Topic: Samurai

Direction Masaki Kobayashi

Cast Tatsuya Nakadai · Rentarô Mikuni · Akira Ishihama · Shima Iwashita

Synopsis Harakiri (1962) follows Tsugumo Hanshirō, a destitute rōnin, who arrives at the estate of the Iyi clan requesting to commit ritual suicide (seppuku) in their courtyard. As the clan prepares for the ceremony, they recount a similar incident involving another...

Direction Akira Kurosawa

Cast Toshirô Mifune · Takashi Shimura · Yoshio Inaba · Seiji Miyaguchi

Synopsis In Seven Samurai (1954), a small farming village in 16th-century Japan is repeatedly raided by bandits. Desperate for protection, the villagers hire seven ronin (masterless samurai) to defend them. Each samurai brings unique skills and personalities, forming a reluctant bond...

Direction Masaki Kobayashi

Cast Toshirô Mifune · Yôko Tsukasa · Go Kato · Tatsuya Nakadai

Synopsis In 1725, during a peaceful period in Japan, Isaburo, a veteran samurai, lives placidly with his wife and his son. One day, his honor and moral principles will be at odds with his clan's. The conflict is inevitable and it...

Direction Amber Noizumi · Earl A. Hibbert · Ryan O'Loughlin · Michael Green

Cast Maya Erskine · Masi Oka · Darren Barnet · Brenda Song

Synopsis A mixed-race master of the sword lives a life in disguise while seeking revenge in Edo-period Japan.

Direction Akira Kurosawa

Cast Toshirô Mifune · Isuzu Yamada · Takashi Shimura · Akira Kubo

Synopsis In Throne of Blood (1957), a samurai and his ambitious wife navigate a web of prophecy, betrayal, and supernatural forces after a forest spirit foretells their rise to power. Set in feudal Japan, the film reimagines Shakespeare's *Macbeth* with striking...

Direction Akira Kurosawa

Cast Toshirô Mifune · Tatsuya Nakadai · Yôko Tsukasa · Isuzu Yamada

Synopsis Yojimbo (1961) follows a wandering ronin, or masterless samurai, who arrives in a small, desolate town torn apart by two rival criminal gangs. Seeing an opportunity to rid the town of its corruption, the clever and resourceful samurai manipulates both...

Direction Akira Kurosawa

Cast Toshirô Mifune · Machiko Kyô · Masayuki Mori · Takashi Shimura

Synopsis In Rashomon (1950), a haunting tale unfolds as a crime is recounted through multiple, conflicting perspectives. Set in 12th-century Japan, the story begins with a woodcutter, a priest, and a commoner seeking shelter from a storm at the Rashomon gate....

Direction Kazuhiro Furuhashi

Synopsis Rurouni Kenshin: Reminiscence (1999) is a poignant prequel to the main series, delving into the tragic past of the wandering swordsman, Kenshin Himura. Set during the turbulent Bakumatsu era, it follows his early years as the feared assassin "Battōsai" and...

Direction Genndy Tartakovsky

Synopsis TV Series (2017). 1 Season. 10 Episodes. It's been 50 years since we saw Samurai Jack and time has not been kind to him. Aku has destroyed every time portal and Jack has stopped aging, a side effect of time...

Direction Shin'ichirō Watanabe

Synopsis TV Series (2004-2005). 1 season. 26 episodes. Mugen's a buck wild warrior: violent, thoughtless and womanizing. Jin is a vagrant ronin: mysterious, traditional, well-mannered and very strong. These two fiercely independent warriors couldn't be more different from one another, yet...

Direction Yôichi Fujita · Chizuru Miyawaki

Cast Rie Kugimiya · Daisuke Sakaguchi · Hideaki Sorachi · Tomokazu Sugita

Synopsis Final film giving a conclusion to "Gintama" anime series. The film will be based on the finale of the original manga, combined with new story elements. (Source: ANN)

Direction Akira Kurosawa

Cast Toshirô Mifune · Tatsuya Nakadai · Keiju Kobayashi · Yûzô Kayama

Synopsis In Japan circa Eighteenth Century, nine young men decide to present an accusation of corruption in their clan to the local superintendent. However, the group is betrayed, but the ronin Sanjûrô Tsubaki (Toshirô Mifune) saves them from the superintendent's men....

Direction Masaki Kobayashi

Cast Tatsuya Nakadai · Rentarô Mikuni · Katsuo Nakamura · Kei Sato

Synopsis This film contains four distinct, separate stories. "Black Hair": A poor samurai who divorces his true love to marry for money, but finds the marriage disastrous and returns to his old wife, only to discover something eerie about her. "The...

Direction Kazuhiro Furuhashi · Kaeko Sakamoto · Hiroshi Morioka · Yûji Mitsuya

Synopsis Rurouni Kenshin: Wandering Samurai (TV Series) (1996) follows Himura Kenshin, a former assassin turned wandering swordsman, during Japan's Meiji era. Vowing never to kill again, he wields a reverse-blade sword to protect the innocent. Settling in Tokyo, he befriends Kaoru,...

Direction Justin Marks · Rachel Kondo · Fred Toye · Charlotte Brändström

Cast Cosmo Jarvis · Hiroyuki Sanada · Anna Sawai · Tadanobu Asano

Synopsis In Shogun (2024), a bold English navigator shipwrecks in feudal Japan, plunging into a world of political intrigue and cultural clash. As warlords vie for power, he becomes entangled with a cunning daimyo and his mysterious translator. Loyalties blur amid...

Direction Kinuyo Tanaka

Cast Ineko Arima · Ganjiro Nakamura · Mieko Takamine · Tatsuya Nakadai

Direction Yôji Yamada

Cast Hiroyuki Sanada · Rie Miyazawa · Nenji Kobayashi · Min Tanaka

Synopsis 19th century Japan. Seibei, a just-widowed samurai, struggles to care for his senile mother and two young daughters. He holds back from a possible remarriage, self-conscious about his poverty. When ordered to kill a skilled rebel swordsman, he can't evade...

Direction Shinji Takamatsu · Yôichi Fujita · Hirofumi Ogura · Hiroyuki Hata

Synopsis TV Series (2005-2018). 8 Seasons. 375 Episodes. Sakata Gintoki is a samurai living in an era when samurais are no longer needed. To add to his troubles, oppressive aliens have moved in to invade. Gintoki lives with Kagura and Shinpachi,...

Direction Akira Kurosawa

Cast Toshirô Mifune · Minoru Chiaki · Misa Uehara · Takashi Shimura

Synopsis In The Hidden Fortress (1958), two greedy peasants, Tahei and Matashichi, stumble upon a hidden gold treasure guarded by General Rokurota Makabe. Unbeknownst to them, the gold is meant to fund the exiled Princess Yuki's escape to a safe territory....

Direction Kaneto Shindô

Cast Kichiemon Nakamura · Nobuko Otowa · Kiwako Taichi · Kei Sato

Synopsis A woman and her daughter are raped and murdered by soldiers during a time of civil war. Afterwards, a series of samurai returning from the war through that area are found mysteriously dead with their throats torn out. The governor...