Japanese period dramas
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- DirectorKeiichi HaraStephanie ShehMichael SinterniklaasStarsYutaka MatsushigeAnne WatanabeErica LindbeckThe life and works of Japanese artist and ukiyo-e painter Katsushika Hokusai, as seen from the eyes of his daughter, Katsushika O-Ei.
- DirectorShûji TerayamaStarsKaoru YachigusaKeiko NiitakaMasumi HarukawaA young boys' coming of age tale set in a strange, carnivalesque village becomes the recreation of a memory that the director has twenty years later.
- DirectorMasahiro ShinodaStarsShima IwashitaMasao KusakariRie YokoyamaA freestyle, imagined telling of the life of shaman queen Himiko, who falls in love with her half-brother, making her powers weaken thus putting her position to risk.
- DirectorKon IchikawaStarsRentarô MikuniShôji YasuiTatsuya MihashiA conscience-driven Japanese soldier traumatized by the events of WWII adopts the lifestyle of a Buddhist monk.
- DirectorKeisuke KinoshitaStarsKinuyo TanakaTeiji TakahashiYûko MochizukiA kabuki theatre-inflected story about a poor village whose people have to be carried to a nearby mountain to die once they get old.
- DirectorKeisuke KinoshitaStarsGô KatôYukiyo ToakeMasatomo NakabayashiThe atom-bombing of Nagasaki, Japan in 1945 is recalled by a survivor.
- DirectorKeisuke KinoshitaStarsMariko OkadaTakeshi KatôKinuyo TanakaAfter her mother runs away from home, Tomoko is raised to be a geisha. One day Tomoko meets her mother in a red-light district in Tokyo and her life deeply gets in trouble.
- DirectorKeisuke KinoshitaStarsHideko TakamineTakahiro TamuraKôshirô MatsumotoA young man decides to become a warrior, causing trouble for his clan.
- DirectorKeisuke KinoshitaStarsKeiko KishiIneko ArimaYoshiko KugaA flashback story of a young man, from his disgraced birth, his harsh life and his forbidden love, until when broken-hearted, can break out in search of a place where to live means more than being alive.
- DirectorKeisuke KinoshitaStarsNoriko AritaChishû RyûHaruko SugimuraAn old man, being rowed along a river, sees a field of daisies and thinks back to when he was fifteen. He recalls his time with, and away from, the girl cousin he grew up with and would have married, except the family and other pressures got in the way.
- DirectorKeisuke KinoshitaStarsKinuyo TanakaKen UeharaHisako YamaneIemon Tamiya is an impoverished master-less samurai who craves a better life, which he cannot have because of his marriage to Oiwa, who is completely devoted to her husband.
- DirectorKeisuke KinoshitaStarsKinuyo TanakaKen UeharaHisako YamaneIn this second part to The Yotsuda Phantom, Iemon's apparent success is minimized by his own feelings of guilt, the quickly mounting evidence, and Naosuke's constant hounding.
- DirectorKeisuke KinoshitaStarsRyô IkebeYôko KatsuragiOsamu TakizawaWhile revelations of his lower class past threaten his job, a school teacher fights for freedom and equality.
- DirectorKeisuke KinoshitaStarsChishû RyûKen MitsudaKazumasa HoshinoA widow raises her sickly son to be strong enough to join the army and fight on the front lines.
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsToshirô MifuneMinoru ChiakiIsuzu YamadaA war-hardened general, egged on by his ambitious wife, works to fulfill a prophecy that he would become lord of Spider's Web Castle.
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsToshirô MifuneEijirô TônoTatsuya NakadaiA crafty ronin comes to a town divided by two criminal gangs and decides to play them against each other to free the town.
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsToshirô MifuneTakashi ShimuraKeiko TsushimaFarmers from a village exploited by bandits hire a veteran samurai for protection, who gathers six other samurai to join him.
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsToshirô MifuneYutaka SadaTatsuya NakadaiAn executive of a Yokohama shoe company becomes a victim of extortion when his chauffeur's son is kidnapped by mistake and held for ransom.
- DirectorKenji MizoguchiStarsShôtarô HanayagiKôkichi TakadaRyôtarô KawanamiThe adopted son of a legendary actor, and an aspiring star himself, turns to his infant brother's wet nurse for support and affection - only for her to give up everything for her beloved's glory.
- DirectorKenji MizoguchiStarsKinuyo TanakaTsukie MatsuuraIchirô SugaiFollows a woman's fight and survival amid the vicissitudes of life and the cruelty of society.
- DirectorKenji MizoguchiStarsMasayuki MoriMachiko KyôKinuyo TanakaA tale of ambition, family, love, and war set in the midst of the Japanese Civil Wars of the sixteenth century.
- DirectorKenji MizoguchiStarsKinuyo TanakaYoshiaki HanayagiKyôko KagawaIn medieval Japan, a compassionate governor is sent into exile. His wife and children try to join him, but are separated, and the children grow up amid suffering and oppression.
- DirectorMasaki KobayashiStarsTatsuya NakadaiAkira IshihamaShima IwashitaWhen a ronin requesting seppuku at a feudal lord's palace is told of the brutal suicide of another ronin who previously visited, he reveals how their pasts are intertwined - and in doing so challenges the clan's integrity.
- DirectorMasaki KobayashiStarsToshirô MifuneYôko TsukasaGô KatôThe mother of a feudal lord's only heir is kidnapped away from her husband by the lord. The husband and his samurai father must decide whether to accept the unjust decision, or risk death to get her back.
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsToshirô MifuneMisa UeharaMinoru ChiakiLured by gold, two greedy peasants unknowingly escort a princess and her general across enemy lines.