Ken'ichi Okamoto

Hometown (1983)

Deep in the mountains of Japan a dam is scheduled to be built, thus forcing a relocation of the farmers. One of them is 78-year-old Denzo, whose son and his wife consider him senile. Left alone, he befriends a young boy, Sentaro, who has heard that the old ...

Willful Murder (1981)

The president of the Japanese National Railways is found dead during a period in which train service is plagued by numerous layoffs, strikes and shutdowns. The government says that the president was murdered; the police claim it was a suicide. A quizzical ...

Before Spring (1980)

Out of the blue, a bourgeois family on the Sea of Japan finds an unconscious woman on the beach and decides to let her board. ...

Nurse's Husband (1980)

"Quit working as a nurse!" "All right, I will!" thus began the married life of Yasuo and Keiko. But the reality is harsh. Keiko even had to work on the first night after her marriage. Ten years later, the married couple is still at it. Yauso tends to the h ...

The Inugami Family (1976)

When a tycoon passes away, he unexpectedly leaves the family fortune to outsider Tamayo on the condition that she marries one of the grandsons, pitting blood against blood. ...

In the Realm of the Senses (1976)

A passionate telling of the story of Sada Abe, a woman whose affair with her master led to an obsessive and ultimately destructive sexual relationship. ...

The Corporation (1976)

Tadashi Iki returns to Japan from a Soviet gulag 11 years after being captured during the invasion of Manchuria. He is offered a position in the expansive Kinki Corporation, but rival corporations are competing for a government contract to produce fighter ...

My Way (1974)

Based on a true story, an elderly woman resiliently spends nine months attempting to retrieve her husband's dead body, fighting government bureaucracy and indifference all along the way. ...

Hymn (1972)

The story tells of the adoration of Sasuke for his mistress, the blind samisen-teacher Shunkin, who treats him imperiously and subjects him to cruel beatings. ...

Rika: The Mixed-Blood Girl (1972)

First film of a trilogy following the dramatic life of Rika, a half-Japanese/half-American woman who becomes the tough-as-nails leader of an all-girl crime gang. ...

The Long Darkness (1972)

The relationship between Tetsuro, a university student from a disgraced, burdened family, and Shino, a waitress supporting her impoverished relatives. The couple decides to marry despite the significant emotional and social hardships each faces, viewing th ...

Live Today, Die Tomorrow! (1970)

Michio Yamada, a recent school graduate, is sent to Tokyo to work as a fruit-packer in a department store as part of a government programme. He takes a gun from a house on an American base and uses it to kill several people. The scene changes to Yamada's ...

Heat Wave Island (1969)

Nobuko Otowa plays a former Seto Inland Sea island farmer who has moved to the mainland in order to find work, but instead ends up dead. The film begins with the discovery of her corpse, which leads to an investigation that uncovers the narcotics, prostitu ...

Conquest (1965)

Provincial 14th century governor Moronao, attracted to the wife of a court magistrate, tries to seduce her and when she rejects his advances plots to send her husband into battle. ...

Bamboo Doll of Echizen (1963)

Kisuke, a young bamboo worker marries Tomoe, a courtesan who was once involved with Kisuke's late father. ...

The Third Shadow Warrior (1963)

In the mountain regions of Hida, the dreams of a peasant named Kyonosuke, who longed to be a samurai, come true when he becomes one of three doubles, of shadows, of Lord Yasutaka. After months of intense and cruel training, he faces his destiny when the Lo ...

An Actor's Revenge (1963)

In Edo Japan, a kabuki actor seeks revenge against the three men who drove his parents to their deaths years ago. ...

The Broken Commandment (1962)

Ushimatsu's father told him never to reveal his lower-caste heritage; years later, he now contemplates confiding in an activist fighting against such discrimination. ...

The Temple of Wild Geese (1962)

Satoko is a mistress by trade or fate: when her master, the silkscreen artist of the Kohoan Temple in Kyoto, dies, she is given to the temple's lascivious head priest Kikuchi. She is drawn to a melancholy young acolyte, Jinen, who has observed the profliga ...

Buddha (1961)

An Indian prince leaves his world of comfort and riches behind to wander and meditate for six years in search of spiritual enlightenment. Siddartha (Cojoin Hong) turns his back on the old religion when people are starving needlessly and holy rituals includ ...

Satan's Sword: The Dragon God (1960)

The sequel to Daibosatsu tôge (1960) and the second of the trilogy follows the adventures of Ryunosuke Tsukue after he is blinded. ...

Satan's Sword (1960)

The Dai-bosatsu toge trilogy is based on Kaizan Nakazato's unfinished long series of novels (41 books, written from 1913 to 1941). Set in the last period of the Tokugawa Shogunate, Daibosatsu Toge tells the story of Ryunosuke Tsukue, a nihilistic swordmast ...

Bonchi (1960)

Kikuji is the scion of an Osaka merchant family whose traditional power is matrilineal. Instructed by his overbearing mother and grandmother to give them an heiress for the family business, he stands by helplessly as his wife is thrown out of the house for ...

Enchanted Princess (1959)

Once upon a time, Okuro (Ayako Wakao), a young female racoon, lived poorly with her drunken father. One day after they disguised themselves as parasols, they were wrongly brought to the Racoon Palace, where the young racoon princess (also Ayako Wakao) made ...

Jirocho Fuji (1959)

Legendary yakuza Shimizu Jirocho and his 28 henchmen travel the unruly path from a 'Fire Festival' in Akiba to a decisive battle by the Fujigawa. ...

Peony on the Skin (1959)

Conflagration (1958)

Learning of his family's collapse, acolyte Goichi, sent to study silently at the Temple of the Golden Pavilion, must endure acute psychological distress. ...

Akado Suzunosuke vs. the Birdman with 3 Eyes (1958)

Suzunosuke faces perhaps his wildest foes. This evil gang is lead by a one-eyed birdman and other demonic creatures. ...

Freelance Samurai (1957)

One of Japanese folklore's most popular characters is brought to life on the silver screen in this terrific version of legendary Demon slaying Peach Boy. ...

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 ...

An Osaka Story (1957)

A poor peasant, after years of scraping, becomes a rich and powerful Osaka merchant. Mizoguchi Kenji's final project; he died before completing it and directing duties turned over to Yoshimura Kozaburo. ...

Tsukigata Hanpeita (1956)

During the bloody era of the Tokugawa Shogunate collapse, a man appeared capable of overthrowing a corrupt government and ending the feud between the Choshu and Satsuma clans. This is the story of Tsukigat Khanpayit, the sword maker of the Choshu clan, who ...

Undercurrent (1956)

In Kyoto a young kimono maker with traditional ideas gets involved with a married professor. ...

Sisters of Gion (1956)

Taira Clan Saga (1955)

Japan, 1137. The Taira family, a samurai clan, becomes involved in the disputes between Emperor Toba and the monks of Mount Hiei. ...

Chikamatsu Monogatari (1954)

When the wife of a 17th-century Kyoto scrollmaker is falsely accused of having an affair with his best employee, the pair flee the city and find themselves truly falling for one another. ...

The Princess Sen (1954)

During the Warring States era of early 17th century Japan, teenage princess Sen is besieged with other members of her family in Osaka Castle, by a rival force led by her grandfather. ...

The Woman in the Rumor (1954)

After living a traumatic experience in Tokyo, Yukiko returns to Kyoto, where Hatsuko, her mother, runs a brothel, which upsets Yukiko very much. ...

Sansho the Bailiff (1954)

In 11th-century feudal Japan, following the exile of an idealistic governor, his wife and children are separated by slave traders; the children, Zushio and Anju, are sold into brutal servitude under the cruel bailiff Sansho. ...

A Geisha (1953)

Fleeing a distressing family situation, Eiko, a very young girl, becomes an apprentice to Miyoharu, a veteran geisha. Both, determined to preserve their professional integrity, must face the selfishness and ambition of several petty people. ...

Ugetsu (1953)

In 16th century Japan, peasants Genjuro and Tobei sell their earthenware pots to a group of soldiers in a nearby village, in defiance of a local sage's warning against seeking to profit from warfare. Genjuro's pursuit of both riches and the mysterious Lady ...

Story of a Beloved Wife (1951)

Story of a Beloved Wife is an autobiographical work based on Shindo's first marriage. Jūkichi Uno stars as a struggling screenwriter, and Nobuko Otowa stars as the wife who supports him through his early struggles. ...

Miss Oyu (1951)

Shinnosuke is introduced to Shizu as a prospective marriage partner, but he falls in love with her widowed sister Oyu. Convention forbids Oyu to marry because she has to raise her son as the head of her husband's family. Oyu convinces Shinnosuke and Shizu ...

Rashomon (1950)

Four people recount different versions of the story of a man's murder and the rape of his wife. ...

The Invisible Man Appears (1949)

A scientist successfully creates an invisibility serum, only to be kidnapped by a gang of thugs who wish to use the formula to rob a priceless jewel. ...

That Night's Adventure (1948)

Haru ranman tanuki matsuri (1948)

Palace of the Singing Raccoon-Dogs (1942)

In this Japanese retelling of Cinderella, Okuro (Takayama) is the unfortunate stepdaughter of a family of tanuki: shape-shifting raccoon dogs. She hopes to see the tanuki prince (former Takarazuka star Miyagi) against her stepmother's wishes; the magical ...

Private Lessons II (1993)

Ken, an insecure young man from Japan, meets Sophie, an interesting and sensual woman who teaches him the secrets of love and life. ...

Waiting for the Flood (1991)

A young asthmatic man learns he has magical powers. ...

The Most Suitable Profession for Women (1990)

The story follows a veteran female detective who is investigating a series of brutal murders, including the killing of a pregnant woman. Her investigation leads her to a strange, silent young man who becomes the prime suspect. As she gets closer to him, a ...

Kenji Mizoguchi: The Life of a Film Director (1975)

In 39 interviews with actors and actresses, writers, producers and staff members, interspersed with film excerpts and stills, Shindō recounts the life and career of his friend and mentor Mizoguchi. ...