Lowly Ronin 2: The Spray of Blood

Reprising his role from the popular TV series "Koya no Suronin" (The Lowly Ronin), Mifune Toshiro stars in this full-length, stand-alone made for TV movie. The wandering ronin is reminiscent of his most famous role as the samurai without a name in Kurosawa's "Yojimbo" and "Sanjuro". He travels about Japan, and while he may seek happiness, violence and tragedy always cross his path. This time it is a woman carrying a young infant who he encounters on the road that leads him into a tale of violence, intrigue and a village in uproar. A gr...

The Rambler under the Southern Cross

In the nine part Wataridori series (1959-1962), Kobayashi played a wanderer on Japan’s back roads with most of the accoutrements of a Western hero, from a horse to fringes, guitar and even a trusty bullwhip.

13 Steps of Maki: The Young Aristocrats

Maki is the leader of a female gang who fights for justice, but she ends up being framed and sent to a sadistic woman's prison. Will Maki be able to escape and take revenge?

Immortal Guy

Kosuke Suzuki was presumed dead after boss Toseikai Setouchi lynched him and threw him into the sea off the coast of Kobe. However, three months later, Kosuke suddenly appears in Kagoshima and reunites with his partner, the vagrant Kumagoro. However, Kosuke's relief does not last long, he learns from Kumagoro that Toseikai are acting ruthlessly here too.

The Rule for a Vagabond

A brave warrior fights to restore peace to a town riddled by crime, one sword at a time, in this historical action saga.

Ruthless Gambler

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.

Three Rogues

Two lone wolf yakuza (Hideki Takahashi and Kunie Tanaka) rob a gambling den, then split up when pursued by the angry gang. They eventually meet again at Tanaka's mother's rural farmhouse. By then, one-eyed Kobayashi has wrangled his way into the scenario, intending to get a split of the proceeds (since he had helped them get away). Although there is some dissension amongst the three, they eventually close ranks to fend off their stubborn, relentless pursuers. Unhappily, Tanaka’s mother (Chieko Naniwa) is killed in the process. There are also...

Duel in the Storm

It is the Taisho era in Japan. A man has quit the Yakuza after five years and returned to Shikoku in order to begin his life anew as a ferryman. His boss, however, became ill and the boat is taken due to unpaid debts to the local thugs. His new life has not begun well and he is determined to rebuild the shattered business. The Yakuza, however, have added the ferry business to the rest of their portfolio of local concerns.

Ai to shi no katami

The Flower and the Sword

A dangerous mobster threatens the life of a businessman's mother in this thriller. As Ryuji oversees the building of a bridge in Japan, a powerful gangster plans to stop the project. By any means necessary.

The Gambler's Counterattack

Aiba is a gang boss who has just got out of jail, and finds everything has changed. His old gang has broken up, and only a few people still respect him. So he becomes a consultant to another gang who are about to be clobbered by a much larger gang moving in from out of town. Aiba proves a crafty tactician, and does very well at playing gangs off against each other in order to save the smaller gang. His advice is not always taken by those he tries to help, but he is generally proved right.

Gambling Code and Feuds

It is the first Toei yakuza film directed by Akinori Matsuo, who was active in Nikkatsu action movies. It is a local yakuza movie made following Okinawa Yakuza War (1976) and Hokuriku Proxy War (1977). The film depicts the war between a storied yakuza killer (Hiroki Matsukata) and the largest organized crime group in the Kansai region, which plans to advance into the Kanto region.

Passport to Darkness

A jazz bandleader, falsely accused of murdering his girlfriend, tries to stay one step ahead of the police as he dives into Tokyo's sin-city in search of the real killer in this dark and beautiful noir from master Seijun Suzuki.

The Symbol of a Man

In 1936, under the war clouds over the Manchurian border, 60-year-old Shozaburo Oshima is concerned about the future of his only son, Ryuji, who has refused to follow in the footsteps of his gambler father and decided to become a doctor. Ryuji leaves home to work at a clinic at a dam construction site where he finds the treatment of the laborers intolerable. But when he challenges the boss, who thinks nothing of murder, he discovers to his astonishment that he is safe because of his father's reputation. Torn between filial piety and his ide...