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6.9

♡ 3

Action

History

Kazuo Mori Director

Eiji Funakoshi as

Raizô Ichikawa as Kira no Nikichi

Machiko Kyô as Okatsu

Ayako Wakao as Okiku

Legendary yakuza Shimizu Jirocho and his 28 henchmen travel the unruly path from a 'Fire Festival' in Akiba to a decisive battle by the Fujigawa.

The Red Angel

1966

7.8

♡ 6

Kenji Ohba as

Ayako Wakao as Nurse Sakura Nishi

Jôtarô Senba as Private Sakamoto

Yûsuke Kawazu as Pvt. Orihara

In 1939, Sakura Nishi is a young army nurse who is sent to the field hospitals in China during the Sino-Japanese war. She has to assist the surgeon Dr. Okabe with an incredible number of amputations. In the crowded wards, she gives sympathy to some of the soldiers, including sexually servicing one who has lost both arms and has no hope of returning home. She falls in love with Dr. Okabe, and follows him to the front, even though he is impotent from his morphine addiction.

Irezumi

1966

7.1

♡ 3

Kei Satô as Hatamoto Serizawa

Fujio Suga as Kenji

Ayako Wakao as Otsuya

Kikue Môri as Shinsuke's Mother

Otsuya, the daughter of a rich merchant, elopes with her lover Shinsuke, an employee of her father's. During their flight, Otsuya's beauty attracts the gaze of Seikichi, a mysterious master tattooist who sees her pristine white skin as the perfect canvas for his art. The image of the large demonic spider that he emblazons across Otsuya's back marks her as the property of another man, radically altering her relationships with all around her as her personality seems to transform under its influence.

Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo

1970

7.0

♡ 6

72%

Kihachi Okamoto Director

Fujio Tokita as Blacksmith Tomeyoshi

Hideo Sunazuka as Fake Masseur

Toshirô Mifune as Sassa the yojimbo

Ayako Wakao as Umeno

With a price on his head, Ichi seeks tranquillity in a favorite village. Since his last visit, it has fallen prey to Boss Masagoro, the son of a merchant rumored to have stolen gold from the shogunate. The boss has hired Yojimbo as his hard-drinking enforcer, but Yojimbo is both a spy for the shogunate, trying to find the gold, and in love with the merchant's unwilling mistress, Umeno. Ichi hires on as the merchant's masseur and buys Umeno's freedom with his employer's own money. This embarrasses Yojimbo who withdraws from a pact with Ichi to stir up trouble between father and son and their gangs. As the two sides fight, Ichi finds the gold and sets up a final set of confrontations.

Princess from the Moon

1987

6.3

♡ 4

73%

Kon Ichikawa Director

Takeshi Katô as Fujiwara-no-Okuni

Fujio Tokita as Shonin-no-Uda

Toshirô Mifune as Taketori-no-Miyatsuko

Ayako Wakao as Tayoshime

Two poor, married farmers have recently lost their only child; after a freak visitation, they pry open an alien cocoon to greet their new daughter.

Bamboo Doll of Echizen

1963

7.4

♡ 2

Kôzaburô Yoshimura Director

Kôichi Mizuhara as

Kô Nishimura as Chubei

San'emon Arashi as Koishima

Ayako Wakao as Tamae

Kisuke, a young bamboo worker marries Tomoe, a geisha who was once involved with Kisuke's late father.

Floating Weeds

1959

7.9

♡ 19

96%

Yasujirô Ozu Director

Hitomi Nozoe as Aiko

Ayako Wakao as Kayo

Hiroshi Kawaguchi as Kiyoshi Homma

Machiko Kyô as Sumiko

When a theater troupe's master visits his old flame, he unintentionally sets off a chain of unexpected events with devastating consequences.

Afraid to Die

1960

6.4

♡ 7

63%

Action

Crime

yakuza

Keizô Kawasaki as Shoichi Koizumi

Eiji Funakoshi as Susumu Aikawa

Ayako Wakao as Yoshie Koizumi

Jun Negami as Yusaku Sagara

On his release from prison a young yakuza, along with his brother, decides to turn his back on criminal life instead of taking over the position of his recently deceased father, boss of the Asahina clan. But their exit proves more difficult than planned when their rival clan steps in to exact revenge.

We'll Meet Again

1957

7.2

♡ 5

Action

based on novel or book

Comedy

stepparent stepchild relationship

Tetsuya Watanabe as

Keizô Kawasaki as Ryôsuke Hirooka

Sadako Sawamura as Tatsuko Ono

Ayako Wakao as Yûko Ono

Yuko is sent to the coastal regions to be raised away from the rest of her sophisticated family where she finds out from her ill grandmother that she is not who she thought she was.

Saikô shukun fujin

1959

6.8

♡ 2

Comedy

Eiji Funakoshi as Ichiro Mihara

Ayako Wakao as Kyoko Nonomiya

Seiji Miyaguchi as Rintaro Nonomiya

Hiroshi Kawaguchi as Saburo Mihara

Kyoko is the third daughter of the Nonomiya family, a very ordinary family. Momoko, the eldest daughter, is married to Ichiro, the president of Mihara Shoji, and Riko, the second daughter, is married to Jiro, the managing director, and they plot to marry Kyoko to Saburo, the third son of the Mihara family. Kyoko is angry at the marriage talk that is being pushed forward without her permission, and declares that she "definitely won't get married," but before she knows it, she begins to become aware of the other person...

A Geisha

1953

teacher student relationship

7.6

♡ 6

100%

Kenji Mizoguchi Director

Ayako Wakao as Eiko

Seizaburô Kawazu as Kusuda

Ichirô Sugai as Saeki

Eitarô Shindô as Sawamoto

Fleeing a distressing family situation, Eiko, a very young girl, becomes an apprentice to Miyoharu, a veteran geisha. Both, determined to preserve their professional integrity, must face the selfishness and ambition of several petty people.

The Graceful Brute

7.4

Yûzô Kawashima Director

Eiji Funakoshi as Eisaku Kamiya, the tax collector

Manamitsu Kawabata as Minoru, Tokizo's son

Chôchô Miyako as Yuki

Ayako Wakao as Yukie Mitani, the agent's accountant

A greedy, materialistic family attempts to cover-up the embezzlement committed by the son while keeping their other schemes active. They discover there are other, equally conniving players involved.

Seisaku's Wife

1965

7.7

♡ 3

100%

based on novel or book

Romance

War

Takamaru Sasaki as

Ayako Wakao as Okane

Takahiro Tamura as Seisaku

Yûzô Hayakawa as Sergeant

On the eve of the Russo-Japanese war at the beginning of the 20th century, small-town girl Okane has married an old wealthy man to escape a life of poverty.

Bridge of Japan

1956

6.7

♡ 4

Romance

Kon Ichikawa Director

Ayako Wakao as Ochise

Eiji Funakoshi as Shinpachiro Kasahara

Eijirô Yanagi as Shinpachiro Kasahara

Ryûji Shinagawa as Shinso Kuzuki

Ichikawa's 1956 adaptation of Nihonbashi was the first to take the work of Kyoka Izumi— until then regarded as a writer of common tragic melodramas—and re-evaluate it as a tanbi-ha work of decadence, aestheticism, and intrigue. Ichikawa's film presents the tragic plot of the young geisha who is unable to enact her love for a man publicly in any way other than a histrionic story of torment, a heart-rending tale of lovers being crushed by fate. Instead, Ichikawa shows the contest of wills that transpires as two geisha, Oko and Kiyoha fight for the top spot in Nihonbashi, the pinnacle of the Tokyo geisha world. Nihonbashi is an elegant, if steely, exposition of manners. The young doctor, Shinzo Katsuragi, is the object of affection for both women, but appears to be more the choice reward for the plotting and thieving of these two early modern superwomen, than a lover they swoon over.

Women Are Born Twice

1961

7.3

♡ 4

Yûzô Kawashima Director

Kichijirô Ueda as

Mayumi Kurata as

Chieko Murata as

Ayako Wakao as Koen

A young girl is rigorously trained in the feminine arts so that she can become a geisha. As she struggles through life, she learns to live not just as a woman but as a complete person.

Tora-san's Shattered Romance

1971