The Frozen Moment

The lion dance in traditional Japanese theatre.

菅原伝授手習鑑 寺子屋

Nezumi, Jack the Mouse is a Japanese urban legend. His passion for money drives a cynical, duplicitous coffin maker to take on Nezumi’s mantle. In this kaleidoscope of disguise and deception, society’s pretenses are destroyed in a melting pot of farce, social satire and courtroom drama. The mighty are brought low to everyone’s delight. Contemporary theatre genius Hideki Noda collaborates with Kabuki theatre at the invitation of celebrated actor Kanzaburo.

This film depicts a troupe of wandering kabuki players traveling through rural Japan.

A recording of a play based on a quarrel in the late Edo period of Japan. Recorded in May 2012.

The play "Ehon Taikōki" was originally written for the puppet theater (Bunraku) and staged for the first time in 1799 in Ōsaka at the Toyotakeza. It was adapted for Kabuki the next year by Nagawa Tokusuke I. The play consisted originally of thirteen acts, one act for each day that passed between Akechi Mitsuhide's murder of Oda Nobunaga and his death at the hand of Toyotomi Hideyoshi. The tenth act is the only one which has survived. This act tells of an incident during the battle in which Mitsuhide was finally defeated.

Yotsuya Kaidan (Jitsoroku Oiwa)

Irohagana Yotsuya Kaidan

Shin Yotsuya Kaidan

Earliest japanese horror film.

Yotsuya Kaidan

Yotsuya Kaidan

Yotsuya Kaidan

Shin Yotsuya Kaidan

Yotsuya Kaidan

Hanbei (Arata Furuta), the boss of the labor agency Fujitsuboya is known to the underworld as the leader of the 'Last Rite Givers' (Indouya), an organization that deals with disposing of criminals for the sake of the people and society. However, in reality, he is merely a timid and mild-mannered man, too gentle to even harm a fly, whose fearsome appearance is what earned him his position. In both his public and secret life, the true leader is his wife, Oise. One day, a wandering assassin known as the 'mad dog', Yoiyami Ginji (Taichi Saotome), appears—someone who will kill anyone, regardless of who they are, as long as the price is right. Under the orders of the 'Black Blade' gang, who aim to destroy the 'Last Rite Givers' and monopolize the underground business, Ginji awaits to ambush and kill Hanbei. However, at that moment, as if by the curse of the 'Tengosei' star, a violent lightning strike causing the bodies of Hanbei and Ginji to switch.

Two young swordsmen, Akado Suzunosuke and Tatsumaki Rainoshin, arrive at the city of Edo in their quest to test and improve their skills. Soon they become involved in a conflict against a mysterious group of demonic criminals led by the king of hell, Taira no Masakado — a strugle to which both were destined since the moment they were born.

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 mystery emerges involving two portraits and the sudden disappearance of the artist Sharaku. Helmed by Cannes-selected director Tatsuji Yamazaki, the film employs kabuki-inspired sequences and stylised sets.

Nagasaki, 1964: Following the death of his yakuza father, 15-year-old Kikuo is taken under the wing of a famous kabuki actor. Alongside Shunsuke, the actor’s only son, he decides to dedicate himself to this traditional form of theatre. For decades, the two young men grow and evolve together – and one will become the greatest Japanese master of the art of kabuki.

A day in a Hyatt suite gone weird