Screenplay: Matsutaro Kawaguchi

Direction Kenji Mizoguchi

Cast Machiko Kyô · Mitsuko Mito · Kinuyo Tanaka · Masayuki Mori

Synopsis Tales of Ugetsu (1953) is a hauntingly beautiful Japanese film set during the chaos of civil war. It follows two ambitious men—a potter seeking wealth and a farmer dreaming of becoming a samurai—whose desires lead them away from their families...

Direction Kenji Mizoguchi

Cast Kazuo Hasegawa · Kyôko Kagawa · Yôko Minamida · Eitarô Shindô

Synopsis Set in 17th century Kyoto, Osan is married to Ishun, a wealthy miserly scroll-maker. When Osan is falsely accused of having an affair with the Ishun’s most trusted servant, Mohei, the two flee away. While on the run, Osan and...

Direction Kenji Mizoguchi

Cast Michiyo Kogure · Ayako Wakao · Seizaburô Kawazu · Saburo Date

Synopsis In the post-war Gion district of Kyoto, the geisha Miyoharu agrees to apprentice the 16 year-old Eiko, whose mother was a former geisha who had just died. After a year of training they have to find a large sum of...

Direction Kenji Mizoguchi

Cast Machiko Kyô · Masayuki Mori · Sô Yamamura · Eitarô Shindô

Synopsis In eighth century China, the Emperor is grieving over the death of his wife. The Yang family wants to provide the Emperor with a consort so that they may consolidate their influence over the court. General An Lushan finds a...

Direction Yasuzô Masumura

Cast Hiroshi Kawaguchi · Hitomi Nozoe · Aiko Mimasu · Eitarô Ozawa

Synopsis Kinichi and Akiko meet when they visit their fathers in prison. After successfully gambling on a bicycle race, they spend an enjoyable day together at the beach. Akiko, who tries to make money as an artist's model to pay for...

Direction Kenji Mizoguchi

Cast Taizô Fukami · Akira Harue · Kiyoshi Katô · Seizaburô Kawazu

Direction Kenji Mizoguchi

Cast Chojuro Kawarasaki · Ganemon Nakamura · Kigoro Ikushima · Kinuyo Tanaka

Synopsis Shinobu and her brother Genichiro plead with the famous swordsman Musashi Miyamoto to teach them swordsmanship to avenge their father's death. The killers of their father see the sister and brother practicing with Miyamoto, and so enlist the help of...

Direction Kenji Mizoguchi

Cast Komako Hara · Eiji Nakano · Daijirô Natsukawa · Toichiro Negishi

Synopsis Oyuki, the Virgin is based on Kawaguchi Matsutaro’s adaptation of Maupassant’s “Boule de Suif” (“Lump of Fat,” also the inspiration for Ford’s Stagecoach). To this story Mizoguchi added some of his own elements. Maupassant’s original work, set during the Franco-Prussian...

Direction Kenji Mizoguchi

Cast Shotaro Hanayagi · Kan Ishii · Eijirô Yanagi · Ichijirô Oya

Synopsis Kiyone Sakurai, an apprentice swordmaker makes a sword for his guardian, Kozaemon Onoda. Onoda breaks the sword while defending his lord which eventually leads to his death at the hands of Naito, when Naito demands to marry his daughter Sasae....

Direction Tatsunosuke Takashima · Kenji Mizoguchi

Cast Isuzu Yamada · Komako Hara · Yôko Umemura · Toshio Hayashi

Synopsis Okichi is a professional criminal, part con woman and part martial artist, who falls in love with a young man from the straight world.

Direction Daisuke Itô

Cast Michiyo Kogure · Jun Tazaki · Haruko Sugimura · Yataro Kitagami

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

Direction Teinosuke Kinugasa

Cast Eiji Funakoshi · Natsuko Kahara · Shintarô Katsu · Fujiko Yamamoto

Direction Sadatsugu Matsuda

Cast Hashizo Okawa · Minoru Chiaki · Mikijiro Hira · Ryuji Kita

Direction Kunio Watanabe

Cast Denjirô Ôkôchi · Isuzu Yamada · Sadao Maruyama · Zenichiro Kito

Direction Teinosuke Kinugasa

Cast Fujiko Yamamoto · Hiroshi Akutagawa · Yuzo Hayakawa · Kiyoko Hirai

Direction Kenji Mizoguchi

Cast Kinuyo Tanaka · Gonjuro Kawarazaki · Toshiko Iizuka · Kotaro Bando

Direction Nobuo Aoyagi

Cast Kotaro Bando · Hisako Yamane · Toshiko Iizuka · Kingorô Yanagiya

Direction Kunio Watanabe

Cast Ichiro Fujiyama · Musei Tokugawa · Noboru Kiritachi · Yuriko Hanabusa

Direction Hiroshi Shimizu

Cast Keiko Fujita · Eiji Funakoshi · Peggy Hayama · Masahide Hirokawa

Synopsis A young man steals money for a cabaret singer.

Direction Keigo Kimura · Santarô Marune

Cast Saburo Date · Kazuo Hasegawa · Chieko Higashiyama · Ryôsuke Kagawa