Why Not? (1981)

(6.118) based on 17 votes
The film depicts carnivalesque atmosphere summed up by the cry "Ei ja nai ka" ("Why not?") in Japan in 1867 and 1868 in the days leading to the Meiji Restoration. It examines the effects of the political and social upheaval of the time, and culminates in a revelrous march on the Tokyo Imperial Palace, which turns into a massacre. Characteristically, Imamura focuses not on the leaders of the country, but on characters in the lower classes and on the fringes of society.
Directors
Release Date
Jan 08, 1981
Runtime
02h 31m
Genre
Available in streaming on

The film depicts carnivalesque atmosphere summed up by the cry "Ei ja nai ka" ("Why not?") in Japan in 1867 and 1868 in the days leading to the Meiji Restoration. It examines the effects of the political and social upheaval of the time, and culminates in a revelrous march on the Tokyo Imperial Palace, which turns into a massacre. Characteristically, Imamura focuses not on the leaders of the country, but on characters in the lower classes and on the fringes of society.

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Based on a short story written by Shuhei Fujisawa (who also wrote Twilight Samurai, The Hidden Blade, Love and Honor), the film depicts the uneasy life of Noe Isomura (Rena Tanaka) with the difficult family she has married into after her former husband passed away. One day as she tries to brake off a branch of a cherry tree, she is aided by a samurai who she does not recognize but who recognizes her. He turns out to be a former suitor that she never met named Yaichiro Tezuka (Noriyuki Higashiyama) and who teaches swordsmanship to the local samurai. Meanwhile, the powerful new chief retainer of the village enacts land policies that threaten the survival of the local farmers.
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7.5
Yamazakura%2C+The+Cherry+Tree+in+the+Hills
Yamazakura, The Cherry Tree in the Hills

2008

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13 Assassins

A sadistic Daimyo (feudal lord) rapes a woman and murders both her and her husband, but even when one of his own vassals commits suicide to bring attention to the crime, the matter is quickly hushed up. Not only will there be no punishment, but because the Daimyo is the Shogun's younger brother, he will soon be appointed to a high political position from which he could wreak even more havoc. Convinced that the fate of the Shogunate hangs in the balance, a plot is hatched to assassinate the Daimyo. The two most brilliant strategic minds of their generation find themselves pitted against each other; one is tasked to defend a man he despises, and has a small army at his disposal. The other is given a suicide mission, and has 12 brave men. They are the 13 Assassins.
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7.4
13+Assassins
13 Assassins

1963

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Empire of Passion

In a small Japanese village at the end of the 19th century, a rickshaw driver's wife takes on a much younger lover and the two conspire to murder him.
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6.9
Empire+of+Passion
Empire of Passion

1978

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The Samurai I Loved

A young samurai stuck at the bottom of the hierarchical order attempts to rescue his childhood sweetheart from an evil clan lord after learning of a plot to kill her and her infant child. Bunshiro Maki is a skilled swordfighter who's lethal with a blade, yet still can't rise through the ranks of the system. After his father is accused of plotting against his clan and forced to commit ritual suicide, his longtime love Fuku is sent to Edo to become the clan lord's concubine. A few years later, Fuku has bore the clan lord a son. When Maki learns that the clan has hatched a plan to kill Fuku and her son to secure succession to the throne, he recruits two childhood friends to help thwart the diabolical plot.
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7.3
The+Samurai+I+Loved
The Samurai I Loved

2005

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After the Flowers

Ito, daughter of a clan official, encounters Magoshiro Eguchi. Magoshiro is a low ranking samurai sparks an attraction with Ito. Ito challenges Magoshiro to a sword match using bamboo sticks. Mahoshiro accepts. The pair's duel causes sparks to fly an attraction from both sides. Meanwhile, Ito faces an arranged marriage with Saisuke Katagiri and Magoshiro is with Kayo...
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7.3
After+the+Flowers
After the Flowers

2010

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Hunter in the Dark

Yataro Tanigawa, a one-eyed hired assassin, impresses yakuza boss Gomyo Kiyoemon with his skill. Gomyo hires Tanigawa as his bodyguard, or yojimbo, to protect him during an inter-clan conflict. Tanigawa quickly rises in stature in the clan, but finds his boss's enemies almost overwhelming.
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6.3
Hunter+in+the+Dark
Hunter in the Dark

1979

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The Man Who Assassinated Ryoma

The Man Who Assassinated Ryoma is a movie about a haunted blood-thirsty Bakufu officer who might have killed Ryoma Sakamoto.
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6.0
The+Man+Who+Assassinated+Ryoma
The Man Who Assassinated Ryoma

1987

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The Last Samurai

The film follows the story of Sugi Toranosuke, a ronin, who returns to his home town of Edo many years after his attempted suicide as a sickly child. Rescued and adopted by a master swordsman, he has grown into a master swordsman and a very kind gentleman. The time is around 1868 the year that the nails were finally put into the coffin containing the feudal system that nurtured and sustained the samurai. Sugi is confused and unsure about what is happening but his teacher wants him out of the chaos of the multiple power struggles between the various clans.
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7.8
The+Last+Samurai
The Last Samurai

1974

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Destiny's Son

In Edo-period Japan, Shingo is born the son of an assassin who was executed for murdering her lord’s concubine. Decades later, his adoptive family is massacred for keeping the secret. Armed with an unbeatable swordfighting technique, Shingo embarks on the path of the masterless samurai in search of vengeance and a path beyond his own ignominious origins.
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6.7
Destiny%27s+Son
Destiny's Son

1962

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Bushido

Kakunoshin Yanagida was a samurai, forced to leave the Han due to a false accusation. He then lived in poverty with his daughter Kinu.
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7.6
Bushido
Bakumatsu Aibou-den

A single bullet cuts through Kyoto in the last days of the Tokugawa shogunate right before the restoration of imperial rule. Who plotted to assassinate Tokugawa Yoshinobu, who is about to become the last shogun of Japan? Was it the faction wanting to overthrow him or the rebels within the shogunate? Mutual enemies Sakamoto Ryoma, the wandering samurai, and Hijikata Toshizo, a deputy leader of the Shinsengumi and vassal of the Tokugawa clan, receive a secret order to track down the culprit. They are given a mere two days.
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7.0
Bakumatsu+Aibou-den
Bakumatsu Aibou-den

2022

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Sleepy Eyes of Death 10: Hell Is a Woman

Two devious retainers are competing to take control of a fief when the current Lord dies, but involving Kyoshiro in the conflict against his will is the textbook example of a bad idea - especially when the collateral damage starts to tick him off.
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6.5
Sleepy+Eyes+of+Death+10%3A+Hell+Is+a+Woman
Sleepy Eyes of Death 10: Hell Is a Woman

1968

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Gassoh

In the year 1868, three young men join the elite Shogitai division of the Shogunate. The Shogitai fights to the end and opposes the dismantling of the feudal military dictatorship known as the Bakufu system.
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7.6
Gassoh
Bloody Spear at Mount Fuji

Tragicomic road movie set during the Edo period. It follows a samurai, his two servants – including spear-carrier Genpachi – and the various people they meet on their journey, including a policeman in pursuit of a thief, a young child and a woman who is to be sold into prostitution.
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7.4
Bloody+Spear+at+Mount+Fuji
Bloody Spear at Mount Fuji

1955

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Oiesan

Traces the rise of the company Suzuki Shoten from the 1880's to 1919. After the death of her husband, Yoni Suzuki and her general manager built the company from a small sugar importer into Japan's largest trading and manufacturing company.
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Oiesan
Vendetta of a Samurai

Mataemon Araki, a renowned swordsman, helps a young man find vengeance.
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6.8
Vendetta+of+a+Samurai
Vendetta of a Samurai

1952

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Sisam

A history drama portraying the confrontation between the indigenous Ainu people living on Japan’s northernmost main island—then called “Ezo” and now known as “Hokkaido”—and the “sisam”, the Ainu word for ethnic Japanese.
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9.6
Sisam
Gonza the Spearman

The tragic story of Gonza, a handsome ladies man, set in the Tokugawa Period, a time in which appearances are very important. Gonza competes with Bannojō for the honor to perform the tea ceremony to celebrate the birth of an heir to the lord of their clan. To see the sacred tea scrolls Gonza promises to marry the daughter of the family which possesses them, even though he is unofficially engaged to another. When studying the scrolls with Osai, the mother of the house, Bannojō sneaks into the house and steals their obis and runs through the town proclaiming the two as adulterers.
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7.0
Gonza+the+Spearman
Gonza the Spearman

1986

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Kaidan

Japan, 250 years ago. Soetsu is a moneylender who is killed by the cruel samurai Shinzaemon. His body is dumped in the Kasenega-Fuchi river. According to legend, all who drown in the river will never surface again. 20 Years later, Shinkichi, the handsome son of Shinzaemon, coincidentally meets Toyoshiga, the daughter of Soetsu. They fall in love. It is a doomed love, as the spirit of Soetsu is far from dead
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6.2
Kaidan
Souls in the Moonlight

First part of the famous Dai-bosatsu toge trilogy, based on Kaizan Nakazato’s unfinished long series of novels (41 books, written from 1913 to 1941). Set in the last period of the Tokugawa Shogunate, Daibosatsu Toge tells the story of Tsuke Ryunosuke, a nihilistic swordmaster who doesnt hesitate to kill anyone, bad or good. Despite the authors explicit refusal, the series were later made into plays and movies several times.
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6.2
Souls+in+the+Moonlight
Souls in the Moonlight

1957

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The Assassination of Ryoma

Story of the last three days in the life of Sakamoto Ryoma (1836-1867), the imperial loyalist who tried to unite the Choshu and Satsuma clans and prepared the way for the Meiji Restoration (1868).
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4.6
The+Assassination+of+Ryoma
The Assassination of Ryoma

1974

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Godai - The Wunderkind

A biographical story of Tomoatsu Godai, the influential entrepreneur of the Meiji era who laid the foundation of the modern Japanese economy.
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7.4
Godai+-+The+Wunderkind
Godai - The Wunderkind

2020

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The Castle of Crossed Destinies

In the inner chambers of the Shugun's castle, 3,000 men attempt to vie for the affection of the female shogun. Based on the 4th-6th volumes in the manga series "Ooku" by Fumi Yoshinaga.
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6.3
The+Castle+of+Crossed+Destinies
The Castle of Crossed Destinies

2012

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Unforgiven

An old swordsman, his former comrade and a young braggart are hired by prostitutes to track down bandits who mutilated one of the women.
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7.0
Unforgiven
Unforgiven

2013

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Rurouni Kenshin: New Kyoto Arc: Cage of Flames

Although she's only sixteen and looks even younger, Misao Makimachi is already a skilled and competent member of the Oniwabanshu ninja clan. That's fortunate for Misao, because her onimitsu talents may be all that keeps her alive when a journey in search of the leader of the clan, Aoshi Shinomori, leads her instead into a face-to-face encounter with an even more dangerous man and a plot to overthrow the Meiji government! Quickly enmeshed in the affairs of the legendary assassin Hitokiri Battosai, now known as Kenshin Himura, wielder of the reverse-blade sword, Misao finds herself pulled into the middle of a deadly intrigue against Makoto Shishio, who is orchestrating the conquest of all Japan - beginning with Kyoto!
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6.5
Rurouni+Kenshin%3A+New+Kyoto+Arc%3A+Cage+of+Flames
Rurouni Kenshin: New Kyoto Arc: Cage of Flames

2011

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This Old Road -KONOMICHI-

A genius and reckless poet and a hard working musician are asked by the CEO of a children literature magazine to write a war song to send children into the battlefield.
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7.7
This+Old+Road+-KONOMICHI-
This Old Road -KONOMICHI-

2019

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Shinobi no Mono 4: Siege

[Period covered: 1614-1615] Tokugawa Ieyasu is now the ruler of all Japan. But one last loose thread must be tied up before his domination is complete -- the destruction of the Toyotomi clan, now beseiged in Osaka castle. Ieyasu's ninja are the only ones who can penetrate the fortress, but unfortunately for Ieyasu, Kirigakure Saizo and the other Toyotomi ninja can just as easily get out. As armies of samurai maneuver for battle, the fate of the nation will be decided by a desperate struggle in the dark!
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6.2
Shinobi+no+Mono+4%3A+Siege
Shinobi no Mono 4: Siege

1964

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A Tale of Samurai Cooking

In this love story set in the Edo period, 27-year-old Oharu is a genius in the kitchen. Oharu attracts the attention of the master chef of the Kaga Domain, who arranges for her to marry his son and heir, 24-year-old Yasunobu. But, Yasunobu is cold to his new wife, and he's more interested in swordplay than cookery.
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7.3
A+Tale+of+Samurai+Cooking
A Tale of Samurai Cooking

2013

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Rurouni Kenshin: New Kyoto Arc: The Chirps of Light

Shishio's plan is enacted while Kenshin and Misao help defend the city.
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7.3
Rurouni+Kenshin%3A+New+Kyoto+Arc%3A+The+Chirps+of+Light
Rurouni Kenshin: New Kyoto Arc: The Chirps of Light

2012

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Sleepy Eyes of Death 6: Sword of Satan

Sixth film in the series. A little boy who just wants to be a carpenter is at the center of a plot that might topple -- or save -- a mighty Clan, and while the swords of some angry samurai may not cause Kyoshiro much trouble, the deadly wiles of two women may be more difficult to survive!
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6.2
Sleepy+Eyes+of+Death+6%3A+Sword+of+Satan
Sleepy Eyes of Death 6: Sword of Satan

1965

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Miyamoto Musashi: The Duel at Ichijo Temple

In the fourth installment, Musashi's potentially greatest opponent Kojiro jumps in and out of the story at the oddest and most coincidental moments. As his great love Otsu has succumbed to madness. Musashi then sets off to beat the functionaries of a treacherous clan in an arranged duel. 73 against one. Boastful Kojiro watches, secure in the knowledge that only he is a worthy opponent.
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7.0
Miyamoto+Musashi%3A+The+Duel+at+Ichijo+Temple
Miyamoto Musashi: The Duel at Ichijo Temple

1964

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