Movies: Kodayu Ichikawa

Townsend Harris is sent by President Pierce to Japan to serve as the first U.S. Consul-General to that country. Harris discovers enormous hostility to foreigners, as well as the love of a young geisha....

Kondo Isami, the “Devil” commander of the Shinsengumi was one of Japan’s greatest national heroes and a peerless swordsman who devoted his life to protecting the shogun and fighting on the side of the Tokugawa. This tells the story of the Shinsengumi...

Kataoka Chiezo stars as Murasaki Zukin, a mysterious hero of the people who helps those in need. Now under the rule of the evil Tanuma, the people look to Murasaki Zukin more than ever, to confront and punish those who bring misfortune upon the commo...

Toyama Kinshiro, a commissioner from northern Edo, goes undercover to unravel the mystery behind a series of murders. Kinshiro, played by Kataoka Chiezo, is most famous for the cherry blossom tattoos on his shoulder which he reveals at the moment of ...

One of the great stories from Japan’s rich history comes to life in this true tale of the bloody showdown between two rival yakuza gangs in the 1840’s. The battle between Boss Sukegoro of Iioka and Boss Shigezo of Sasagawa has been portrayed many tim...

The adopted son of an Osaka courier falls in love with a prostitute and, discovering that she is about to be purchased by a client, steals money from his employer to redeem her. Hunted criminals, the two young lovers take flight to Yamato, but, as in...

Japanese film....

Famed detective Dandy Sashichi tries to solve who's behind the serial murders of six beautiful women under the aegis of local showman Ibaragiya. The film opens with the sextet humiliating a respected painter's portraits of them, driving the man to a ...

1953 jidaigeki directed by Nobuo Nakagawa of Jigoku and Ghost of Yotsuya fame....

A President of the confectionery company announced his retirement, and his sixteen year old granddaughter, Madoka was ordered to be a new head. But Madoka wants to be a stage dancer, so she won't concentrate her office job. Madoka meets Akiyama, a st...

Detective Hanshichi (Kataoka Chiezo) solves 3 mysterious murder cases. Great story and an impressive all-star cast, a must see!...

In 1842, in the Umemoku Mansion within Hikone Castle, Naosuke Ii, despite the tumultuous times, was engrossed in the world of tea ceremony. His friend, the Kokugaku scholar Nagano Shuzen, introduced him to a captivating shamisen master named Murayama...

Machiko Ujiie and Haruki Atomiya first meet and fall in love on Ginza’s Sukiyabashi Bridge during the Great Tokyo Air Raid in March 1945. Machiko and Haruki pledge to meet again at the bridge in six months but part without asking each other’s names....

Film adaption by Kenji Misumi...

A young boy named Chomatsu (Misora Hibari) lives with an old man Denbei near the grounds of Asakusa temple as bell ringers. In their house is an Echigo lion mask, a memento of Chomatsu's deceased father. After several incidents of Echigo lion masks b...

Featuring some of the finest swordsmen ever to grace the silver screen, this Toei classic tells the story of a battle between the evil sword style called ”Otonashi” (The Silent Form) and the proper way of swordsmanship as promoted by such historical ...

Machiko and Haruki’s drama continues. Two meet again in Hokkaido only to be separated again....

The phantom thief, known as the "Actor Kid", who was creating a stir in the Daimyo's mansion, especially in the inner chambers, was called Inaba Goutaro. He was the adopted son of a samurai, Inaba Buemon. An incident occurred where his foster father ...

Tasuke stumbles across Kokichi, a distraught man whom having lost his fiancee to Lord Kawakatsu is ready to commit suicide. Tasuke learns that Kokichi's fiancee, Otoyo, was a chambermaid whom Kawakatsu abducted in order to make her his concubine and ...

The tragedy of the geiko girl Ume and the men who try to pursue her....