The best Kikuko Hojo’s movies
If you love cinema, you will share this ranking of the best Kikuko Hojo’s movies, although you may have ordered them differently. In any case, we hope you love it and with a little luck discovering a movie that you still don’t know about Kikuko Hojo.
Tomorrow's Sun
6/10
A playful short film made in the style of a trailer for a fictional feature film that seems to be a spoof of films that were popular in Japan at the time.
Black Thief
7.2/10
Organized thieves battle against the Shogun’s ruthless ruling in attempt to get back their land.
The Ninja Hunt
7.3/10
Four ninja are hired to fight against the Shogunate’s plot to abolish the Gamo Clan, the regional barons struggling to reinstate their young heir Tanemaru as their Lord.
The Third Ninja
7/10
Three Iga ninja are on a hunt for Chidoken, a Takeda ninja sent out to assasinate Lord Nobunaga.
Honno-Ji in Flames
The plot is based on the novel "Akechi Samanosuke no Koi," the final work in a trilogy by Hiroshi Kato about the forced suicide of Oda Nobunaga at the temple Honnoji. Historically, the general Akechi Mitsuhide is credited with causing Nobunaga's downfall. Kato's novel focuses on Mitsuhide's nephew Samanosuke, who fought alongside his uncle during the assault on Honnoji.
The One-Eyed Ghost
4.6/10
Japanese horror film directed by Tsuneo Kobayashi.
The Mysterious Cape
Ryujin Misaki, located at the edge of the Genkai Sea, is known as an isolation ward for leprosy patients. When Saotome, a sword master and guard of the Shogun, hears news of a doctor gone missing, he begins to suspect that things are not what they seem at Ryujin Misaki. Intent on discovering the truth, Saotome launches a private investigation.
Vanquished Foes
A skilled assassin's services are called upon to put an end to the ugly turf battle between two yakuza families, Mitsuwa and Aikawa. Forced by the code of the yakuza to put one's life on the line for a Boss who offered a meal and lodging, each side manages to get hold of powerful swordsmen who will stop at nothing to pay their obligations.
Lord Mito: Struggle of Suke and Kaku
6.8/10
The story of two young men whose ambition is to become the personal bodyguards to the Shogun's uncle, Lord Mito Komon. Portrayed by a pair of up and coming stars, Sasaki Sukesaburo (Matsukata), the son of a widower and Atsumi Kakunoshin (Kitaoji), whose mother is a widow find themselves constantly in trouble and are forced to become two of the most powerful fighters in all Japan. The stories about Mito Komon and his travels througout Japan are many, but this is one that had yet to be told. The struggles of Suke-san and Kaku-san faced in order to join the Elder in his quest to fight against injustice and corruption during the samurai era.
Ukyunosuke on Patrol
7.3/10
This is one of the most powerfully effective ninja films that dispenses with the silly magic of earlier efforts, and concentrates on an excellent story with expert fighting. Sena Denemon is the rarest of government officials, a man of integrity, sent on a mission to uncover the corruption that ran rampant during the Edo Period. Refusing bribes, and willing to put his life on the line to raise his son properly, heinfuriates the corrupt Inspectors; thus endangering his own life. Along with his two trusted vassals, he makes a brave effort to alert the Shogun to the plot which is being carried out. After the battle, his son Ichitaro joins the Chichibu ninja group in order to master fighting so he, too, can fight the forces which have brought about so much suffering.
Drunken Sword
7.2/10
Tetsunosuke, an eccentric doctor and an owner of a fencing school, takes aim against corrupt authorities.
Prison Gambler
A film about the confrontation between two yakuza groups in the brutal Miike prison, which contained 1,500 inmates.
The second film in the series Gambler / Bakuto directed by Shigehiro Ozawa.
The Bandits
Friendship between an ambitious young thief and an artist during the Warring States period.
Sakura Official
As Japan’s Tokugawa shogunate nears the end of its rule, Edo North Magistrate Toyama no Kinsan is called upon to judge the most difficult case of his career. In a masterfully woven tale, he has to face the truth about his estranged father’s possible involvement in a nefarious plot to take over rule of the Hizen Shimabara clan by assassinating the rightful lord, his son, and install one of Shogun Ienari’s offspring as daimyo.
Bloody Record of the Shinsengumi
Blind Monk Swordsman
This is the story of a bad man who re-discovering humanity via woman and child while clashing with the yakuza and being hunted by a man called “Death” who has his own dark past. The prototype for the later two yakuza priest series with Shintaro Katsu and Tomisaburo Wakayama. Apparently so. And the swordsman motif seems to have been concurrent with Daiei's first ZATOICHI production.
The Mysterious Purple Hood
The Purple-Hooded Man, Japan's version of Robin Hood, tries to uncover a corruption scandal in Edo era Japan.
Young Lord and Second Son
A lord explores the lives of common people.
20 Duels of Young Shingo - Conclusion
The final film in the 20 Duels of Young Shingo trilogy directed by Sadatsugu Matsuda.
Takamaru and Kikumaru
Two brothers, Takamaru and Kikumaru, are living with their father, Hakuraku-Ou, until one day Hakuraku-Ou is killed by "Death's-Head" Ginnosuke, a villain skilled in the art of sorcery. Hakuraku-Ou had long been seeking a Tiger Seal which, together with the Dragon Seal in his possession, would reveal the location of a huge ancestral fortune. But on the very night that the Tiger Seal was found, it was stolen by Tomomitsu, Ginnosuke's chief. When the two brothers receive the Dragon Seal from their father just before his death they determine to go to Death's-Head Castle, in order to recover the Tiger Seal.
