Shinobu Hashimoto

A samurai answers a village's request for protection after he falls on hard times. The town needs protection from bandits, so the samurai gathers six others to help him teach the people how to defend themselves, and the villagers provide the soldiers with food.

Dir. Akira Kurosawa · With Toshirō Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Yoshio Inaba

Kanji Watanabe is a middle-aged man who has worked in the same monotonous bureaucratic position for decades. Learning he has cancer, he starts to look for the meaning of his life.

Dir. Akira Kurosawa · With Takashi Shimura, Haruo Tanaka, Nobuo Kaneko

Down-on-his-luck veteran Tsugumo Hanshirō enters the courtyard of the prosperous House of Iyi. Unemployed, and with no family, he hopes to find a place to commit seppuku—and a worthy second to deliver the coup de grâce in his suicide ritual. The senior counselor for the Iyi clan questions the ronin’s resolve and integrity, suspecting Hanshirō of seeking charity rather than an honorable end. What follows is a pair of interlocking stories which lay bare the difference between honor and respect, and promises to examine the legendary foundations of the Samurai code.

Dir. Masaki Kobayashi · With Tatsuya Nakadai, Akira Ishihama, Shima Iwashita

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

Dir. Akira Kurosawa · With Toshirō Mifune, Machiko Kyō, Takashi Shimura

Returning to their lord's castle, samurai warriors Washizu and Miki are waylaid by a spirit who predicts their futures. When the first part of the spirit's prophecy comes true, Washizu's scheming wife, Asaji, presses him to speed up the rest of the spirit's prophecy by murdering his lord and usurping his place. Director Akira Kurosawa's resetting of William Shakespeare's "Macbeth" in feudal Japan is one of his most acclaimed films.

Dir. Akira Kurosawa · With Toshirō Mifune, Isuzu Yamada, Takashi Shimura

In feudal Japan, during a bloody war between clans, two cowardly and greedy peasants, soldiers of a defeated army, stumble upon a mysterious man who guides them to a fortress hidden in the mountains.

Dir. Akira Kurosawa · With Toshirō Mifune, Minoru Chiaki, Kamatari Fujiwara

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.

Dir. Masaki Kobayashi · With Toshirō Mifune, Yōko Tsukasa, Gō Katō

In this loose adaptation of "Hamlet," illegitimate son Kôichi Nishi climbs to a high position within a Japanese corporation and marries the crippled daughter of company vice president Iwabuchi. At the reception, the wedding cake is a replica of their corporate headquarters, but an aspect of the design reminds the party of the hushed-up death of Nishi's father. It is then that Nishi unleashes his plan to avenge his father's death.

Dir. Akira Kurosawa · With Toshirō Mifune, Masayuki Mori, Kamatari Fujiwara

Ryunosuke, a gifted swordsman plying his trade during the turbulent final days of Shogunate rule, has no moral code and kills without remorse. It’s a way of life that leads to madness.

Dir. Kihachi Okamoto · With Tatsuya Nakadai, Yūzō Kayama, Michiyo Aratama

An aging foundry patriarch, gripped by terror of nuclear annihilation, tries to uproot his family to Brazil. When they petition to have him declared incompetent, a family-court counselor witnesses his obsession slide into ruin—and asks whether ignoring the atomic threat is any saner.

Dir. Akira Kurosawa · With Toshirō Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Minoru Chiaki

On a Tokyo dump’s shantytown edge, interwoven vignettes follow residents scraping by: a boy who “drives” an imaginary trolley, a homeless father and son designing a dream house, a young woman brutalized at home, drunks, schemers, and saints of small kindnesses. Kurosawa crafts a ragged mosaic of hardship, fantasy, and flickers of grace that keep people moving forward.

Dir. Akira Kurosawa · With Yoshitaka Zushi, Kin Sugai, Toshiyuki Tonomura