The Frozen Moment

A look at the succession ceremony in which Ichikawa Danjūrō XIII formally inherited the storied Danjūrō name in Kabuki, Japan’s classical performing art. The film records the behind-the-scenes preparations for the actor’s name-inheritance debut performance.

Famous kabuki performer Kikugoro IV performs the Lion Dance, in which a young girl is possessed by the spirit of a lion and transforms into the demonic beast.

An onnagata (female impersonator) of a Kabuki troupe avenges his parents' deaths. Remade in 1963 as Yukinojô Henge.

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 wings 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.

In Edo Japan, a kabuki actor seeks revenge against the three men who drove his parents to their deaths years ago.

Oiwa Nagaya

Shin Yotsuya Ghost Story

Yotsuya Kaidan

Shin Yotsuya Kaidan

Yotsuya Kaidan (Jitsoroku Oiwa)

Yotsuya Kaidan

Yotsuya Kaidan

A day in a Hyatt suite gone weird

A streetwise New York police officer transforms into the world's most unusual superhuman hero.

Follows the life of an illegitimate son of a kabuki actor.

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.

Yotsuya Kaidan

Based on the novel by Shofu Muramatsu, the film is dedicated to the actors of the renowned Japanese Kabuki theatre. Set in Japan in 1885, the story follows Kikunosuke Onoe, the adopted son of a famous Kabuki actor. Kikunosuke’s father teaches him professional acting skills, preparing him to become his successor and continue the acting dynasty. However, Kikunosuke leaves his family, much to his father’s dismay, to hone his craft outside of Tokyo and moves to Osaka.

A reel of the Noh drama Momiji-gari, in which Danjuro Ichikawa played opposite Onoe Kikugoro V as an ogress who has disguised herself as the Princess Sarashina. Filmed by Shibata Tsunekichi in the open air on a windy day in November 1899, Danjuro would allow only the one take, so that when his fan blew away in mid-performance the scene had to stay. The film re-emerged at the Kikikan theatre in 1907 where it was a great success and inspired a wave of fiction filmmaking based on traditional Japanese narratives.