Tatsuo Umemiya
The relationship between the Mikami-gumi and the Shintokai led by Ueda (Jiro Okazaki) has deteriorated due to factional disputes caused by Kudo (Hakuryu), the second generation of Kyowakai. At that moment, Kawatani (Hitoshi Ozawa), the benefactor of Mikami-gumi Himuro (Yasukaze Motomiya) and Tamura (Yoshiyuki Yamaguchi), is shot. Tamura, who learned that it was the work of the Shintokai, infiltrated Ueda's residence alone and executed Ueda's assassination. At the same time, Kawabata (Tatsuo Umemiya), the leader of the Kansai Shisei group, begins crushing Himuro and the Mikami gang, who are racing to unify Japan.
Himuro (Yasukaze Motomiya), who joined Kyowakai, steadily rose through the ranks with his calm and clear mind. Tamura (Yoshiyuki Yamaguchi) was also released from prison and Ryuseikai was thought to gain even more power. At that time, there is an internal split in Kyowakai as a whole, caused by an unusual executive appointment, and Himuro and others get caught in the vortex. After the conflict, the leader of the Ueda group, Ueda (Okazaki Jiro) and other gang members withdrew from Kyowakai, create a new organization called Shintokai in Kyoto, and attack Kyowakai executives.
First part of a long series of films (V-Cinema) in which we follow the rise of a Yakuza clan.
Tadano is assigned by the chairman Kurokawa to protect and check the personal affairs of a young idol, Sylvia , who is the main character at the "Flower Earth Festival 2008" organized by Denodo. Sylvia has been threatened by someone to resign from the main character role. Tadano starts investigating while supporting Yamanishi, the event organizer. However, Tadano is struck down by a mysterious giant of a man. Yamanishi, who has obtained important information, is murdered, and Sylvia is kidnapped. Tadano realizes that Anzai, Yamanishi's right-hand man who has been eyeing the chairmanship, is the mastermind behind this. Tadano rescues Sylvia and brings her to the event venue.
Set in an old prestigious ryotei (Japanese-style restaurant) in a small town in the center of Tokyo, a young itamae (cook for Japanese dishes) struggles his life, love and work while the long-lasted ryotei and the beloved old town face the change to survive the time. This heartwarming drama shows the intimate relationship of the community that has been lost nowadays, asks what the most important things in your life is, and tells how difficult it is to make a decision. The story is told in the form of a letter from him to his unknown father with lots of humor and love.
After World War II, in Hiroshima, the Yakuza clans start a war for control of the city.
Sequel of Memories : Osaka Yakuza War Retribution
An incident occurred where a member of the Sannokai who sparked a dispute at the gambling house was shot dead by a member of the Umeyama group dividing the place. This is the beginning of the "Osaka War" that shook the world of Japanese gangsters.
Masato is a bad boy, but very in love with music. He meets a girl, Miki, who has serious diseases but is optimistic toward life. They start to work together in a CD shop and catch every chance to show their talents. Under the efforts of Masato, his company at last becomes an entertainment giant in Japan.
In this engaging comedy, a husband and wife enter a journey of self-discovery when they enter their child into a drama school. Just where does a parent's dream for their child's success end and the child's own future aspirations begin?
The fourth of the extreme actions that depicts the men who are confronting the war set by the Kansai yakuza who are planning to advance to the Kanto region by taking advantage of the off-track betting dispute.
Traveling chef Ryuji is called back to Tokyo to help save his late teacher’s restaurant. With the help of his close friend Kinu, Ryuji must complete the training of Wataru — the apprentice chosen by his late teacher to become the next master chef — in the art of culinary excellence and running a successful business.
A rough man who has been hit by the times hits an established organization!
The wife of a lawyer and her twice-divorced sister-in-law scheme to break up her brother's marriage in this hard-edged drama of misdirected passion. The quirky characters who fill out the cast include a youthful entrepreneur and the heroine's father, a police officer who would do anything to make his daughter happy.
Shirota Shintaro lives with his wife Atsuko, his four children, Shitaro's father Fukuzo, and a dog. He is forced to make room for his sister Megumi and her children, as well as an unexpected lodger from Hungary.
A police officer is recruited to a special agency and given a license to kill. He is given a dozen or so young policemen and a bar as a front. Meanwhile, girls are disappearing and the friend of one girl is searching for her. It turns out the girls are being kidnapped and sold into bizarre kinky sex games to rich industrialists by a megalomaniacal corporation. One of the young deputies becomes involved and finds a friend of his (the boyfriend of the searching woman) is involved.
The fear of the fiercely obsessive woman who deprives her best friend of her husband. An emotionally charged movie starring Hitomi Kuroki, Masato Furuoya, and Hisako Manda.
Junko Mihara is full of mysterious charm and is involved in ambitious work.
Based on the "2.26 Incident", an attempted coup d'état in Japan 1936, launched by radical ultra-nationalist parts of the military. Several leading politicians were killed and the center of Tokyo was briefly held by the insurgents before the coup was suppressed.
A sensuous movie based on a literary work. Hitomi Kuroki stars as the film’s heroine.
Umiemon is a naniwa-bushi singer who travels with his wife to the United States in hopes of achieving fame and fortune.
A made man during the height of Hiroshima's yakuza turf war must maneuver through the violence and betrayal inside the criminal underworld.
The story of friendship, love and sportsmanship among high-school students.
Onimasa is the egocentric boss of a small yakuza clan on Shikoku Island, whose criminal duties conflict with his self-image as a chivalrous samurai. His struggles with his boss, the Shikoku Godfather, and the tumultuous life of his adopted daughter, Matsue, form the backdrop of this epic tale of justice, obedience, and bloody vengeance.
Story of three people, a barber, a Christian and a graduate of the Tokyo Military Academy during the 2nd World War.
When the patriarch of Japan's most powerful yakuza family is shot, his wife is left to pick up the pieces and carry on the legacy.
Depicting the turbulent life of truck driver Takashi, his fellow drivers, and the women he meets.
The 224-minute compilation edition Battles Without Honor and Humanity The Complete Saga compiles these five movies : Battles Without Honor and Humanity 1 (1973) Battles Without Honor and Humanity 2: Deadly Fight in Hiroshima (1973) Battles Without Honor and Humanity 3: Proxy War (1973) Battles Without Honor and Humanity 4: Police Tactics (1974) Battles Without Honor and Humanity 5: Final Episode (1974)
A member of the jieitai ("Self-Defense Force"; i.e. Japanese military) is on leave and finds a woman giving birth in a graveyard in the former Yoshiwara district. He takes her to an inn to gove birth, and stays on a few days as she recovers, but becomes fascinated with the strange people he meets there, particularly the owner, who visits a house in his courtyard every day to talk and give food to his mother. He says she is very sick and can't leave bed, but no one else has ever been inside or seen her.
Yataro Tanigawa, a one-eyed hired assassin, impresses yakuza boss Gomyo Kiyoemon with his skill. Gomyo hires Tanigawa as his bodyguard, or yojimbo, to protect him during an inter-clan conflict. Tanigawa quickly rises in stature in the clan, but finds his boss's enemies almost overwhelming.
Famous detective Kindaichi solves a series of mysterious murders in a wealthy family. An excellent blend of intrigue and betrayal, set against the backdrop of wealth, this film is loaded with twists and turns and surprises at every corner.
This is a film about a real person. Sanada Yukimura fought a war against Tokugawa Ieyasu.
In pre-war Japan, two members of a large yakuza syndicate instigate a turf war that embroils the highest echelons of Tokyo's underworld.
Kumokiri Nizaemon, a former samurai warrior, has abandoned his class to become the leader of a gang of thieves. He leads his outlaws in an attempt to rob the castle of his former clan.
A yakuza leader must balance his violent tactics necessary for the rough streets of 1960s Tokyo with the domestic needs of his daughters.
The fourth and final film in the "Street Fighter" series, where Tsurugi protects a little boy while coping with rival gangs.
Amidst Japan's postwar economic boom, yakuza factions in Osaka fight for survival when Japan's largest crime syndicate plans a hostile takeover.
Chiba, looking gnarly, and acting as animalistic as ever, stars alongside Matsukata as violent gangsters battling their way through fight after bloody fight with rival yakuza on the streets of Okinawa.
A police investigator cracks down on yakuza business, but once he realizes the police are in negotiations with certain factions, he sides with his own syndicate of choice.
A violent upstart forms an alliance with the powerful Tensei-kai syndicate to fight on the front lines of an underworld war and take over all of Japan.
In at least 6 movies by director Kinji Fukasaku, Bunta Sugawara played a yakuza thug. This time, he carries a badge but his character hasn't lost his distaste for double-dealing bosses and authority figures who are out to cover their own butts. Detective Kuno is balanced between the law and pragmatism. Cops didn't enforce the law to the point of pushing gangsters over the edge. In return, the gangsters mostly stayed out of the public eye. Some of them even became friends with cops, sharing a mutual desire to keep-down trade unions and leftists. When that balance is upset, Kuno has to decide where his loyalties lie. In this gray world, cops aren't always good and gangsters are thoroughly bad.. although there's no reward for good men who drink from the cup of corruption. "Cops Versus Thugs" has that trademark Fukasaku camera-work.. constantly moving, zooming, and putting you right in the middle of the action, changing loyalties and political maneuvering between cops and criminals.
A look at the life of renegade yakuza, Rikio Ishikawa, particularly the years from 1946 to 1950 when his violent antics get him in trouble with his own clan, Kawada, and then with the clan of his protector, Kozaburo Imai. In these years, he can rely on Chieko, a young Tokyo courtesan who gives him shelter. He's banished to Osaka, where he picks up a drug habit. Through it all, he keeps his friends and enemies off balance with unpredictable behavior - and he seems indestructible.
Hiroshi, a small-time racketeer, makes a name for himself extorting vulnerable companies and their directors for financial gain.
After eight years in prison, Takeshi’s mission is a big heist from his own clan’s gambling parlor.
As Japan gears up for the 1964 Olympic games, the cops start to crack down on the gangs, under pressure from the public and the press, adding a new dimension in the war for power among the yakuza families of Hiroshima.
Vice Admiral Takajiro Ohnishi could see that Japan's defeat in WWII was inevitable. He came to realize that the only way to force a negotiated solution was to convince the Americans that invading Japan would cause massive casualties on both sides. The cold logic of suicide attacks, where one man and one plane could kill hundreds, seemed the only solution. In one of the cruel ironies of fate, Ohnishi actually succeeded; he convinced the Americans that invading Japan would be too costly in lives. But what he could not foresee was that America had another way of ending the war.
Set in Shibuya in 1949, this is another film based on real life former yakuza boss Noboru Ando's memoirs.
Convicted of murder, Masayuki Ueda is sent to Hiroshima Prison along with his accomplice. But for a man like him, breaking out of prison is easy.
A movie in which drug G-men play an important role in a big city where prostitution and drug organizations intervene. The Ministry of Health and Welfare's Narcotics Control Headquarters, which emphasizes the reality of the dark prostitution route in the city, which is said to be a hotbed of evil, sends in one talented G-men, Shiro Muraki. The drug G-Men, who succeeded in infiltrating alone, roams Turkey, cabaret, bars, etc., catches information that leads to the dismantling of the organization, and with the support of the city authorities, dares to challenge the organization.
Gokudo Shimamura comes to blows with the Delinquent Boss who rolls into town with his motorcycle gang.
This biopic of notorious yakuza-turned-actor Noboru Ando focuses on the days leading to his arrest after the shooting of businessman Hideki Yokoi.
Using a lesser mobster as bait, one government agent infiltrates a narcotics-smuggling gang to try to capture the boss. But his survival has a price.
Shozo Hirono has managed to separate from the Yamamori family and create his own small family, and extend his circle of acquaintances. These new friendships include a powerful underboss of the Muraoka family, Noboru Uchimoto.
In the teeming black markets of postwar Japan, Shozo Hirono and his buddies find themselves in a new war between factious and ambitious yakuza...
Poor Yoko knows she is getting played and used by a playboy, but she loves him with all her heart and soul.
After a desperate gang of ex-soldiers and gamblers meet in a fistfight in occupied Ginza and decide to make the neighborhood their own.
Hiroshi (Tatsuo Umemiya) has the biggest penis in all of Japan and everyone who touches (or is touched by) it, is blessed by good fortune. After buying his sister a washing machine for her wedding, he travels to Tokyo, where he must help his friend Masa out of a half-million yen debt. Among other hijinks, he becomes a penis god in the process.
Gang leader Nami (cult film legend Meiko Kaji) kills a member of a yakuza group and goes away to prison. Upon her release three years later, she’s a shamed woman confined to living in the shadowy world of sex clubs and street gangs. She returns to the city to live with her uncle, a billiard-hall owner, and after befriending pimp and ne’er-do-well Ryuji (Tsunehiko Watase), she gets a job working at a hostess club in the chic Ginza neighborhood, where the expensive shops and neon lights conceal a dark world of crime and sexual slavery. But when a rival gang attempts to muscle in on the club, Nami becomes enmeshed in a violent struggle that forces her to wield a skilled pool cue to defend her uncle’s business, and eventually a short sword to wreak bloody vengeance upon her enemies.
This is the Fifteenth film in the series. There were seventeen Wolves of the City films between 1968 & 1974, in the main aimed at shock-value & “pinku” soft-core with sex, nudity, violence, gunplay, & a lot of mainly pointless foolishness when the biker gang coopts racist or nazi imagery, inventing a non-existent youth culture void of morality…
This is the Sixteenth film in the series. There were seventeen Wolves of the City films between 1968 & 1974, in the main aimed at shock-value & “pinku” soft-core with sex, nudity, violence, gunplay, & a lot of mainly pointless foolishness when the biker gang coopts racist or nazi imagery, inventing a non-existent youth culture void of morality…
This is the Twelfth film in the series. There were seventeen Wolves of the City films between 1968 & 1974, in the main aimed at shock-value & “pinku” soft-core with sex, nudity, violence, gunplay, & a lot of mainly pointless foolishness when the biker gang coopts racist or nazi imagery, inventing a non-existent youth culture void of morality…
A disgraced yakuza member, framed for the murder of his boss, emerges from prison eight years later with revenge on his mind.
Hoodlum group helps fishermen against firm polluting their fishing ground.
Set in Osaka, during the devastated time of post-war Japan, this is a tale of the yakuza who set about rebuilding after the death of their Oyabun (big boss). Battles erupt as tempers explode as someone seeks to fill the seat of power.
With World War II is coming to its end and Japan nearing defeat, Japanese military leaders step up suicide attacks on Allied ships. Toei legend Koji Tsuruta stars as a Kamikaze squad leader who has second thoughts about suicide runs. He becomes torn between his own morality and his duty to his country when he must deal with a pilot under his command who refuses to complete his mission.
It takes place in the sunset days of the yakuza in the 1970s. The postwar turmoil that created the black market and lubricated illegal business opportunities was giving way to Japan Inc. A young Bunta Sugawara takes over as the oyabun of a crime syndicate in Yokohama, where he is struggling to keep operations at the port there alive. As his syndicate is eroding quickly, a major heavy industries company offers his gang the chance to chase some vagrants out of a shantytown where they are squatting on land where a factory is to be built. The job would secure steady profits for Bunta's crime ring for years to come. However, Bunta and other members of his outfit grew up in the shanty, and they would be muscling their friends and neighbors. This sets the stage for an internal struggle that complicates the violent struggle with a rival mafia organization in Tokyo.
Rika is released from girls detention school and then winds up at a lounge bar where she finds her other classmates working. This lounge bar is run by Junko Miyazono.
A man is inspired to build a hospital after his mother falls ill and becomes a host to swindle money out of women.
The hoodlum group goes to a hot-spring resort town to earn money.
The hoodlum group tries to help a little printing factory against gangsters.
This is the sixth film in the series. There were seventeen Wolves of the City films between 1968 & 1974, in the main aimed at shock-value & “pinku” soft-core with sex, nudity, violence, gunplay, & a lot of mainly pointless foolishness when the biker gang coopts racist or nazi imagery, inventing a non-existent youth culture void of morality…
Tokyo hoodlums travel to Osaka and enter into rivalry with the local gangsters.
Kosaka Hiroshi is a small time swindler and the boss of a motorcycle gang in Shinjuku. Living only to make money, he never made the big time until he gets involved with a Yakuza's daughter. But when he gets involved in a scheme to blackmail a Yakuza gang and a land developer, he realizes he's gone way over his head…
Okatsu the Fugitive is the third film in the "Ohyaku/Okatsu" series. Okatsu; a "tomboy" who is good with a sword. Her father has found her a man to marry and actually she doesn't seem too upset about the situation. At the same time, a bunch of farmers are being slaughtered by a corrupt group running a tobacco smuggling ring. They're being investigated by a man who is documenting their crimes and when they find out about it, they torture him for information but get none. It's not long before he and Okatsu's mother wind up dead and she sets out for revenge.
The third film in the Zenka-mono series.At the beginning of the Showa period, Matsukichi Iwaki was released from prison after 10 years in prison. Matsukichi came to Yokosuka relying on his old friend Mitsuo Nakai from the Nakai gang, but Nakai was killed and the gang disbanded. Matsukichi discovers that the Shimanaka gang is behind everything, and from her the thread reaches the Navy. With the help of grenades and sword, Matsukichi, nicknamed "Bomb Man", sets off a disorderly rampage.
Story of loyal sailors giving their lives for their country as human torpedoes towards the end of the War.
The three henchmen join forces to challenge the brutal gang that is trying to control the city of Izu in Shizuoka during the early Showa period. Representatives of three different yakuza gangs - Tatsuo Umemiya, Tomisaburo Wakayama and Koji Tsuruta celebrate male friendship and male chivalry in action.
The film is dedicated to the souls of flight school graduates killed in World War II. Young boys dream about becoming pilots and apply to flight schools. However, they were forced to become suicide bombers and give their lives for their homeland.
The first in what would become Toei's most successful, longest-running bosozoku film series. It lasted from 1968 till 1972 through sixteen films.
Continuation of the film Once and For All about two yakuza brothers Joji and Goro.
Convict son revenges innocent father's death.
An absolutely astonishing art house ninkyo yakuza film. Wandering gambler runs into a young swindler woman working with old man. They are both arrested by detective. A year later gambler is staying with gangster boss when he comes across that woman and her partner again. Boss lusts for both her and his own daughter, while the boss's crazy yakuza brother loves his daughter, who, in turn, watches the player and wants to destroy the people standing in her way. And here lies one of the film's remarkable departures from the standard ninkyo efforts: it doesn't have a third party villain, nor a clear distinction between good and evil. It's bursting with romantic emotion and wrenched with gritty realism, shot with striking black and white compositions, and explodes into shocking carnage. It has lengthier, more detailed gambling scenes than any other yakuza film I've seen. And it has a heartbreakingly beautiful score. You could call it the Ashes of Time of ninkyo yakuza films. A masterpiece!
It has been 5 years since Eijiro Kikukawa of the Asakusa Kaminarimon family killed the head of the Suzaki family. Finally he gets out of prison and comes to the city of Odahama, where he had a mistress, Okei, whom he could not forget. He accidentally helped a man named Hanji from the Kurokane family and was received by the family as a guest. And soon Eijiro is involved in a showdown between the yakuza families.
Jiro, a smooth-talking, womanizing bartender, flees from a Yakuza boss to Yanagase.
Thriller about a gangster and an outlaw who become friends despite their different outlooks.
The son of a prominent member of a fishing community returns home after a stint with the yakuza to find his father has died under orders of a local gang leader. He sets out to avenge his father, keeping his plans secret from his mother who is cold to him since his perceived abandonment of the family. This wonderful, if little-seen, Fulasaku gem deals with family, community and what it means to do right by both.
A young yakuza man who respects obligation and humanity must face cruel and heartless turf wars leading to a fight to the death with his own brother.
Somewhat unique as it appears to be one of the very rare appearances of master thespian Itô in a yakuza role.
The film depicts the fate of a young yakuza boss and his father, who confront each other, not knowing that they are relatives, and become victims of a brutal war for territory between the clans according to the merciless laws of the yakuza.
After World War II, their town was a pile of rubble. Gennosuke, the second-generation boss of the Kamizu Group was upholding yakuza chivalry by keeping black-market and illegal items out of their open-air market. Taking advantage of the mess, Iwasa and his gang take hold of goods from the US military, black-market and controlled items in order to become the most powerful group in the Enko area. Iwasa has Gennosuke assassinated but before he dies, he names Shinji Terajima as his successor and makes him swear to carry on the family business and not seek revenge or use violence. Shinji tries to make his family’s marketplace a success, but with constant interruption and attacks from Iwasa’s gang, he can no longer keep his word to his former boss…
A young bartender acts as a pimp on the side: he pretends to have VD to get a girl an abortion. She is actually infected by another and plans her revenge.
Japanese prison exploitation movie. Part 1 of the 'Onna bangaichi' series
In post-war Japan, it is difficult for private business to stay afloat. The small atelier has a debt of several million yen. To get a loan, his proprietress is forced to turn to a successful businessman, owner of entertainment establishments and bars. But she has nothing to guarantee the return of the debt, and then she offers herself as collateral. A drama about the contradictory nature of human feelings. Based on the novel by Junpei Gomikawa.
Set in the pleasure district of Kyoto, Tamiko (Yoshiko Mita, in her first lead role) is a young girl attending high school by day and training as a geisha at night She sees her future as an entertainer, not a prostitute, & she expects a happy marriage with a medical student, Yasuke (Katsuo Nakamura), a sweet fellow she deeply loves. but things started to getting worse for Tamiko and she's forced to become the mistress of the disgusting Tsukada (Seiji Miyaguchi).
After eloping with a prostitute named Otoyo, Hishakaku takes refuge in the Kogane family’s turf. Indebted to Boss Kogane for his kindness, Hishakaku swears to dedicate himself to protect the Koganes in time of crisis. Hishakaku’s humble life comes to a sudden halt when the Kogane family becomes involved in a fatal feud with their rival, and Hishakaku’s services are called upon.
Upon his release from the prison, Hishakaku joins the Kikkyo family who is struggling to regain their turf from their rival, Domoto family. To reciprocate the kindness of the Kikkyos, Hishakaku heads to meet the leader of Domoto, Osumi, and finds himself emotionally involved with her.
A modern gang version of Chushingura, chronicling almost scene for scene the Brave 47 Ronin story, transposed from the Genroku Period to the Showa Era.
The plot opens with the hero (Tsuruta) leaving prison, having served time through taking the blame for a fellow gang member’s crime. However, his former gang boss seems to have gone to seed, with people now killing each other and dealing in drugs. The hero then teams up with a lone operator (Tamba) who specialises in shaking down gangsters.
G-men challenge a jewelry smuggling ring. The chase starts in Kyushu and continues to Kobe to Yokohama.
Journalist Kuroki is investigating clandestine arms sales to Southeast Asia. He discovers that the point man in an arms trade was also involved in the cover-up of a murder on an American base during the Allied Occupation. The film rolls along as a suspenseful thriller while offering a critique of political corruption, hypocrisy, and journalistic cowardice in postwar Japan.
A group of four chorus singers leave their hometown in Kyushu and go to Tokyo to become stars. It’s a musical comedy that shows Segawa’s talent.
The lives of several Japanese families are shattered as the USA and the USSR move toward war, Japan finds itself caught in the middle, and Tokyo is ultimately evacuated as the two superpowers invoke the 'nuclear option'.
The story of a certain engineer from his youth until he retired from the Japanese National Railways after the war .
The son of the murdered Yakuza, Kenji, at the request of his mother, worked in a stable company. However, soon the girl Kenji Amy, who was in favor of the director of the company, is sexually harassed by him. Kenji beats the director and resigns. He asks his brother Ryota, the manager of the cabaret, to find a job, but his brother refuses him, and he is taken in by Senba, a yakuza boss specializing in smuggling and drugs...
An upstanding young man who is popular with the ladies takes on a corrupt group of men in his company.
When an alien force tries to invade Earth to steal a powerful new rocket fuel, a mysterious hero intervenes.
The sixth and last Moonlight Mask film in the original series produced by Toei in the 1950s.
Airline captain saves passengers from a brutal murderer on a plane during four hours of terror.
Ninth and final film in the Boy Detectives Club series. Features Tatsuo Umemiya's film debut.
The 7th work of Song of the Night series, which was adapted and directed by the combination of Masashige Narizawa and Ryuichi Takamori of "Yoru no Kayo Series Minatomachi Bruce" based on Kohan Kawauchi's original "Rogue". Hanjiro Nakazawa is in charge of shooting.
