Movies: Kodayu Ichikawa

Townsend Harris is sent by President Pierce to Japan to serve as the first U.S. Consul-General to that country. Harris discovers enormous hostility to foreigners, as well as the love of a young geisha....

Film adaption by Kenji Misumi...

Machiko and Haruki’s drama continues. Two meet again in Hokkaido only to be separated again....

The Shinsengumi is a special unit of ronin commissioned by the Tokugawa shogunate to counter anti-shogunate activities in Kyoto. A sinister plot to overthrow the shogun is set in motion and Kondo Isami and his fellow samurai must answer the call and ...

The adopted son of an Osaka courier falls in love with a prostitute and, discovering that she is about to be purchased by a client, steals money from his employer to redeem her. Hunted criminals, the two young lovers take flight to Yamato, but, as in...

Toyama Kinshiro, a commissioner from northern Edo, goes undercover to unravel the mystery behind a series of murders. Kinshiro, played by Kataoka Chiezo, is most famous for the cherry blossom tattoos on his shoulder which he reveals at the moment of ...

It is brother against brother in this tale of love and betrayal within the famed Yagyu clan. In one of their earliest films together, superstars Ichikawa Raizo and Katsu Shintaro are magnificent as the two finest young swordsmen in the clan. As they ...

On March 11 in the seventh year of Tenpo (1836), a monk named Bennō, who fell in love with a geisha named Oshima, was publicly exposed at Nihonbashi for committing an illicit act with a woman. While this was happening, an extravagant procession led b...

The story of Japan’s greatest warrior, Miyamoto Musashi, after his historic duel with Sasaki Kojiro on Ganryu Island....

A foot soldier from Tottori domain named Shirai Gonpachi showcased exceptional swordsmanship that even surpassed the domain's champion Honjo Sukehichi during a ceremonial match. Though Gonpachi was promised a promotion to samurai status due to his sk...

Machiko Ujiie and Haruki Atomiya first meet and fall in love on Ginza’s Sukiyabashi Bridge during the Great Tokyo Air Raid in March 1945. Machiko and Haruki pledge to meet again at the bridge in six months but part without asking each other’s names....

Kinnosuke of Toyama sets out on a private mission to clear his father’s name for a crime he did not commit....

A young boy named Chomatsu (Misora Hibari) lives with an old man Denbei near the grounds of Asakusa temple as bell ringers. In their house is an Echigo lion mask, a memento of Chomatsu's deceased father. After several incidents of Echigo lion masks b...

The feudal lord Kisaragi Yae no Kami (Minami Komyo) searches for a child he had with a low-borne woman, that was sent away from his home 16 years ago while carrying a special seal. At that time, Kanda's detective Zenshichi (Ichikawa Kodayu II) had th...

In 1842, in the Umemoku Mansion within Hikone Castle, Naosuke Ii, despite the tumultuous times, was engrossed in the world of tea ceremony. His friend, the Kokugaku scholar Nagano Shuzen, introduced him to a captivating shamisen master named Murayama...

One of the great stories from Japan’s rich history comes to life in this true tale of the bloody showdown between two rival yakuza gangs in the 1840’s. The battle between Boss Sukegoro of Iioka and Boss Shigezo of Sasagawa has been portrayed many tim...

The phantom thief, known as the "Actor Kid", who was creating a stir in the Daimyo's mansion, especially in the inner chambers, was called Inaba Goutaro. He was the adopted son of a samurai, Inaba Buemon. An incident occurred where his foster father ...

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Kondo Isami, the “Devil” commander of the Shinsengumi was one of Japan’s greatest national heroes and a peerless swordsman who devoted his life to protecting the shogun and fighting on the side of the Tokugawa. This tells the story of the Shinsengumi...

The tragedy of the geiko girl Ume and the men who try to pursue her....