The Bored Samurai

The Tale of Genji(ja)

Gale Winds! Tengu Karama(ja)

The 40th and final "Tengu Kurama" feature starring Kanjuro Arashi.

Oda Nobunaga(ja)

The show follows the early years of Japanese warlord hero Oda Nobunaga in the 16th century. As a young man Oda was not seen as the right heir to the Oda clan, but through a masterful political marriage arranged by his father, Oda Nobunaga not only gained influence, he also became the Daimyo who joined the three imperial counties to unite Japan.

Shadow Hunters(ja)

The government in Edo era is suffering from a financial crisis. It hires "Kage" to provoke the collapse of small hans (prefectures). "Kagekari" are people who were hired by Daimyos (mayors of local governments) to resist kage. The young mayor of Suwa Takashiwa, Tadamaru was assaulted by a kage on his way to Edo. Zyubei and Gennnosuke, the Kagekaris, try to carry injured Tadamaru to Edo.

Demons(ja)

Tells the story of the samurai Gengobe, who seeks revenge after falling prey to the schemes of a geisha and her husband.

Assassination(ja)

In 1863, when American warships approach Japan, an enigmatic ronin becomes an important figure in a complex game of power between the Shogunate and the empire.

Okehazama: Oda Nobunaga Birth of the Overlord(ja)

Drama set in the historical Warring States Era of Japan. Tokaido name Imagawa Yoshimoto personally led his army to invade Owari Province territory, now in Aichi Prefecture Nagoya City area, was the leader Nobunaga of this surprising burst of death. After the war, the Imagawa clan who originally dominated the Tokaido region fell away, and the victorious Oda Nobunaga quickly expanded his power in Central Japan and the Kinki region, laying the foundation for his future control of the central government of Japan.

新選組!! 土方歳三 最期の一日(ja)

Follows the final days of the shogunate and Shinsengumi's Vice-Comander Hijikata Toshizo along with his fellow anti-imperialist group.

Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai(ja)

A tale of revenge, honor and disgrace, centering on a poverty-stricken samurai who discovers the fate of his ronin son-in-law, setting in motion a tense showdown of vengeance against the house of a feudal lord.

The Revenge of Yukinojo, Part 1: Revenge and Love(ja)

The first part of an entertaining historical drama depicting the eventful story of the revenge of an actor with a strange fate, with a variety of characters and exciting developments.

Jōiuchi(ja)

One samurai is ordered to kill another by their master in punishment.

Bloody Spear at Mount Fuji(ja)

Tragicomic road movie set during the Edo period. It follows a samurai, his two servants – including spear-carrier Genpachi – and the various people they meet on their journey, including a policeman in pursuit of a thief, a young child and a woman who is to be sold into prostitution.

Revenge(ja)

An innocuous comment during a weapon inspection wounds the pride of low-ranking samurai Shinpachi, leading to an argument with his superior. The situation snowballs out of control, leading to a deadly duel and political fallout which threatens the entire clan. Declared mentally unstable by the corrupt authority, Shinpachi begins his descent into true insanity…

Bride of White Castle(ja)

A young girl, Okimi, falls in love with Kiritaro, a handsome thief disguised as a wealthy young master.

Rebellion(ja)

In the mist of the warring age (Sengoku Era), the Kyushu based Hayato Clan is faced with a monumental battle to determine their survival.

Miyamoto Musashi(ja)

Shinobu and her brother Genichiro plead with famous swordsman Musashi Miyamoto to teach them to avenge their father's death. The perpetrators of their father's demise see the siblings practicing, and so enlist the help of another revered swordsman, Kojiro Sasaki, giving the latter an excuse to battle Miyamoto.

Samurai Detective Onihei: One Last Wish(ja)

Master thief Kinosuke arrives in Edo to pull off one final heist for a tea-server who resembles his long-lost love, while Hasegawa Heizo’s spy Kumehachi tries to stop him, only to be exposed and trapped alongside the thief by Kinosuke's own crew.

Samurai Detective Onihei: Lawless Love(ja)

A tale of friendship, betrayal, and forbidden love—set against the backdrop of Edo’s criminal underworld. While patrolling the Honjo district, the legendary samurai detective Heizo Hasegawa crosses paths with his old dojo friend, Samanosuke Kishii, and a local ruffian, Hikoju of Sagami. When they discover that Ofusa, the woman they both once loved, has been forced into marriage with a corrupt lord, their reunion takes a dark turn. As secrets from their past resurface, a deeper conspiracy tied to their former mentor begins to unravel—one that will test Heizo’s loyalty, honor, and sense of justice.

Gonza the Spearman(ja)

The tragic story of Gonza, a handsome ladies man, set in the Tokugawa Period, a time in which appearances are very important. Gonza competes with Bannojō for the honor to perform the tea ceremony to celebrate the birth of an heir to the lord of their clan. To see the sacred tea scrolls Gonza promises to marry the daughter of the family which possesses them, even though he is unofficially engaged to another. When studying the scrolls with Osai, the mother of the house, Bannojō sneaks into the house and steals their obis and runs through the town proclaiming the two as adulterers.

小さな橋で(ja)

Kamui(ja)

A rebellious ninja in 17th century Japan takes refuge with a fisherman and his family.

Samurai II: Duel at Ichijoji Temple(ja)

After years on the road establishing his reputation as Japan's greatest fencer, Takezo returns to Kyoto. Otsu waits for him, yet he has come not for her but to challenge the leader of the region's finest school of fencing. To prove his valor and skill, he walks deliberately into ambushes set up by the school's followers.

Taboo(ja)

Set during Japan's Shogun era, this film looks at life in a samurai compound where young warriors are trained in swordfighting. A number of interpersonal conflicts are brewing in the training room, all centering around a handsome young samurai named Sozaburo Kano. The school's stern master can choose to intervene, or to let Kano decide his own path.

Samurai Rebellion(ja)

The mother of a feudal lord's only heir is kidnapped by the lord. Her husband and his samurai father must decide whether to accept the unjust decision, or risk death to rescue her.

After the Rain(ja)

A group of travelers is stranded in a small country inn when the river floods during heavy rains. As the bad weather continues, tensions rise amongst the trapped travelers.

Zatoichi: Darkness Is His Ally(ja)

Older, wiser but still a wandering loner, the blind, peace-loving masseur Ichi seeks a peaceful life in a rural village. When he's caught in the middle of a power struggle between two rival Yakuza clans, his reputation as a deadly defender of the innocent is put to the ultimate test in a series of sword-slashing showdowns.

Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto(ja)

Struggling to elevate himself from his low caste in 17th century Japan, Miyamoto trains to become a mighty samurai warrior.

Chûshingura(ja)

After their lord is tricked into committing ritual suicide, forty-seven samurai warriors await the chance to avenge their master and reclaim their honor.

Love and Honor(ja)

A look at the relationship between a young blind samurai and his wife, who will make a sacrifice in order to defend her husband's honor.

Harmonium(ja)

Toshio hires Yasaka to work in his workshop. But then this old acquaintance, who has just been released from prison, begins to meddle in Toshio's family life.

Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance(ja)

Official Shogunate executioner Ogami Itto has been framed for disloyalty to the Shogunate by the Yagyu clan, against whom he now is waging a one-man war, along with his infant son, Daigoro.

Rurouni Kenshin: The Beginning(ja)

Before he was a protector, Kenshin was a fearsome assassin known as Battosai. But when he meets gentle Tomoe Yukishiro, a beautiful young woman who carries a huge burden in her heart, his life will change forever.

Sekigahara(ja)

The background to and depiction of a watershed battle in Japanese history, at Sekigahara in 1600, when Tokugawa Ieyasu's Army of the East defeated the Army of the West of Ishida Mitsunari. The story includes the intrigues and shifting loyalties of the various retainers, family members, and samurai.

Blood and Bones(ja)

In 1923, teenager Kim Shun-Pei moves from Cheju Island, in South Korea, to Osaka, in Japan. Along the years, he becomes a cruel, greedy and violent man and builds a factory of kamaboko, processed seafood products, in his poor Korean-Japanese community exploiting his employees.

Radiance(ja)

The story follows the social intercourse between a cameraman, Masaya, with a visual impairment, and Misako who disconnects from the world.

Girl in the Box(en)

The true story of 20-year-old Colleen Stan, a hitchhiking woman abducted by a young couple and held captive for seven years, during which time she's tortured and forced to live as a slave to her captors.

The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail(ja)

A fugitive lord and his six retainers disguise themselves as monks to bluff their way through a hostile checkpoint.

Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo(ja)

Zatoichi treks to a village that has always been a favorite spot of his, only to discover that it’s become a living hell, plagued by feuding father and son yakuza as well as the younger crime boss’s bodyguard, scruffy, smart-mouthed, cash-hungry Yojimbo of legend.

13 Assassins(ja)

A sadistic Daimyo (feudal lord) rapes a woman and murders both her and her husband, but even when one of his own vassals commits suicide to bring attention to the crime, the matter is quickly hushed up. Not only will there be no punishment, but because the Daimyo is the Shogun's younger brother, he will soon be appointed to a high political position from which he could wreak even more havoc. Convinced that the fate of the Shogunate hangs in the balance, a plot is hatched to assassinate the Daimyo. The two most brilliant strategic minds of their generation find themselves pitted against each other; one is tasked to defend a man he despises, and has a small army at his disposal. The other is given a suicide mission, and has 12 brave men. They are the 13 Assassins.

Intentions of Murder(ja)

The neglected common-law wife of a Japanese librarian is repeatedly harassed by a young man with a heart condition who seduces her with the prospect of a better life.