Tokyo, Tokyo Prefecture, Japan
Birthday: November 08, 1933
Adult: No
Gender: Female
Popularity:
Known For:
Musume no boken
Overview:
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1958-11-01
Popularity:
An Actor's Revenge
Overview: In Edo Japan, a kabuki actor seeks revenge against the three men who drove his parents to their deaths years ago.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1963-01-13
Popularity:
Irezumi
Overview: Otsuya, the daughter of a rich merchant, elopes with her lover Shinsuke, an employee of her father's. During their flight, Otsuya's beauty attracts the gaze of Seikichi, a mysterious master tattooist who sees her pristine white skin as the perfect canvas for his art. The image of the large demonic spider that he emblazons across Otsuya's back marks her as the property of another man, radically altering her relationships with all around her as her personality seems to transform under its influence.
Genres: Crime Drama Thriller
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1966-01-15
Popularity:
Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo
Overview: With a price on his head, Ichi seeks tranquillity in a favorite village. Since his last visit, it has fallen prey to Boss Masagoro, the son of a merchant rumored to have stolen gold from the shogunate. The boss has hired Yojimbo as his hard-drinking enforcer, but Yojimbo is both a spy for the shogunate, trying to find the gold, and in love with the merchant's unwilling mistress, Umeno. Ichi hires on as the merchant's masseur and buys Umeno's freedom with his employer's own money. This embarrasses Yojimbo who withdraws from a pact with Ichi to stir up trouble between father and son and their gangs. As the two sides fight, Ichi finds the gold and sets up a final set of confrontations.
Genres: Adventure Action Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1970-01-15
Popularity:
Street of Shame
Overview: The lives of five prostitutes employed at a Japanese brothel while the nation is debating the passage of an anti-prostitution law.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1956-03-18
Popularity:
Victory and Defeat
Overview: After the boxing champion retires, the head of a powerful gym, Minegishi (So Yamamura), recommends Yamanaka (Hiroshi Kawaguchi), who is no longer in top form and is ranked number one, for a title fight, but his comrade Hata (Kojiro Hongo) is not happy with this choice, and so he moves to the gym run by the criminal businessman Goda (Toru Abe) and burning desire to beat Yamanaka.
Genres: Drama Action
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1960-04-27
Popularity:
Nakayoshi ondo: Nippon ichi dayo
Overview:
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1962-05-12
Popularity:
Afraid to Die
Overview: On his release from prison a young yakuza, along with his brother, decides to turn his back on criminal life instead of taking over the position of his recently deceased father, boss of the Asahina clan. But their exit proves more difficult than planned when their rival clan steps in to exact revenge.
Genres: Drama Crime
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1960-03-22
Popularity:
A Geisha
Overview: Eiko seeks out Miyoharu, a geisha, and asks to be her apprentice. When she is ready to receive clients, both women want the right to refuse certain men.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1953-08-12
Popularity:
Floating Weeds
Overview: When a theater troupe's master visits his old flame, he unintentionally sets off a chain of unexpected events with devastating consequences. A remake of Ozu's own silent film The Story of Floating Weeds (1934).
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1959-11-17
Popularity:
Manji
Overview: The four principals in a love affair collide when jealousy, blackmail and suicide enter the picture.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1964-07-25
Popularity:
The Great Wall
Overview: 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.
Genres: Drama History
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1962-11-01
Popularity:
Princess from the Moon
Overview: Two poor, married farmers have recently lost their only child; after a freak visitation, they pry open an alien cocoon to greet their new daughter.
Genres: Adventure Drama Science Fiction
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1987-09-26
Popularity:
Red Angel
Overview: In 1939, Sakura Nishi is a young army nurse who is sent to the field hospitals in China during the Sino-Japanese war. She has to assist the surgeon Dr. Okabe with an incredible number of amputations. In the crowded wards, she gives sympathy to some of the soldiers, including sexually servicing one who has lost both arms and has no hope of returning home. She falls in love with Dr. Okabe, and follows him to the front, even though he is impotent from his morphine addiction.
Genres: War Drama Romance
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1966-10-01
Popularity:
A Lustful Man
Overview: Fascinated with women from an early age, Yonosuke had his first sexual encounter at the age of seven. From that day on, he recklessly and forwardly pursues women, feeding his fascination and experience. As Yonosuke's salacious behavior brings much cause for shame to the family, his father eventually breaks relations with him. Expelled from the family, 19-year-old Yonosuke embarks on a pilgrimage of lust, traveling far and wide to acquaint himself with women of all walks.
Genres: Comedy Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1961-03-21
Popularity:
Blood End
Overview: 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.
Genres: Drama Action Thriller Romance History
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1969-11-15
Popularity:
Elegant Beast
Overview: A greedy, materialistic family attempts to cover-up the embezzlement committed by the son while keeping their other schemes active. They discover there are other, equally conniving players involved.
Genres: Comedy Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1962-12-26
Popularity:
A Wife Confesses
Overview: Tied to a mountain between her brutalizing spouse and her secret lover, disaster strikes; the authorities accuse her of murder and prompt a confession.
Genres: Drama Mystery Romance
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1961-10-29
Popularity:
Seisaku's Wife
Overview: On the eve of the Russo-Japanese war at the beginning of the 20th century, small-town girl Okane has married an old wealthy man to escape a life of poverty.
Genres: Drama Romance War
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1965-06-25
Popularity:
The Wife of Seishu Hanaoka
Overview: The disturbing story of a physician who conducted the first operation with general anaesthetic, and the women in his life who are both so determined to win his love that they volunteer as subjects for his experiments
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1967-10-28
Popularity:
Shinobi no Mono 4: Siege
Overview: [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!
Genres: Action Drama History
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1964-07-10
Popularity:
The Tale of Genji
Overview: TV movie based on the novel "The Tale of Genji" by Murasaki Shikibu, which tells about the life of Prince Hikaru Genji, who was nicknamed "Shining" by people for his dazzling noble beauty. In 1991, to commemorate the 40th anniversary of TBS' founding, it was released with a total production value of around 1.2 billion yen and aired in two parts.
Genres: Drama History
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1991-12-27
Popularity:
Shinobi no Mono 3: Resurrection
Overview: [Period covered: 1595-1600] We last saw ninja Ishikawa Goemon, as he was about to be boiled alive. But a good ninja is both hard to find, and even harder to kill. With the help of the enigmatic Hattori Hanzo, Goemon lives to skulk another day, and sets his sights on bringing down the warlord who tried to turn him into soup – Toyotomi Hideyoshi. And as always, in the background, the suble hand of Tokugawa Ieyasu is pulling strings as he plots to rule all of Japan!
Genres: Drama Action
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1963-12-28
Popularity:
The Phantom Horse
Overview: Following the tragic death of his father, a young boy's family trains his horse to compete in the local derby.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1955-07-20
Popularity:
Tora-san's Shattered Romance
Overview: Torajiro becomes homesick during his travels after watching a television report about his hometown and meeting a young woman that reminds him of his sister Sakura. Meanwhile, a new tenant moves into Toraya restaurant.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1971-01-15
Popularity:
Evening Calm
Overview: A girl rebels against her mother, who runs a brothel in Yokohama, and attempts to find freedom on her own.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1957-04-01
Popularity:
The Ladder of Success
Overview: A biting portrait of the world of classical Japanese dance: an ambitious young woman (Wakao Ayako) shoves aside her mentor (Kyo Machiko) on her way to the top.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1958-10-15
Popularity:
Jirocho Fuji
Overview: Legendary yakuza Shimizu Jirocho and his 28 henchmen travel the unruly path from a 'Fire Festival' in Akiba to a decisive battle by the Fujigawa.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1959-06-03
Popularity:
The Betrothed
Overview: Adaptation of the Yukio Mishima novel.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1957-05-28
Popularity:
Enchanted Princess
Overview: Once upon a time, Okuro (Ayako Wakao), a young female racoon, lived poorly with her drunken father. One day after they disguised themselves as parasols, they were wrongly brought to the Racoon Palace, where the young racoon princess (also Ayako Wakao) made a mess of her arranged marriage with the beautiful racoon prince (Raizô Ichikawa). Pretty princess ran away. In order not to spoil the promising marriage, people tried to make use of resemblances between Okuro and the princess. Before long, Okuro and the Prince fell in love with each other...
Genres: Fantasy Comedy Music
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1959-12-27
Popularity:
幻の殺意
Overview: Adaptation of the Shôji Yuki novel.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1971-04-15
Popularity:
Shroud of Snow
Overview: 1930. In splendid snowy settings, the trials and pain of a woman married to a man who maintains a relationship with their servant.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1967-01-14
Popularity:
A Rainbow at Every Turn
Overview: Momoko and Asako are half sisters, daughters of the famous architect Tsuneo Mizuhara, who also have another half sister in Kyôto, Wakako, whom they have not had. While Asako is a sweet young lady, Momoko, the eldest, goes out with whomever she wants, thus hiding the trauma caused by seduction and abandonment during the war by young Keita Aoki. One day Keita re-enters her life.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1956-02-19
Popularity:
The Priest and the Beauty
Overview: Princess Kiyo accidentally injures a local priest, Anchin, while on a hunt. She apologizes, but feels irritated by Anchin’s indifference to her in spite of her beauty. One night, while Anchin is recuperating in a hot spring, he is approached by Kiyo. She tells him that she is in love with him.
Genres: Drama Fantasy Romance Horror
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1960-08-09
Popularity:
The False Student
Overview: A youth drama set in a Japanese university which is home to a group of active, leftist students.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1960-10-08
Popularity:
Love and Greed
Overview: Namiko gets a crush on Ishizuka, a young CEO of a nightclub, but he was plotting to destroy her husband’s company by greenmail.
Genres: Crime Drama Romance
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1964-02-24
Popularity:
The Blue Sky Maiden
Overview: Yuko is sent to the coastal regions to be raised away from the rest of her sophisticated family where she finds out from her ill grandmother that she is not who she thought she was.
Genres: Drama Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1957-10-08
Popularity:
滝の白糸
Overview: The middle of the Meiji period. Tororo Goro, a Nanjing expedition hit the first time to join the white thread at the water entertainer waterfall, thought that he would go to the Kanazawa in the first place of the year and try to interrupt the white thread. Tororo Goro troupe crossed the Yabe gawa River and tried to borrow a carriage at a carriage company on the other side of the river, but he was forced by Jinya murakoshi, a charter, and started with jinrikisha without stopping.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1956-07-12
Popularity:
Spring Snow
Overview: Based on the first novel, Spring Snow, of Mishima Yukio's Sea of Fertility tetralogy, it follows the troubled and illicit affair between two youngsters amongst the aristocracy and rich of early twentieth century Japan.
Genres: Drama Romance History
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 2005-10-09
Popularity:
Bridge of Japan
Overview: Ichikawa's 1956 adaptation of Nihonbashi was the first to take the work of Kyoka Izumi— until then regarded as a writer of common tragic melodramas—and re-evaluate it as a tanbi-ha work of decadence, aestheticism, and intrigue. Ichikawa's film presents the tragic plot of the young geisha who is unable to enact her love for a man publicly in any way other than a histrionic story of torment, a heart-rending tale of lovers being crushed by fate. Instead, Ichikawa shows the contest of wills that transpires as two geisha, Oko and Kiyoha fight for the top spot in Nihonbashi, the pinnacle of the Tokyo geisha world. Nihonbashi is an elegant, if steely, exposition of manners. The young doctor, Shinzo Katsuragi, is the object of affection for both women, but appears to be more the choice reward for the plotting and thieving of these two early modern superwomen, than a lover they swoon over.
Genres: Romance Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1956-10-01
Popularity:
Asakusa at Night
Overview: A young scriptwriter with a yakuza upbringing, an iron-fire dancer, a young painter, and a pure-hearted downtown girl fall in love in Asakusa in this entertaining tale of love and action.
Genres: Drama Romance
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1954-07-14
Popularity:
A Public Benefactor
Overview: The intense selfishness of a man brings him fame and fortune but not happiness.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1964-04-04
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While Yet a Wife
Overview:
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1965-10-02
Popularity:
Punishment Room
Overview: Shimada is a student of U College. When the college's baseball team wins the day, he and his friend Ito drug two girls they met at the game.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1956-06-28
Popularity:
A Certain Woman
Overview:
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1954-03-13
Popularity:
Spartan Education
Overview: In a match where professional baseball referee Yuzo Tagami was observing a young referee, Hara, a player who got angry at the indecisive judge, knocked the referee down. Tagami lived with his wife and five children, but when he returned home, Hara, who had been suspended for a month, wanted to receive Tagami's Subaruta training.
Genres: Comedy Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1970-08-12
Popularity:
Shi no machi wo nogarete
Overview: Group of women escape Chinese controlled area for Japanese occupied lands during Pacific War.
Genres: Drama War
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1952-05-22
Popularity:
Two Wives
Overview: After a random encounter at a bar, two couples collide. Two men, two women, embroiled in a love-and-hate drama that threatens to engulf them. The sexual anxiety between the interwoven couples tautens right up to the nearly unbearable tension of the climax...
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1967-04-15
Popularity:
The House of Wooden Blocks
Overview: On his return from school, young Ichiro finds his father in bed with his adopted sister, Namie. Enraged, he decides to outdo his father in terms of immoral behaviour.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1968-10-30
Popularity:
Stolen Pleasure
Overview: Based on the original novel by Tokuda Shusei, adapted by frequent Masumura scribe Kaneto Shindo, this downbeat melodrama features a battle of women for the affections and commitment of the same man, a handsome car salesman. Masuko is the number one hostess at a cabaret, living with her lover, ... but finds out that he has a wife. When Masuko’s niece arrives the competition further ratchets up.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1962-03-14
Popularity:
The Temple of Wild Geese
Overview: Satoko is a mistress by trade or fate: when her master, the silkscreen artist of the Kohoan Temple in Kyoto, dies, she is given to the temple's lascivious head priest Kikuchi. She is drawn to a melancholy young acolyte, Jinen, who has observed the profligacy of his cruel master and Satoko's utter dependence on the man. Jinen is both fascinated and disturbed by Satoko's interest in him; he is similarly caught between loathing of Kikuchi and of the dark circumstances of his birth and his own moral weakness. The story unfolds in a dreamlike manner—a flashback inspired by a now-infamous image on a silkscreen in the souvenir shop at the so-called Temple of the Wild Geese.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1962-01-21
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When the Cookie Crumbles
Overview: Japanese film directed by Tadashi Imai.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1967-06-09
Popularity:
A Night to Remember
Overview: Seventeen years after the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, a newspaper reporter looks for the bomb's effects, but everyone seems to have forgotten. He meets a woman who was there when it happened but when they fall in love she isn't able to move on.
Genres: Drama Romance
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1962-09-30
Popularity:
A Grain of Wheat
Overview: The film depicts a group of boys and girls who graduate from a local junior high school and head to Tokyo to find employment, and the teachers who watch over them. Co-written by newcomer Shigeki Chiba and Kaneto Shindo, the film was directed by Kozaburo Yoshimura.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1958-09-14
Popularity:
Onna no Kyūka
Overview: It depicts a few days in the life of a farmer's wife who takes her first vacation in Tokyo.
Genres: TV Movie Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1974-07-28
Popularity:
Firefly Light
Overview: Set in the 1860s, the final years of the Tokugawa Shogunate, The Fireflies focuses on Tose (Awashima Chikage), the mistress of the Teradaya, a small inn in the Kyoto suburb of Fushimi. She does not have an easy life. Her husband, Isuke (Ban Junzaburo), is a wastrel who fancies himself a kabuki singer and who is obsessed with cleanliness. Her mother-in-law, Sada (Miyoshi Eiko) dislikes her because of her humble origins (her family are farmers) and because she fears that she will inherit the inn instead of Sugi, her daughter. Sada's hopes for Sugi, however, are dashed when she runs off with a con artist and leaves her child behind for Tose to take care of. When Sada becomes seriously ill, it is Tose who nurses her. On her deathbed, Sada asks her daughter-in-law's forgiveness. Meanwhile Isuke spends most of his time with a mistress he has taken, forcing Tose to manage the inn by herself
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1958-03-18
Popularity:
The Time of Reckoning
Overview: "The Time of Reckoning" transforms a screwball-comedy plot into a sober study of a successful businessman with serious relationship problems involving three women: his wife of ten years who announces she is pregnant by another man; a mistress who wants to have a baby with him; and an ex-lover who claims he fathered her son.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1968-06-29
Popularity:
Onna no Natsu
Overview: It depicts the emotional ups and downs of a designer who runs a clothing store and her husband over the course of a summer.
Genres: TV Movie Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1975-06-29
Popularity:
Roses Bloom on a Rose Tree
Overview: Yano Reiko is a part-time student. After being introduced by a well-known classmate, she becomes the tutor for Mariko, the second daughter of the bourgeois Todo family. The eldest daughter of the Todo family, Tomoe, is a typical bourgeois lady who secretly loves Fuyuhiko Kanae, an architectural engineer who is designing her villa. For Reiko, the life of the Todo family is completely different, but when she meets the bright and intelligent Fuyuhiko, she feels more than just affection for him, going beyond Reiko's circumstances. Meanwhile, Fuyuhiko also begins to love the neat and beautiful Reiko. The relationship between the two develops rapidly, but Reiko's heart is complicated. This is because Reiko has an older sister, Ginko, who works in a red-light district...
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1959-03-11
Popularity:
Izakaya Moheji 2
Overview: A small, out-of-the-way izakaya in Tokyo has become the favorite hangout of people searching for nourishment for their bodies and their souls. The proprietor of Izakaya Moheji is Heiji. It is a place where regulars and strangers alike can find comfort and comfort food.
Genres: Comedy Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2013-08-05
Popularity:
Izakaya Moheji 4
Overview: A small, out-of-the-way izakaya in Tokyo has become the favorite hangout of people searching for nourishment for their bodies and their souls. The proprietor of Izakaya Moheji is Heiji. It is a place where regulars and strangers alike can find comfort and comfort food.
Genres: Comedy Drama
Original Language: en
Release Date: 2015-06-08
Popularity:
Onna no Katei
Overview: The drama special satirizes the daily life of a wife with a businessman husband who is busy with his work.
Genres: TV Movie Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1977-04-10
Popularity:
Diary of a Mad Old Man
Overview: Utsugi, a seventy-seven-year-old man of refined tastes who is recovering from a stroke, discovers that, while his body is decaying, his libido still rages on -- unwittingly sparked by the gentle, kindly attentions of his daughter-in-law Satsuko, a chic, flashy dancer with a shady past. Pitiful and ridiculous as he is, Utsugi is without a trace of self-pity, and his diary shines with self-effacing good humor.
Genres: Drama Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1962-10-20
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Bamboo Doll of Echizen
Overview: Based on a novel by Tsutomu Mizukami, this haunting melodrama focuses on a young bamboo worker who takes his father's prostitute as his wife.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1963-10-05
Popularity:
Modae
Overview: This unique melodrama depicts the anguish of a new wife whose husband confesses to her his infertility on their wedding night. The virgin wife, who spends her days in a state of unfulfillment, is gradually attracted to a young playboy, but she is unable to cross the line. One day, her husband proposes to have a child through artificial insemination.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1964-10-03
Popularity:
The Loyal 47 Ronin
Overview: Japan, 1701. A group of samurai become rônin after their lord is forced to commit seppuku for assaulting a court official, who will become the target of a merciless revenge.
Genres: Drama History
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1958-04-01
Popularity:
The Forest of No Escape
Overview: Adaptation of Seicho Matsumoto's novel of the same name.
Genres: Mystery
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1965-01-23
Popularity:
Bonchi
Overview: Kikuji is the scion of an Osaka merchant family whose traditional power is matrilineal. Instructed by his overbearing mother and grandmother to give them an heiress for the family business, he stands by helplessly as his wife is thrown out of the house for producing a son. Driven to a life of dissipation - his mistresses also fail to produce daughters - in the end he is just too tired to care.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1960-04-14
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Farewell Song
Overview: A young woman decides to leave school in order to help her sister.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1955-01-15
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A Woman's Testament
Overview: The first story concerns an attractive young woman who works in a Tokyo nightclub. Her plan for a solid financial future has a double whammy. In the second story, a beautiful young woman is employed by an unscrupulous real estate agent to convince male clients to invest in worthless property. The last story is about a widowed geisha who has no real financial worries and who falls in love with a forger.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1960-01-14
Popularity:
The Freezing Point
Overview: Keizo Tsujiguchi believes his wife Natsue was having an extramarital affair when their child was kidnapped and killed. He believes of her extramarital affair she was unable to watch over their child properly and blames her for their daughter's death. To exact revenge on his wife, he then adopts the killer's child without telling the truth to his wife or their newly adopted child.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1966-03-26
Popularity:
Thousand Cranes
Overview: The entangled relations between the son of a seductive tea-ceremony teacher and the women in his father's life. Based on the novel by Kawabata Yasunari.
Genres: Romance Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1969-04-19
Popularity:
The Saga of Tanegashima
Overview: Well before “Shogun” as warring clans were fighting for power throughout Japan, a Portuguese vessel ran aground off Tanegashima. Lord Tokitaka helped Captain Pinto repair his ship. The grateful captain offered the lord a gift--a matchlock musket—the first firearm ever seen in Japan. But like a great stone hurled into placid waters, this simple gift will start a revolution. Tokitaka tasks Kinbei, his greatest swordsmith, to copy this musket and build guns for Japan. While Kinbei struggles to forge Japan’s first musket, a great love blooms between Captain Pinto and Kinbei’s daughter Wakasa. But for Kinbei, to let Wakasa marry Pinto and go to Portugal is unthinkable. And as Kinbei creates Japan’s first matchlock factory, Lord Oda Nobunaga will seize upon firearms as the key to sweep all other clans before him, tearing a blood-soaked path of destruction through Japan.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1968-05-18
Popularity:
A Geisha's Diary
Overview: A young girl is rigorously trained in the feminine arts so that she can become a geisha. As she struggles through life, she learns to live not just as a woman but as a complete person.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1961-07-28
Popularity:
Kenji Mizoguchi: The Life of a Film Director
Overview: In 39 interviews with actors and actresses, writers, producers and staff members, interspersed with film excerpts and stills, Shindō recounts the life and career of his friend and mentor Mizoguchi.
Genres: Documentary
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1975-05-24
Popularity:
Love of the Princess
Overview: A story of aristocratic star-crossed love.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1957-03-19
Popularity:
The Messenger from the Moon
Overview: Adaptation of the novel by Masao Kume.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1954-09-22
Popularity:
The Virgin Witness
Overview: A father decides to put his delinquent daughter into a temple in Kyoto known for its austere novitiate. Initially resistant to all forms of discipline, she ends up falling in love with the nun who is in charge of her.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1966-01-29
Popularity:
The Radiant Prince
Overview: Hikaru Genji, the haunted romantic hero of Lady Murasaki Shikibu’s “Genji Monogatari” (Tale of Genji) comes to life in this new tale of his further romantic adventures. Young Genji, the emperor’s illegitimate son cuts a swath through the women of the imperial court, while still mourning the spirit of his late mother who died while he was still a child. Driven to an obsession with the emperor’s new concubine, Lady Fujitsubo, whose resemblance to his late mother originally caught the eye of the emperor, young Genji embarks upon a reckless affair with her that could cost him his life.
Genres: Drama Romance
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1961-10-14
Popularity:
Vagabonds from Badgerville
Overview: A musical about the escapades of some tanuki passing themselves off as humans in human society.
Genres: Comedy Adventure Music
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1961-01-03
Popularity:
Marriageable Age
Overview: Yoshimura's 48th film is the contemporary story of a well-to-do family showing the frailties and failings of the class, the egotism, and the complete lack of consideration under polite and superficially perfect manners.
Genres: Comedy Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1961-01-14
Popularity:
Goodbye, Hello
Overview: Comedy drama by Kon Ichikawa
Genres: Comedy Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1959-01-03
Popularity:
Girls Born in August
Overview:
Genres: Comedy Romance
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1963-02-19
Popularity:
The Ginza Three Boys
Overview: The story of three sportsman brothers living in the Ginza. One day, the three meet a raving beauty on separate occasions and are unaware they have met the same girl.
Genres: Comedy Romance
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1961-01-03
Popularity:
Triangle Moods
Overview: Ayako Wakao portrays a downtown rice ball shop girl whose heart is set on her business. Involved in her life are three young men—stage actor Goro, businessman Kokichi and Sanpei Pachinko.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1961-05-24
Popularity:
Lady Chatterley of Japan
Overview:
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1953-04-05
Popularity:
One Day at Summer's End
Overview: A Yasuzō Masumura film about a love affair starring Ayako Wakao. The literal title is The Two Who Got Wet.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1968-11-30
Popularity:
The Rockabilly Lady
Overview:
Genres: Drama Romance
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1960-03-08
Popularity:
Bury Me Deep
Overview: A suspense directed by Umetsugu Inoue, starring Ayako Wakao, depicting the intense lust created by the passion of a writhing woman.
Genres: Drama Mystery
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1963-06-08
Popularity:
She Came For Love
Overview: Toshiko is the madam of a bar in Osaka who tries to keep her private life private and claims not to have a lover. However, she is in fact having a secret affair.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1963-08-28
Popularity:
Les Mesdemoiselles
Overview: A romantic comedy depicting the variant and whimsical daily lives of the Japanese mademoiselles in the Metropolis of Tokyo. How they react against the bold spirited love makers and begin to take a liking to them is the theme of the picture.
Genres: Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1961-02-15
Popularity:
Beauty the Enemy
Overview: In a rural district of Tokyo, the owner of a farm is abandoned by his two daughters who are attracted to the life of the big city.
Genres: Drama Romance
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1959-08-12
Popularity:
Hot Spring Doctress
Overview: A light comedy with Ayako Wakao charming her patients.
Genres: Comedy Romance
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1964-01-09
Popularity:
Closing Time
Overview:
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1962-04-18
Popularity:
Red Love, Green Love
Overview:
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1962-06-17
Popularity:
母子鶴
Overview:
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1952-07-03
Popularity:
The Most Valuable Wife
Overview:
Genres: Comedy Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1959-02-11
Popularity:
Their Legacy
Overview: Heitaro, who had served his firm loyally for 30 years, reaches the retirement age. He has four unmarried daughters and decides to split his retirement allowance he has received from his firm into 500,000 yen for each daughter as a wedding dowry. He considers them all old enough to handle the money, and gives them a free hand to use it as they wish.
Genres: Drama Comedy
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1962-01-03
Popularity:
Strange Triangle
Overview: A young man is determined to have as many affairs as possible but not to get married. One of his conquests is of a different mind however. For she is pregnant and so he agrees to live with her. But he misses very much the other younger girl whom he saw a lot of, and with the older woman's consent, sees the younger one and on her request, asks her to move in with them. This is the beginning of a very strange triangle which they all live through to a not unhappy ending.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1965-07-31
Popularity:
Tears
Overview: A young woman marries someone else, but cannot forget her first lover.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1956-09-26
Popularity:
The Third Will
Overview: A story about a wealthy family and the greed and selfishness of three daughters and relatives, after the passing of their old father
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1963-03-31
Popularity:
A Design for Dying
Overview: Shikiko Oba is nimble with her fingers and teaches dressmaking and designing. Among her pupils are Rinko, Katsumi and Tomie. Ginshiro, who is as shrewd as the shrewdest of the older generation of dyed-in-the-wool Osaka businessmen, steps into picture and Shikiko soon feels that he is indispensable to her. But the advent of a man in their midst breaks up the harmony that has existed among the four women, as gradually he forces himself on them with promises of love.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1961-06-28
Popularity:
Wild Geese
Overview: 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. The man is in fact married with children, and is a despised loan shark who takes money from the poor without qualms. Totally enraptured with Otama, this usurer establishes her and her father in separate houses and generously gives them gifts including silk taken as interest from Oshige, a poor cloth dealer who does business with the sewing teacher, Otama's neighbor. Otama's satisfaction with her situation gradually crumbles as she discovers the truth about her benefactor.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1966-05-21
Popularity:
The Cast-Off
Overview: The inventor of a ground-breaking glue, Sanada, becomes rich thanks to his discovery a high executive in his company. Because of this promotion, his world is changing completely : his wife behaves like never before, considering she's now rich and has the right to do whatever she wants, even having an affair. (Also occasionally known in English as “Overflow”)
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1959-05-13
Popularity:
Zoku jūdai no seiten
Overview: Film directed by Saeki Kozo with Wakao Ayako.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1953-05-15
Popularity:
続々十代の性典
Overview: Film directed by Eichi Koishi and starring Wakao Ayako
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1953-09-22
Popularity:
Jûdai no seiten
Overview: Film directed by Shima Koji and starring Wakao Ayako
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1953-02-05
Popularity:
Jūdai no yūwaku
Overview: Film directed by Seiji Hisamatsu and starring Wakao Ayako
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1953-12-29
Popularity:
A Girl Isn't Allowed to Love
Overview: A Girl isn't Allowed to Love is a 1955 Japanese film directed by Teinosuke Kinugasa.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1955-04-23
Popularity:
Nami kage
Overview: Ayako Wakao won the Blue Ribbon and the Kinema Jumpo for this film.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1965-01-31
Popularity:
Tsukigata Hanpeita
Overview: During the bloody era of the Tokugawa Shogunate collapse, a man appeared capable of overthrowing a corrupt government and ending the feud between the Choshu and Satsuma clans. This is the story of Tsukigat Khanpayit, the sword maker of the Choshu clan, who, along with Katsuro Kogoro and Sakamoto Ryoma, sought to fulfill the dream of a new peaceful era in Japan. Can he realize his ideals or will he die in the chaos of internecine fights...
Genres: Action Romance History
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1956-10-16
Popularity:
The Gaijin
Overview:
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1959-05-01
Popularity:
The Frolic of the Beasts
Overview: The wife Yuko Kusumon operating a pottery store was a chastal wife without complaints even though her husband is cheated with her heart. Koji Umeya, who was working part-time at a shop, was able to see the unparallel rag, and brought her to the cheerful site. Furthermore, Kenji will cause serious injury to the spot. Koji who came to the end of her uniform and started her bizarre living in Izu villa home.
Genres: Drama Romance
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1964-06-11
Popularity:
The Story of a Blind Woman
Overview: At sixteen, due to illness, Tsuruko goes blind, and has no choice but to become a massage therapist. One day, stumbling on a staircase, he meets a businessman named Tsuruko and falls in love with him.
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1965-02-20
Popularity:
Ripe and Marriageable
Overview: 1959 youth comedy.
Genres: Comedy Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1959-09-17
Popularity:
Tokyo Eyes
Overview: A beautiful older sister and her younger brother, both designers who paint the dreams of young hope, are paired with an innocent young artist and the daughter of a company president, creating a miniature picture of the youth of Tokyo that revolves around these four characters.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1958-01-03
Popularity:
Love River
Overview:
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1958-04-22
Popularity:
Mother
Overview:
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1958-03-05
Popularity:
The Judo Champ
Overview: When Shinsuke returns to Kyushu from the Russo-Japanese War he finds his Judo school hall neglected and in decay. His Judo teacher has died and his brother, Ryota, and the teacher's only daughter, Akiko, are greatly disturbed by Zanba, who intends to use the school for teaching the Ryukyu art of Karate.
Genres: Action
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1958-08-12
Popularity:
Daiei Studio is Bustling
Overview: A studio introduction version for Daiei Stars.
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1957-01-15
Popularity:
Tokimeki no Gogo
Overview: Through the relationship between a woman who has lost her husband and her brother-in-law who proposes to her, the complexity of the female psyche and the differences between their hearts are portrayed in detail.
Genres: TV Movie Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1985-07-07
Popularity:
Shojo jutai
Overview:
Genres: Drama
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1966-10-29
Popularity:
I'll Cry Alone
Overview: "Though still young, Natsuko gave up the life of a geisha to become the mistress of the president of a shipbuilding company. When he is about to re-marry she insists he either wed or stop seeing her. Returning home, she again meets the man she first loved and for a time thinks of married happiness."
Genres: No genres available
Original Language: ja
Release Date: 1965-04-17
Popularity: