Seizō Fukumoto

Nathan Algren is an American hired to instruct the Japanese army in the ways of modern warfare, which finds him learning to respect the samurai and the honorable principles that rule them. Pressed to destroy the samurai's way of life in the name of modernization and open trade, Algren decides to become an ultimate warrior himself and to fight for their right to exist.

While her husband is in prison doing time, Tamaki, the wife of a yakuza capo, runs her spouse’s gang with an iron hand. Meanwhile, Makoto, her younger sister, marries a member of a rival band after being raped by him. The two sisters, united by blood ties but married to enemy yakuzas, will ultimately have to decide whose side they’re on.

The ronin, Sako Kanbei has to rescue the beautiful Princess Tsubaki from danger while young samurai of the Numata Clan stand up against their corrupt Chief Retainer and evil clan mistress. Kanbei wants to develop his swordsmanship only for himself, he finds that he has been implicated in a crime and must fight for justice in the ultimate battle to redeem his innocence. The swordplay in this film is reminiscent of the Lone Wolf and Cub series with its brutal and extended action sequences and awesome finale. A powerful motion picture about honor, love and cold steel!

Part 5 in a long running (8+1 films) action/comedy/melodrama series about a pair of short tempered, amoral, but not evil chinpira (Bunta Sugawara and Tamio Kawachi) thinking too big of themselves. After serving four and a half years in prison, Masa and his brother Katsuji leave Kobe to go to Nagoya to help a hostess get her daughter back from her mother. As they arrive in Nagoya, they get into a scuffle with the local yakuza affiliate. Sugawara and Kawaji's chemistry is even more evident here than usual, the storyline is alright if melodramatic. Delightful start with Tatsuo Endo as a nice guy prison guard! How many times have you seen that? And we got Kyosuke Machida (henchman) with cool beard and the always good Tsunehiko Watase (young hood) on board as well. One of the best films in the series.

An ambitious Kansai yakuza don moves in on Tokyo using financial and political tactics, sparking conflict with a local criminal association.

Kiku Nakakawa, the only daughter of an old kimono shop owner in Kyoto, is enthusiastic about karate. To help her friend Michi avenge her brother, she sneaks into a movie studio in Kyoto where a drug dealing syndicate is based.

Jun Terada is a producer in the year 2076 and is trying to convince the president of Magical TV to allow her to create her life's work, Chō Ninja Tai Inazuma!, based on the long-standing legend of a legendary lightning that bestows powers upon those struck by it. However, because the show is to be the 100th anniversary of the Hyper Hero Team Series" , it must be a first for the 100-year-long franchise. President Mishima convinces her to turn it into a reality show by traveling back to 1720 in the Edo period and picking three extremely inept locals and force them through humiliating training to become ninja.

A police investigator cracks down on yakuza business, but once he realizes the police are in negotiations with certain factions, he sides with his own syndicate of choice.

This is the third and final film of the ZA KARATE trilogy. Tadashi Yamashita reprises his role as the Karate World Champion. Local Japanese karate schools are not happy that a Chinese master will take over the Japanese karate organization and will do everything they can to prevent it.

Repeatedly beat to a pulp by gamblers, cops, and gangsters, lone wolf Shoji Yamanaka finally finds a home as a Muraoka family hitman and falls in love with boss Muraoka's niece. Meanwhile, the ambitions of mad dog Katsutoshi Otomo draws our series' hero, Shozo Hirono, and the other yakuza into a new round of bloodshed.

The movie version of Ryu and Hayato fighting against the Gavanas Empire.

Leading an expedition in Germany, Kougami unseals the resting place of one of the alchemists that created the Core Medals in an effort to retrieve a set of lost Medals. However, upon the seal being undone, millions of Cell Medals erupt into a tower while creating a magical barrier that causes parts of Japan to flip over. As the alchemist reveals her plans to become a new OOO, Eiji and his friends are thrown into the past and must find their way back home and stop the alchemist before she destroys the world!

A yakuza leader must balance his violent tactics necessary for the rough streets of 1960s Tokyo with the domestic needs of his daughters.

Onimasa is the egocentric boss of a small yakuza clan on Shikoku Island, whose criminal duties conflict with his self-image as a chivalrous samurai. His struggles with his boss, the Shikoku Godfather, and the tumultuous life of his adopted daughter, Matsue, form the backdrop of this epic tale of justice, obedience, and bloody vengeance.

Midori Satsuki stars as a vamp who destroys one poor man’s life after another. Finally she seduces a professional killer, which brings a tiny bit of action into the comedy oriented film. Being a Toei production, Mantis Wife’s Confession looks like real movie rather than a cheap exploitation production. Unfortunately the storyline is running circles, and there’s little to get excited about. A couple of good jokes make you laugh a few times, and one surprise has found its way into the film; Ema Ryoko plays a housewife. She gets into a fight, but her shirt stays on and doesn’t even get ripped.

While imprisoned, Tatsu encounters Danshi, a man who is a big honcho in the prison pecking order. After initial conflict they become sworn brothers. Tatsu and the sworn brothers he acquires weren’t really gangsters before their prison time, just ruffians. Prison, however, introduces them to plenty of gangland characters and three years later, they’re out of prison and enmeshed in the yakuza world.

When a lucrative waterfront development becomes available, the Kawade gang quickly use their political connections to secure the land. However, the acting boss of the Ohara gang also has his eyes on the property and recruits crooked detective Tokumatsu Kuno to help him hijack the deal. With relations between the rival gangs at breaking point, it's not long before all-out war breaks out as the gangsters, police and local politicians battle for control of the city.

Terry Sugury is hired to recover one of two tapes containing a formula for making heroin for a price of 200 dollars a pound. But he gets double crossed. So he wants the tape back.

The Kanto Gypsies, a tough girl gang, hide out from the law in the middle of a disputed gang territory, where they end up getting kidnapped by sinister underworld thugs. After breaking free, the girls set their sights on one thing: revenge. Miki Sugimoto stars as girl boss Komasa, the ruthless and sadistic leader of the Kanto Gypsies who possesses more than enough brains to match her killer looks.

Horai serves an 18 year sentence for killing a rival boss, but right before his release he is attacked.

Fewer samurai films are being made, and the Uzumasa studio has fallen on hard times. One day, veteran "kirareyaku" (whose job it is to be felled with a sword by a film's star) actor Kamiyama is tasked with teaching sword action techniques to fledgling actress Satsuki. A few years later, the now-retired Kamiyama is visited by Satsuki, who has become a popular star.

As Japan gears up for the 1964 Olympic games, the cops start to crack down on the gangs, under pressure from the public and the press, adding a new dimension in the war for power among the yakuza families of Hiroshima.

A shogun's eldest son must do whatever it takes to survive a series of attempts on his life. He receives much-needed aid from seven warriors who are led by a strong leader.

The evil Hikita clan rises from the dead to fulfill a curse on the Satomi clan by restoring the face of their warlord by using the skin of Princess Shizu. In the process of trying to capture her, the clan murders her entire family, but Princess Shizu escapes their clutches. She enlists the aid of eight samurai warriors, possessors of powerful magic crystal, led by Dosetsu (Sonny Chiba!) to help rescue the remaining members of her court and revenge her family. Along the way, they must fight undead warriors, evil spirits, poisonous beauties and a giant centipede.

The secret warriors of feudal Japan were the ninja. Sent on impossible missions, the ninja were trained to work in shadows, gather information and defeat the enemy to build a world of peace. Akakage, Aokage, and Asuka are rookie ninjas under the tutelage of Shirokage. Their life is a series of perilous missions that entail intrigue, deception and intimidation.

Through philosophical and science themed imagination, Emile questions everything from his teenage years to adult life.

16 years after the fateful "revenge of the Forty-seven Ronin," involving samurais from the Ako domain who avenged their leader and then commited seppuku (ritual suicide), the sole survivor of that incident, Kichiemon Terasaka (Koichi Sato) traverses the country on a mission. His purpose is to find the families of the fallen samurais and spread the truth of the ronin uprising.

Former childhood friends Kadoya Kaneo and Tochino Masatatsu cross paths again. Kaneo is now a yakuza member, while Masatatsu is a nightclub owner with a distaste for crime gangs. When a yakuza boss dies, a struggle for his position takes place between Kaneo's boss Awano and the young Nakahira. Nakahira's men try to extort money from Masatatsu, bringing him in between a yakuza battle.

After taking the blame for another disastrous advertising campaign, Ota Kiichiro is asked by his arrogant boss Otaki Ichiro to take his place as a judge at the world's biggest advertising competition in Los Angeles.

Set in Kyoto in the last days of the Edo Period, the bloody conflict continues between local feudal domains, which aim to overthrow the Tokugawa Shogunate, and the Shogun's police and city patrol. Tajuro Kiyokawa, once the master of the sword but now a depraved samurai who left his domain putting aside his past ambition, barely makes ends meet. Toyo, a woman who runs a tavern next door, feels affection for Tajuro who guards her place against nasty customers, but he never realizes Toyo's feelings.

Young French journalist Ada Servier arrives in Kobe to cover the memorial ceremonies of the big earthquake from 1995. Fifteen years after the disaster the city’s wounds have finally disappeared but the former victims continue to suffer. Among them is Kenji whose past is hiding a secret that only Ada is willing to hear...

Based on Kazuo Taoka's autobiography, this film follows a Kobe gangster as he builds the small Yamaguchi-gumi into Japan's largest criminal clan.

In gangster-infested 1920s Yokohama, gambler Ishiguro gets in with the local gang -- but his view of life changes after the Great Kanto Earthquake.

Ocho is accidentally captured by a drug trafficking cartel who use Chinese women to smuggle drugs into Japan by hiding it in their vaginas. She is tortured, and manages to escape, fighting both the male yakuzas and a gang of female thieves.

In the teeming black markets of postwar Japan, Shozo Hirono and his buddies find themselves in a new war between factious and ambitious yakuza.

A new shogun is appointed to the throne when his brother dies. He find out that the former Shogun one of the women from his brothers harem became pregnant, but she escaped. The new Shogun would loose the throne if the child is a boy. Genshiro is doctor who, among other things, performs abortions, and is sheltering his love, another women who escaped from the harem. The new Shogun threatens to arrest the girl unless Genshiro hunts down the woman and aborts her child. Genshiro learns that the woman releases a "musky scent from her special area" when in ecstasy. Both Genshiro and his friend set out to find all the women of the former harem and have sex with them, by force if necessary.

After eight years in prison, Takeshi’s mission is a big heist from his own clan’s gambling parlor.

A fortuneteller prophesizes that whoever marries the beautiful Ukio will become the ruler of the world. Naturally, this makes her very popular with those vying for power, particularly the insatiably greedy Lord Donjo. Only the ninja Jotaro can stop Donjo's plan, but to do so, he must first battle the deadly team of "Devil Monks" serving the lord. Will Jotaro succeed in his mission? And if so, will Ukio marry him, thus making him the ruler of the world?

The fate of Tokugawa’s world hangs in the balance as Yagyu Jubei is sent on a mission to discover what happened to 10 of the shogun’s spies that never returned. Matsukata Hiroki, one of the last surviving members of the Golden Age of Japanese Cinema proves that he has not lost a step as he portrays an older and wiser Yagyu Jubei in a movie that brings the best of samurai filmmaking into the 21st century. Summoned from semi-retirement by Shogun Iemitsu, Jubei is asked to take to the road and investigate a clan rumored to be preparing explosives for a rebellion. With help from a beautiful female ninja they head into the Shirakawa domain where the fighting skills of both are tested time and again as they strive to destroy a conspiracy that could bring a new Warring States Era. In the 1960's Yagyu Jubei was the signature role of the great Konoe Jushiro, father of Matsukata Hiroki. This brings the character full circle.

The second Bounty Hunter film, when master killer Shikoro Ichibei takes up the cause of a group of farmers being driven to despair by the vile Lord Ozeki. The villainous lord has driven them to mounting their last stand at a deserted fort against an army of attackers. Wakayama Tomisaburo is superb as an expert in killing and military tactics, who leaves his medical practice at a clinic for the poor in order to counter the vicious tactics of that vile lord.

In the setting of the Hokuriku region, where the snow and cold winds rage, for the first time in true-life yakuza film history, director Kinji Fukasaku shows battles among yakuza who value land over tradition. Hiroki Matsukata stars as Noboru Kawada, a Hokuriku yakuza who will use any measure for survival, disregarding parents, brothers, and tradition.

The seventh movie of the series “Yakuza Ladies” focuses on a wife of a small Osaka family. She risks her life to protect her husband’s family and its members against much larger, more established organizations.

The seventh in the shocking "Jingi Naki Tatakai" movie series, which exposes the true lives of the yakuza that is hidden by a mask of "jingi". The next stage of this continuing drama is the Kanmon Channel where the Owada and the Kyoei groups are battling for territorial rights and drug smuggling. The Owada sends their man, Tetsu, and his friend Shuji to kill the Kyoei boss. With the promise of fame and riches, Shuji takes the fall and goes to jail for 7 years. But when he's released, he discovers that he and Tetsu have been all but forgotten by the Owada. Feeling betrayed, Shuji takes matters into his own hands and becomes an unsuspecting pawn in an internal conflict and an assassination attempt on the Owada boss. And now angered, Shuji seeks revenge...

The eighth sequel of the series by the successful “Fukasaku and Bunta” collaboration revolves around the men of a lesser organization that are constantly bullied by the upper organization and “bleed in vain” in gang wars.

Joji Kano is a loose cannon cop from backwoods Okinawa, sent to Tokyo to investigate the grizzly murder of an Okinawa woman. As he probes deeper into the sleazy world of flesh-peddling, talent agency corruption and mob influence, Kano uncovers the shocking truth.

Set in the icy wilderness of Hokkaido during the early days of the Meiji era, where the brutal warden of Kabato Prison terrorizes convicts sentenced to forced labor to build the roads needed to open up the territory.

Bunta Sugawara is Miyoshi, a low-level assassin of the Yamamori gang who is sent to jail after a bungled hit. While in stir, family member Aoki attempts to seize power from the boss, and Miyoshi finds himself stuck between the two factions with no honorable way out.

In ancient Japan, a good lord is killed and his throne is taken by the trecherous Yuki Daijo and his wizard friend Oroki-maru. The young prince Ikazuki-maru is rescued from the jaws of death by a magic bird sent by a wizard. Ten years later, Ikazuki-maru embarks on an adventure to avenge his parents and the wizard's death with his magic powers he learned from the wizard. He kills Yuki Daijo but then must battle Oroki-maru in a battle to the death.

Shozo Hirono has managed to separate from the Yamamori family and create his own small family, and extend his circle of acquaintances. These new friendships include a powerful underboss of the Muraoka family, Noboru Uchimoto.

Set in the late 1950s, when geisha culture was threatened by moral crusades, it tells the story of Omocha (Miyamoto Maki), a young girl who sees the geisha life as a way to lift her poverty-stricken family from their hand-to-mouth existence. Through her eyes, we see the protocols and complex financial relationships which dictate the running of the geisha house. Fukasaku's film is a work of great delicacy with moments of hypnotic beauty, and his tender direction, often touched with a sense of wonder, fills the screen with lovingly constructed scenes. At its heart is the poignant situation of the women who must sacrifice their normal relationships to live an ambiguous life in which they are a key part of society while being kept, for the most part, on its periphery, like perpetual mistresses.

While Hirono is in prison, his rival Takeda turns his own crime organization into a political party, whose two executives stir up new tensions in their thirst for power.

This is the story of "The Forty-Seven Ronin." Based on historical events in 1701-2, the movie tells the tale of the Asano clan's downfall and the revenge of its former samurai on the perpetrator of the catastrophe. Lord Asano was goaded, or tricked, into drawing his sword inside the Shogun's palace -- a crime which carried the death penalty. The newly installed Shogun was furious at Asano and ordered all his clan's assets seized, meaning some 20,000 samurai and commoners were unemployed and landless at a stroke. Forty-seven of these ronin (masterless samurai) banded together to take attempt revenge on Lord Kira, who had goaded Asano into drawing his sword.

Following the death of the second Tokugawa shogun, it is revealed that he was poisoned by retainers of his son Iemitsu in hopes of gaining him the shogunate despite the stammer and birthmark which undermine his respect. Iemitsu and his brother Tadanaga become bitter rivals for the shogunate, and the land is split into factions, eventually erupting into warfare. Iemitsu's mentor, his fencing instructor Yagyu, is fixated upon securing Iemitsu the shogunate and ends up betraying everyone, even his own family, in pursuit of the goal.

An unusual blending of elements comes together in this crime story drawn from Japanese history. During the early Meiji period a number of “Dokufu” (Poison Women) committed a significant number of murders. These crimes were most often committed by wives on their husbands in order to be together with their lovers. At that time women were executed in the same manner as men, to wit: by being decapitated. This is the story of the most notorious of all, Takahashi Oden who, in 1879, was the last woman executed by decapitation in Japan.

Living away from his family, a physical therapist sees his father entering the hospital he works at and watches him getting weaker, as his other patients’ conditions worsen.

During the Showa era, a young yakuza survives war and injury and rises to become a clan boss with the help and respect of his sworn brothers.

Kiba Okaminosuke finds himself entangled with a group of prisoners being transported to their executions, one of whom oddly looks exactly like his dead father. There are crooked gold miners, a beautiful girl who is unfortunately a complete lunatic and a dojo master who is obsessed with killing Kiba just to prove that his school's sword style is the best.

Three men, all named Masa, join forces to capitalize on each of their unique yet questionable talents against a hyper-competitive Tokyo underworld.

Manji, a highly skilled samurai, becomes cursed with immortality after a legendary battle. Haunted by the brutal murder of his sister, Manji knows that only fighting evil will regain his soul. He promises to help a young girl named Rin avenge her parents, who were killed by a group of master swordsmen led by ruthless warrior Anotsu. The mission will change Manji in ways he could never imagine.

Two Kyushu based yakuza groups are desperate for domaination of the area. When more powerful yakuza groups get involved in their power struggle, a group of childhood friends, belonging to different yakuza families, are caught in the middle. Lies, deceit, and backstabbing are in play resulting in a bloodbath and a quest for revenge...

GOZEN is a jidageki (period piece) dramas. The word “gozen” refers to a feudal game held in the presence of a Daimyo, described as a match “one must not lose”.

Veteran director Nakajima Sadao examines the appeal, background, context and transition of chambara, or period sword-fighting and samurai films, in Kyoto. Not only interviews with actors, choreographers and critiques are included, but the director orchestrates an original chambara scene for the documentary.

Famous for his coin tossing when capturing criminals, an Edo detective, Heiji, launches an investigation into the mysterious murder of his friend Seigoro.

Martial artist Takuma Tsurugi returns to take on a Yakuza family that may be embezzling money from charities to finance their own operations. Both the police and the Yakuza find themselves battling Tsurugi, but Tsurugi's fight ultimately is with the mob, and he concentrates on them.

The peaceful planet of Jillucia has been nearly wiped out by the Gavanas, whose leader takes orders from his mother rather than the Emperor. King Kaiba sends out eight Liabe holy seeds, each to be received by a chosen one to defend the Gavanas. Each recipient, ranging from hardened General Garuda to Gavana Prince Hans to young Terrans Meia, Kido, and Aaron all have different reactions to being chosen.

This is the second film of the ZA KARATE trilogy (AKA BRONSON LEE CHAMPION). Tadashi Yamashita reprises his role as the Karate World Champion and must faces dozens of worldwide pretenders, such as the Guillotine Brothers of New Guinea, Killer Samson, Dracula Jack (Bolo) who all want a shot at him at all cost and also to steal the famous Orikirimaru Sword.

Amidst Japan's postwar economic boom, yakuza factions in Osaka fight for survival when Japan's largest crime syndicate plans a hostile takeover.

A mysterious thief called "Yami no Kiba" (Fang of Darkness), who sneaks into the residences of the shogunate one after another and steals the shogun's treasures, has been shaking the public authorities. The identity of the thief is Ichibei, a medicine seller whose father was once killed by the shogunate, and his daughter Oasa. Ichibei had been seeking revenge against the official to avenge the death of his father, Sasajima Hyobu, who was a member of the Kurokuchi clan, the official ninja. He was also plotting to seize the gold orca of the Nagoya Castle keep, aiming at the Owari clan that had slain his father. ......

The success of Truck Yaro (1975-1979) initiated a whole load of movies that put "Yaro" in their title, including this semi-bonkers sports comedy/drama. Sonny Chiba's brother Jiro Chiba stars as a Rugby player whose team must find a way to beat the opponent. It's a standard storyline without any major surprises, but works surprisingly well. Training scenes are relatively nuts; much better than the actual matches actually, which tend to go on forever. There is no sex, nudity or graphic violence, making this a family friendly affair. Sonny Chiba appears for about 7 minutes during the last third as a truck driver who comes to Jiro's rescue.

Takuma Tsurugi takes on the government, the police, the mafia and an international ring of kidnappers who aim to dispossess a beautiful young heiress of her millions.

The most dangerous hired gun in Kyushu's underworld has managed to trigger a vicious gang war, and now, there's a contract on his life. Though nobody is more skilled in the arts of dealing death, can the tattooed hitman fend off the entire Japanese mafia as he searches for the man who wants him dead?

Using a lesser mobster as bait a government agent infiltrates a narcotics-smuggling gang to try to capture the boss. But his survival has a price.

Eiji and Ankh team up with Kotarou and Momotaros as they travel back in time to 1971 aboard the Den-Liner to stop three Mole Imagin. But Ankh’s desire to obtain Core Medals while in the past sets off a chain of events that alters the 40-year history of the Kamen Riders by allowing Shocker to take over the world. It’s up to OOO and New Den-O to restore the timeline!

Tange Sazen: Hyakuman Ryo no Tsubo is a remake of a classic 1935 film of the same name by Yamanaka Sadao. Tange Sazen, the one-armd, one-eyed ex-samurai swordsman is the creation of Hayashi Fubo and was one of the most popular characters of the era. This remake is helmed by freshman director Tsuda Toshio, starring Toyokawa Etsushi as Sazen and Wakui Emi as Ofuji, his quick-witted wife. This marks the 34th film in the series of Tange Sazen, and involves an Urn that is worth a million Ryo!.

The era when Samurai and Ninja existed in Japan. Rikka Isurugi was born and raised in a Ninja clan secluded from society. She soon meets Miya, a girl with a mysterious power, who is found lost in the mountains. As Rikka is concerned that someone is pursuing Miya, she also asks the head the of Isurugi Ninja Clan for permission to avenger her father's death. Soon Rikka faces danger with the attack of the Negoro group but…

Ex-bandit Komakichi has a random encounter with an ex-ally, Matsuzou. Seeing each other for the first time in 35 years, the two drink and talk about their past, without revealing their current lifestyles, Matsuzou then recounts an odd story... The doomed reunion slowly steers the old bandits toward a life-changing event.

The Go-Ongers intercept the Recycle Barbaric Machine Beast Army in their Engines, managing to scrap the 13. However, trio of mysterious warriors appear and their actions result in the Go-Ongers losing the primary Engine Casts while being sucked into the Braneworld known as Samurai World, a dimension similar to Edo Japan where power is essential.

This is a “Movie in a Movie” like no other ever before. Kyoei, a historical film studio in Kyoto (Modeled on Toei), is asked by NHK to make a new samurai era program using the most advanced technology. While the elderly filmmakers at Kyoei are struggling with the high-tech equipment, their skills at creating choreographed sword battles are undiminished. The NHK project will dramatize the Ikedaya incident, which was a raid launched by the Shinsengumi against Imperial loyalists gathered at an inn called Ikedaya in Kyoto during the twilight years of the Tokugawa shogunate. A series of problems occur and the climax they reach after overcoming difficulties is an unprecedented attempt at a 360° one-cut scene involving the world’s most advanced high-speed camera and wire action for a scene where Kondo Isami will fall down the stairs at Ikedaya. Can they succeed in filming the single greatest swordfight scene in samurai movie history?!?

Hell manifests itself through the sins, shame and desires of an upper class rural family and a mother's grief from beyond the grave.