1
Shichinin no samurai aka Seven Samurai (1954)
More
Director Akira Kurosawa
Writer Akira Kurosawa, Shinobu Hashimoto, Hideo Oguni
Cast Toshira Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Keiko Tsushima
Plot Farmers from a village exploited by bandits hire a veteran samurai for protection, and he gathers six other samurai to join him.
2
Rashomon (1950)
More
Director Akira Kurosawa
Writer Ryanosuke Akutagawa, Akira Kurosawa, Shinobu Hashimoto
Cast Toshira Mifune, Machiko Kya, Masayuki Mori
Plot The rape of a bride and the murder of her samurai husband are recalled from the perspectives of a bandit, the bride, the samurai's ghost and a woodcutter.
3
Ran (1985)
More
Director Akira Kurosawa
Writer Akira Kurosawa, Hideo Oguni, Masato Ide
Cast Tatsuya Nakadai, Akira Terao, Jinpachi Nezu
Plot In Medieval Japan, an elderly warlord retires, handing over his empire to his three sons. However, he vastly underestimates how the new-found power will corrupt them and cause them to turn on each other...and him.
4
Ikiru (1952)
More
Director Akira Kurosawa
Writer Akira Kurosawa, Shinobu Hashimoto, Hideo Oguni
Cast Takashi Shimura, Nobuo Kaneko, Shin'ichi Himori
Plot A bureaucrat tries to find meaning in his life after he discovers he has terminal cancer.
5
Yojinbo aka Yojimbo (1961)
More
Director Akira Kurosawa
Writer Akira Kurosawa, Ryaza Kikushima
Cast Toshira Mifune, Eijira Tano, Tatsuya Nakadai
Plot A crafty ronin comes to a town divided by two criminal gangs and decides to play them against each other to free the town.
6
Tengoku to jigoku aka High and Low (1963)
More
Director Akira Kurosawa
Writer Hideo Oguni, Ryaza Kikushima, Eijira Hisaita
Cast Toshira Mifune, Yutaka Sada, Tatsuya Nakadai
Plot An executive of a Yokohama shoe company becomes a victim of extortion when his chauffeur's son is kidnapped by mistake and held for ransom.
7
Kakushi-toride no san-akunin aka The Hidden Fortress (1958)
More
Director Akira Kurosawa
Writer Ryaza Kikushima, Hideo Oguni, Shinobu Hashimoto
Cast Toshira Mifune, Misa Uehara, Minoru Chiaki
Plot Lured by gold, two greedy peasants unknowingly escort a princess and her general across enemy lines.
8
Tsubaki Sanjuro aka Sanjuro (1962)
More
Director Akira Kurosawa
Writer Ryaza Kikushima, Hideo Oguni, Akira Kurosawa
Cast Toshira Mifune, Tatsuya Nakadai, Keiju Kobayashi
Plot A crafty samurai helps a young man and his fellow clansmen trying to save his uncle, who has been framed and imprisoned by a corrupt superintendent.
9
Nora inu aka Stray Dog (1949)
More
Director Akira Kurosawa
Writer Ryaza Kikushima, Akira Kurosawa
Cast Toshira Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Keiko Awaji
Plot During a sweltering summer, a rookie homicide detective seeks advice from a seasoned colleague while trying to track down his stolen Colt pistol.
10
Kumonosu-jo aka Throne of Blood (1957)
More
Director Akira Kurosawa
Writer Hideo Oguni, Shinobu Hashimoto, Ryaza Kikushima
Cast Toshira Mifune, Minoru Chiaki, Isuzu Yamada
Plot A war-hardened general, egged on by his ambitious wife, works to fulfill a prophecy that he would become lord of Spider's Web Castle.
11
Kagemusha aka Kagemusha: The Shadow Warrior (1980)
More
Director Akira Kurosawa
Writer Masato Ide, Akira Kurosawa
Cast Tatsuya Nakadai, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Ken'ichi Hagiwara
Plot A petty thief with an utter resemblance to a samurai warlord is hired as the lord's double. When the warlord later dies the thief is forced to take up arms in his place.
12
Dersu Uzala (1975)
More
Director Akira Kurosawa
Writer Akira Kurosawa, Yuriy Nagibin, Vladimir Arsenev
Cast Maksim Munzuk, Yuriy Solomin, Mikhail Bychkov
Plot The Russian army sends an explorer on an expedition to the snowy Siberian wilderness where he makes friends with a seasoned local hunter.
13
Akahige aka Red Beard (1965)
More
Director Akira Kurosawa
Writer Masato Ide, Hideo Oguni, Ryaza Kikushima
Cast Toshira Mifune, Yaza Kayama, Tsutomu Yamazaki
Plot In 19th-century Japan, a rough-tempered yet charitable town doctor trains a young intern.
14
Yoidore tenshi aka Drunken Angel (1948)
More
Director Akira Kurosawa
Writer Keinosuke Uekusa, Akira Kurosawa
Cast Takashi Shimura, Toshira Mifune, Reizabura Yamamoto
Plot A drunken doctor with a hot temper and a violence-prone gangster with tuberculosis form a quicksilver bond.
15
Warui yatsu hodo yoku nemuru aka The Bad Sleep Well (1960)
More
Director Akira Kurosawa
Writer Hideo Oguni, Eijira Hisaita, Akira Kurosawa
Cast Toshira Mifune, Masayuki Mori, Kyako Kagawa
Plot A vengeful young man marries the daughter of a corrupt industrialist in order to seek justice for his father's suicide.
16
Waga seishun ni kuinashi aka No Regrets for Our Youth (1946)
More
Director Akira Kurosawa
Writer Eijira Hisaita, Akira Kurosawa, Keiji Matsuzaki
Cast Setsuko Hara, Susumu Fujita, Denjira akachi
Plot The daughter of a politically disgraced university professor struggles to find a place for herself in love and life, in the uncertain world of Japan leading into WWII.
17
Shizuka naru ketto aka The Quiet Duel (1949)
More
Director Akira Kurosawa
Writer Kazuo Kikuta, Akira Kurosawa, Senkichi Taniguchi
Cast Toshira Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Miki Sanja
Plot A surgeon gets syphilis from a patient when he cuts himself during an operation. The doctor's life is destroyed, but unlike the patient, he doesn't destroy others along with him.
18
Subarashiki nichiyobi aka One Wonderful Sunday (1947)
More
Director Akira Kurosawa
Writer Akira Kurosawa, Keinosuke Uekusa
Cast Isao Numasaki, Chieko Nakakita, Atsushi Watanabe
Plot During a Sunday trip into war-ravaged Tokyo, despairing Yuzo and optimistic Masako look for work and lodging, as well as affordable entertainments to pass the time.
19
Yume aka Dreams (1990)
More
Director Akira Kurosawa, Ishira Honda
Writer Akira Kurosawa, Ishira Honda
Cast Akira Terao, Mitsuko Baisha, Toshie Negishi
Plot A collection of tales based upon eight of director Akira Kurosawa's recurring dreams.
20
Sugata Sanshiro aka Sanshiro Sugata (1943)
More
Director Akira Kurosawa
Writer Akira Kurosawa, Tsuneo Tomita
Cast Denjira akachi, Susumu Fujita, Yukiko Todoroki
Plot Sugata, a young man, struggles to learn the nuance and meaning of judo, and in doing so comes to learn something of the meaning of life.
21
Tora no o o fumu otoko-tachi aka The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail (1945)
More
Director Akira Kurosawa
Writer Nobumitsu Kanze, Akira Kurosawa, Gohei Namiki
Cast Denjira akachi, Susumu Fujita, Ken'ichi Enomoto
Plot A Japanese general and his men disguise themselves as monks in order to pass an enemy border patrol.
22
Donzoko aka The Lower Depths (1957)
More
Director Akira Kurosawa
Writer Maxim Gorky, Akira Kurosawa, Hideo Oguni
Cast Toshira Mifune, Isuzu Yamada, Kyako Kagawa
Plot In a Japanese slum, various residents play out their lives, dreaming of better things or settling for their lot. Among them is a man who pines for a young woman but is stymied by her deceptive family.
23
Zoku Sugata Sanshiro aka Sanshiro Sugata, Part Two (1945)
More
Director Akira Kurosawa
Writer Tsuneo Tomita, Akira Kurosawa
Cast Denjira akachi, Susumu Fujita, Ryanosuke Tsukigata
Plot Sugata returns to prove his judo mastery in a match against Western opponents.
24
Ikimono no kiroku aka I Live in Fear (1955)
More
Director Akira Kurosawa
Writer Shinobu Hashimoto, Fumio Hayasaka, Akira Kurosawa
Cast Toshira Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Minoru Chiaki
Plot An aging Japanese industrialist becomes so fearful of nuclear war that it begins to take a toll on his life and family.
25
Shubun aka Scandal (1950)
More
Director Akira Kurosawa
Writer Ryaza Kikushima, Akira Kurosawa
Cast Toshira Mifune, Shirley Yamaguchi, Yako Katsuragi
Plot A celebrity photograph sparks a court case as a tabloid magazine spins a scandalous yarn over a painter and a famous singer.
26
Hakuchi aka The Idiot (1951)
More
Director Akira Kurosawa
Writer Fyodor Dostoevsky, Eijira Hisaita, Akira Kurosawa
Cast Setsuko Hara, Masayuki Mori, Toshira Mifune
Plot A Japanese veteran, driven partially mad from the war, travels to the snowy island of Hokkaido where he soon enters a love triangle with his best friend and a disgraced woman.
27
Ichiban utsukushiku aka The Most Beautiful (1944)
More
Director Akira Kurosawa
Writer Akira Kurosawa
Cast Takashi Shimura, Saji Kiyokawa, Ichira Sugai
Plot World War II film about female volunteer workers at an optics plant who do their best to meet production targets.
28
Dodesukaden aka Dodes'ka-den (1970)
More
Director Akira Kurosawa
Writer Akira Kurosawa, Hideo Oguni, Shinobu Hashimoto
Cast Yoshitaka Zushi, Kin Sugai, Toshiyuki Tonomura
Plot Various tales in the lives of Tokyo slum dwellers, including a mentally deficient young man obsessed with driving his own commuter trolley.
29
Madadayo (1993)
More
Director Akira Kurosawa, Ishira Honda
Writer Ishira Honda, Akira Kurosawa, Hyakken Uchida
Cast Tatsuo Matsumura, Hisashi Igawa, George Tokoro
Plot Following World War II, a retired professor approaching his autumn years finds his quality of life drastically reduced in war-torn Tokyo. Denying despair, he pursues writing and celebrates his birthday with his adoring students.
30
Hachigatsu no rapusodi aka Rhapsody in August (1991)
More
Director Akira Kurosawa
Writer Kiyoko Murata, Akira Kurosawa, Ishira Honda
Cast Sachiko Murase, Richard Gere, Hisashi Igawa
Plot Three generations' responses to the atomic bombing of Nagasaki.
