Japanese culture is very different from ours, so their traditions and customs attract and mesmerize. There are many movies and TV series about samurai, and each of them tells about the difficult upbringing and training of these fearless warriors. In this selection you will find only the best samurai movies.
The Last Samurai
- IMDB Rating – 7.8
- Genre: Action, Drama
- Production: USA, New Zealand, Japan / 2003
- Budget: $140,000,000
- Worldwide Box Office: $454,627,263
- Director: Edward Zwick
- Starring: Ken Watanabe, Tom Cruise, Koyuki, William Etherton, Tony Goldwyn, Billy Connolly, Chad Lindbergh, Timothy Spall, Shitinosuke Nakamura, Hiroyuki Sanada.
Retired American captain Nathan Algren travels to Japan at the invitation of the Emperor to train the Imperial army to fight with rifles in hand. But despite hard training, the Emperor’s army once again loses to Katsumoto’s samurai.
In the process, Algren is taken prisoner. It is here that Nathan learns about the true culture of Japan, the philosophy and military art of the samurai, which Olgren respects and then truly loves.
Tom Cruise spent a long time preparing for filming in this movie. It took him about two years to learn the Japanese language, the customs and traditions of Japanese culture and to master the samurai sword.
The Twilight Samurai
- IMDB Rating – 8.1
- Genre: Drama, Melodrama, History
- Production: Japan / 2002
- Budget: $5,000,000
- Worldwide Box Office: $7,338,987
- Director: Yoji Yamada
- Starring: Hiroyuki Sanada, Rie Miyazawa, Nenji Kobayashi, Ren Osugi, Mitsuru Fukikoshi, Kanako Fukaura, Hiroshi Kanbe, Erina Hashiguchi, Reiko Kusamura.
The protagonist is a humble samurai, Seibei, who lives in the harsh times of turmoil. One day Seibei manages to defeat his opponent with a wooden training sword and news of this spreads far beyond the borders of his village. And against his will Seibei is drawn into the conflict of the samurai clan. From now on the hero has to choose: what is more important for him – the life of a man like him or loyalty to the lord?
The movie is based on the historical novel The Bamboo Sword and Other Stories of the Samurai by Shuhei Fujisawa.
Love and Honor
- IMDB Rating – 7.7
- Genre: Drama, Melodrama
- Production: Japan / 2006
- Worldwide Box Office: $33,755,574
- Director: Yoji Yamada
- Starring: Takuya Kimura, Rei Dan, Mitsugoro Bando, Takashi Sasano, Kaori Momoi, Nanji Kobayashi, Ken Ogata, Makoto Akatsuka, Toshiki Ayata, Z. Charles Bolton.
Samurai Shinojo Mimura has not the most honorable job in his clan – he tastes the food of the lord, so that it is not added poison. Then one day, the worst happens. He does get poisoned food! Luckily he doesn’t die, but he goes blind. What could be worse for a samurai? To restore his family’s honor, his own wife comes to his rescue.
This is the third movie in a trilogy of historical samurai films based on the novel by Shuhei Fujisawa.
The Hidden Blade
- IMDB Rating – 7.7
- Genre: Action, Drama, Melodrama, History
- Production: Japan / 2004
- Worldwide Box Office: $8,043,781
- Director: Yoji Yamada
- Starring: Masatoshi Nagase, Takako Matsu, Hidetaka Yoshioka, Yukiyoshi Ozawa, Tomoko Tabata, Ken Ogata, Chieko Baisho, Kunie Tanaka, Toshiki Ayata, Hiroshi Kanbe.
In the small principality of Unasaku, technological progress is rapidly penetrating, and the samurai class is gradually dying out. The main character, Munezo Katagiri, simply observes the changes in the world around him.
His monotonous life changes when he takes in a girl he knows, who was regularly beaten by her husband. But the taunts of colleagues and locals become irrelevant when Katagiri is assigned to kill an old friend who has joined the conspirators.
This is the second film in a historical trilogy about samurai (the first film of the trilogy, Twilight Samurai (2002), and the third film, Love and Honor (2006)).
The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi
- IMDB Rating – 7.5
- Genre: Action, Thriller, Drama, Comedy, Crime
- Production: Japan / 2003
- Worldwide Box Office: $31,650,015
- Director: Takeshi Kitano
- Starring: Takeshi Kitano, Tadanobu Asano, Michiyo Ookusu, Taka Guadalcanal, Daigoro Tachibana, Yuuko Daike, Yui Natsukawa, Ittoku Kishibe, Saburo Ishikura, Akira Emoto.
The action of this movie takes place in Japan in the XIX century, when the country is dominated by samurai and yakuza. The movie tells 4 different stories of the characters, who are brought by their destinies to a small town. Zatoichi, a blind chiropractor and masseur, travels all over the country, earning money by therapeutic massage. But none of the people he meets on his travels suspects that his massive cane hides a sharp sword.
In another settlement he meets his old enemy Inosuke Ginzo, but Zatoichi avoids direct conflict. Later it turns out that Ginzo is also sought after by his brother and sister, who were orphaned because of his cruelty. However, the masseur still tries not to get into a fight until Ginzo’s men burn down the house. Now the hobo is just forced to pull out his blade.
In this historical action film, legendary director Takeshi Kitano played the role of a massage and martial arts master himself.
Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai
- IMDB Rating – 7.5
- Genre: Action, Thriller, Drama, Crime
- Production: France, Germany, USA, Japan / 1999
- Worldwide Box Office: $9,380,473
- Director: Jim Jarmusch
- Starring: Forest Whitaker, John Tormey, Isaac De Bankole, Richard Portnow, Tricia Vessey, RZA, Henry Silva, Gene Ruffini, Gary Farmer, Frank Adonis.
Ghost Dog is the moniker of an assassin who lives by the samurai code. He guards the gangster Louis, who once saved his life. He is committed to his master, believes in his justice and is ready to kill anyone who encroaches on his life or peace of mind. But it turns out that the boss is not as honorable as Ghost Dog thought.
The quotes spoken by the main characters in the movie were taken from Yamamoto Tsunetomo’s book “Hagakure: The Way of the Samurai”.
The ghost dog turned on the music and set the volume to 21 every time he got into the car.
Rurouni Kenshin (trilogy)
- IMDB Rating – 7.4
- Genre: Action, Drama, Melodrama
- Production: Japan / 2012
- Worldwide Box Office: $37,687,024
- Director: Keishi Otomo
- Starring: Takeru Sato, Yu Aoi, Emi Takei, Go Aiano, Masataka Kubota, Teruyuki Kagawa, Yosuke Eguchi, Munetaka Aoki, Eiji Okuda, Taketo Tanaka
Himura Kenshin was sold at an early age to be trained in the martial arts. Through much training, he became one of the great and ruthless warriors. During the Age of Troubles in Japan, he was a veritable weapon used by hardliners as a mercenary.
But when the internecine wars ended, the former assassin decided to start a new life. To atone for his sins, Kenshin decides to spend the rest of his life wandering and searching for those who need help.
The movies are based on the manga “Rurouni Kenshin” created in 1994.
Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai
- IMDB Rating – 7.3: Drama
- Genre: Drama
- Production: Japan, UK / 2011
- Worldwide Box Office: $5,435,358
- Director: Takashi Miike
- Starring: Koji Yakusho, Munetaka Aoki, Naoto Takenaka, Hikari Mitsushima, Eita, Ebizo Ichikawa, Hirofumi Arai, Kazuki Namioka, Takashi Sasano, Ayumu Saito
Samurai Hanshiro Tsugumo has lost his entire fortune. To atone for this shame, he appeals to the Ii clan to allow him to commit harakiri in their ancestral castle. Kageyu, an elderly samurai, tries to dissuade Hanshiro from doing something irreparable. He tells of the ronin Motome, who once also came to their house with a similar request.
As Hanshiro listens to the story, he realizes that Motome’s life was very similar to his. In each case, the desire to end his life was triggered by a long chain of events that involve love, loss, betrayal, and revenge.
At the Cannes Film Festival, the film was nominated for the top prize, the Palme d’Or.
Sword of Desperation
- IMDB Rating – 7.2
- Genre: Action, History
- Production: Japan / 2010
- Director: Hideyuki Hirayama
- Starring: Etsushi Toyokawa, Chizuru Ikewaki, Koji Kikkawa, Edamame Tsumami, Tenkyu Fukuda, Mitsutoshi Goto, Yudai Ishiyama, Hana Kino, Ittoku Kishibe, Toru Kizu.
The movie tells the story of the Edo period. Kanemi Sanzaemon, a master swordsman, kills the mistress of a powerful feudal lord for seemingly no reason at all. He is sentenced to death, but Kanemi receives an unexpectedly lenient punishment and returns home after only two years. But now he has to become the bodyguard of the lord.
The screenplay was written by Hidehiro Ito and Era Itaru, based on the novel by Shuhei Fujisawa.
When the Last Sword Is Drawn
- IMDB Rating – 7.4
- Genre: Drama
- Production: Japan / 2002
- Budget: $4,000,000
- Director: Yojiro Takita
- Starring: Kiichi Nakai, Koichi Sato, Yui Natsukawa, Takehiro Murata, Miki Nakatani, Yuji Miyake, Masayoshi Haneda, Yoshinori Hiruma, Keisuke Horibe, Atsushi Ito.
The nineteenth century is approaching its midpoint, and the power of the Shoguns is slowly diminishing. Along with this, the history of the samurai, spanning several thousand years, is slowly coming to an end. At the center of this story is Kyoto and the garrison of elite Japanese warriors defending it. From now on, they face a choice: sacrifice their own lives or become traitors and join the rebel camp.
The movie is based on a novel written by Jiro Asada in 2000.
Gohatto
- IMDB Rating – 6.9
- Genre: Thriller, Drama, History
- Production: Japan, France, UK / 1999
- US box office receipts: $114,425
- Director: Nagisa Oshima
- Starring: Ryuhei Matsuda, Tadanobu Asano, Shinji Takeda, Takeshi Kitano, Yoichi Sai, Jiro Sakagami, Koji Matoba, Masa Tommies, Masato Ibu, Zakoba Katsura.
Sozaburo Kano, who has joined the ranks of the samurai, is handsome, slenderly built and prone to homosexuality. His exquisite femininity drives many warriors mad. The country is torn apart by warring clans, and the samurai are the Empire’s only hope of maintaining order. But experienced warriors quarrel and even commit bloody massacres for Sozaburo’s attention and love.
The film was nominated for the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival.
13 Assassins
- IMDB Rating – 7.5
- Genre: Action, Drama, Adventure
- Production: Japan, UK / 2010
- Budget: $6,000,000
- Worldwide Box Office: $18,689,058
- Director: Takashi Miike
- Starring: Koji Yakusho, Takayuki Yamada, Yusuke Iseya, Goro Inagaki, Masachika Ichimura, Mikijiro Hira, Hiroki Matsukata, Tsuyoshi Ihara, Arata Furuta, Ikki Sawamura.
In 1844, all established life in Japan is under threat and the historically established shogunate system may collapse. It all comes down to the fact that the Shogun’s cruel brother Naritsugu is taking more and more power and disgracing the samurai code of honor. The Shogun’s wise advisor thinks of ways to save the country from chaos, but all peaceful ways to negotiate with Naritsugu fail.
Then the advisor decides to take an extreme measure. He believes that in this case you can only respond to cruelty with cruelty. So he plans to kill the tyrant, hiring the famous samurai Shinzaemon Shimada and a team of twelve warriors.
It is a remake of the movie of the same name made in 1963 by director Eiichi Kudo.
Goemon
- IMDB Rating – 6.6
- Genre: Action, Drama, History
- Production: Japan / 2009
- Budget: $9,000,000
- Worldwide Box Office: $14,456,963
- Director: Kazuaki Kiriya
- Starring: Yosuke Eguchi, Takao Osawa, Ryoko Hirosue, Jun Kaname, Gori, Mikijiro Hira, Masato Ibu, Tetsuji Tamayama, Hashinosuke Nakamura, Eiji Okuda.
The movie presents Japan in 1582. Toyotomi Hideyoshi seizes power in the country. He carries out reforms that divide samurai and peasants as much as possible, making the gulf between the rich and the poor even greater.
After 15 years of such rule, the noble thief Ishikawa Goemon appears and happily distributes all the looted goods to poor people. During another robbery, a strange empty box falls into his hands. Goemon throws it away and it falls into the hands of a poor boy. It turns out that the ruler Toyotomi himself is after the box, and he has already sent his best ninja to search for it.
In this movie, director Kazuaki Kiriya is also a screenwriter and cameraman.
Zan
- IMDB Rating – 6.5
- Genre: Drama, Action
- Production: Japan / 2018
- Director: Shinya Tsukamoto
- Starring: Sosuke Ikematsu, Yu Aoi, Shinya Tsukamoto, Koji Kato, Tatsuya Nakamura, Ryusei Maeda
In the mid-19th century (Edo period), a traveling ronin, Sawamura, arrives in a small village. He is looking for warriors to overthrow the Shogunate. And in this village he meets a seemingly suitable candidate – Tsuzuki. He’s been training hard, he’s in perfect physical shape, but he’s not ready to give up everything and go to a deadly battle.
The film was an entry in the main competition of the Venice Film Festival in 2018.
Blade of the Immortal
- IMDB Rating – 6.8
- Genre: Action, Fantasy, Drama
- Production: Japan, UK, Korea South / 2017
- Worldwide Box Office: $7,162,617
- Director: Takashi Miike
- Starring: Takuya Kimura, Hana Sugisaki, Sota Fukushi, Hayato Ichihara, Erika Toda, Tiaki Kuriyama, Shinnosuke Mitsushima, Ken Kaneko, Yoko Yamamoto, Kazuki Kitamura
The villains kill Manji’s only sister, and now he dreams of only one thing: revenge. But suddenly a strange old woman appears and infects Manji with mysterious worms that make the host immortal. These blood parasites help to heal wounds and even restore severed limbs.
This movie was the 100th in the list of samurai movies directed by Takashi Miike.
47 Ronin
- IMDB Rating – 6.2
- Genre: Fantasy, Action, Drama
- Production: USA, UK, Japan, Hungary / 2013
- Budget: $175,000,000
- Worldwide Box Office: $151,783,839
- Director: Carl Rinsch
- Starring: Keanu Reeves, Hiroyuki Sanada, Ko Shibasaki, Tadanobu Asano, Rinko Kikuchi, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Min Tanaka, Jin Akanishi, Masayoshi Haneda, Hiroshi Sogabe
He was betrayed and left to die in slavery. But it is his fate that has chosen him to exact revenge. Kai becomes one of 47 mysterious warriors who defy Death itself. They will appear from the afterlife to stand against the true Evil that dreams of seizing power and enslaving humanity.
The arrows were specially made for this movie by the famous European craftsman Michael Reep. He also made a small number of arrows in “museum” form for close-up shots.
Samurai Cat
- IMDB Rating – 6.3
- Genre: Action, Comedy
- Production: Japan / 2014
- Director: Takeshi Watanabe, Yoshitaka Yamaguchi
- Starring: Kazuki Kitamura, Yosuke Asari, Yoriko Doguchi, Motoki Fukami, Kaoru Hirata, Yozaburo Ito, Shinji Kasahara, Ryosuke Kawamura, Ryusuke Komakine
Kyutaro is a skillful swordsman, but he lives a miserable life of poverty and loneliness. However, he earns his living only with his blade. One day Kyutaro is offered, to put it mildly, an unusual job.
He is assigned to kill a cat, because of which the head of the mafia cell turned into a real child. Of course, Kyutaro needs money, so he agrees to fulfill this task, even if it is so absurd.
The movie is based on the original TV series of the same name released in 2013.
11.25: The Day He Chose His Own Fate
- IMDB Rating – 6.1
- Genre: Drama
- Production: Japan / 2012
- Worldwide Box Office: $5,763
- Director: Koji Wakamatsu
- Starring: Shinnosuke Mitsushima, Shinobu Terajima, Arata Iura, Kiyohiko Shibukawa, Hideo Nakaizumi, Tasuku Nagaoka, Go Jibiki, Suzunosuke, Hanae Kan, Shima Onishi
The movie is a kind of investigation about the last hours of the life and death of the famous Japanese writer Yukio Mishima. At the end of November 1970, he arrives at the military base in Ichigai. Here he addresses the soldiers, urging them to carry out a government coup in the country. And because he was ignored, Mishima commits seppuku, killing himself.
Biographical film about one of the most controversial figures of the twentieth century, the Japanese writer Yukio Mishima.
Honored with a Un Certain Regard nomination at the Cannes Film Festival in 2012.
The Warrior’s Way
- IMDB Rating – 6.3
- Genre: Fantasy, Action, Western
- Production: USA, South Korea, New Zealand / 2010
- Budget: $45,000,000
- Worldwide Box Office: $11,087,569
- Director: Scott Reynolds
- Starring: Jang Dong-gon, Kate Bosworth, Geoffrey Rush, Matt Gillanders, Danny Huston, Tony Cox, Lun Ti, Analyn Rudd, Marcus Hamilton, Rod Luisich.
The great warrior Yang was called a living legend for a reason. He was born on the battlefield and was so strong that no army could defeat him. But one day the warrior refused to kill a little girl from the clan of his enemies. For this, Yang is sentenced to death.
Taking the baby, he escapes to America and settles in a small town. But even here he has no peace – the past haunts him, and soon he will have to bare his sword again.
In the draft, the title of the movie was The Laundry Warrior.
Ichi
- IMDB Rating – 6.5
- Genre: Action, Thriller, Drama, Crime
- Production: Japan / 2008
- Director: Fumihiko Sori
- Starring: Haruka Ayase, Shido Nakamura, Yosuke Kubozuka, Takao Osawa, Go Riju, Mayumi Sada, Tetsuo Yamashita, Ayumu Saito, Toru Tezuka, Kumiko Tsuchiya.
When blind Ichi was young, she met a blind traveling masseur who taught her how to skillfully wield a sword. Then he disappeared, Ichi became a girl and a singer. So she set off on a journey across the country to find the teacher.
On the way she meets bandits. Samurai Toma tries to save the girl, but in the end Ichi has to save him herself. Together they arrive in the village, which, as it turns out, is terrorized by a local gang. And now these two find themselves drawn into a deadly battle without wanting to.
The movie is based on a manga that Hana Shinohara published from 2008 to 2011.
Tsubaki Sanjûrô
- IMDB Rating – 5.8
- Genre: Action, Drama, History
- Production: Japan / 2007
- Director: Yoshimitsu Morita
- Starring: Yuji Oda, Makoto Fujita, Shinyu Fujiwara, Tsuyoshi Hayashi, Ichitaro, Yoshihiro Kasuya, Morio Kazama, Nanji Kobayashi, Yukichi Kobayashi, Miyuki Komagata.
Japan is in the Meiji period. The country is mired in crime and corruption, and there is a constant struggle for power within the clan. Nine young samurai, tired of tolerating lawlessness and lawlessness, decide to protect ordinary people and organize a conspiracy against the chief viceroy.
Luckily for them, Sanjuro is passing through the city. The samurai learns about the plans of the guys and takes their side. A real war begins, in which Sanjuro will play not the least role.
Japanese director Yoshimitsu Morita has previously only worked in the genres of drama and melodrama.
Hana
- IMDB Rating – 6.6
- Genre: Drama, comedy
- Production: Japan / 2005
- Director: Hirokazu Koreeda
- Starring: Junichi Okada, Rie Miyazawa, Arata Furuta, Jun Kunimura, Katsuo Nakamura, Tadanobu Asano, Yoshio Harada, Teruyuki Kagawa, Tomoko Tabata, Yui Natsukawa.
Sodza-san’s father is killed and now, according to the rules of honor, the young samurai must avenge him. But the problem is that the boy has no sword skills at all. In addition, he has recently met a girl with whom he started a romantic relationship. Therefore, an almost suicide mission is absolutely not in his plans. And now he has to choose between the duty of a true samurai, which equals a noble death, and life, but without honor.
In 2006, the film was nominated for the San Sebastian Award and in 2007 for Best Actress (Rie Miyazawa) at the Asian Film Academy Awards.
Samurai marason
- IMDB Rating – 6.2
- Genre: Drama, History
- Production: Japan, UK / 2019
- Director: Bernard Rose
- Starring: Takeru Sato, Nana Komatsu, Mirai Moriyama, Shota Sometani, Munetaka Aoki, Naoto Takenaka, Etsushi Toyokawa, Hiroki Hasegawa, Ryu Kohata, Yuta Koseki
Samurai prepare their students for all kinds of events in which they will have to defend their country. For example, they organize a marathon for the warriors: 58 kilometers along mountain trails. The winner can get a valuable prize. However, the Edo government mistakenly mistakes the marathon runners for state traitors and sends mercenaries to them.
The movie is based on Akihiro Dobashi’s 2014 novel Marathon Samurai: Five Stories of Japan’s First Marathon.
Seven Samurai
- IMDB Rating – 8.7
- Genre: Drama, Adventure
- Production: Japan / 1954
- Budget: $500,000
- US box office receipts: $271,841
- Director: Akira Kurosawa
- Starring: Toshiro Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Keiko Tsushima, Yukiko Shimazaki, Kamatari Fujiwara, Daisuke Kato, Isao Kimura, Minoru Tiaki, Seiji Miyaguchi, Yoshio Kosugi.
The 16th century, Japan is in the throes of a civil war, with looters plundering everywhere. Poor peasants from a remote village decide to hire seven samurai for protection. And they manage not only to build fortifications, but also to rally the cowardly villagers.
The movie came about because director Akira Kurosawa wanted to try his hand at the popular Japanese genre of jidaigeki (a historical movie about the fighting adventures of samurai)
Yojimbo
- IMDB Rating – 8.2
- Genre: Action, Thriller, Drama, Crime
- Production: Japan / 1961
- Director: Akira Kurosawa
- Starring: Toshiro Mifune, Tatsuya Nakadai, Yoko Tsukasa, Isuzu Yamada, Daisuke Kato, Seizaburo Kawazu, Takashi Shimura, Hiroshi Tachikawa, Yosuke Natsuki, Eijiro Tono
A traveling samurai comes to a small provincial town. But he doesn’t look like a samurai at all: dirty, poorly dressed, and uncut. And in the town he meets ordinary locals who are terrorized by two organized gangs.
To save people from the bandit lawlessness, the samurai shows great ingenuity. He is hired as a bodyguard to one or the other leader, thus reducing the number of bandits.
The movie is an adaptation of two detective novels by Dashiell Hammett, The Glass Key (1931) and Bloody Harvest (1929).
Ran
- IMDB Rating – 8.2
- Genre: Action, Drama, Military
- Production: Japan, France / 1985
- Budget: $11,500,000
- US box office receipts: $3,607,393
- Director: Akira Kurosawa
- Starring: Tatsuya Nakadai, Akira Terao, Jinpati Nezu, Daisuke Ryu, Mieko Harada, Yoshiko Miyazaki, Hisashi Igawa, Peter, Masayuki Yui, Kazuo Kato.
The aging 16th century Japanese ruler Hidetora announces that he wants to divide his estates among his three sons. But the two eldest sons assure Hidetora of their true loyalty, and he banishes the youngest, who claims that such a decision by his father could bring doom to their entire family. The ruler, betrayed by his own sons, loses his mind and his heirs begin a ruthless war.
Several hundred warrior costumes, designed by director Akira Kurosawa himself, were handmade especially for the movie.
The castle that is destroyed in the middle of the movie was specially built on the slope of Mount Fuji and then burned down.
