Shinobu Hashimoto

Discovering that he is in the terminal stages of cancer, a clerk spends his last months in search of the meaning to life. After his pursuit of pleasure has failed, he finds self-realization in bringing about the building of a children's playground in the slums and dies quiety fulfilled.

Set in the Middle Ages, the nature of truth and subjective reality are probed in a series of flashbacks from four viewpoints to present the case history of a man's murder and the rape of his wife by a bandit.

This epic masterpiece is about a group of 16th century samurai who are hired to defend a small Japanese village that finds itself annually raided by an army of bandits who steal the meager crops harvested by the peasants. Tired of relinquishing their food supply but woefully inept in combat skills, the villagers decide to hire a band of samurai to protect them. In addition to the primary conflict between the villagers and the bandits, much of the...

In 16th century Japan, a small farming village has been continually victimized by bandits who take their crops and their women. The villagers, desperate to end the terror, hire seven unemployed samurai to help defend the village. The modern film, "The Magnificent Seven", was based on this Japanese film.

Yamamoto Kansuke is a fearsome warrior who has risen to the position of Clan Chamberlain through trickery and deceit, but he learns the meaning of honor when he and his Lord, Takeda, fall in love with the same woman.

Ryunosuke is a sociopathic samurai. When he is scheduled for an exhibition match at his fencing school, the wife of his opponent begs Ryunosuke to throw the match, offering her own virtue in trade.

A young Japanese businessman dying of cancer wants to give something back to society before his death, so he decides to build a playground for children.