
A samurai answers a village's request for protection after he falls on hard times. The town needs protection from bandits, so the samurai gathers six others to help him teach the people how to defend themselves, and the villagers provide the soldiers with food.


The mother of a feudal lord's only heir is kidnapped by the lord. Her husband and his samurai father must decide whether to accept the unjust decision, or risk death to rescue her.

Kohei Akiyama, a popular master swordsman, and his son Daijiro live in the town of Edo in good faith. While running a dojo, Daijiro and his father find themselves wrapped up in a series of events with the town's people.

G-men challenge a jewelry smuggling ring. The chase starts in Kyushu and continues to Kobe to Yokohama.


Kanbei Hamidashi aka Tsukada Kambei was originally a direct retainer and head of a large group but could not fit into the organization and spent his days drinking and fighting. Such a Kambei receives an appointment as a secret inspector from Ometsuke Doi Masatoshi and sets out on a journey around various countries. A town girl Okon (accompanies him as a money watcher while Yoriki Ariga Tozaburo disguises himself as Senda to accompany him as an alcohol watcher. In addition to them, a "poverty god" disguised as a monk follows them as their watcher. Kambei punishes evil wherever he goes on his journey with his troublesome watchers.


A Tokugawa Daimyo rebels against an his lord after the battle of Sekigahara. Samurai Matabei, a famous spear fighter and warrior, is a vassal of lord Honjo. One of Honjo's most trusted under-lords is Sanzaemon. He has designs on Matabei's fief, and he plots to kill Matabei. He finally convinces Lord Honjo of Matabei's guilt. Now Matabei must fight to survive.

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.

Period piece about a young man who, because of his hard life alone in the world, has become a yakuza. When he hears that his mother may be living in Edo (Tokyo), he travels there, intent on finding her and leaving the swordsman's life behind. But a team of rival gangsters is hot on his heels.

Tatsuo Torigoe, the president of Torigoe Industries, attempts suicide but survives and reveals his motives for suicide to his only daughter, Akiko.

A moving episode in which a war criminal in the Philippines, having faced death, pleads earnestly while trembling with fear.

A poor peasant, after years of scraping, becomes a rich and powerful Osaka merchant. Mizoguchi Kenji's final project; he died before completing it and directing duties turned over to Yoshimura Kozaburo.

Edo, 1703. Young Sugino, one of the 47 rōnin seeking revenge against lord Kira, who caused that his master, Asano of Ako, committed seppuku, meets a skillful spear fighter, Genban, who trains him to fight with honor on the day of retribution.