Rentaro Mikuni
Birthday: Born in 1923-01-20 in Ota, Gunma Prefecture, Japan
Deathday: 2013-04-14
Rentaro Mikuni (三國 連太郎, Mikuni Rentarō, born January 20, 1923) was a Japanese actor from Gunma Prefecture. He appeared in over 150 films since making his screen debut in 1951, and won three Japanese Academy Awards for Best Actor, and a further seven nominations. He also won two Blue Ribbon Awards for Best Actor, in 1960 and in 1989. Kōichi Satō is his son. Description above from the Wikipedia article Rentaro Mikuni, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
TV Credits
必殺仕掛人
Character:
A shikakenin was an under-the-cover trade that undertook killing in Edo. Hanemon of Otowa, an agency that introduced laborers and maids, was also one of these. Katsugoro Iseya was a timber dealer who had come in as a client. His target was the constructions magistrate Hanno, and the Tatsumiya who sipped on the benefits. Hanemon who had a stong code towards killing, where he would only kill those who do no good to be in the world, accepts this request. Baian Fujieda, a needle doctor would carry o...
人はそれをスキャンダルという
Character: Koichiro dojima
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家族熱
Character:
Kuronuma Tomoko lives in a large house in Tokyo with her husband Kenzo, her two step sons and Kenzo's father. One day, she discovers that her husband has started seeing his previous wife again....
眠狂四郎
Character:
Thirteen years after his mother took her own life as a ritual sacrifice for the Black Mass, samurai Kyoshiro (Masakazu Tamura), who lives his life with his eyes turned away from happiness, uses his beloved sword to slay his enemies who come at him........
関ヶ原
Character: Masanobu Honda
Blockbuster drama based on the novel Sekigahara by Ryotaro Shiba, a program dedicated to the 30th anniversary of TBS. A total of 120 actors, 3,500 extras and about 500 horses recreated the largest battle in history, the Battle of Sekigahara, in which 200,000 warriors clashed from east and west. The battle, which can be called a turning point in the history of Japan, depicts the conflict, love and hate between people on a grand scale and with a great cast....
額田女王
Character:
A historical romance about the life of Princess Nukata, a Manyo poetess who was loved by two brothers, Emperor Tenji and Emperor Tenmu, and the formation of an ancient nation....
赤い死線
Character:
When Ryoko, a ballerina turned disco dancer, gets entangled in a murder and a stolen 10 million yen, she must race against time to uncover the truth and return to her hometown....
Movie Credits
The Bear Storm
Character:
An adaptation of Akira Yoshimura's original suspense novel starring Rentaro Mikuni. 4th year of the Taishō era. About 15 families who moved in search of agricultural land to the land of the pioneers in Hokkaido led a peaceful life. One day, one of the pioneers, Mikio Shimakawa's wife Yura, and her child Taichi are attacked and killed by a bear that cannot hibernate. To resolve the situation, Shimakawa goes against all odds and turns to Ginshiro, the most hated hunter in the village, for help. Wh...
3,000 Kilometer Trap
Character:
A young man has to deliver a Mitsubishi Galant GTO from Kagoshima (on the southern tip of the southern Japanese island of Kyushu) 3000 kilometers across the length of Japan to the northern island of Hokkaido....
Good Son-in-Law
Character:
Asahi Shoji's office girl, Aiko Tatebayashi, is a modern girl of Akira herself. The dentist's father has already cleared up his eldest daughter Keiko to Mizukami, but this time Aiko's turn and her sister's wedding greeting card are handy to add a request for the color of her sister's son. However, Aiko, who wants to be herself, uses the help of her friend, private detective Nobuko Migishi, to break through the behavior of the matchmaker, Mrs. Yamaguchi, who is a matchmaker. However, Nobuko's mis...
The Life of a Horse-Trader
Character: 片山米太郎
Hokkaido at the end of the Taisho era is Kitami. On the day his wife died of a dystocia, Bakuro Yonetaro fell asleep after being kicked by a sick woman Yuki at a vague shop after violence....
Escape Zone
Character:
Shiro Yabe, a young gangster who boarded the second class on the Tokaido Line after finishing a dangerous smuggling transaction in Kobe, is next to a beautiful woman with a sad face....
Aijô ni tsuite
Character:
Michiko Asakura was married to the eldest son of the Sakuma family, an unsealed family in Shinshu, but died from her husband and returned to her parents' house in Tokyo with her five-year-old daughter Yoshiko....
Koibito-tachi no iru machi
Character:
Mr. Baku, a sandwich man, was familiar to his neighbors because he was a natural friend of Ryotaro Yanaka. Yoshie, the sign girl of the coffee shop, is the lover of Douta Kuraishi, the manager of Cabaret Orion....
Kwaidan
Character: Husband (segment "The Black Hair")
Taking its title from an archaic Japanese word meaning "ghost story," this anthology adapts four folk tales. A penniless samurai marries for money with tragic results. A man stranded in a blizzard is saved by Yuki the Snow Maiden, but his rescue comes at a cost. Blind musician Hoichi is forced to perform for an audience of ghosts. An author relates the story of a samurai who sees another warrior's reflection in his teacup....
Turbid Youth
Character:
Shigeki Kachi, Tosuke Satomura, and Nanako, who belong to the theater company Vuanbert around Dosa, withdrew at the indignation of the chairman Hayashi and seeked their own careers in the film industry....
Striving to Live
Character:
Yasuichiro Isa, who works in the labor section of Sone Mining Tokyo Headquarters, paid a monthly fee for his younger brother, Reiji, who was in trouble because he had a bonus of 10,000 yen more....
Omatsuri hanjiro
Character:
Every year, at the festival, familiar merchants such as Toraemon, a magic trick, Tokubei, a blowgun, Kaji, acrobatics, and Unsaibo, a ritual, gather toward the port town....
Three Faces
Character:
Five years have passed since the three comrades who saved their lives on the Burma Campaign-Kenichiro Kishi, Eiji Shiga, and Daizo Kobayashi promised to meet again five years later at the platform of Shinagawa Station, which was crowded with repatriates. , The day of reunion is approaching....
The Beautiful Nuns
Character:
A samurai who slashes a young girl's mage appears in Edo, and she is never caught....
Bodyguard from Hell
Character:
Kitagawa, a drug control officer in the Kanto Shinetsu area, was ordered to investigate the situation of drug trafficking around Yokohama....
Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto
Character: Matahachi
Struggling to elevate himself from his low caste in 17th century Japan, Miyamoto trains to become a mighty samurai warrior....
The Burmese Harp
Character: Captain Inouye
In Burma during the closing days of WWII, a Japanese soldier separated from his unit disguises himself as a Buddhist monk to escape imprisonment as a POW....
Phoenix
Character: (Uncredited)
Emi Ikushima, a star actress in the Roses, is half-hearted, but she wasn't disappointed by the news of her father Enmy's sudden death, and she performed enthusiastically on the stage that night, attracting a crowded audience....
Dotanba
Character:
Based on a 1956 television feature on Japan’s national network, NHK, this is one of Uchida’s rarest films. A socially conscious drama with a contemporary backdrop, Dotanba focuses on the attempts to rescue a group of trapped miners. The title is a figure of speech — (essentially “last minute” or “eleventh hour”) — that refers to a situation of peril. The film boasts a script co-written by Uchida and Akira Kurosawa’s frequent screenwriter, Shinobu Hashimoto, and stars Kurosawa’s frequent star Tak...
Ryûri no kishi
Character:
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The Undefeated Woman
Character:
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Evil Reward
Character:
After finishing his sentence, Ryosuke Ogiwara, who left the prison gate, got into a car that was sent by his wife's cell and Kenmochi detective of the Metropolitan Police Department, but the real Kenmochi detective arrived a few minutes later. The corpse of the bunch went up in the moat near Akasaka, and the Metropolitan Police Department's Investigation Division 1 was colored....
Yoku
Character:
Half a Loaf... Avarice / Yoku...
A Dead Drifter
Character:
A Dead Drifter / Hyoryû shitaî...
Like Fire is My Life
Character:
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The Stragglers
Character:
The last Japanese soldier in 16 years who survived...
Umineko ga tonde
Character:
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The King
Character:
The film takes place at the junction of the two eras of Meiji and Taisho. Sakata Sankichi, an uneducated zori sandal maker, becomes a professional shogi player through his genius shogi skills and lives a fanatically devoted shogi game supported by the love of his family. This is the 3rd adaptation of Hideji Hojo's famous play....
Fateful Birthplace
Character:
A sad love story between young Umihiko Kojima and a beautiful girl named Yukiko Shino....
The Life of Rikisha-Man
Character:
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Futari dake no toride
Character:
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Never Give Up
Character: Kazunari Ohba
Special forces officer Ajisawa leaves his paramilitary group to take care of his newly-adopted daughter, Yoriko: the sole survival of a bloodbath for which he is responsible. Years later, Ajisawa is forced to return to the scene of the tragedy for his new job as a claims adjuster where he is subsequently arrested for his suspected involvement. But the threat of jail time is the least of his worries as his former organization comes gunning for him....
Vengeance Is Mine
Character: Shizuo Enokizu
A thief, a murderer, and a charming lady-killer, Iwao Enokizu is on the run from the police....
Harakiri
Character: Kageyu Saito
Down-on-his-luck veteran Tsugumo Hanshirō enters the courtyard of the prosperous House of Iyi. Unemployed, and with no family, he hopes to find a place to commit seppuku—and a worthy second to deliver the coup de grâce in his suicide ritual. The senior counselor for the Iyi clan questions the ronin’s resolve and integrity, suspecting Hanshirō of seeking charity rather than an honorable end. What follows is a pair of interlocking stories which lay bare the difference between honor and respect, an...
Rikyu
Character: Rikyu
Late in the 1500s, an aging tea master teaches the way of tea to a headstrong Shogun. Through force of will and courageous fighting, Hideyoshi becomes Japan’s most powerful warlord, unifying the country....
Tokyo Untouchable
Character: Naoto Nishiyama
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Neon taiheiki
Character:
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Shinsengumi: Assassins of Honor
Character: Kamo Serizawa
Near the end of the nineteenth century, as the balance of power shifts from Shogunate towards the Emperor, Japan restlessly awaits the dawning of a new age. But not all are content...The Shinsengumi, a small army of samurai, farmers and peasants, band together to do battle against the tide of history. Their leader, Isami Kondo is a man who rises from farmer to fighter to head the fierce Shinsengumi brigade. Using a stern hand and a heart of gold, he rallies his men in defense of the tottering Sh...
Sailor Suit and Machine Gun
Character: Hajime Sandaiji
A high-school girl inherits a declining yakuza organization, which seeks to repair its fortunes under her leadership....
Profound Desires of the Gods
Character: Nekichi Futori
Tokyo engineer Kariya arrives on a primitive tropical island, where he interacts with the Futori clan, to drill a well to power a sugar mill....
The Last Dance
Character: Buhei Mukai
A successful Japanese movie director in his sixties becomes increasingly ill while working on his latest film. Though his family, friends, and doctor try to keep the secret of his terminal cancer from him, Buhei gradually comes to realize the truth of his condition, leading him on a journey of despair, anger, and – ultimately – acceptance....
Zatoichi at Large
Character: Boss Tetsugoro
Blind masseur and master swordsman Zatoichi finds a robbed and fatally wounded pregnant woman, whose baby he delivers before she dies. He takes the baby in search of its father and finds the child's aunt, who is about to be forced into prostitution for want of a payment the dead mother was bringing. Zatoichi determines to save the woman from her cruel fate....
Zatoichi the Outlaw
Character: Asagoro
When a local gambling house kidnaps some peasants because they failed to pay their debts, a rival gambling house pays their debts and sets them free....
The Catch
Character: Kazumasa Takano
Towards the end of the Second World War, a downed U.S. pilot is captured and imprisoned by rural Japanese villagers, who await official instructions as to how to proceed with their “catch.”...
Himiko
Character: Nashime
The myth of the Sun Goddess who founded Japanese society is seen through the lens of a modern view of history....
The Christian Revolt
Character: Uemonsaku
In the year 1637 in Shimabara of Tokugawa-era Japan, oppressed peasant Christians revolt against the shogunate with the aid of a charismatic Christian rebel leader Shiro Amakusa....
The Outsiders
Character: Takeshi Ohiwa
A drama about relations between Japanese immigrants and the indigenous Ainu on Hokkaido, the most northerly island of Japan. From a novel by Taijun Takeda....
Coup d'Etat
Character: Ikki Kita
A freestyle biopic of Ikki Kita, the ultranationalist intellectual whose ideas inspired the failed military coup in 1936....
The Broken Commandment
Character: Rentaro Inoko
Ushimatsu's father told him never to reveal his lower-caste heritage; years later, he now contemplates confiding in an activist fighting against such discrimination....
Boyhood
Character: Teacher Shimomura
When a family has to relocate due to the war, they are ostracized by their new community....
Miyamoto Musashi VI: Swords of Death
Character: Baiken Shishido
In the sixth and final episode Rentaro Mikuni steals the show as Baiken Shishido, Musashi's nemesis. Mikuni is the nominal villain of the film, but he is a devoted husband and father as well. He tries to kill Musashi only to avenge the death of his brother-in-law. While Baiken (who wields a chain and sickle against Musashi's sword) is a very human character and the emotions that Mikuni displays in his performance are quite believable and engaging...
Mount Hakkoda
Character: Major Yamada
Two infantry regiments of the Imperial Japanese Army—210 men overall—tackled Mt. Hakkoda in the winter of 1902 to prepare for war with Russia....
The Friends
Character: Kihachi Denpo
A delightful and moving coming-of-age story. One summer, three young boys take an increasing interest in an eccentric old man who lives alone in a house surrounded by an overgrown garden. The boys form a bond with the recluse and set about weeding and replanting the garden....
Miyamoto Musashi
Character: Muneaki Takuan
In this first episode, we are introduced to Takezo, what Musashi used to be before he became the man of legend. His beginning are not exactly auspicious. He sides with the Toyotomi at Sekigahara, and as a result finds himself on the losing side of the historic battle. He and his friend Matahachi manage to escape the slaughter although the latter is wounded in his leg. They stumble across the young Akemi who makes her living with her mother Oko by robbing corpses of their armor and anything else ...
A Fugitive from the Past
Character: Takichi Inukai
Three robbers escape with loot from a heist before one of them kills the others. Their corpses wash up near the aftermath of a maritime calamity, provoking a policeman's interest....
The Making of "A Taxing Woman's Return"
Character: Self
A behind-the-scenes look at the creative process behind Juzo Itami's "Marusa no Onna 2" a.k.a. "A Taxing Woman's Return"....
Two in the Amsterdam Rain
Character: Masaoka
Akira, a Japanese expat working in Amsterdam, falls in love with a Japanese woman at Schiphol Airport who he thinks is his high school love....
Mister, Missus, Miss Lonely
Character: Hachiro Munakata
Two men and a woman plan to steal 1.5 Billion yen....
Luminous Moss
Character: Headmaster / Captain
A headmaster and a novelist, looking for inspiration, regard a strange natural phenomenon before sharing stories of their own....
Wuthering Heights
Character: Takamaru
Young Kinu Yamabe is drawn to low-born Onimaru, who is vital and charismatic, but viewed by his father as a demon. After her first period, Kinu suffers the fate of any women born near the Sacred Mountain: she must leave the Mountain and serve as a priestess....
The Good Fairy
Character: Rentaro Mikuni, news reporter
The wife of an elite government official left her husband, and a young journalist is sent to investigate the case. But his boss has a hidden agenda....
Thus Another Day
Character: Kenzô Akada
A father curries favor with his bosses to further his career, but his wife has lost faith in him. She returns to her family home while they rent out their house during the summer to pay off their mortgage, and there she meets a lonely old man......
Someday
Character:
The annual kabuki show is the main attraction in a rural Japanese mountain town. However, Yoshi's life is thrown into disarray days before the performance when his estranged wife and former best friend arrive back in town......
Making of Daibyonin
Character: Self
A behind-the-scenes look at the creative process behind Juzo Itami's "Daibyonin" a.k.a. "The Last Dance"....
Onihei Crime Files: Conscience of a Worm
Character: Chubei
Detective Onihei better known as "Heizo the Demon" heads a group of skilled officers, however, one of those special officers got himself into a web of betrayal and deceit, and become the very thing Heizo the Demon investigates daily....
The Rendezvous
Character: Detective Yamamuro
The brief love story of an attentive young man and a beautiful woman who meet, fall in love and part during the course of a train ride....
Duel at Fort Ezo
Character: Shimbei Usa
1864. Samurai Shinbei is sent in a secret mission to Ezo, in the North of Japan, to stop riots of villagers commanded by Jirozaemon. A Russian count's daughter, the village leader's daughter and a secret treasure add up to the adventure....
Husband and Wife
Character: Ryota Takemura
A married couple looking for an apartment move in with the husband's co-worker, a widower. The husband becomes jealous of the widower and his wife....
Free and Easy 7
Character:
Hama-chan and Su-san meet a charming woman on a fishing trip, but forget to ask her name. Days later, Hama-chan sees her again at a dentist's office....
A Human Promise
Character: Ryôsaku Morimoto
An old woman has died and her widower with dementia confesses to killing her. After this, the story goes back in time to show the events leading up to her death....
Wolves, Pigs & Men
Character: Ichiro Kuroki, The eldest brother
Sabu and his pals hold a pauper's funeral for Sabu's mother. His brother Jiro arrives home, fresh out of jail, and Sabu pointedly states that Jiro is not invited. Jiro meanwhile is planning a big job - steal 40 million in cash and drugs, and he invites Sabu and gang to act as decoys, for 50,000 each. The sting is a success, but the double-crossing starts almost immediately. Sabu discovers how little of the take they were promised and hides the stash. Jiro and his slimy partner pressure the kids ...
The Go Masters
Character: 松波麟作
Ten years before the outbreak of the Second World War in Asia, a Japanese Go master and his Chinese rival meet in China to play a game of Go (loosely described as an Asian version of chess). It soon becomes evident that the Chinese master's son is the most talented player that the Japanese master has ever encountered, and he convinces the boy's father to let him bring the child back to Japan to train him as a professional Go player. Years pass, and as the young Chinese master grows to maturity i...
Journey Into Solitude
Character: Kunitaro Matsuda
Bored with her school life, a 16-year-old student leaves home to take a trip along the Pacific Ocean. After meeting with a theatre group she falls sick and is rescued by a fisherman with who she shares her life with....
Will to Live
Character: Yasukichi
It is based on the story of The Ballad of Narayama updated to the present day, with the substitution of putting a parent into an old people's home for the abandonment of the original. The film won the Golden St. George and the FIPRESCI Prize at the 21st Moscow International Film Festival....
Men and War II: Land of Love and Sorrow
Character: Shigata Komijiro
Second part of an epic drama of war and its effects upon human beings, follows the fortunes of the Godai family from 1935 through Japan's invasion of China. Based on the novels by Jumpei Gomikawa, who also penned The Human Condition....
A Taxing Woman's Return
Character: Teppei Onisawa
Ryōko Itakura returns as the tough-as-nails government taxing agent. This time she must figure out a way to expose a fanatical religious cult lead by a corrupt sociopath....
Men and War I: Prelude to Destiny
Character: Shigata Komijiro
The upstart Godai family conglomerate plans to strengthen ties with the hardliners in the Kwantung Army as they plan military expansion into Manchuria....
Shadow of Deception
Character: Keitaro Nishida
It was five years ago when Minako spent a night with Sozo, younger brother of her ex-husband. She now lives in a local town with a rich old man who owns a dry goods store. Minako travels to Tokyo on business every three months, during which time she continues to meet Sozo, who has married the daughter of his respected teacher....
Doctor's Day Off
Character:
Having completed the first year at his new medical practice, a doctor plans to relax on his day off. However, it is not to be: on this hectic day a man just back from the war front visits the doctor with a medical emergency, followed by a woman who claims to have been molested. Then a yakuza arrives to ask the doctor to cut his finger off......
Wind, Woman and Road
Character: Sentaro
A chance meeting between two traveling gamblers leads to a case of mistaken identity when the farmers transporting gold to the governor think they are about to be robbed as the two gamblers face off against each other swords in hand....
Tokyo Untouchable: Escape
Character: Naoto, Nishiyama
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Free and Easy Special
Character:
Approached by a friend about a matchmaking arrangement, Su-san goes to Hama-chan's home seeking help. Hama-chan is away on a business trip, but Michiko entertains Su-san late into the night. When he gets drunk and ends up spending the night, Hama-chan, begins to question his boss's relationship with Michiko....
Chronicle of My Mother
Character: Hayato
Best-selling novelist Kosaku Igami has made a career out of using his family as fodder for his novels, much to their dismay. When his mother, the spirited family matriarch, is diagnosed with dementia, Igami must come to terms with the toll his own behavior has taken on his increasingly distant family and resolve his own long-simmering resentments. Evocative of classic Ozu, this gorgeously wrought epic family portrait explores the tenderness and trappings of familial bonds....
Shinran: Path to Purity
Character:
In the 12th century, Buddhism was still a relatively new religion in Japan. At that time, one school (Shingon) offered extensive training in complex and very demanding practices which might eventually bring about spiritual purification and realization. Various Zen schools offered students a lengthy path, literally composed of a blank wall and unceasing meditation. Yet another school (Tendai) emphasized complex metaphysics and the study of philosophical systems. Basically, all of them were design...
Free and Easy 15
Character:
Hama-chan takes a vacation to go fishing in Akita despite warnings from Su-san as his company faces a restructuring process....
Basara: The Princess Goh
Character: Junsai
Furuta Oribe is ordered to become tea master under Toyotomi Hideyoshi after his teacher Sen no Rikyū, the former tea master, was ordered to commit suicide. Princess Goh, daughter of the lord but adopted by Hideyoshi, is outraged when Rikyū's severed head is thrown in the Nijo River. She sends Usu, Oribe's servant, to retrieve the head and deliver it to Rikyū's adopted daughter....
Free and Easy 12: Big Holiday Bonus Project
Character:
Mr. Takano, a company employee, announces plans to take an early retirement so he can return to his home town and spend his days fishing. Su-san and Hama-chan envy his decision, and Hama-chan conspires to visit Takano, even though he has no vacation time left....
Wife
Character: Tadashi Tanimura
Ten years into a marriage, the wife is disappointed by the husband's lack of financial success, meaning she has to work and can't treat herself and the husband finds the wife slovenly and mean-spirited: she neither cooks not cleans particularly well and is generally disagreeable. In turn, he alternately ignores her and treats her as a servant. Neither is particularly happy, not helped by their unsatisfactory lodgers. The husband is easily seduced by an ex-colleague, a widow with a small child wh...
Captive's Island
Character: Daigoku
Seeking revenge against the guard who tormented him, a young man returns to the island where he was imprisoned in reform school. But his plans for vengeance are disturbed when he encounters a strange and beautiful young woman...
My Sons
Character: Akio Asano
Tetsuo is a young man living in Tokyo, who falls in love with a deaf-mute factory girl. He has always felt jealous of his college-educated brother, but ultimately wins both the girl and his father's acceptance and support in a touching and refreshing way....
Confessions Among Actresses
Character: Minakawa
In this intricately layered Japanese film, the nature of actresses and what they gain from acting is explored. The lives of three actresses are laid bare, and scenes from their lives are woven in and out of interviews with each of them. Each of them has experienced a traumatic event which contributes to their particular enjoyment of becoming someone else in dramatic roles....
The Journalist: Rokko/Kikutake Sunao
Character: Sunao Kikutake
An exploration of the nature of journalism that focuses on Fukuoka Nichi Nichi newspaper reporter Kikutake Sunao, with reenactments of scenes from his life, in which he is portrayed by the actor Mikuni Rentaro....
Free and Easy 19
Character:
Hama-chan joins a company excursion to Oita with the rest of his department including his new junior Daisuke. Beautiful Namiko, the organizer of the trip is a contract employee and her elder brother is a fisherman. Hama-chan, as always sets out to sea for a bout of angling. He is a tad surprised when Namiko's brother consults him about Namiko's status as an unmarried contract worker......
Free and Easy 17
Character:
Yumiko returns to work in Hama-chan's department. She had once left the company after getting married, but a dark shadow now seems to loom over her....
Rennyo and His Mother
Character:
Rennyo was the key figure responsible for the restoration of Shin Buddhism in Japan, in particular the Honganji lineage that had a slump in its fortunes during the Middle Ages. According to the legend, his motivation was a pivotal childhood incident at the age of six when his mother summoned him and told him about his destiny to revive the fortunes of the Honganji school to which he was the next in line. She then mysteriously disappeared from the temple. Taking her words to heart, from a backgro...
A Single Drop of Water in a Mighty River
Character:
The story opens with Yukiko and her business partner in Moscow searching for Russian items for their store in Tokyo. There they meet a Russian translator, Nicholai, played by Sergei Nakariakov - a trumpeter from Russia. Some months later after they have returned, Nicholai and Yukiko meet again while he is auditioning for the Tokyo orchestra where seeds of romance begin. Yukiko's father, however, is diagnosed with a terminal case of cancer. Yukiko returns home to be with him in his final months ...
Devotion to Railway
Character: Yoshito Matsuzaki
A human drama of crew and passengers on a special express train named “Sakura” from Tokyo to Nagasaki......
Free and Easy 14
Character: Suzuki Ichinosuke
Hama-chan's supervisor is promoted after many frustrating years with his wayward, fishing-obsessed underling, and Hama-chan's new boss naively tries to retrain him. Later, Su-san and Hama-chan go on a business trip, where they meet a beautiful, warm-hearted truck driver....
Solar Eclipse
Character: Conservative MP
When bribe money from a rigged election funnels into a dam construction project, collusion, lust, greed and even murder are on the ballot....
Fireworks Over the Sea
Character: Tsuyoshi Yabuki
A fishing union depends on two brothers to make up the losses caused by the dishonest captains they replaced....
Policeman's Diary
Character: Patrolman Hanakawa
Lending money, job hunting for civilians and babysitting. All these things are usually not listed on a policeman's job description. But for the officers of this local police station, it‘s part of their daily routine. One day, patrolman Yoshii (Hisaya Morishige) finds an abandoned baby and a six year old girl standing in front of the station. When he's declined by the welfare office, orphanage and local health clinic to take them in, he decides to take care of them himself....
August without Emperor
Character: Tameichiro Emi
Taking the Chilean coup as an example, a group of young officers plan to overthrow the Japanese government on V-J Day. They aim to abolish the post-war constitution, restore the national army and revive the traditional spirit of Japan. As the conspiracy is exposed, the coup squadrons are wiped out one by one. The remaining squadron takes over a night train bound for Tokyo....
Run, Genta, Run!
Character:
A touching story about a young boy, Genta, who bravely takes on life's challenges in hopes of finding a better life for himself and his sickly mother....
The Possessed
Character:
Oshima, a rich girl married Shinzo, and her cousin girl Sawa has been jealous of Oshima deeply. Sawa cursed Oshima so Shinzo could not hold her and do anything at all. Shinzo hated Oshima, and he made love with Sawa....
The Song of the Cart
Character:
A lifetime story of a woman who stubbornly lives in a poor mountain village in post-war Japan....
The Old Man and the Sea
Character: (voice)
An old fisherman makes the biggest catch of his life....
Night Drum
Character: Hikokurô Ogura
Following a yearlong attendance upon his shogun in Edo, samurai Hikokuro makes a long-awaited return to his home and doting wife, Dane. Initially greeted by the effusive welcome of his family, spiteful whispers also reach his ear about an adulterous affair carried on, in his long absence, between his wife and a famous drummer. With Hikokuro’s honor imperiled by rumor, his family insists on a formal investigation into the veracity of the gossip. Through the combined testimony of many witnesses, a...
A Hole of My Own Making
Character:
Nobuko is a widow who lives with her stepchild Tamiko and her brother Junjiro. The family's gatekeeper, Komatsu, is attracted to Tamiko, but she is encouraged to marry a doctor and he is afraid to tell her his feelings....
Nikoyon monogatari
Character:
Japanese drama film....
Tale of Japanese Burglars
Character: Gisuke Hayashida
Gisuke Hayashida is an illegal dentist during the day and a burglar by night. One night during a burglary he witnesses a train derailment. Some communists are found guilty of causing the incident, but he knows it wasn't them. He can save innocent people but for that he must confess his own crime....
Through the Mist
Character: (Archive Footage)
A biopic of the late musician Dédé Fortin, the singer, songwriter, and founder of a very popular Québécois band called "Les Colocs"....
The Fugitive Samurai
Character:
Itto Ogami- High Executioner to the Shogun- has been betrayed by his political enemies and sentenced to a dishonorable death. Seeking to restore the honor of his name, Ogami- The Wolf- must flee the Shogun's grasp and live long enough to prove his innocence. Taking only his sword and his son, Ogami embarks on a bloody journey of righteousness and revenge as he seeks to destroy those who would disgrace his family's name. Hunted mercilessly by the Shogun's troops, by his enemies, and by those who...
Glorious Fights
Character: Genichiro Gunji
A young leader of the Yamazaki family of Nagasaki, Takida (Ken Takakura) is an A-bomb survivor. He fiercely battles violent elements in southern Japan like there is no tomorrow....
The Women of Osaka Castle
Character: Toyotomi Hideyoshi
A television drama aired on November 3, 1983 as a special project to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the founding of Yomiuri Television and the 30th anniversary of the founding of Nippon Television....
The Tattered Banner
Character: Shozo Tanaka
Film about the Ashio Copper Mine Incident and Shozo Tanaka....
River of Fireflies
Character:
During the winter in Toyama in 1962, Tatsuo Mizushima is fretting about his feelings for his classmate Eiko Tsujisawa while agonizing about his upcoming high school examinations. When he was little, he and Eiko had heard that in April of a year when the winter has been very harsh, any couple finding fireflies together needs to get married. However, his family's situation does not allow Tatsuo to continue his worrying about such things for very much longer....
The Lovers
Character: Sugawa
Comedy about a 50-something movie director, his new bride, a classical dancer, and his adult son and daughter and their loves....
Kiku and Isamu: Two Siblings Born in Japan
Character: Newspaperman A
Kiku and her brother Isamu are social outcasts, children of a prostitute mother and black GI father, in postwar Japan....
Free and Easy 9
Character: Ichinosuke Suzuki
Hama-chan’s sales department gets a new supervisor, a hard-working taskmaster that’s the very opposite of carefree, irresponsible Hama-chan. The veteran employee decides to find his boss, a divorced father, a new wife. The supervisor loves a bar hostess “mama-san,” but is unable to confess his true feelings until Hama-chan comes to his rescue....
Free and Easy 2
Character: Ichinosuke Suzuki
Hama-chan gets Su-san hooked on fishing, but Su-san has some problems to deal with; a beautiful woman saves Su-san when he collapses while fishing....
A Story from Echigo
Character: Gonsuke Sabu
A sake factory worker on holiday returns to his home town, where he rapes the wife of one of his co-workers in the forest. The other man returns home to find his wife changed and suspects that she has been unfaithful....
Free and Easy
Character: Ichinosuke Suzuki
Densuke Hamazaki is an office worker at Suzuki Construction and gets transferred to the main Tokyo office. After settling in to his surrounding along with his wife Eri, Densuke befriends an elderly man named Ichinosuke Suzuki. Ichinosuke is a lonely and old man who learns to enjoy life again through his friendship with Densuke. Meanwhile, Densuke is completely unaware that Ichinosuke is the boss of his construction company. The two men become friends through their shared passion for fishing....
Free and Easy 6
Character: Ichinosuke Suzuki
Hama-chan and Su-san go fishing during a business trip, but Hama-chan has to give a lecture on Su-san's behalf in a case of mistaken identity....
Beauty and the Thief
Character: Kuroki no Jiro
The picture belongs to the jidai gekki (historic) genre. It is a powerful story of violence and eroticism, picturing a world at once sordid and poetic, with two central themes which intermingle to compound an admirable panel of a critical period in Japanese history: the great famine in the mid 19th Century....
Sword for Hire
Character: Tachibana Jurata
Soldiers Hayate and Yaheiji secretly escape from their besieged castle. Hayate has left behind his lover, Kano. On his way, Hayate is wounded and cared for by O’Ryo, who falls in love with him. But when Hayate accidentally kills her caretaker, he flees, with O’Ryo in pursuit. Subsequently, Hayate's comrade Yaheiji falls in love with Oryo. Kano, the lover left behind by Hayate, believes him dead, and becomes involved with another soldier, Jurota. When Jurota defects to the opposing army, he takes...
The Threat
Character: Misawa
Two escaped criminals who kidnapped a baby break into the house of Misawa, a man who works in an advertising agency and lives quietly with his family. They will force him to collect the child's ransom for them....
Farewell Rabaul
Character: Captain Katase
A squadron of Japanese fighter pilots realise that they are never going to win the war when they understand that Japanese military tactics have little regard for life. Seeking the companionship of any woman who will have them, they spend their days indulging in every fantasy in order to escape the overwhelming fear of death looming just over the horizon....
Thirst for Love
Character: Tetsuya Ezaki
Natsuko, a Tokyo bar proprietress, and Yuki, a Kyoto Ryokan owner, vie for the affections of an advertising professional....
Special Boy Soldiers of the Navy
Character:
Japanese youngsters enduring hard training in Recruit Camp and then going to Iwo Jima in the last days of World War II....
The Inugami Family
Character: Sahei Inugami
When a tycoon passes away, he unexpectedly leaves the family fortune to outsider Tamayo on the condition that she marries one of the grandsons, pitting blood against blood....
Sweet Revenge
Character: Kinzo Otsuka
Masao is falsely accused and jailed for the murder of a loanshark to whom he owed a lot of money. His sister Kiriko makes the long trip to Tokyo, specifically to accost Otsuka, Japan's top criminal defence lawyer, and plead with him to take her brother's case. They live in Kitakyushu which, though a city, she contends that the local lawyers are not up to the job. Otsuka contemptuously brushes her off. A year passes. Masao has suicided in jail, his appeal having failed due to the lack of interest...
Oishinbo
Character: Yuzan Kaibara
Based on the comic by Tatsu Kariya. Featuring journalist Shiro Yamaoka who works for Touzai Shimbun. He is a cynical food critic who is tasked by the newspaper's owner, along with the young Yuko Kurita, to provide recipes for the "ultimate menu"....
Deeper Than Blue
Character: Yukiyoshi Tamiya
About a girl who marries in the middle of the Pacific War, is widowed at 18, and her unflagging struggle to survive during and after the war with her son....
Free and Easy 8
Character: Ichinosuke Suzuki
When Su-san invites his late friend's daughter to come along on a fishing trip, she falls in love with Hama-chan's fishing protégé....
Free and Easy 3
Character: Ichinosuke Suzuki
Su-San invites Hama-chan to go fishing at a place close to his heart after learning about Hama-chan and his wife's fertility problems....
Free and Easy 4
Character: Ichinosuke Suzuki
Hama-chan and his wife are ecstatic about their long-awaited pregnancy. Meanwhile, Su-san's nephew joins Hama-chan's department at the company....
Free and Easy 5
Character: Ichinosuke Suzuki
Hama-chan shows up to work with his son on his back when his wife goes to her class reunion and his mother throws her back out....
Free and Easy 10
Character: Ichinosuke Suzuki
Su-san resigns after getting fed up with corporate life, but he finds himself back in familiar surroundings on his first assignment at a new job....
Free and Easy 16
Character: Suzuki
Hama-chan meets a friendly US soldier on a trip to Nagasaki with Su-san. Su-san returns to Tokyo and is informed that Hama-chan has gone missing....
The Wind Carpet
Character: Kinta Nakata
Japan and Iran are not in close relationship. More than 4 centuries ago, however, Persian carpets were used in the festival of Takayama, a historic city in mountainous area of Honsyu. A man planned to resume the carpet in the festival, and asked Kinue, a Persian carpet designer, to design it. Kinue's husband, Makoto, is a carpet importer. They send the design to Iran to weave the carpet. But just before Makoto goes to Iran to receive the carpet, Kinue dies of a traffic accident. A month before ...
Miyamoto Musashi: Showdown at Hannyazaka Heights
Character: Muneaki Takuan
The remake of Yoshikawa's novel continues with the second installment in which Takezo, soon to be Miyamoto Musashi, emerges from the Himeji Castle after three years of intense contemplation and philosophical study and starting on his epic quest to complete his skill in the Way....
Miyamoto Musashi: The Duel at Ichijo Temple
Character: Takuan
In the fourth installment, Musashi's potentially greatest opponent Kojiro jumps in and out of the story at the oddest and most coincidental moments. As his great love Otsu has succumbed to madness. Musashi then sets off to beat the functionaries of a treacherous clan in an arranged duel. 73 against one. Boastful Kojiro watches, secure in the knowledge that only he is a worthy opponent....
The Eagle and the Hawk
Character: Keizo Sasaki
In a warehouse area at night, a drunk chief engineer is stabbed to death by someone who whistles. After the break of dawn, two seamen join the crew of a rusty cargo ship Kaiyo Maru. One is a troublemaker with bad attitudes, Senkichi Nomura, who pursues an enemy in order to take revenge for his father's death. The other is Keizo Sasaki, a buff, eagle-eyed man on board for a certain mission....
Escape from Hell
Character: Shinpei
This suspense drama set in the mid 1700's depicts the plan of the Tokugawa rulers to send a number of homeless men to a remote island Sado to perform forced labor. Living conditions on the island are terrible and the men soon become rebellious. Based on a short story by Seichō Matsumoto....
The Escape
Character:
Film about the 2-26 Incident....
Miyamoto Musashi V: Musashi vs Kojiro
Character: Muneaki Takuan - Priest
The fifth and final installment with the build up of the epic battle between Sasaki Kojiro and Miyamoto Musashi. With all the familiar characters making appearances: Otsu (Musashi's great love), Akemi, Matahachi (his former fellow soldier), old lady Osugi (still doggedly trying to defeat Musashi), and even the return of Priest Takuan (the man responsible for his journey towards enlightenment). But most of all, the boastful, long-haired and long-sworded Sasaki Kojiro....
Stepbrothers
Character: Hantaro Kido
In a military family, an illegitimate son is brutalized by his brothers. A patriarchal, feudalistic household where dissent is forbidden is used to reveal the whole imperialist system that afflicted Japan between 1921 and 1946. Winner of the Crystal Globe at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival....
Face in the Dark
Character: Kijima
Japanese suspense film....
The Earth is Born Again
Character: Eisuke Noda
A dramatic film that recorded the history of Japan in the period of high economic growth. This work deals with Kashima Rinkai industrial zone development. The men who dream of making the overlooking wasteland as a big industrial area draw the courage to realize the ideal purely with the fishy desire swirling back to the coastal industrial area of Kashima Nada in Ibaraki prefecture....
Zoku ôsho
Character: Sakita Sankichi
Adaptation of novel....
Tale of Army Brutality
Character: Yahichi Inumaru
Director Jun'ya Satô's debut film focuses on the inhuman training of recruits, the brutal drill system that reigned in the Japanese army during World War II, where in the first two years of training, ordinary people were turned into inhuman killers. For his first film, the director was awarded the Blue Ribbon Awards in the Debutant of the Year nomination....
Beyond the Shining Sea
Character: Takeya Oumi
Heartbroken Ukiko takes refuge with a relative after a devastating breakup. While away, she makes a dangerous match with the husband of her frigid cousin....
But the Flesh is Weak
Character: Ichiro Kurakoshi
A woman who grew up in a prestigious household, begins to have an affair outside the marriage....
Crossroad
Character: Shōgo Ise
Ise, a successful entrepreneur, accidentally murders his lunatic wife after he is spotted having an affair with his secretary, Harumi. In his attempt to perfect his crime, he drives to a remote quarry to bury his wife’s body, but along the way, he finds another dead body in the back of his car! Given no choice, Ise dumps both bodies. Meanwhile, Yoshie begins her search for her missing brother, Yoshihiko. After surprising twists and turns, Ise faces his fate....
Till We Meet Again
Character: Jiro Sone
Jiro Sone sacrifices all comfort to devote himself to research. Young housewife Yachiyo is disappointed with her husband Kappei, who is more attracted to mountain climbing and another girl. When Yachiyo’s father is introduced to Jiro, all of their lives become intertwined......
Mitabi no kaikyô
Character:
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The Street of Desire
Character: Tadao Shimoda
A valet at a fancy nightclub hatches a plot to punish those responsible for his father's death....
Turning Point
Character: Urano
A middle-aged journalist looking to make her big break. After working the same beat on the "women's page", Yumiko gets promoted to editorials....
Nomugi Pass
Character:
The story of the silk industry and the young girls who worked as silk spinners in the early 1900s in Japan. The silk mills were located in Okaya which lies just beyond the Nomugi Pass. The women and girls worked in a hot, humid atmosphere without rest, and endured those conditions and sexual harassment to earn money for their poor families. Across the ocean, it was the great depression in America....
Free and Easy 18
Character:
Hama-chan goes to Okayama to look for Su-san when he goes missing a few days after freezing up during his inaugural speech as the company chairman....
The Love and Adventures of Kuroki Taro
Character:
Taro Kuroki, 42, is a stuntman with a samurai's heart. He loves adventures, plays pranks with the police, tries to cure a cat lady by reversing her trauma, and finally, rescues his niece who is about to be lured into prostitution....
Free and Easy 11
Character:
Hama-chan accompanies Su-san on a business trip to Okinawa in the middle of the recession, but Su-san remains in low spirits over business matters....
The Eagle of the Pacific
Character: Staff Officer (uncredited)
Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, a brilliant tactician, is a loyal subject of the emperor, despite his grave misgivings about leading Japan's navy into war with the United States. He opposes the attack on Pearl Harbor, but, overruled, he leads his forces to the best of his ability....
Shanghai Rose
Character: Manabe, First lieutenant
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Adolescence
Character: Teacher Harada
Parent apathy to sexual education leads to various troubles for the young cast....
My Wonderful Yellow Car
Character: The burglar
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Red-Light Bases
Character: Koichi Kawanabe
Story about a poor Japanese woman living near an American army base who resorts to prostitution....
Itsuko to sono haha
Character: Yasukazu Sugi
An elderly woman devoted to her foster-daughter searches for a good husband for her....
The Great Road
Character:
The story of a certain engineer from his youth until he retired from the Japanese National Railways after the war ....
Free and Easy: Samurai Edition
Character: Ichinosuke Suzuki
A traveling ronin perceived as a fool impresses a samurai leader with his fishing skills and gains employment....
City of Beasts
Character: Yusaku Ishihama
University student Arima Yasuhiro becomes acquainted with Ishihama, the president of a pharmaceutical company with a dark past, slowly but surely getting more embroiled in his dirty dealings....
Hell's Kitchen
Character:
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The Blue Revolution
Character:
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Policeman's Diary, Part 2
Character:
From runaway brides to a typhoon, the continued adventures of Ushikata police station....
The Samurai of Edo
Character:
This historical film depicts the life of a man who was at the mercy of the waves during transition from the end of the Edo period to the Meiji Restoration, and therefore, shows audience the dynamic change from Edo to Meiji. Before the war, the director, Eisuke Takizawa, together with the writers, formed a scenario writer group "Narutaki-gumi and they shot many historical masterpieces....
Beauty of Life
Character:
Inochi uruwashi...
Kimi ga kagayaku toki
Character:
A one armed boy wants to become a football (soccer) player....
Free and Easy 20: Final
Character:
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Vanished Glory
Character:
In the first group of Yoshitake Ichi and Taketatsu Sada Preparatory Training, the team leader was Sou Adachi, a veteran warrior with strict training. Yoshitake's father was called, and his mother lived in the house where he used to work, but Midori, a female student at that house, secretly loved Yoshitake....
The Murderer Must Die
Character: Tetsuo Yazaki
A year ago, Tetsuo Yazaki was unemployed and wanted money, attacked a police box in Kobe, robbed a policeman of his pistol, attacked Hamamatsu OS Theater and Nagoya Shinwa Bank, and succeeded in robbing a large amount of money....
Reunion
Character:
If two clouds go away, the eyes of a maiden who gets wet in tears, Tsukaman Aise who earnestly wished, and the two who cried under the harsh trials of ten years when they fell in love and fell in love, climbed the hill of memories again. Surprisingly, there was an event that turned a moment of joy into tears ......
Kin no tamago: Golden Girl
Character:
Once an average and seemingly ordinary Tokyo girl, she suddenly finds herself as a TV star owing to her discovery by a casting company, which noticed photographs that her cousin had sent. When another actress falls ill she is given the role instead. Her first film is a success propelling the young actress to popularity, her own fans, money and a house. While everything looks dandy from the outside not all is well within the family however....
The Whisper of Spring
Character:
After graduating from a high school in the Seto Inland Sea, Koji, a childhood friend of Yaeko, went to Tokyo to enter university wearing a heartfelt sweater....
Story of Lightning
Character:
Gensaburo Funaki and Oyuki were childhood friends, but Gensaburo misunderstood that Oyuki was hesitant to get married because he had to feed his father and younger brother. I left the town....
Women's House
Character:
After Shuichiro moved to Tokyo, the Tanno family became completely female, including Mrs. Tanno, Shuichiro's daughter-in-law Manzuko, painter Takashiro Egi, Shizu Kazemaki, Mitsue Nanbu, an intellectual who works in a university laboratory, and an old woman....
City
Character:
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Asshii-tachi no machi
Character:
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