Akira Kurosawa’s lauded feudal epic presents the tale of a petty thief who is recruited to impersonate Shingen, an aging warlord, in order to avoid attacks by competing clans. When Shingen dies, his generals reluctantly agree to have the impostor take over as the powerful ruler. He soon begins to appreciate life as Shingen, but his commitment to the role is tested when he must lead his troops into battle against the forces of a rival warlord.
Tag: edo period
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Why Not?
The film depicts carnivalesque atmosphere summed up by the cry “Ei ja nai ka” (“Why not?”) in Japan in 1867 and 1868 in the days leading to the Meiji Restoration. It examines the effects of the political and social upheaval of the time, and culminates in a revelrous march on the Tokyo Imperial Palace, which turns into a massacre. Characteristically, Imamura focuses not on the leaders of the country, but on characters in the lower classes and on the fringes of society.
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Eizu o buttobase: Momoiro puttsun musume
During the Edo period, an incident occurred in a certain castle town where young samurai were weakened and died one after another. Suspicious, the chief retainer investigates and discovers that a beautiful princess named Tsukihime is giving her body to the young samurai every night and spreading her own disease. The chief retainer trapped Tsukihime in a pot with the help of a monk who used his magic powers and sank her into a pond, but when a female ninja servant came to rescue the princess, a huge earthquake struck. The princess and the kunoichi travel forward in time. There is a lot of fuss about AIDS in the streets as a strange disease of modern times. At one company, a situation was occurring in which employees were collapsing one after another. Tsukihime and Kuichi appear and cause a huge commotion.
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Dora-heita
A new magistrate in the town of Horisoto—widely reputed to be the most lawless township in Japan, uses guile and his opponents’ own misperceptions and prejudices to defeat his enemies and uproot corruption.
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The Lion Era
It depicts how the winner, the Satsuma Clan, and the loser, the Aizu Clan, survive through the Edo period and the Meiji Restoration in their respective ways of life.
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Millennium Actress
Documentary filmmaker Genya Tachibana has tracked down the legendary actress Chiyoko Fujiwara, who mysteriously vanished at the height of her career. When he presents her with a key she had lost and thought was gone forever, the filmmaker could not have imagined that it would not only unlock the long-held secrets of Chiyoko’s life… but also his own.
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When the Last Sword Is Drawn
Kanichiro Yoshimura is a Samurai and Family man who can no longer support his wife and children on the the low pay he receives from his small town clan, he is forced by the love for his family to leave for the city in search of higher pay to support them.
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Warau Iemon
Having put down his sword and given up the will to fight, the masterless samurai Iemon lives in solitude while being haunted by his violent enigmatic past…
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Onihei Crime Files Special: Okatsu from Yamabukiya
Heizo’s cousin Senemon Misawa and his son Katsuzo visited Heizo’s home. Heizo learns that Senemon has fallen in love with Katsutoshi, a woman who works at the Yamabukiya Tea House, and has asked her to marry him. Heizo decided to visit Yamabukiya, saying “I will try to find out if this woman is a bodhisattva or a demon.” After meeting Katsutoshi Heizo, felt embarrassed and ordered Gorozo to inquire about her just in case. Gorozo, in turn, sends secret detective Rihachi to Yamabukiya with the task of keeping an eye on Katsutoshi…