BFI's Best Japanese film of every year

The story of a decent samurai who is widely considered a scum and a criminal. His bad luck and numerous misunderstandings drag him down the social ladder straight to the gutter.

A man takes a job at an asylum with hopes of freeing his imprisoned wife.

Trilogy about the travels of the kindly bakuto Kunisada Chuji. Film depicts Chuji's attempt to save the geisha Oshina, a rebellion against the rigid social structure of Edo Japan. Part 3. "The Chuji Patrol"

Trilogy about the travels of the kindly bakuto Kunisada Chuji. Film depicts Chuji's attempt to save the geisha Oshina, a rebellion against the rigid social structure of Edo Japan. Part 1. "Koshu Swordfighting" - First film is lost

Trilogy about the travels of the kindly bakuto Kunisada Chuji. Film depicts Chuji's attempt to save the geisha Oshina, a rebellion against the rigid social structure of Edo Japan. Part 2. "Shinshu Blood Laughter"

After falling in love with a courtesan, Rikiya is blinded by ash during a fight in a brothel. Believing the blindness permanent and his opponent dead, Rikiya goes back home to his sister. Okiku, desperate to protect her brother who thinks himself a murderer, wants to sacrifice herself for him and become a prostitute to pay for Rikiya's treatment.

Two friends try and court the same woman.

A father sends his teenage daughter to live with her uncle. He sells her to a circus. Her world and life spirals downward as the girl finds how she is not able to rely on family, humanity or god for an iota of grace or assistance.

A writer struggles to finish his story against many distractions, but the jazz party next door proves to be too much.

Two young brothers throw a tantrum when they discover that their father isn't the most important man in his workplace.

Two schoolgirl friends drift apart when one of them falls for a handsome boy.

Two schoolgirl friends drift apart when one of them falls for a handsome boy.

When she reaches adulthood, a precocious young woman sets out to find her biological father, who, as her mother tells her, abandoned them for another woman.

Two geisha sisters lead a hard life in the Gion district of Kyoto. After one of them feels obliged to support a bankrupt businessman, the other sister sets up various schemes to get rid of him.

The lives of two slum neighbors, one of a happy-go-lucky gambler and the other of a poor ronin, converge when the two get involved with the affairs of a powerful samurai official and his gangsters.

FALLEN BLOSSOMS follows the inhabitants of a Kyoto geisha house as the civil war of the Meiji Restoration rages just outside their walls. Set completely inside the house, only female characters are seen on screen. AKA: FLOWERS HAVE FALLEN.

The adopted son of a legendary actor, and an aspiring star himself, turns to his infant brother's wet nurse for support and affection - only for her to give up everything for her beloved's glory.

At a rural spa, a soldier accidentally cuts his foot on a hairpin. Soon enough he tracks down its lovely owner and finds himself smitten.

When a boy who is in the navy college returns home for vacation he meets his young cousin who also wants to join in order to become a pilot. However, the younger man's mother is antagonistic knowing the folly of war. When the younger man recruits his cousin to speak to the mother the enlisted man is successful and the mother relents. The younger cousin is soon in the navy and training to become a pilot. He graduates too, but one night loses his friend yet has no time to reflect on the event as japan draws nearer to war with the West. The pilot and his fellow pilots are told to embark on a mission, but initially not told their purpose or destination. Only later it is revealed that the destination is Hawaii, USA. Pearl Habour looms.

Matsugoro is a poor rickshaw driver whose animated spirit and optimistic demeanor make him a favorite of the town. Matsu helps an injured boy, Toshio, and is hired by the boy's parents.

A widow raises her sickly son to be strong enough to join the army and fight on the front lines.

This animated film--Japan's first--was a propaganda piece made to show the Japanese public how the Japanese military had achieved such decisive victories in the South Pacific. It tells the story of young Japanese boys from their school days to their joining the army and fighting against Japan's "enemies" and shows how the animals in the jungle--meant to symbolize the residents of the Asian countries the Japanese conquered--welcomed the Japanese army's "liberating" them from their western masters.

Utamaro is a great artist who lives to create portraits of beautiful women, using the brothels of Tokyo to provide his models.

After Japan's loss in the war, the wealthy, cultured, liberal Anjo family have to give up their mansion and their way of life. They hold one last ball at the house before leaving. The seemingly cold, cynical son secretly grieves for his defeated father and the values that the war destroyed, while the daughter tries to prevent father from taking his life and to find her own place in the new Japan.