Princess Goh / Go-hime (1992)

Teshigahara's Go-hime picks up its story just after Sen no Rikyu committed seppuku. While talking to Lord Oribe, Hideyoshi tries to deny anything to do with it, even though we saw in Rikyu that Hideyoshi not only ordered the suicide but also sent men to guarantee it was carried out. Oribe, a famous daimyo disciple …

Rikyu (1989)

The life and death of Sen no Rikyu, the famous master of the tea ceremony, brought out two very different movies almost simultaneously in 1989. I have already posted about Kei Kumai's Death of a Tea Master, but in Rikyu the subject is taken on by Teshigahara, who came out of an almost two decade …

Lady Kasuga / Jotei: Kasuga no Tsubone (1990)

Kasuga no Tsubone was mistress of the women's quarters under the second and third Tokugawa Shogun and one of the most influential and powerful women in Japanese history. However, Lady Kasuga does not deal with any of that. Instead, it details her rise to influence at the Shogun's court, where she is not even called …

Eijanaika (1981)

Many movies have been made about the chaotic Bakumatsu period when the Shogunate was beginning to reach its end, almost all featuring the samurai and ronin in that era such as the Shinsengumi or Ryoma Sakamoto. Imamura’s Eijanaika depicts that chaos from the bottom up in a movie that begins with a carnival, ends with …

Yagyu Clan Conspiracy / Shogun’s Samurai/ Yagyu ichizoku no inbô (1978)

After 15 years of modern-dress yakuza related movies, in 1978 Kinji Fukasaku suddenly turned to Japanese historical dramas, with a version of the Chusingura story and Yagyu Clan Conspiracy. The brutal realism and kinetic energy of his yakuza films had revived and redirected an entire genre, but Yagyu Conspiracy looks like the work of a …

Bakumatsu (1970)

Though he was a low-level samurai from the relatively small Tosa clan, Ryoma Sakamoto became one of the most influential figures in the fall of the Shogunate. He has figured in the background of a number of the historical movies of the sixties, but Bakumatsu is the first full treatment of his life, at least …

Incident at Blood Pass / Ambush / Machibuse (1970)

A man walks down a road (camera behind of course because this is a Japanese movie), slightly atilt in his posture, and we think we’ve seen that man before. Then he shrugs a shoulder and we know it is Toshiro Mifune, back as the ronin with no name. He soon is given an actual job …

Killer’s Mission / Shokin Kasegi (1969)

As I have noted elsewhere, Japan had some problems cashing in on the international spy craze following the arrival of the James Bond films. At least in theory having no international military presence and essentially dependent on the Americans, it was difficult for them to claim to be a part of the Great Game or …

Daredevil in the Castle / Tale of Osaka Castle / Osaka jo monogatari (1961)

Now and then you come across a movie for which you have such high expectations that you may over-react when those expections are not met.  Starring Toshiro Mifune, with Yoshiko Kuga, Kyoko Kagawa, and Isuzu Yamada among others and directed by Inagaki, Daredevil in the Castle promises so much more than it delivers, but it …

Female Ninja Magic / Kunoichi ninpo (1964)

Osaka Castle is about to fall to Tokugawa in 1615, and the Toyotomi bloodline will disappear, since the daimyo's wife Princess Sen has not produced an heir. General Sanada has a cunning plan and he details five female ninjas to have sex with the daimyo before the castle falls, in hopes that at least one …