Oyuki the Virgin

Why Not?

1981

The film depicts carnivalesque atmosphere summed up by the cry "Ei ja nai ka" ("Why not?") in Japan in 1867 and 1868 in the days leading to the Meiji Restoration. It examines the effects of the political and social upheaval of the time, and culminates in a revelrous march on the Tokyo Imperial Palace, which turns into a massacre. Characteristically, Imamura focuses not on the leaders of the country, but on characters in the lower classes and on the fringes of society.

Snow on The Blades

2014

At Sakurada Gate in 1860, the shogun’s chief minister and his retinue of bodyguards are ambushed and annihilated. Bearing the responsibility and shame for this failure is Shimura Kingo, master swordsman and chief of the guard. Forbidden to take his own life in atonement, he is instead tasked with hunting down the remaining assassins; however, fate intervenes and now only one is left. Devoted to his late lord and his duty, he relentlessly pursues the sole remaining assassin for the next thirteen years. But times are changing in Japan and the way of the sword has become outlawed. What does this mean for Kingo?

Empire of Passion

1978

In a small Japanese village at the end of the 19th century, a rickshaw driver's wife takes on a much younger lover and the two conspire to murder him.

Ryoma Sakamoto: Samurai Gunslinger

1989

After more than 200 years of Isolation, Japan is ready for a modern samurai who isn't afraid to use guns and embrace the outside world.

The Rickshaw Man

1958

A poor rickshaw driver finds himself helping a young woman and her son after the woman's husband dies suddenly.

Gemini

1999

When his mother's untimely death quickly follows his father's, a doctor begins to believe a killer may be targeting him and his amnesiac wife.

Kinbakuka: Biniku no Mori

1985

At the beginning of the Meiji era, Sayoko, the daughter of a large banker in Tokyo, comes to Sotobo's villa for the first time in eight years, guided by her student, Yasu. In fact, Yasu is the son of Keizo Naya, the keeper of this villa. His father and older sister, Kyoko, live quietly in this place, where people rarely visit, like recluses. Sayoko, who grew up sickly and full of selfishness, treats Yasu, who has feelings for her, like a slave, blindfolds him, makes him help her change clothes, and makes him imitate Sansuke in the bathroom.

Oiesan

2014

Traces the rise of the company Suzuki Shoten from the 1880's to 1919. After the death of her husband, Yoni Suzuki and her general manager built the company from a small sugar importer into Japan's largest trading and manufacturing company.

Father of the Milky Way Railroad

2023

Kenji, the eldest son of Masajiro, a wealthy moneylender, refuses to work in the family business and becomes obsessed with farming, jewelry and religion.

Tsugaru

2011

Port Arthur

1980

Depicts the bloody siege of the fortress of Port Arthur, one of the most strongly fortified positions in the world, during the Russo-Japanese War of (1904 - 1905). In the story dominated the character Lt Takeshi Kogyo (Teruhiko Aoi), teachers, and a reserve officer who became commander of the platoon and later company. At the same time monitors the conduct of the army commander general Nogi (Tatsuya Nakadai), which was commissioned of the emperor Matsuhito (Toshirô Mifune) to the conquest of the fort.

The Broken Commandment

2022

At the strong insistence of his father, Ushimatsu Segawa conceals his origins from a “buraku” area of low-class “untouchables,” leaving his hometown to serve as an elementary school teacher where he excels and is loved by his students. But he constantly struggles with the secret of his low-birth status and is disturbed by all of the discrimination levelled upon his class. It prevents him from pursuing a romance with Shiho, whom he meets at the temple where he resides, but who descends from a samurai family.

Gassoh

2015

In the year 1868, three young men join the elite Shogitai division of the Shogunate. The Shogitai fights to the end and opposes the dismantling of the feudal military dictatorship known as the Bakufu system.

The Whale God

1962

A fishing village is terrorized by a giant whale, and the fishermen are determined to kill it.

Mount Hakkoda

1977

Two infantry regiments of the Imperial Japanese Army—210 men overall—tackled Mt. Hakkoda in the winter of 1902 to prepare for war with Russia.