Four Days of Snow and Blood / 2.26 (1989)

The attempted military coup in  February 1936 is symptomatic of so many issues in Japanese history that, in a way, it is remarkable how little attention it has been given in Japanese movies. It was one of several examples depicted in Memoirs of Japanese Assassins, but Gosha's 2.26 is the first detailed reconstruction that I …

Sword of Doom / Daibosatsu toge (1966)

  Story has it that Toho Studio heads were so upset with Age of Assassins that they delayed release and gave Okamoto an ultimatum to make a regular chanbara based on the familiar and often filmed Daibosatsu toge story. If so, Okamoto went at the assignment with a vengeance. Of the three major post-war versions …

Samurai Assassin / Samurai (1965)

Based on a famous incident in Japanese history, Samurai Assassin assumes a certain amount of historical knowledge on the part of its audience, but don't let that put you off. Most of the movie is fiction. After the Americans arrived, the new Tokugawa Shogun was a child, so Chief Elder Ii actually ran the country …