Best Japanese Samurai Movies

Can anyone recommend some good Japanese Samurai Movies?

I've seen such masterpieces as

Seven Samurai
Twilight Samurai
Harakiri

Open to more suggestions o / \ o

thanks in advance!

 

Yojimbo
Sanjuro
Kagemusha
Hidden Fortress
Zatoichi (many films since the 60's) (Kitano's version is quite good too)

 

The Lone Wolf and Cub series is worth checking out.

 

Yep. All the ones posted are excellent. You mentioned HaraKiri. If you have already, check out Takashi Miike's remake from a few years ago. Amazingly great. As is his 13 Assasins.

 

MY FAVORITE!

26 films total starring Shintaro Katsu AND 100 episodes of a television series also starring Shintaro Katsu

the first 25 films are available in a Criterion box set, and the 26th film is coming to blu-ray via Tokyo Shock in just a couple of weeks.

 

Not technically a samurai series. Rather, Zatoichi is a yakuza.

Not really a samurai series, either. The main character is the disgraced former executioner to the shogun, who becomes an assassin.

Of course, samurai do occasionally come up against the protagonists of both films, but they’re not samurai films in the classical sense.

 

Humanity and Paper Balloons
The Loyal 47 Ronin (Mizoguchi)
Gate of Hell
Three Outlaw Samurai
The Sword of Doom

 

Lady Snowblood.

 

Again, not a samurai film. The protagonist is an assassin on a rape-revenge mission. This would fit more easily into the wider chanbara (sword fighting) genre.

 

If the OP wishes to explore further genres within Japanese cinema, there is much discussion in this long-running thread:

Japanese film recommendations please

 

I think you are missing the forest for the trees by being a bit obtuse. All of these films have the same themes: swords and revenge. Plus once you start watching classic Japanese cinema the genres melt into one another.
Anyone who reads this thread and watches Lonewolf and Cub and Lady Snowblood is going to appreciate the diversion.

 

The OP asked specifically for samurai films. I watch an awful lot of Japanese cinema, and there is a difference between classic samurai films, chanbara in general, and yakuza films that often contain a good deal of swordplay. I agree that there is some crossover, but I’m just trying to point out the differences — particularly for the OP, who may not appreciate that there are differences at all — and to keep the thread on track. There is a world of difference between something like Seven Samurai and Lady Snowblood. It’s a bit like saying all American films that feature gun fights are much of a muchness, which is clearly not true.

This is why, also, I have linked to the general thread for Japanese film discussion, which the OP might find useful.

 

Another vote for Sword of Doom - one of my favorites.

 

Please add another one to the list:
Samurai Rebellion (with who else but Toshiro Mifune)

 

This review of Lady Snowblood places that film in the Samurai genre:

Exploring The Hollow Rewards Of Revenge In Toshiya Fujita’s Influential ‘Lady Snowblood’ Films

You seem to be caught up in strict definitions of sub-genres within genres. Any film set in Japan up to and within the Meiji Restoration that involves sword play can be described as a Samurai film.
Just like the term "Western" can describe thousands of movies and shows set in a mythical American west before electricity and modern law enforcement that has horses and cowboys. Samurai can also mean a film set in a specific historical period, whether that time is portrayed accurately or not in the films. It doesn't have to have samurais as the main character or plot line.

 

Have it your way.

Reviewers can be wrong, too.

 

Seven Samurai

 

K I L L B I L L
Japanese Hattori Hanzo sword

 

Blade of the Immortal: Blade of the Immortal (Mugen no jûnin)

 

Samurai Rebellion
Another great work by the team who made Harakiri (director, book, screen writer, composer) and this time with Toshiro Mifune.

 

Sazen Tange and the pot worth a million ryo
One of the most important films ever made in Japan.



Tange Sazen: The Million Ryo Pot (丹下左膳余話 百萬両の壺, Sadao Yamanaka, 1935)
Sadao Yamanaka - Wikipedia

 

Nagisa Oshima!



Just astonishing.

 

You can’t miss Crimson Bat

Crimson Bat - Wikipedia

 

Red Peony Gambler Series
The eight films are the pinnacle of Japanese sword(wo)man films. They are truly entertaining and fascinating in every way (excluding the singing)!
Red Peony Gambler Series - IMDb