A Buddhist Mass for Goemon Ishikawa

The adventures of a modern day descendant of a famed Edo era thief are the basis for this short supe

Mother is Strong

There Was a Father

Shuhei Horikawa, a poor schoolteacher, struggles to raise his son Ryohei by himself, despite neither

I Was Born, But...

Two young brothers become the leaders of a gang of kids in their neighborhood. Ozu's charming film i

Men Fighting Whales

A film about the rivalry between Captain Gondo and the harpooner Yosuke Yamagami, working on the bes

A Story of Floating Weeds

An aging actor returns to a small town with his troupe and reunites with his former lover and illegi

Hotaru no hikari

Approaching their graduation ceremony, Saegusa, Sanae, and their classmates go on an overnight trip

Yakuza of Seki

A young yakuza, Yatappe, wanders around the country in search of his long-lost little sister, Oito.

Outlaw island

The southern tip of Shikoku. This village, surrounded by a bay, where, according to legend, the form

Okashina yatsu

Middle-Aged Man

The story of a boy who befriends a lonely middle-aged man.

Record of a Tenement Gentleman

An errant salaryman's son gets lost until a man from the Tokyo tenements brings him to vendor Tane,

Zoku aizen katsura

1939 Japanese movie

An Inn in Tokyo

An unemployed Japanese man and his two sons wander the industrial flatlands of Depression-era Tokyo,

What Did the Lady Forget?

A professor, Komiya, and his bossy wife, Tokiko, are to look after Setsuko, their high-spirited niec

Kare to Tokyo

Theater

Kotobuki-za is a story of the Naniwa-bushi singer Baichuken Tsurumaru.

Here's to the Young Lady

A matchmaker looks to unite a young woman from a wealthy Tokyo family with the humble owner of an au

Carmen Comes Home

A rural village elder plans an event on the return of a farmer's daughter from the city, unaware tha

A Hen in the Wind

Tokiko is a mother patiently waiting for her husband's return from the war when her 4-year old son b

Every-Night Dreams

In Depression-era Tokyo, the life of a single mother and her young son are disrupted by the return o

Tokyo Chorus

In Depression-era Tokyo, a young man struggles to provide for his family after he is fired from his

Boyhood

When a family has to relocate due to the war, they are ostracized by their new community.

Ornamental Hairpin

A Japanese mountain inn patron's foot is cut by an ornamental hairpin accidentally left behind by a

King of the Land

Japanese silent film from 1928, ranked as Kinema Junpo's second-best Japanese movie of the year.

The Big City: Labor

Passing Fancy

In Depression-era Tokyo, a struggling middle-aged single father with a young son comes across a home

Manchurian Sunset

A film adaptation of the original novel by Kazuo Dan. This exciting film, set in Asia on the eve of

Utsukushiki Rinjin

A Legend or Was It?

A Tokyo family escaping the war relocates to a Hokkaido village; their daughter is set to marry the

Sailor

Shinpachi Morimura, who was born in a fusuma craftsman's house, wants to join the Japanese navy. How

Children in the Wind

On vacation's eve, a boy is sent to the countryside to live with his uncle after his father is impri

Woman in the Mist

Otoku asks her brother Bunkichi to speak with her son Seiichi, a young man for whom sacrificed every

Sunny house

On the outskirts of Tokyo, a family of Mitsu Nakahara lives in one of the small huts surrounded by b

The Tattered Wings

A young widow, made world weary by her abusive, neglectful husband, finds herself in a minor scandal

Mother's Love Letter

Domestic comedy involving a strong wife and a "henpecked" husband taking place in a family-run judo

Housewife Camellia

The narrative is about a woman who faces hard times, when her husband is arrested for a crime commit

Otoko no iki

This was 1942, so it was a national policy film, no matter what you call it. But when the war was st

Moon of the Plateau

An older sister and brother (Mieko Takamine and Masayoshi Otsuka) come to visit their grandfather (T

The Tokyo Kid

A young, talented singer (Misora) is orphaned, not once but twice, and has to turn to a rather unlik

A Straightforward Boy

A kidnapped boy proves to be more than his abductor can handle.

Haruko no ōen danchō

1962 Japanese movie

A Comedy in Front of the Station: Lunchbox

Third film in the "Ekimae" series, this time set in Hamamatsu. A widow named Keiko and her brother J

Sound in the Mist

In the heart of the Japanese Alps, in Kamikochi, Nagano Prefecture, botany professor Kazuhiko Onuma

I Graduated, But...

Tetsuo Nomoto, a young college graduate tries to find a decent job by himself. Later on, he will mar

Day-Dream

While under sedation in a dentist's office, a young art student has sex fantasies about naked women,

Don't Tell Your Wife About It

A Japanese screwball comedy about the battle between the sexes: two timid men, egged on by their wiv

A Boy and Three Mothers

Hard Times

Directed by Mikio Naruse. It is presumed to be lost.

Ballad of a Workman

A demobilized soldier becomes a day laborer with a road construction gang, and his wife goes to work

A Brother and His Younger Sister

A man who works late hours at a deadening job lives together with his wife and his younger sister. T

Port of Flowers

The sweet but naive denizens of a charming port town are hoodwinked by a couple of con men at the ou

Walk Cheerfully

Kenji is a small-time thief who likes drinking and fighting. When he falls in love with sweet and si

The Lady and the Beard

Graduate Okajima finds his old-fashioned beard makes life difficult in a comedy exploring the tensi

Where Now Are the Dreams of Youth?

When a young man inherits his father's lucrative business, he cheats the system to set up three of h

Marching On

A farmer’s boy, obsessed with his balsa-and-paper flying models and with dreams of real aircraft, de

The Boss's Son at College

The story deals with Fuji, nicknamed Waka-danna (Young Master), the star athlete on his university's

Natsuko’s Adventure in Hokkaido

Born to a prestigious family, Natsuko is not impressed by any one of her suitors. Determined to spen

Okoto and Sasuke

A period piece about the love of a wealthy blind woman, a teacher of koto and shamisen, and her devo

New Tokyo March

Follows six male friends from elementary school whose career paths diverge—newspaper reporter, engin

So Goes My Love

Shigeo is an aspiring writer living with his girl friend Minako and hoping for success and a better

Sumida River

Inoue was something of a rarity in the sense, that he was a Shochiku house director who seems to hav

A Certain Woman

Pretty Oshige is deceived by her first love. After this, she lives a hard lifestyle, working at a nu

Street Without End

Mikio Naruse’s final silent film is a gloriously rich portrait of a waitress, Sugiko, whose life, de

Love and Power

Directed by Mikio Naruse. It is presumed to be lost.

Where Chimneys Are Seen

Where Chimneys Are Seen focuses primarily on the interconnected lives of two couples in a lower-midd

Burden of Life

A middle-aged father has just married off his third daughter, but still has his nine year old son to

The Bride Talks in Her Sleep

This pair of gentle yet witty and inventive comedies from the director of The Neighbour's Wife and M

The Neighbour's Wife and Mine

A playwright moves to a rural neighborhood to avoid the distractions of the city, but he discovers t

The Dancing Girl of Izu

"The Dancing Girl of Izu" tells of the story between a young male student who is touring the Izu Pen

Tengoku no hanayome

1945 Japanese movie

A Carpenter and Children

A carpenter, Shigetsugu, learns a lesson of love and humanity from five orphaned children and an aff

Cold Rice, Osan, Chan

Three stories revolve around independence, a man searching for his wife, and a poor craftsman trying

Casebook of Detective Jiro Nango: Shadowless Murderer

Japanese mystery film marking Yuka Mizuhara's film debut.

Ghosts Die at Dawn

At the wedding of Kohei (Hasegawa) and Michiko (Todoroki), a whisper echoes along with a gust of win

Family Diary

Two childhood friends go their own ways but meet again some years later after they have both married

The Genealogy of Women

A melodrama by noted auteur and father of director Yoshitaro Nomura, Hotei Nomura. This is apparentl

Family Meeting

A melodrama about a businessman's relations with the three women in his life.

The Prickly Mouthed Geisha and the Girl of Osaka

A geisha helps a runaway who looks just like her.

The Foster Mother

A human drama about the bond between parents and a child and family love. The daughter leaves her fo

Times of Joy and Sorrow

The story of the trials and tribulations of a lighthouse keeper and his wife.

Hobo Village

Live-action adaptation of Yoshiro Kato’s manga.

Victory Song

Hisshoka is a 1945 Drama film directed by four Japanese directors.

My Elder Brother

Jyuta, an honest owner of a taxi company, has a younger half-brother who is involved in the yakuza w

The Prickly Mouthed Geisha, Part 3

Popular geisha Koharu suspects that Yusaku, a handsome stranger she falls in love with, is involved

Lady Doctor Kinuyo

Kinuyo is a daughter of doctor of Chinese medicine, and Yasuo is a son of surgeon. Their families al

Goodbye to the Front

A 1937 Japanese film.

Days of Youth

Students Watanabe and Yamamoto unknowingly compete for the same girl.

Four Seasons of Children

The brothers of Children In The Wind deal with declining family fortunes: they must work when the fa

Wood and Stone

Movie about a devoted and single woman and her daughter. The mother's nickname is "Bokuseki" (wooden

Seisen aiba fu: Akatsuki ni inoru

Carmen's Innocent Love

Strip dancer Carmen falls in love with Hajime, who is engaged to the daughter of a right-wing politi

Him, Her, and the Boys

A Japanese film

The Waves

Before a young woman can be sold to a geisha, she becomes pregnant.

The Cock Crows Twice

Three young women make a suicide pact, but they grow to have a better understanding of themselves.

Hattari Seinen Shinshi

Japanese comedy film.

Happy Times

A young couple is harrased by an uncle.

The Living Magoroku

A wealthy family will not allow the military to grow crops on their fields due to their superstitiou

Japanese King Kong

A silent 3-reel comedy short that uses the 1933 film King Kong as a backdrop to the story. It was pr

Young Miss Executive

A President of the confectionery company announced his retirement, and his sixteen year old granddau

Growing Up

A boy falls in love with a girl. Neither of them know that she's to be sold to a brothel.

The Luck Which Touched the Leg

A salaryman finds some money in the street and gets a reward for returning it to its rightful owner.

An Innocent Maid

In a back alley of the Shitamachi district of Tokyo, Kihachi bears witness to a series of romantic c

Spring Comes from the Ladies

A student comes up with various schemes to avoid paying a tailor the money he owes him. Considered t

The Life of an Office Worker

When Tsukamoto is made redundant he cannot bring himself to tell his wife. Instead he investigates o

Pumpkin

Comedy about a young man juggling several girlfriends. Considered to be a lost film.

Wife Lost

A married man falls for a dancer and his wife's uncle hires a private detective to spy on him. Consi

Lovers' Duet

Melodrama about a talented singer who finally makes her debut

The Beauty Expert

Introspection Tower

A reformatory in the remote countryside houses 200 delinquents and problem children. The teachers an

Maria of the Ant Village

Alongside Tokyo's Sumida River is a ragpickers' settlement known as Ant Village. One night, a young

The Spy Has Not Died Yet

The Man Who Has Returned

Seven Seas: Chastity Chapter

Part two of Shimizu's major silent Seven Seas, a family drama of the intertwining fates of the rich,

The Tree of Love

A young doctor, Kozo Tsumura, falls for young nurse Katsue Takaishi. But she's got a secret: she's a

Brothers and Sisters of the Toda Family

After the death of her husband, an elderly woman and her youngest, unmarried daughter are forced to

City of Love

Aiko, a bar hostess, falls for the son of a company president who also keeps a mistress, and whose f

The Dawning Sky

A melodrama about an orphan and her mother who are separated and lose contact, but are later reunite

Untamed Woman

A woman marries, gives birth to a stillborn child, and divorces, falls in love with a hotel-keeper,

Izu no musumetachi

Warm Current

Adaptation of Kishida Kunio's novel. Set against the backdrop of a power struggle within a hospital,

The Masseurs and a Woman

A pair of blind masseurs, an enigmatic city woman, a lonely man and his ill-behaved nephew—The Masse

Fireworks Over the Sea

A fishing union depends on two brothers to make up the losses caused by the dishonest captains they

Dreams of Youth

Lost silent film

Men vs. Women

A musical film made for the inauguration of Shochiku's Ofuna Studio, with an all-star cast of the er

Physical Beauty

A hen-pecked man works as his artist wife's model and a house-husband. When her patron flirts with h

College Is a Nice Place

In a Tokyo boarding house a group of students and recent graduates struggle to complete their studie

Twice on a Certain Night

Poor social conditions badly affect the relationship between a married couple, when the husband, who

Twenty-Year-Old Youth

The film features the first scene with kissing in a Japanese film. Kiss scenes were encouraged by th

Silver Stream

Michiko gets pregnant after a rape. She marries a boring business partner of her father to avoid the

Modan kaidan: 100,000,000 yen

A young couple flee their disapproving parents, get lost of Mt. Akagi and find a cache of gold prote

The Magical Warrior

Rikitaro and Osayo are popular entertainers who throw knives. They are sweethearts. At one day They

Hell's Kitchen

The Princess and the Bearded Lord

The Blacksmith of the Forest

A blacksmith is chased out of the village by the sinister village chief and forced to move to the f

Our Chief, Our Doctor

It chronicles the experiences of a neighbourhood doctor, whose taste for tonkatsu (a popular Japanes

Beauty of Life

Inochi uruwashi

Flowers of Patriotism

A nurse's tale of self-sacrifice during wartime. The title is borrowed from a patriotic song made po

I Want to Be a Shellfish

Television production of I Want to Be a Shellfish. On a post-war peaceful day in Japan, Toyomatsu Sh

Love

Heinosuke Gosho evokes in this film the family conflicts engendered by the eternal problem of a fath

At a Crossroads

The Man Who Challenged 8,000,000-Koku

A story of an orphan boy who wanted the love of parents so badly, another orphan sincerely pitied hi

Dawn Chorus

A young girl gives up high school to help out family expenses and starts to work as a bus conductor.

That Night's Woman

That Night's Woman

Blackmail

Over That Hill

Mariko is an innocent girl who grew up in the highlands of Shinshu. She moves to Tokyo to live with

Kyūsenman no akarui hitomi

1961 Japanese movie

Midori naru hito: zenpen wakare no yogisha

1956 Japanese movie

Midori naru hito: kōhen ai no honryū

1956 Japanese movie

Hiroshi Moriya Sandogasa Series: I Want to Weep

A wandering swordsman helps a doll maker and his fiancée fight against a ruthless gang in a small to

Hiroshi Moriya Sadogasa Series: Thank You, Sandogasa

When noble wanderer Moritaro saves a disowned merchant’s son from gangsters, he becomes entangled in

Modan dôchû: Sono koi matta nashi

A road trip comedy set against the backdrop of the famous historical sites of Tohoku and Hokkaido.

Air Raid of the Enemy Plane

Japanese war movie.

桃色の超特急

1961 Japanese movie

Fallen Samurai

A period drama about samurai who survived a loss in battle. An early jidaegeki by Hiroshi Shimizu.

Flashing Blade

Silent jidaigeki released on New Year's Eve, 1926.

Secret Struggle

Japanese silent drama from 1927.

Magic

Japanese jidaigeki from 1927.

Sankichi the Flying Squirrel

Japanese jidaigeki from 1927. The titular character's nickname may suggest agility, stealth, or othe

What a Handsome Man!

Japanese silent film from 1928.

A Wife Quits

Hirano's wife Yasuko had grown weary of her life of poverty. Her feelings of dissatisfaction deepene

Him and Life

Japanese silent film from 1929.

Triumphant Song of the Mountain

Japanese silent film from 1929.

The Father and His Son

Japanese silent film from 1929.

Youth, Why Do You Cry?

A modern girl suddenly intrudes into a widower's family home.

Storm Zone

Japanese silent film from 1932.

Before the Wedding

Japanese home drama starring Kinuyo Tanaka.

Farewell Tango

A heartrending love story between an aspiring singer and a unnamed composer. Sobbing love songs sung

Triumphant Song of Youth

Swimmers Akio and Natsuko train hard for national competition while Natsuko struggles with family ch

Daphne

Japanese film from 1933, adapted from Masao Kume's serialized newspaper novel.

Mother of the East

Japanese drama from 1934. A major production of Shochiku Studio, directed by Hiroshi Shimizu.

Honeymoon

Japanese film from 1934.