Tetsuro Tamba

Harakiri

Down-on-his-luck veteran Tsugumo Hanshirō enters the courtyard of the prosperous House of Iyi. Unemployed, and with no family, he hopes to find a place to commit seppuku—and a worthy second to deliver the coup de grâce in his suicide ritual. The senior counselor for the Iyi clan questions the ronin’s resolve and integrity, suspecting Hanshirō of seeking charity rather than an honorable end. What follows is a pair of interlocking stories which lay bare the difference between honor and respect, and promises to examine the legendary foundations of the Samurai code.

You Only Live Twice

A mysterious spacecraft captures Russian and American space capsules and brings the two superpowers to the brink of war. James Bond investigates the case in Japan and comes face to face with his archenemy Blofeld.

The Cat Returns

Young Haru rescues a cat from being run over, but soon learns it's no ordinary feline; it happens to be the Prince of the Cats.

Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky

In 2001, where all correctional facilities have been privatized, martial artist Ricky finds himself victim to the corrupt system, found "guilty" of the manslaughter of an infamous crime boss.

King of the Gang

The 11th and final film in the Gang series. Most of the films had different directors and cast, and were only connected by the title and Toei's marketing department. Unlike the early entries, which were jazzy capers, this final entry is a prototype jitsuroku yakuza film. Just back from the war, Noboru Ando leads a gang of war vets turned gangster in the US occupied streets of Tokyo. They get into a conflict with a Chinese gang as well as the military police. Tetsuro Tamba appears as a police chief trying to bring peace to the streets; 1st wave pinky violence star Masumi Tachibana is a girl grieving his dead gangster father.

The Kii River

Epic saga of an idealistic land-owning family dealing with militarism, war, social change and economic reform.

The Bushido Blade

A steel samurai blade that was to be given to the American ambassador by the Emperor of Japan is stolen. American sailors and Japanese samurai are sent to find it.

The Twilight Samurai

Seibei Iguchi leads a difficult life as a low ranking samurai at the turn of the nineteenth century. A widower with a meager income, Seibei struggles to take care of his two daughters and senile mother. New prospects seem to open up when the beautiful Tomoe, a childhood friend, comes back into he and his daughters' life, but as the Japanese feudal system unravels, Seibei is still bound by the code of honor of the samurai and by his own sense of social precedence. How can he find a way to do what is best for those he loves?

Harakiri

Down-on-his-luck veteran Tsugumo Hanshirō enters the courtyard of the prosperous House of Iyi. Unemployed, and with no family, he hopes to find a place to commit seppuku—and a worthy second to deliver the coup de grâce in his suicide ritual. The senior counselor for the Iyi clan questions the ronin’s resolve and integrity, suspecting Hanshirō of seeking charity rather than an honorable end. What follows is a pair of interlocking stories which lay bare the difference between honor and respect, and promises to examine the legendary foundations of the Samurai code.

You Only Live Twice

A mysterious spacecraft captures Russian and American space capsules and brings the two superpowers to the brink of war. James Bond investigates the case in Japan and comes face to face with his archenemy Blofeld.

The Cat Returns

Young Haru rescues a cat from being run over, but soon learns it's no ordinary feline; it happens to be the Prince of the Cats.

Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky

In 2001, where all correctional facilities have been privatized, martial artist Ricky finds himself victim to the corrupt system, found "guilty" of the manslaughter of an infamous crime boss.

King of the Gang

The 11th and final film in the Gang series. Most of the films had different directors and cast, and were only connected by the title and Toei's marketing department. Unlike the early entries, which were jazzy capers, this final entry is a prototype jitsuroku yakuza film. Just back from the war, Noboru Ando leads a gang of war vets turned gangster in the US occupied streets of Tokyo. They get into a conflict with a Chinese gang as well as the military police. Tetsuro Tamba appears as a police chief trying to bring peace to the streets; 1st wave pinky violence star Masumi Tachibana is a girl grieving his dead gangster father.

The Kii River

Epic saga of an idealistic land-owning family dealing with militarism, war, social change and economic reform.

The Bushido Blade

A steel samurai blade that was to be given to the American ambassador by the Emperor of Japan is stolen. American sailors and Japanese samurai are sent to find it.

The Twilight Samurai

Seibei Iguchi leads a difficult life as a low ranking samurai at the turn of the nineteenth century. A widower with a meager income, Seibei struggles to take care of his two daughters and senile mother. New prospects seem to open up when the beautiful Tomoe, a childhood friend, comes back into he and his daughters' life, but as the Japanese feudal system unravels, Seibei is still bound by the code of honor of the samurai and by his own sense of social precedence. How can he find a way to do what is best for those he loves?

Kim's War

After shooting a gangster in self-defense, Kim Hui Ro takes refuge at a hotel and takes the guest hostages. Realising his position, he invites the press inside and explains why he was driven to his crime.

Gang vs. G-Men

Two rival gangs of gangsters clash for dominance of a neighborhood.

Shinran: Path to Purity

In the 12th century, Buddhism was still a relatively new religion in Japan. At that time, one school (Shingon) offered extensive training in complex and very demanding practices which might eventually bring about spiritual purification and realization. Various Zen schools offered students a lengthy path, literally composed of a blank wall and unceasing meditation. Yet another school (Tendai) emphasized complex metaphysics and the study of philosophical systems. Basically, all of them were designed to cater to the few who were able to give up everything else in their lives and focus on liberation, such as scholars and noblemen. In this historical and biographical drama, this is the situation that the young Shinran (1173-1263) discovered when he began exploring Buddhism as an alternative to the violence and ceaseless civil wars that racked Japan at the time.

Yakuza Skirmishes

In the gaudy world of 1930s Shinjuku, a violent youth known as Bakudan Match tangles explosively with prostitutes, politicians and the police.

Night Train

A woman faces betrayal, which tests her love.

Rise and Fall of Chivalry

A reformed gangster agrees to help a former yakuza member.

Choshichiro's Edo Diaries: The Yagyu Conspiracy

Rumors are circulating that the shogunate is losing control of some feudal domains. Lord Yagyu Munefuyu is assigned to deal with the problem and the rebellious clans will be crushed! Meanwhile, a former vassal of the Kazama clan is shot and killed. Moments later a second man is killed by a mysterious master swordsman. Matsudaira Choshichiro and his companions arrive at the crime scene and find a new type of repeating gun. The carved seal on the gun stock belong to the Saiga; a ninja clan abolished by the shogunate many years ago. The blame for the murders is placed on the Kazama clan. Are they guilty or is this a wise cunning plan by Lord Yagyu to be able to destroy the Kazama clan? Choshichiro sets out to reveal the truth and try to save the doomed Kazama clan! In his way are the Owari, Lord Yagyu and his ninja assassins, and the mysterious master swordsman! Will Choshichiro prevail against impossible odds...?

The Peking Man

In 1929 the fossil of a 500,000 year old man is discovered in China. In 1941 the Japanese army confiscates this find, but during the war the remains disappear. Based on these factual events, this movie takes off with a science fiction story involving a space rocket which places a satellite in orbit containing a secret cargo. The satellite crashes on a remote island and footprints are found in the sand leading away from the crash site. A story of how an ancient primitive cave-dwelling family contends with the scientists who want to study them.

Flames of Blood

​The story follows the chance meeting between Senkichi, a wandering gambler on the run, and Orin, a blind musician who offers him kindness and shelter. As their lives become intertwined, they attempt to find a sense of peace and domesticity while caught in the crossfire of the violent Bakumatsu revolution.

The Return of the Filthy Seven

A 1967 crime film

The Armed Organization

Violent Gang Re-Arms is a rousing tale of friction in yakuza and labor interactions with Koji Tsuruta as a yakuza supervising a dockworker's union. He finds himself between a rock and a hard place, at odds with both the dockworkers' leader (Tomisaburo Wakayama) and sadistic, unprincipled bosses (Fumio Watanabe and Tetsuro Tamba).

Sky Scraper!

A film about the construction of the Kasumigaseki Building, the first high-rise building in Japan.

Jakoman and Tetsu

In a village subsisting on its herring fishery, a one-eyed criminal named Jakoman terrorizes the inhabitants. One of them, the son of the head of one of the fish companies by the name of Tetsu, decides to overthrow Jakoman and his cohorts.

Love: Starting on a Journey

A girl suffering from an incurable disease get in a coma, while her boyfriend visit her to the hospital, she visits the beyond.

Crayon Shin-chan: Explosion! The Hot Spring's Feel Good Final Battle

There's only one way to stop a filthy evil scientist from destroying the world, and it's with a powerful hot spring located under Shin-chan's house!

Kwaidan

Taking its title from an archaic Japanese word meaning "ghost story," this anthology adapts four folk tales. A penniless samurai marries for money with tragic results. A man stranded in a blizzard is saved by Yuki the Snow Maiden, but his rescue comes at a cost. Blind musician Hoichi is forced to perform for an audience of ghosts. An author relates the story of a samurai who sees another warrior's reflection in his teacup.

Yonimo Kimyou na Monogatari Tokubetsuhen

Key Hunter

Key Hunter is a prime-time Japanese television detective series. It aired on Saturday nights in the 9:00–9:56 p.m. time slot on the Tokyo Broadcasting System network from April 6, 1968 to April 7, 1973. There were a total of 262 episodes, and it was one of the most popular action dramas in Japan at the time. The story involved "Key Hunter", a special clandestine unit of the International Police, which endeavored to solve various crimes. "Key Hunter" was a unique TV show, which started out as a grand scale spy thriller never before seen in Japan. The episodes were individually themed on global crimes and political strife. The initial hardboiled theme later evolved to include intellectual elements involving action, and occasionally with comical elements as well. Tetsuro Tamba starred in the 1967 film You Only Live Twice as Japanese Secret Service agent Tiger Tanaka, an ally of James Bond. This role greatly influenced his image in "Key Hunter".

Masked Blade

Choshichiro Nagayori Matsudaira is the son of Tadanaga Tokugawa, which makes him a nephew of the Shogun. Tadanaga died as a result of an alleged plot to overthrow his elder brother, the third shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu. Because of Choshichiro’s complicated background, he lives among the commoners in the shogunal capital city of Edo, punishing the evil when he sees wrongdoings and injustice.

Hashiran ka!

Set in Hakata, the series is about a young man who wants to play rock music even though his father expects him to follow him in making Hakata ningyou (a traditional Japanese clay doll). One of the few Asadora starring a male character.

G-Men '75

G-Men '75 was a long-running prime-time television detective series in Japan. It aired on Saturday nights in the 9:00–9:54 p.m. time slot on the Tokyo Broadcasting System network from May 24, 1975 to April 3, 1982. A sequel, G-Men '82, followed, as did various specials. With several updates and cast changes, it included 355 episodes. The story revolved around an investigative organ, the G-Men. The principal character, who spanned the entire series, was Superintendent Kuroki. Portrayed by Tetsuro Tamba, Kuroki directed the members of the group. The original cast also included Yasuaki Kurata as Detective Kusano, trained in karate. Gō Wakabayashi joined in Episode 105, and remained to the end of the series. His character, Lieutenant Tachibana, replaced a detective who was written out of the script. Many more actors and actresses took regular roles in the series over the years. Gō Ibuki, Maria Mori, Mari Natsuki, Hiroshi Miyauchi, Takeshi Kaga, Bunjaku Han, and Kyōko Enami were among them. Shunsuke Kikuchi wrote the opening theme songs. Various artists, including some cast members, wrote and performed the closing songs. Among the actresses who sang were Mari Natsuki, Bun-jaku Han, and Kyōko Enami. For most years, the lyrics were by Junya Sato, set to music by Shunsuke Kikuchi. Veteran announcer Takayuki Akutagawa narrated the series.

Ōgon no Hibi

Luzon Sukezaemon is a merchant who imports vases from the Philippines. The vases are highly valued as tea utensils and he makes a huge profit. This was the first taiga drama to concentrate on the lives of commoners and the reviled merchant class of the Tokugawa period. It documents the rise and fall of the merchant city of Sakai, as seen by its most famous resident, the semilegendary Luzon.

Yoshitsune

Yoshitsune is a Japanese television drama series originally broadcast between 9 January and 11 December 2005, with a three-part special compilation being aired from 24 December to 25 December 2005. The 44th Taiga Drama, the original work is by Miyao Tomiko, screenplay by Kaneko Narito and starring Hideaki Takizawa.

Toshiie and Matsu

The 41st NHK Taiga Drama is Toshiie to Matsu. During the turbulent Warring States Era, one man's life and career intertwined with the three great generals of Japanese history-Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and Ieyasu. With political savvy and the support of his fiercely loyal wife, Maeda Toshiie rose to second in power in the shogunate and built up a fiefdom that encompassed Echizen, Noto and Kaga.

HOTEL

Matsudaira Ukon Jikencho

In this gripping period drama, Matsudaira Ukon, the younger brother of the 11th Tokugawa Shogun Ienari, lives in the city as Yabutaro, a doctor in the Ukiyo Koji district, while fighting the evil that has infested the city of Edo.

Inochi

The drama begins in August 1945, three days after the end of the Pacific war. A freight train completely jam-packed with passengers heads for Aomori from devastated Tokyo. On the train is Takahara Miki and her sister Sachi. Miki and Sachi are the daughters of a wealthy landlord living in a village in the Tsugaru area in Aomori prefecture, but they have been living in Tokyo since before the war to attend school. After seeing her village does not have a doctor, Miki is determined to become a rural doctor.

Gokenin Zankuro

Zankuro Matsudaira (Ken Watanabe) is a low-grade vassal of the Tokugawa Shogun, forced to moonlight as a bodyguard and executioner to make ends meet. He also has a drinking problem, an overeating mother, and a propensity to protect the oppressed, all of which eat into his finances. His confident mother Masajo (Kyoko Kishida) is the descendant of a famous family of shogunate retainers and a mistress of the pen and sword, who regards her son as a failure.

Marco Polo

The life of the 13th-century Venetian explorer who sought to connect the civilizations of China and Europe through trade.

Sanada Taiheiki

The drama tells the story of the Sanada family. Originally serving the Takeda Clan they ruled the northern district of Shinano. The story begins right after the death of Takeda Shingen, continues through the rise of Tokugawa Ieyasu who founded the Tokugawa shogunate and covers roughly the period 1580-1610.

水曜ドラマ 宮本武蔵

Life of St. Blue Eyes

A romantic comedy set in a high school in Kamakura. Ekiden Club member Yutaro Takagi and Beth Green, an exchange student from the US enrolled in the same class, are married internationally due to certain circumstances, which puts them in a difficult position, and the drama depicts their lives and the various events that occur at the school.

Tokugawa Chronicles: Ambition of the 3 Branches

The story of the battles between the 3 related families Kishu, Mito, and Owari, as each vies for the shogun’s seat in the line of succession. Highlighting the series are many fights between the young lord’s Negoro ninja helpers and their mortal enemies, the Koga ninja. History comes alive with the bloody blades of the three families at war within the highest levels of government as the search for a new shogun continues!

新幹線物語'93夏

The Veteran Trio

After spending 20 years searching for the object of his vengeance, Sekiya Kanbei discovers he is now a ronin. Inui Sanshiro was the head of a clan until his son succeeded him, or so he says. Genmu claims to have once been a ninja. These three elderly men join forces to travel the Japanese countryside together. Along the way, they encounter situations that bring out the "warrior" in each of them, and soon they are fighting the corruption and injustices that plague the common people.

The Tale of Genji

The life of Prince Hikaru Genji, who was nicknamed "Shining" by people for his dazzling noble beauty. Based on the novel "The Tale of Genji" by Murasaki Shikibu.

The Ginger Tree

In 1903, a young Scotswoman goes to join her diplomat fiancé in Manchuria. She marries him, and finds herself in a war zone. Disenchanted with her husband, she falls in love with a married Japanese nobleman, Count Kentaro Kurihama, and bears him a son. She carves out a life for herself in Japanese society, despite the hardships and ostracism she faces as both a Westerner and a woman.

Byakkotai

Byakkotai was part of Aizu's four-unit military, set up in the domain's drive to finalize its military modernization, in the wake of the Battle of Toba-Fushimi. The other three units were Genbutai, Seiryūtai, and Suzakutai. Each of the four was named after the protecting gods of compass directions. Byakkotai was meant to be a reserve unit, as it was composed of the young teenage 16 to 17 year old sons of Aizu samurai in a group around 350, who fought in the Boshin War (1868–1869)

Hanshichi Torimonochō

Tabaruzaka

Known as the ”Last Samurai” Saigo Takamori was a stout giant of a man with a huge head and a neck like a bear. As the leader of Satsuma’s anti-Western faction, he was instumental in establishing the Sat-Cho Alliance dreamed of by Sakamoto Ryoma. After the fall of the Tokugawa, Saigo rose to major prominence before falling in disfavor. In 1876 Saigo Takamori resigned from his government post and went back to Kagoshima. He founded a local military school and dissatisfied samurai gathered around him in large numbers. In late 1876 it came to an open conflict when samurai rebels raided and occupied ammunition and weapon depots of the central government. The samurai rebels urged and proclaimed Saigo Takamori as their leader.