Chikage Awashima

Haru's Journey (2010)

Stuck in a fishing village in Hokkaido, Tadao's grand-daughter Haru is desperate to visit Tokyo, a trip Tadao is reluctant to make. ...

Until the Lights Come Back (2005)

A Christmas Eve power outage provides a collection of troubled Tokyo denizens the opportunity to come clean on the misdeeds of their past. ...

Siberian Express 2 (2001)

The Friends (1994)

A delightful and moving coming-of-age story. One summer, three young boys take an increasing interest in an eccentric old man who lives alone in a house surrounded by an overgrown garden. The boys form a bond with the recluse and set about weeding and repl ...

Metamorphosis (1986)

A sensuous movie based on a literary work. Hitomi Kuroki stars as the film's heroine. ...

I Lived, But... (1983)

An extremely lovely tribute to Ozu, on the 20th anniversary of his death. It uses a combination of footage from vintage films and new material (both interviews and Ozu-related locations) shot by Ozu's long-time camera-man (who came out of retirement to wor ...

Children of Nagasaki (1983)

August 9, 1945. An atomic bomb drops on Urakami, Nagasaki at 11:02am. The story of Dr. Nagai and his family. ...

Tales of the Inner Chamber (1968)

Love-hate drama of three beautiful sisters in Ooku in Edo Castle. ...

Watashi, chigatteiru kashira (1966)

A Comedy in Front of the Station: University (1965)

#13 in the Ekimae series of films. Set at Todai University, Professor Sakai (played by Frankie Sakai) mentors a group of university hopefuls. Cut to 25 years later, the students have each settled into their careers and cross paths with Professor Sakai's so ...

The Last Judgment (1965)

Driven by greed and a desire for his cousin's wife, Jiro orchestrates a complex frame-up to have his cousin arrested for murder. ...

Roadside Stone (1964)

The Wayside Pebble is an effective drama about the hardships of a childhood spent with a brusque, cold-hearted father and a submissive mother. The year is 1910 and the place is a small Japanese village. Goichi is suffering because he wants to go to school, ...

Mr. Giant's Victory Flag (1964)

Apparently a baseball drama starring real-life stars Nagashima (The Babe Ruth of Japanese Baseball) and teammate Oh-known collectively as ON-from the Yomiuri Giants. Nagashima nickname was 'Mr. Giants. ...

The Maid Story (1963)

Nine maids serve the household of a writer and his wife. The couple treat their maids like daughters and marry them off to eligible men. So, they are forever looking for new maids. As the years go by maid servants become hired help and more bossy and indep ...

The Life of Rikisha-Man (1963)

Story about Muhomatsu no issho ...

Kigeki: Tonkatsu ichidai (1963)

Ensemble comedy. ...

Pressure of Guilt (1963)

A seasoned prosecutor uncovers the perfect crime committed by a young lawyer. ...

A Comedy in Front of the Station: Chinese Restaurant (1962)

The fifth "Ekimae" film set in a Chinese restaurant in Yokohama's Chinatown. ...

Born in Sin (1962)

A dark family secret sends a 21-year-old French student (Hoshi) on a journey of self-discovery. ...

The King (1962)

The film takes place at the junction of the two eras of Meiji and Taisho. Sakata Sankichi, an uneducated zori sandal maker, becomes a professional shogi player through his genius shogi skills and lives a fanatically devoted shogi game supported by the love ...

A Comedy in Front of the Station: Onsen (1962)

Fourth entry in the Ekimae series, focusing on the restoration of a Fukushima hot spring inn. ...

Four Sisters (1962)

A story about the lives of four sisters and their manipulative mother who must come to terms with each of their decisions in life. ...

Otoko dokyō no ayame kasa (1962)

1962 Japanese movie ...

Tatsu (1962)

1962 Japanese movie ...

Hagure kigeki mandara (1962)

1962 Japanese movie ...

Aru kankei (1962)

1962 Japanese movie ...

Rascals! Go to Hell (1961)

A boss of underworld helps the police crush an evil gang. ...

A Comedy in Front of the Station: Lunchbox (1961)

Third film in the "Ekimae" series, this time set in Hamamatsu. A widow named Keiko and her brother Jiro run the bento shop, "Goraku." One day, Keiko asks for advice from her childhood friends Kintaro, a textile manufacturer, and Magosaku, an entrepreneur, ...

Shadow of a Flower (1961)

Restoration Fire (1961)

Megastar Kataoka Chiezo is Vice-commander Hijikata Toshizo of the Shinsengumi in this realistic tale of Japan's inner battles that led to the downfall of the Tokugawa shogunate. Excellent performances and extremely good swordplay highlight this glimpse int ...

Furimuita hanayome (1961)

Japanese comedy film. ...

Girls of the Night (1961)

In the wake of the 1956 Prostitution Prevention Law, a young woman recently released from one of Japan's new rehabilitation centers struggles to build a new life. ...

A Good Man, A Good Day (1961)

The university professor Ozeki Hitoshi (Ryu Chishu) is regarded as an eccentric by people in his surroundings. When his daughter Tokiko is asked to marry a colleague, she and her mother are overjoyed, but Hitoshi is not satisfied with the situation. ...

An Urban Affair (1961)

Follow-up to "Ekimae Ryokan." Set around the Yurigaoka and Nishi-Ikuta stations on the Odakyu-Odawara line, the film takes up the problem of real estate around the expanding Yurigaoka apartments. ...

The Other Woman (1961)

The real mother of the two children of a respectable university professor is not his wife, but his mistress, the hostess of a Ginza bar the family frequents. ...

Love and the Shop Curtain (1961)

Otami and daughter Yuri run the Matsuoka, a 150-year-old Japanese-style inn in Tokyo which they plan to renovate into a modern hotel before the '64 Tokyo Olympics. Maki, the son of the owner of the Benten Hotel, likes Yuri and wants to get closer to her. S ...

The Shrikes (1961)

Edo Purebreed (1961)

Action and adventure abound in this story of friendship between two rival firefighters, Kichigoro and Jirokichi in old Japan. When Mukai Sadayu, the vassal of Kaga Clan's accounting officer, Shinagawa Daihachi demands that Omon serve him tea in his mansion ...

Aces Wild (1961)

Keisuke Morita, a man with dark glasses standing on the Shibaura pier, a descendant of an illegitimate descendant left behind in Osaka and a brother of the Otorigumi, returned from South America for the first time in 15 years. When he stepped on the soil o ...

The Akasaka Sisters: Soft Touch of Night (1960)

Set in the postwar turmoil, Akasaka no shimai paints a vivit portrait of the life of three sisters who struggle to live in Tokyo. ...

Honno-Ji in Flames (1960)

The plot is based on the novel "Akechi Samanosuke no Koi," the final work in a trilogy by Hiroshi Kato about the forced suicide of Oda Nobunaga at the temple Honnoji. Historically, the general Akechi Mitsuhide is credited with causing Nobunaga's downfall. ...

The Master Spearman (1960)

Kurando is a retired samurai. Granted a last-second reprieve from the obligation to commit harakiri, he decides to settle down and marry one of the two kabuki actresses who helped him enjoy what he thought would be his final days. ...

Runway to Hell (1960)

When Kaneko Ichinosuke aims to avenge his father who was wrongly accused of embezzlement, the samurai Kochiyama Soshun agrees to assist. ...

An Actor's Revenge (1959)

Nakamura Yukinojo gains popularity in Edo's kabuki scene as a handsome onnagata (a male actor who plays female roles). But hidden behind the placid expression of his stage face is a deep grudge for the men responsible for dishonoring his parents' names and ...

Utamaro, Painter of the Woman (1959)

Kitagawa Utamaro is a famous ukiyo-e artist known for his paintings of beautiful women. The courtesan who became his model became even more popular. Ocho, a resident of an apartment building, hears about this and secretly plans to follow Otose, the owner o ...

Pilgrimage at Night (1959)

Adapted by Yasumi Toshio and directed by Toyoda Shiro, this is a literary work based on a full-length novel of the same name published by Shiga Naoya of the Shirakaba School. ...

Room for Let (1959)

When Yumiko Tsuyama, a potter by profession, comes inquiring about a room for rent in an old mansion overlooking Osaka, she finds a bizarre collection of characters already living there. The unlikely leader of this menagerie is Yoda Goro, who speaks four l ...

Image of a Mother (1959)

The young boy Michio struggles with the loss of his mother while his widowed father, Sadao remarries the kind-hearted Sonoko, who has a daughter of her own. As Michio clings to memories of his mother, the family navigates the challenges of grief, love, and ...

Flower Shop Curtain (1959)

The movie depicts the strength and resilience of a woman who spent her entire life as a merchant in Semba, Osaka. ...

The Human Condition I: No Greater Love (1959)

After handing in a report on the treatment of Chinese colonial labor, Kaji is offered the post of labour chief at a large mining operation in Manchuria, which also grants him exemption from military service. He accepts and moves with his newlywed wife Mich ...

Nichiren and the Great Mongol Invasion (1958)

During the 1200's, legendary Buddhist monk Nichiren returns from his studies to lead Japan out of moral crisis and prepare to fight Mongol invaders by creating a new form of Buddhism. He runs afoul of the existing Buddhist sects and their government suppor ...

Summer Clouds (1958)

A war widow with a young boy manages a farm with her bossy mother-in-law. When a reporter comes to interview her, the two begin an affair. He turns out to be married and won't leave his wife. Her older brother tries to marry off his children and hang on to ...

The Hotelman's Holiday (1958)

Based on the novel "Ekimae Ryokan" by Masuji Ibuse, a longtime hotel employee struggles to bring his old-fashioned ryokan in line with postwar Japanese business practices. ...

Oban kanketsu hen (1958)

Ushinosuke returns to Tokyo with new ambitions. Fourth and final part of the film adaptation of Bunroku Shishi's novel, Oban. ...

The Loyal 47 Ronin (1958)

Japan, 1701. A group of samurai become rônin after their lord is forced to commit seppuku for assaulting a court official, who will become the target of a merciless revenge. ...

Firefly Light (1958)

Set in the 1860s, the final years of the Tokugawa Shogunate, The Fireflies focuses on Tose (Awashima Chikage), the mistress of the Teradaya, a small inn in the Kyoto suburb of Fushimi. She does not have an easy life. Her husband, Isuke (Ban Junzaburo), is ...

Makeraremasen katsumadewa (1958)

Comedy based on the writings of Ango Sakaguchi. ...

Zokuzoku Ôban: Dotô hen (1957)

Ushinosuke returns to his hometown to become a farmer. Part three (of four) of the film adaptation of Bunroku Shishi's novel, Oban. ...

The Unbalanced Wheel (1957)

A study of uneasy relationships among the inhabitants of a tiny rural community. ...

Secret of Naruto (1957)

From the pen of Yoshikawa Eiji comes this exciting story. The Naruto Strait separates Tokushima from the islands of Awaji and Honshu. On Tokushima the mad lord dreams of conquest and forges a bloody revolt against the Tokugawa shogunate. A mysterious sword ...

Hadaka no Machi (1957)

Zoku Ôban: Fûun hen (1957)

Ushinosuke returns broke to his hometown, where everyone believes he's rich and successful. Part two (of four) of the film adaptation of Bunroku Shishi's novel, Oban. ...

Evening Calm (1957)

A girl rebels against her mother, who runs a brothel in Yokohama, and attempts to find freedom on her own. ...

Ôban (1957)

A young country boy leaves his village for Tokyo, where he begins to work as a stock trader. First part (of four) of the film adaptation of Bunroku Shishi's novel, Oban. ...

Yellow Crow (1957)

Ichiro Yoshida, the father of the boy Kiyoshi, who has been repatriated from China, returns home after a ten-year separation. The father, who has been estranged from his son for many years, pays no attention to the boy, often punishes him unfairly, and giv ...

Dancing Girl (1957)

In Asakusa, Tokyo, a couple of a violinist Yamano and a revue dancer Hanae lives in poverty. One day Hanae's little sister rolls into their apartment and begins to stir things up with her riotousness. ...

Bridge of Japan (1956)

Ichikawa's 1956 adaptation of Nihonbashi was the first to take the work of Kyoka Izumi— until then regarded as a writer of common tragic melodramas—and re-evaluate it as a tanbi-ha work of decadence, aestheticism, and intrigue. Ichikawa's film present ...

Zangiku monogatari (1956)

Based on the novel by Shofu Muramatsu, the film is dedicated to the actors of the renowned Japanese Kabuki theatre. Set in Japan in 1885, the story follows Kikunosuke Onoe, the adopted son of a famous Kabuki actor. Kikunosuke's father teaches him professio ...

Ma no kisetsu: Haru no mizuumi (1956)

Early Spring (1956)

A young salaryman and his wife struggle within the confines of their passionless relationship while he embarks on an extramarital affair. ...

Ejima and Ikushima (1955)

This period film is inspired by one of the most notorious scandals to have taken place in Edo-period Japan. The heroine, Ejima, was a lady of the Ooku, the harem of Edo Castle in which the Shogun's mother, wife and concubines resided, forbidden from contac ...

Marital Relations (1955)

​Ryukichi, the pampered heir to a cosmetics wholesaler, abandons his wife and child to pursue a scandalous affair with a famous geisha named Choko. This betrayal leads his father to disown him, leaving the unskilled Ryukichi with no way to earn a living. ...

The Mask and Destiny (1955)

Shuzenji Monogatari (The Mask and Destiny) is based on a 12th-century Japanese legend. An abortive royal romance leads to an escalating series of tragedies. The central character is a Japanese monarch who would prefer to live a humble existence as a maskma ...

The Further Adventures of Genta (1955)

A Woman's Life (1955)

The film adaptation of Yuzo Yamamoto's novel tells the story of the difficult fate of a single mother in pre-war Japan. ...

Chushingura (1954)

Edo no yubae (1954)

In the fourth year of Keio (1868), defeated retainers sought to restore the Tokugawa shogunate with the help of Enomoto Takeaki's navy. Honda Koroiku was one of them. He discreetly handed a departure note to his fiancée, Otosei, the daughter of Matsudaira ...

Between Yesterday and Tomorrow (1954)

A young man hands in his notice at work and breaks up with his girlfriend in order to pursue his true nature and dream of shaping the world according to his own desires. Against all the odds, he manages to push through his business idea – the foundation ...

Always in My Heart Part 3 (1954)

Machiko and Haruki's drama continues. Machiko is not allowed to see Haruki. They finally meet again, but Haruki departs to Europe. ...

Love and Duty (1954)

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. ...

Always in My Heart Part 2 (1953)

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

An Inlet of Muddy Water (1953)

A Japanese woman writes down three stories she has witnessed or heard of in her diary, each about the difficult situation a young woman finds herself in. ...

Hana no shôgai (1953)

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 Taka. ...

Always in My Heart (1953)

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. ...

Yassamossa (1953)

Carmen's Innocent Love (1952)

Strip dancer Carmen falls in love with Hajime, who is engaged to the daughter of a right-wing politician. ...

The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice (1952)

The arranged marriage between a capricious woman from Tokyo high society and a quiet rustic man is tested by a marital crisis. ...

Tange Sazen (1952)

Drama about a famous one-eyed, one-armed samurai swordsman of the middle of the Tokugawa period by the name of Tange Sazen. By chance, Tange gets an old pot in which the secret of the treasure of 1000000 ryos of gold is hidden. However, a bunch of differen ...

The Waves (1952)

Before a young woman can be sold to a geisha, she becomes pregnant. ...

Doctor's Day Off (1952)

Having completed the first year at his new medical practice, a doctor plans to relax on his day off. However, it is not to be: on this hectic day a man just back from the war front visits the doctor with a medical emergency, followed by a woman who claims ...

Beauty of Life (1951)

Inochi uruwashi ...

Early Summer (1951)

In postwar Tokyo, Noriko lives with her extended family. Although she enjoys her career and her social life, her more traditional family worries about her single marital status at the advanced age of 28. 40-year-old business associate Takako proposes, Nori ...

Freedom School (1951)

Minamimura, who had always wanted to be free, suddenly quits his job. His hardworking wife is surprised and angry, and throws him out of the house. Confused by his sudden freedom, Iosuke ends up living as a vagrant under a bridge. His wife, Komako, also fi ...

The Good Fairy (1951)

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. ...

Crazy Uproar (1950)

Also known as Crazy Uproar. ...