Former Ometsuke, Oseki Jutayu, has handed over the family headship to his son Tsurunojo and is living a carefree life. One day, Tsurunojo dies in a duel. Behind this is a trap set by former treasurer Ibe Tatewaki and his son Denshichiro, whom Jutayu had previously accused of corruption with the government-supplied merchant Yamashiroya, that forced Tatewaki to resign. Enraged, Jutayu takes action to avenge his son’s death.
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.
In Edo-era Japan, a ukiyo-e artist languishes in his master’s shadow. Creatively stifled, he finds consolation in the company of a prostitute, and becomes entangled in a love triangle.
A group of travelers is stranded in a small country inn when the river floods during heavy rains. As the bad weather continues, tensions rise amongst the trapped travelers.
In 16th century Japan, peasants Genjuro and Tobei sell their earthenware pots to a group of soldiers in a nearby village, in defiance of a local sage's warning against seeking to profit from warfare.
The background to and depiction of a watershed battle in Japanese history, at Sekigahara in 1600, when Tokugawa Ieyasu's Army of the East defeated the Army of the West of Ishida Mitsunari.
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.
Set at the end of the Sengoku period to early Edo period, "Sanada Ten Braves" follows 10 members of a ninja group who all serve under samurai warrior Yukimura Sanada.
Popular movie trailers from 1981
These some of the most viewed trailers for movies released in 1981:
A conservationst, stranded with his family at a Newfoundland coastal resort, flies in the face of custom and fights an entire community to prevent a trapped whale's slaughter with only the support of his wife and one of the locals.
A German submarine hunts allied ships during the Second World War, but it soon becomes the hunted. The crew tries to survive below the surface, while stretching both the boat and themselves to their limits.
The story of an unhappy, childless princess, her loving husband and the poor villagers threatened by a terrible disease, who finally received help from above.
When Dr. Indiana Jones – the tweed-suited professor who just happens to be a celebrated archaeologist – is hired by the government to locate the legendary Ark of the Covenant, he finds himself up against the entire Nazi regime.
