The Lone Journey

Chronicle of the Town Magistrate

December 1992 •Japanese

In a maelstrom of evil, can a new magistrate, samurai Mochizuki Koheita, with a reputation like an alley cat, bring order to the town of Horisoto, or is he, too a corrupt villain looking to gain wealth from the oppressed people? From the pen of famed samurai author Yamamoto Shugoro, this exciting tale turns the tables on the standard samurai story with a unique lead character previously portrayed in Ichikawa Kon’s “Dora Heita.”

Baian the Assassin, M.D.: Part1

February 2023 •Japanese

Baian Fujieda, an assassin for hire, got an unusual job from his usual fixer to end up with an unexpected twist of destiny from the past.

Brother

December 2000 •English

A Japanese Yakuza gangster's deadly existence in his homeland gets him exiled to Los Angeles, where he is taken in by his little brother and his brother's gang.

Seven Samurai

April 1954 •Japanese

A samurai answers a village's request for protection after he falls on hard times. The town needs protection from bandits, so the samurai gathers six others to help him teach the people how to defend themselves, and the villagers provide the soldiers with food.

Dolls

October 2002 •Japanese

Dolls takes puppeteering as its overriding motif, which relates thematically to the action provided by the live characters. Chief among those tales is the story of Matsumoto and Sawako, a young couple whose relationship is about to be broken apart by the former's parents, who have insisted their son take part in an arranged marriage to his boss' daughter.

Chivalrous Life

March 1965 •Japanese

In the middle of the era, Taisho, a big boss in Asakusa Iizuka, was severely questioned by the police about the source of funds for the Daido Federation, to which he belonged. The creditor, Izo, visited the local police station daily, worried about the safety of his boss, and himself came to the attention of the police. Izo embarks on a journey to escape, but in the meantime, the new rising yakuza Dojima plans to kill Iizuka...

Jail Breakers

June 1976 •Japanese

Kamiki (Sonny Chiba) is a career criminal who is given the chance to break out of prison for the 33rd time. Afterwards Kaimiki teams up with a bunch of thugs that engineer prison escapes for money.

Lucky Adventurer Nobunaga Oda

October 1959 •Japanese

Oda Nobunaga (1534–1582) was a major daimyo during the Warring State period of Japanese history. He was the second son of Oda Nobuhide, a deputy military governor with land holdings in Owari province. Nobunaga lived a life of continuous military conquest, eventually conquering a third of Japanese daimyo before his death in 1582. Telling the story of his rise to prominence as he leads an army of 4,000 men against the 40,000 troops of Lord Imagawa Yoshimoto to prevent the arrogant daimyo from crushing the Oda clan and taking control of the entire nation. From a newly restored anamorpic widescreen print, this is the ultimate warlord movie.

Dark hunter

April 1994 •Japanese

Thief Yaheiji (Keizo Kanie) helped a dying young samurai (Hiroaki Murakami), after recovering, he lost his memory and returned to Edo under the name of Yataro Tanigawa. Yaheiji meets Yataro again in Edo, by which time Yataro has become a dark hunter (Hired Assassin). The boss of thieves to whom Yaheiji obeys is killed, and Yaheiji participates in the battle to take his place Yataro helps him defeat and save his life, and Yaheiji also tries to save Yataro from the world of assassins... The drama "Dark Hunter" is based on the novel by Shotaro Ikenami, who is best known for his TV series Onihei Hankacho, Kenkaku Shobai and Fujieda Baian's Shikake-nin. The film version directed by Hideo Gosha is well known, but this version is more faithful to the original.

Gambler's Farewell

February 1968 •Japanese

The story of men devoted to the yakuza lifestyle and their struggles during a time of fading yakuza power.

Ruthless Gambler

June 1969 •Japanese

Unlike traditional gangster movies, it is a gangster swashbuckler that mixes romance and humanity with a yakuza lover as the main character. A young man who heard that his former boss was killed is imprisoned by slashing his family's minions, and his lover is tortured by the enemy, but rescued by the imprisoned young man's nemesis.

Poison Fang Oran

October 1958 •Japanese

Japanese drama film.

A Gangster's Morals

January 1970 •Japanese

Yakuza movie directed by Yasuharu Hasebe

Throne of Blood

January 1957 •Japanese

Returning to their lord's castle, samurai warriors Washizu and Miki are waylaid by a spirit who predicts their futures. When the first part of the spirit's prophecy comes true, Washizu's scheming wife, Asaji, presses him to speed up the rest of the spirit's prophecy by murdering his lord and usurping his place. Director Akira Kurosawa's resetting of William Shakespeare's "Macbeth" in feudal Japan is one of his most acclaimed films.

Black Rain

September 1989 •English

Two New York cops get involved in a gang war between members of the Yakuza, the Japanese Mafia. They arrest one of their killers and are ordered to escort him back to Japan. However, in Japan he manages to escape, and as they try to track him down, they get deeper and deeper into the Japanese Mafia scene and they have to learn that they can only win by playing the game—the Japanese way.

Tatara Samurai

May 2017 •Japanese

In 16th century Japan, a young man has to choose between becoming a master steel maker like his father and grandfather before him, or becoming a samurai so that he can help protect his village from attacks by the various clans which want the high-quality steel made there.

Ichi the Killer

December 2001 •Japanese

As sadomasochistic yakuza enforcer Kakihara searches for his missing boss he comes across Ichi, a repressed and psychotic killer who may be able to inflict levels of pain that Kakihara has only dreamed of.

Gokudo Apocalypse

October 2017 •Japanese

Tokyo Mafia: Yakuza Wars

July 1995 •Japanese

After being excommunicated from the yakuza, Ginya Yabuki returns from the shadows as leader of his own crime syndicate known as the Tokyo Mafia.

The World of Kanako

July 2014 •Japanese

When Kanako, a model daughter and a brilliant student, disappears, her mother asks her ex-husband, a violent former policeman, to find her. As his investigation progresses, his idealized image of Kanako cracks: the girl hides a dark life that her father can not even imagine.