HEY DU YOU WANT THE BEST SAMURAI MOVIES? HERE IS THE LIST!!

[YoshidaYui]

In Japan they are called "Jidaigeki", period Pieces. This is my list incase you ever
wanted to watch some great action films featuring sword play, Samurai style. These
are not in order of best to least. (They can be found on Amazon.com or Yesasia.com and
have english subtitles.) Just my list of suggested films:

SAMURAI BANNERS (stars Toshiro Mifune)
WHEN THE LAST SWORD IS DRAWN (Film by by Yojiro Takita)
RED LION (starring Toshiro Mifune- directed by Okamoto Kihachi)
DORA HEITA (starring Koji Yakusho directed by Kon Ichikawa)
INCIDENT AT BLOOD PASS (Starring Toshiro Mifune and Shintaro Katsu)
SAMURAI REBELLION (starring Torshiro Mifune- film by Masaki Kobayashi)
KILL! (Film by Kihachi Okamoto) **This is actually a dark comedy**
SWORD OF THE BEASTS (A.K.A Samurai Gold Seekers- starring Mikijiro Hira-film by Hideo Gosha)
RONIN GAI (film by Kazuo Kuroki)
HIDDEN BLADE (2004)
RAN (Akira Kurosawa's film starring Tatsuya Nakadai)
SAMURAI SPY (Film by Masahiro Shinoda)
RASHOMON (Film by Akira Kurosawa starring Toshiro Mifune)
YOJIMBO (Film by Akira Kurosawa starring Toshiro Mifune)
SANJURO (Film by Akira Kurosawa starring Toshiro Mifune)
SAMURAI: MUSASHI MIYAMOTO (film by Hiroshi Inagaki starring Toshiro Mifune)
SAMURAI2: DUEL AT ICHIJOJI TEMPLE (film by Hiroshi Inagaki starring Toshiro Mifune)
SAMURAI3: DUEL AT GANRYU ISLAND (film by Hiroshi Inagaki starring Toshiro Mifune)
SWORD OF DOOM (Film by Kihachi Okamoto staring Toshiro Mifune and Tatsuya Nakadai)



THRONE OF BLOOD (Film by Akira Kurosawa starring Toshiro Mifune)
KAGEMUSHA (Film by Akira Kurosawa)
HARAKIRAI (Film by Masaki Kobayashi starring Tatsuya Nakadai)
SEVEN SAMURAI (Film by Akira Kurosawa starring Toshiro Mifune)
THE HIDDEN FORTRESS (Film by Akira Kurosawa starring Toshiro Mifune)
WICKED PRIEST a.k.a Gokuaku Bozu (starring Wakayama Tomisaburo)



**American films**
THE RED SUN (stars Charles Bronson, Ursula Andress, Alain Delon and Toshiro Mifune)
THE BUSHIDO BLADE (stars James Earl Jones, Sonny Chiba, Richard Boone and Toshiro Mifune)



**JAPANESE SERIES**

HANZO THE RAZOR (starring Shintaro Katsu)
BAIAN THE ASSASSIN (starring Ken Watanabe)
ZATOICHI SERIES (starring Shintaro Katsu)
LONE WOLF AND CUB (starring Wakayama Tomisaburo)
SHADOW WARRIORS(Kage no Gundan) (starring Sonny Chiba )

*Recent Films*
ZATOICHI (starring Takeshi Kitano, Tadanobu Asano, Michiyo Ookusu)
AZUMI (starring Aya Ueto)
AZUMI 2 (starring Aya Ueto)
PRINCESS BLADE A.KA SHURA YUKIHIME (starring Yumiko Shaku)
SHINOBI (Starring Yukie Nakama, Erika Sawajiri, Jo Odagiri and Tomoka Kurotani )

My dad introduced many of these films to me. Most of the upper section were his favorites. I have
since added some on my own. My favorite is the old Zatoichi series staring Shintaro Katsu. (Do a Youtube search for him, you will be amazed!)

**Note: Here are a few more, that were suggested:
Shingo's Challenge ( OKAWA Hashizo, OKA Satomi, OTOMO Ryutaro, OKOCHI Denjiro
Directed by: MATSUDA Sadatsugu)
Three Generations of the Yagyu Sword (AOI: TOKUGAWA THREE GENERATIONS
( starring Tsugawa Masahiko, Nishida 9Toshiyuki)

Yagyu Conspiracies:Yagyu ichizoku no inbo
(stars Sonny Chiba, Kinnosuke Nakamura)

Samurai Wolfa.k.a Kiba okaminosuke (directed by Hideo Gosha, stars Isao Natsuyagi)

Sorekara No Musashi (directed by Sai Osu, Masatsuga Sawajima)

Mute Samurai (starring Wakayama Tomisaburo /Shintaro Katsu)

Shinsengumi **J-dorama series (Katori Shingo, Yamamoto Koji,Fujiwara Tatsuya
Yamaguchi Tomomitsu, Odagiri Joe)

Tokugawa Buraicho (starring Sonny Chiba)

Lady Snowblood a.k.a Shurayukihime (starring Meiko Kaji)
Lady Snowblood 2: Love Song of Vengeance (1974) (Shurayukihime: Urami Renga) (d. Toshiya Fujita)

[Lovie777]

1. Thanks! . . .

[Docreed2003]

2. A phenomenal list!

I'd throw in the "Lone Wolf and Cub" series of films as well.

[YoshidaYui]

5. ITS WAS ON THE LIST

ALREADY.

[Docreed2003]

6. Nice...I see it now under series

[Biophilic]

3. Best subtitle ever.

Back in 1980 my sister took me to a movie about Musashi which was in black and white, filmed during the 60s. Awesome movie but it had one scene where Musashi was talking to the heroine who was dying. The scene went on for at least 2 minutes with his deep and dramatic speech. There were no subtitles until the very end of the scene when it finally came up at the bottom of the screen, “Brace up”. I’ll never forget the juxtaposition of the deeply dramatic and sad scene and the subtitle. Some times the details do get lost in the translation.

[Midnight Writer]

4. Nice. The Challenge (John Frankenheimer) is another American film with Toshiro Mifune and Scott Glen

You can see it for free on Youtube.

Samurai X is a live action version of the manga/anime that I really enjoyed.

[bullimiami]

7. zatoichi also my favorite.

[gohuskies]

8. Thank you Yoshida ;)

Great list of Japanese samurai films. Much appreciated

[HUAJIAO]

9. What a wonderful list, Yui-chan.

Thank you.

I'm sure everyone may have something to add.. One of my would be The 47 Ronin, the 1941 film.. I visited Sengakuji Temple the last time I was in Tokyo. very powerful place.