Face in the Dark

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, and promises to examine the legendary foundations of the Samurai code.

Noriko is perfectly happy living at home with her widowed father, Shukichi, and has no plans to marry -- that is, until her aunt Masa convinces Shukichi that unless he marries off his 27-year-old daughter soon, she will likely remain alone for the rest of her life. When Noriko resists Masa's matchmaking, Shukichi is forced to deceive his daughter and sacrifice his own happiness to do what he believes is right.

In 16th century Japan, peasants Genjuro and Tobei sell their earthenware pots to a group of soldiers in a nearby village, in defiance of a local sage's warning against seeking to profit from warfare. Genjuro's pursuit of both riches and the mysterious Lady Wakasa, as well as Tobei's desire to become a samurai, run the risk of destroying both themselves and their wives, Miyagi and Ohama.

Melodrama about a young woman who saves a young man from the world of evil after he has saved her from blindness.

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.

A thief, a murderer, and a charming lady-killer, Iwao Enokizu is on the run from the police.

Two men and a woman plan to steal 1.5 Billion yen.

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.

Two college girls who work part-time as shrine maidens swap their names with private investigators conducting a marriage background check, throwing their boyfriends into total chaos.

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.

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 in Japan, the Japanese invasion of China forces him to choose between his triumphant career and his loyalty to his native country. His decision is complicated by his marriage to the daughter of the Japanese master, with whom he has produced a child. His choice will profoundly alter the lives of two families. Their saga serves as a reflection of the tragic relations between their two great countries, and the possibility of reconciliation and healing.

An old fisherman makes the biggest catch of his life.

A humble and simple Takezo abandons his life as a knight errant. He's sought as a teacher and vassal by Shogun, Japan's most powerful clan leader. He's also challenged to fight by the supremely confident and skillful Sasaki Kojiro. Takezo agrees to fight Kojiro in a year's time but rejects Shogun's patronage, choosing instead to live on the edge of a village, raising vegetables. He's followed there by Otsu and later by Akemi, both in love with him. The year ends as Takezo assists the villagers against a band of brigands. He seeks Otsu's forgiveness and accepts her love, then sets off across the water to Ganryu Island for his final contest.

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 tale unwinds around the visits of a traveling musician hired to tutor the family heir, the spurned attentions of the man who started the rumor, and the ultimate truth behind the accusations. The conclusion of events prove as much an indictment of bushidō as it is of the reluctant parties involved. Adapted from a 1706 play by Chikamatsu Monzaemon and based on a true case.

After years on the road establishing his reputation as Japan's greatest fencer, Takezo returns to Kyoto. Otsu waits for him, yet he has come not for her but to challenge the leader of the region's finest school of fencing. To prove his valor and skill, he walks deliberately into ambushes set up by the school's followers.

Struggling to elevate himself from his low caste in 17th century Japan, Miyamoto trains to become a mighty samurai warrior.

A sweet and melancholy melodrama set against the backdrop of the beautiful Seto Inland Sea, in which a pair of twin sisters, one a young lady of high birth, the other a maid, are manipulated by the threads of fate as they vie for the affection of the same young man.

A celebrity photograph sparks a court case as a tabloid magazine spins a scandalous yarn over a painter and a famous singer.

Based on the novel "Kyokatsu" ("Blackmail") by Ichiro Kashiwara.

A silk mill worker living through a dark and twisted youth… What is chastity? A powerful work that speaks to society through the anguished expression of a woman twisted by torment.

A love triangle develops between a benevolent student, his innocent girlfriend, and a cruel petty criminal, all as a point of diagnosis of a social disease that had Japan slowly succumbing to lawlessness during the post-War era.

Yoshida Denkichi does loses sight of his wife Chiyoko and daughter Toyoko during the war, and is taken in by a familiar woman, Oshige, and becomes the owner of "Fujimura" in the town of Hato. Eiko is a timid woman who hates Terada, a watchmaker who is obsessed with her; Tamie is a hard worker who asks for money from customers to support her mother and daughter Teruko; Tane, who dreams of the day they can be together, gives money to her lover Takeda; Machiko, an apres girl, is selective about her customers in the name of romance. They are women working in the red light district at "Fujimura."

The Nakata family, father, mother, son Hideo, and daughters Taeko and Akiko live in the poorer section of modern Tokyo. Their troubles start when the father leaves with another woman, returns after he is rejected, and leaves again with the family's money.

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.

Fascinated with women from an early age, Yonosuke had his first sexual encounter at the age of seven. From that day on, he recklessly and forwardly pursues women, feeding his fascination and experience. As Yonosuke's salacious behavior brings much cause for shame to the family, his father eventually breaks relations with him. Expelled from the family, 19-year-old Yonosuke embarks on a pilgrimage of lust, traveling far and wide to acquaint himself with women of all walks.

A former samurai, whose lover had died while he was traveling, was returning to Edo when he met a woman at Shinagawa-juku.

Each one of us lives differently. So, there are many tragedies and comedies in our lives. She feels many conflicts in living her life between truth and love.

At the close of the war in Japan, a widowed mother makes every possible sacrifice to bring up her ungrateful son and daughter who are unimpressed with their poor standard of living at home. They gradually reject her in search of the material comforts that working as a maid cannot provide. The mother's despair becomes interminable.

Keiko, Kirie, and Toshi, a trio of close friends, go their separate ways after graduation, vowing to hold a “New Wives’ Meeting” once they are all married.

The film portrays the experiences of Takashi Nagai as a survivor of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki.

Shinzō, the heir of the prominent Edo lumber dealer Yamashiroya, left home when his stubborn father, Chōzaemon, dismissed his lover, the maid Oyasu. Shinzō and Oyasu set up a household near a soba shop in Fukagawa, but Shinzō struggled financially, turning to gambling and fighting, while Oyasu worked as a tea server in a theater, constantly harassed by a small-time gangster, Rikichi, for cigarette money. The only ones concerned about Shinzō and Oyasu were Shinzō’s sister, Omitu, and her dance teacher, Oyoshi. Later, Shinzō managed to get a job at another lumber dealer, but after a conflict with the detective Hansuke, who was also infatuated with Oyasu, Shinzō accidentally dropped lumber into the river and was fired. Unaware that Oyasu had borrowed money from a bar to repay the lumber dealer, Shinzō left to earn money in the Mito clan's crew quarters and ended up rescuing Rikichi from a dice game trouble.

A botanist woos the secretary of an industrialist whose company threatens the local water supply.

The story of a young couple deeply in love with each other but, because of complications and misunderstandings created by the people surrounding them, they find it very difficult to achieve happiness.

A youth film set in a high school.

A young widow, made world weary by her abusive, neglectful husband, finds herself in a minor scandal when she's seen with her intense, no-nonsense childhood sweetheart.

Set in a rubber company in Tokyo, this comedy depicts the sorrows of salarymen in a humorous way, centering on the commotion caused by the passionate salaryman Goro Mutsu, who is transferred from Kyushu.