Shirō Toyoda

Lavish Japanese-Chinese coproduction based on an ancient Chinese legend about a man who falls in love with a snake goddess in human form.

Omnibus of love stories from 1947 directed by famous directors, featuring big stars.

This film by Toyoda depicts the hard life of an unmarried mother in Tokyo. Umeko (Machiko Kyo), at 36, is working in a bar, struggling valiantly to keep her family together. Her 17-year-old daughter Takeko becomes increasingly upset by her mother's constant drinking and yakuza boyfriend, and runs away from home. Kyo's performance was highly praised.

A young woman, who must support her father as a middle-aged man's mistress, finds herself falling in love with a student closer to her age.

Depicts various relationships between four beautiful sisters, their husbands, and their second daughter's husband's mistress.

Based on the novel "Ekimae Ryokan" by Masuji Ibuse, a longtime hotel employee struggles to bring his old-fashioned ryokan in line with postwar Japanese business practices.

Shozo is plagued by the needs of his ex-wife and his current one, but prefers the company of his cat.

The story, set in the Heian era, depicts the conflict between Korean painter Yoshihide (Nakadai) and his Japanese patron, the cruel and egotistical daimyo Horikawa (Nakamura). It is based on the 1918 short story Hell Screen by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa.

In this Japanese drama, a village girl goes to Tokyo and becomes a sex worker to support her ailing mother. While there she meets a teacher and falls in love.

The ghost of a samurai's wife takes revenge on her husband.

A period piece about the love of a wealthy blind woman, a teacher of koto and shamisen, and her devoted manservant. Based on a novella by Tanizaki Junichiro.

It's a man's world. Shimamura, an artist, comes to this snowbound town to rejuvenate himself. He connects with Komako, a geisha he met on a previous trip, and it seems like love. She's the foster daughter of a local family, almost engaged to the family's son Yukio, now dying of consumption. He's tended by his sister Yuko who's angry at Komako for abandoning her brother. Shimamura returns to Tokyo but promises he will be back soon. In anticipation of his return, Komako breaks with her patron and her family loses their home. Complications arise when Shimamura doesn't come back as promised. Then Komako discovers that he and Yuko knew each other in Tokyo. Can Komako escape destiny?

​Ryukichi, the pampered heir to a cosmetics wholesaler, abandons his wife and child to pursue a scandalous affair with a famous geisha named Choko. This betrayal leads his father to disown him, leaving the unskilled Ryukichi with no way to earn a living. To keep them afloat, Choko is forced to continue working as a geisha while secretly scraping together a nest egg to start their own business. However, Ryukichi remains trapped in his hedonistic lifestyle, eventually squandering Choko’s hard-earned savings on his own self-indulgence.

A woman looks after her father in law.

A female doctor's story of her life in an isolated leper colony.

Sequel to the 1955 movie.

The story is set in a rural village, where the village mayor gives a speech at the local community center as a theater troupe visits the village for the first time in several years.

Two youths – the serious son of a Buddhist abbot and his rakish pal – quarrel over a restaurant keeper's daughter. When one of the youths dies, the other boy and the girl find they cannot forget him.

Once an average and seemingly ordinary Tokyo girl, she suddenly finds herself as a TV star owing to her discovery by a casting company, which noticed photographs that her cousin had sent. When another actress falls ill she is given the role instead. Her first film is a success propelling the young actress to popularity, her own fans, money and a house. While everything looks dandy from the outside not all is well within the family however.

Drama about a young nurse who falls in love with a disabled soldier, and based a true story.

When he was a little boy, Tokitō Kensaku was sent to live with his paternal grandfather and his mistress Oei. Years later, Kensaku realizes he has feelings for Oei.

Ayako Wakao won the Blue Ribbon and the Kinema Jumpo for this film.