Best Jidaigeki Films set in Japan (in chronological order)
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- DirectorIsao TakahataStarsChloë Grace MoretzJames CaanMary SteenburgenKaguya is a beautiful young woman coveted by five nobles. To try to avoid marrying a stranger she doesn't love, she sends her suitors on seemingly impossible tasks. But she will have to face her fate and punishment for her choices.Heian Period (794–1185)
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsToshirô MifuneMachiko KyôMasayuki MoriThe rape of a bride and the murder of her samurai husband are recalled from the perspectives of a bandit, the bride, the samurai's ghost and a woodcutter.Heian Period (794–1185)
- DirectorTeinosuke KinugasaStarsMachiko KyôKazuo HasegawaIsao YamagataA samurai pursues a married lady-in-waiting.Heian period (794–1185)
- DirectorKenji MizoguchiStarsKinuyo TanakaYoshiaki HanayagiKyôko KagawaIn medieval Japan, a compassionate governor is sent into exile. His wife and children try to join him, but are separated, and the children grow up amid suffering and oppression.Heian Period (794–1185)
- DirectorKenji MizoguchiStarsNarutoshi HayashiRaizô IchikawaTatsuya IshiguroAfter his father is not rewarded for his military achievements, Taira Kiyomori rebels against the court and the monks who rule the country. He also falls in love with Tokiko and discovers unsettling revelations about his parentage.Genpei War (1180–1185 AD)
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsDenjirô ÔkôchiSusumu FujitaKen'ichi EnomotoA Japanese general and his men disguise themselves as monks in order to pass an enemy border patrol.Kamakura Period (12th cent.)
- DirectorKaneto ShindôStarsNobuko OtowaJitsuko YoshimuraKei SatôTwo women kill samurai and sell their belongings for a living. While one of them is having an affair with their neighbor, the other woman meets a mysterious samurai wearing a bizarre mask.Nanboku-chō period (1336–1392)
- DirectorHayao MiyazakiStarsYôji MatsudaYuriko IshidaYûko TanakaOn a journey to find the cure for a Tatarigami's curse, Ashitaka finds himself in the middle of a war between the forest gods and Tatara, a mining colony. In this quest he also meets San, the Mononoke Hime.Late Muromachi period (1336-1573)
- DirectorSatsuo YamamotoStarsRaizô IchikawaShiho FujimuraYûnosuke ItôA young ninja becomes embroiled in a plot to kill a tyrannical warlord. He journeys across feudal Japan, facing deceit, betrayal, and enemy ninja at every turn. Goemon must complete his mission, regain his honor, and survive.Sengoku Period (1467–1600)
- DirectorSatsuo YamamotoStarsRaizô IchikawaSô YamamuraShiho FujimuraConfident that he has destroyed the Iga Ninja, the evil Oda Nobunaga continues his quest to conquer Japan. Meanwhile, Ishikawa Goemon (Ichikawa Raizo) has settled down with his wife and child, and wishes only to live in peace -- a wish that will not be granted. As mighty warlords battle and connive, Goemon must once again try to assassinate Nobunaga, in order to save the Bhuddist religious community that has come to mean so much to him. But the path to success is once again a twisted one, full of scheming samurai and nefarious traps!Sengoku Period (1467–1600)
- DirectorKaneto ShindôStarsKichiemon NakamuraNobuko OtowaKei SatôTwo women are raped and killed by samurai soldiers. Soon they reappear as vengeful ghosts who seduce and brutally murder the passing samurai.Sengoku Period (1467–1600)
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsTatsuya NakadaiAkira TeraoJinpachi NezuIn Medieval Japan, an elderly warlord retires, handing over his empire to his three sons. However, he vastly underestimates how the new-found power will corrupt them and cause them to turn on each other...and him.Sengoku Period (1467–1600)
- StarsRikiya KoyamaKôji OhkuraMasashi EbaraDuring the Age of Warring States, the upcoming warlord Sasuke Furuta is torn between his political ambition and his love of the tea ceremony.
- DirectorKenji MizoguchiStarsMasayuki MoriMachiko KyôKinuyo TanakaA tale of ambition, family, love, and war set in the midst of the Japanese Civil Wars of the sixteenth century.Late Sengoku Period (1467–1600)
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsToshirô MifuneTakashi ShimuraKeiko TsushimaFarmers from a village exploited by bandits hire a veteran samurai for protection, who gathers six other samurai to join him.Late Sengoku Period (1467–1600)
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsToshirô MifuneMinoru ChiakiIsuzu YamadaA war-hardened general, egged on by his ambitious wife, works to fulfill a prophecy that he would become lord of Spider's Web Castle.Late Sengoku Period (1467–1600)
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsToshirô MifuneMisa UeharaMinoru ChiakiLured by gold, two greedy peasants unknowingly escort a princess and her general across enemy lines.Late Sengoku Period (1467–1600)
- DirectorKinji FukasakuStarsHiroko YakushimaruHiroyuki SanadaShin'ichi ChibaPrincess Shizu was born under a terrible curse. Only the eight legendary samurai, hailing from across Japan, can protect her from an ancient supernatural clan to fulfill their destinies as foretold by prophecy.Late Sengoku Period (1467–1600)
- DirectorHaruki KadokawaStarsTakaaki EnokiMasahiko TsugawaAtsuko AsanoIn 16th century Japan, two samurai engage in massive battles across the countryside, one attempting to conquer and the other attempting to defend his land while repressing his love for a woman after taking a vow of celibacy.Late Sengoku Period (1467–1600)
- DirectorMasahiro AndôStarsTomoya NagaseYuri ChinenKôichi YamaderaA swordsman from a strange land is caught in a struggle between morality, righteousness, and devotion as he reluctantly agrees to take a raggedy boy and his dog to a remote, Buddhist temple.Late Sengoku Period (1467–1600)
- DirectorAkira KurosawaStarsTatsuya NakadaiTsutomu YamazakiKen'ichi HagiwaraA petty thief with an utter resemblance to a samurai warlord is hired as the lord's double. When the warlord later dies the thief is forced to take up arms in his place.Late Sengoku Period (1570-1580s)
- DirectorKenji MizoguchiStarsKinuyo TanakaTsukie MatsuuraIchirô SugaiFollows a woman's fight and survival amid the vicissitudes of life and the cruelty of society.Early Edo period (17th cent.)
- DirectorKenji MizoguchiStarsKazuo HasegawaKyôko KagawaEitarô ShindôIshun is a wealthy but unsympathetic master printer who has wrongly accused his wife and best employee of being lovers. To escape punishment, the accused run away together, but Ishun is certain to be ruined if word gets out.Early Edo period (17th cent.)
- DirectorMasaki KobayashiStarsTatsuya NakadaiAkira IshihamaShima IwashitaWhen a ronin requesting seppuku at a feudal lord's palace is told of the brutal suicide of another ronin who previously visited, he reveals how their pasts are intertwined - and in doing so challenges the clan's integrity.Early Edo Period (1630)
- DirectorTakashi MiikeStarsKoji YakushoMunetaka AokiNaoto TakenakaA 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.Early Edo Period (1630)