Also Directed by Toshikazu Kono
Harima Aoyama (Chiyonosuke Azume) was a young hatamoto (samurai bannerman) to the Shogun. He seduced his commoner house maid Okiku (Hibari). He promised that his love was no passing infatuation & she would never suffer for it. She resisted his charms for some while knowing full well that they are of classes that do not intermarry, but in time he broke down her resistance, for how could she help but love him. Political expedience puts the young hatamoto in the way of a marriage with a woman of his own station. This will cement family connections & see his family safely through a crisis, at a time when many clans were finding themselves abolished on any pretext.
Oda Nobunaga (1534–1582) was a major daimyo during the Warring State period of Japanese history. He was the second son of Oda Nobuhide, a deputy military governor with land holdings in Owari province. Nobunaga lived a life of continuous military conquest, eventually conquering a third of Japanese daimyo before his death in 1582. Telling the story of his rise to prominence as he leads an army of 4,000 men against the 40,000 troops of Lord Imagawa Yoshimoto to prevent the arrogant daimyo from crushing the Oda clan and taking control of the entire nation. From a newly restored anamorpic widescreen print, this is the ultimate warlord movie.
During the latter part of the 16th Century, Japan's Warring States era was coming to a close. After crushing almost all of his enemies, Date Masamune aka the "Hawk of the North" sets his eyes on Hatakeyama's lands. The young warlord is about to face his greatest challenge.
Horror film directed by Toshikazu Kôno.
A Hibari Misora musical.
Ryutaro Otomo as the Edo magistrate Umon Kondo is out to solve a crime that centers around the murder of a jail guard & the escape of a criminal who is later himself killed. His dying words in Umon's arms were, "I didn't kill the guard." The murdered criminal had been a safe-cracker & only his girlfriend knows where he hid a fortune. She is kidnapped, so the plot gets thicker & thicker.
The second work in the series "Cases of An Actor in Disguise" starring Kokichi Takada, based on the original work of Tatsuro Jinde. Popular ronin actor Kasumi Ippei intervenes in a planned robbery of the mint, where gold coins are minted for the Shogunate.
Rampant ronin Matashiro Sasai, finds himself embroiled in serious unrest after he rescues a geisha who is being kidnapped by a group of ronin.
