Akinori Matsuo

Director

November 5, 1928 (81 years)

† July 12, 2010

Osaka, Osaka Prefecture, Japan

Biography

Akinori Matsuo was born on November 5, 1928 in Japan. Akinori was a director and assistant director, known for Yakuza sensei (1960), Meiji keppûroku: Taka to ôkami (1968) and Tekka no hanamichi (1968). Akinori died on July 12, 2010. Originally named Matsuo Akinori, Ma was one of the Japanese directors who was hired by Shaw Brothers, and soon started the genre of Hong Kong films with a Japanese touch. Together with Inoue Umetsugu and Koh Nakahira (stage-named Yang Shu-Shin), they directed films …

Filmography

9.5

Special Crime Investigation Front

No description available

8.0

Shadow Warriors

Shadow Warriors is a Japanese television jidaigeki show featuring Sonny Chiba that ran for four seasons in the early 1980s. Chiba played different ninja characters in each series. In the first series he played Hattori Hanzō III, in second one he played Tsuge Shinpachi, in the third one he played Tarao Hanzō, in the fourth series and in Bakumatsu Hen, he played Hattori Hanzō XV. In the 2003 direct-to-DVD series Shin Kage no Gundan he played Hattori Hanzō I.

6.0

Masked Blade

Choshichiro Nagayori Matsudaira is the son of Tadanaga Tokugawa, which makes him a nephew of the Shogun. Tadanaga died as a result of an alleged plot to overthrow his elder brother, the third shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu. Because of Choshichiro’s complicated background, he lives among the commoners in the shogunal capital city of Edo, punishing the evil when he sees wrongdoings and injustice.

N/A

Tattooed Kin-san vs Miss Ninja Thief

It is 1845. Toyama Kinshiro is a town magistrate who roams Edo in guise of Kinsan the playboy. In his efforts to keep Edo crime-free, he allies himself with Onna Nezumi, a female Robin Hood. Watch Kinsan unveil his cherry blossom tattoo and bring criminals to justice.

N/A

Miyamoto Musashi

On September 15, Keicho, a young man, Takezo, whose life was ruined by the war in Sekigahara wandered around like a wild beast. Only his lover Otsu and the pacifist monk Takuan understood Musashi, who escaped from the hands of the Ochimusha hunters and turned against everyone. Then, a crisis loomed over Takezo as he fled into the mountains. At the same time in the village of Jokyoji in Echizen, the sword prodigy Sasaki Kojiro, in his quest for strength had defeated his own master, Tomita Seigen and got out of the village.

N/A

Tokugawa Chronicles: Ambition of the 3 Branches

The story of the battles between the 3 related families Kishu, Mito, and Owari, as each vies for the shogun’s seat in the line of succession. Highlighting the series are many fights between the young lord’s Negoro ninja helpers and their mortal enemies, the Koga ninja. History comes alive with the bloody blades of the three families at war within the highest levels of government as the search for a new shogun continues!

N/A

Crisis at Edo Castle - Angry Shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu

After the end of the reign of the second Shogun Hidetada, the country was still in turmoil. Meanwhile, Iemitsu, who took the place of the third shogun, is carrying out a number of political reforms. However, Yui Shosetsu, plans to overthrow the Tokugawa family...

N/A

Shadow Warrior Tokugawa Ieyasu

The drama, based on a novel by Keiichiro Ryu, tells an alternative history in which the historical shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu is killed at the Battle of Sekigahara and his double Jirosaburo Serada becomes the ruler of the country instead.

6.5

I Am Waiting

A former boxer gets involved with a club hostess trying to escape the clutches of her gangster employer.

6.2

The Okinawa War of Ten Years

After World War II, when Okinawa was under control of the United States, the local yakuza prospered. But when Okinawa is returned to Japan, the mainland yakuza tries to take over; the local yakuza tries to compete. Now sides are drawn among the local yakuza guys who used to be best friends since their childhood, and brother fights brother. It results in the biggest yakuza war in Okinawa.

6.0

Fight of the Gamblers

Ryuji Oshima, a gambler, kills Saiga in self-defense, and considering himself unfit to lead men, secludes himself in a temple to atone for his misdeeds. At home, when his mother, the boss of a construction gang, bids for and gets the job of building the Town Hall, other gangs set out to disrupt her business and try to kill her.

N/A

Warlord of the Underworld

On the day of the festival at Takao Shrine in Koshu, a brawl breaks out at a local gambling den run by the boss, Kansuke of Saruya (played by Zo Ozawa). It’s the rowdy members of the Shimizu clan, led by Jirocho (Kinya Kitaoji), who uncover a cheating scheme. The chaos is brought to a halt by none other than Jirocho’s lifelong rival-Katsuzo of Kurokoma (Tetsuo Ishidate), a powerful local boss from Koshu...

N/A

Greatest Boss of Japan

A man who became the third boss faces off against delinquent foreigners and villains vying to rule the underworld in order to develop the port city.

N/A

Rainbow Over Kinmon

Three years had passed since Ichiro Takeo left Japan. He was a young physician with a promising future, until his medical error caused the death of a big-shot politician. He was discharged from the hospital and had since sailed around the world as an on-board doctor. As he was about to reach the Taiwanese piers of Kinmon Island, thoughts of his days in Japan crossed his mind - he reminisced about the Taiwanese girl, Yan, who had scooped him out of his misery during the time of the medical accident. At times of war, the two rekindle an old flame.

7.0

Gambling Code and Feuds

It is the first Toei yakuza film directed by Akinori Matsuo, who was active in Nikkatsu action movies. It is a local yakuza movie made following Okinawa Yakuza War (1976) and Hokuriku Proxy War (1977). The film depicts the war between a storied yakuza killer (Hiroki Matsukata) and the largest organized crime group in the Kansai region, which plans to advance into the Kanto region.

N/A

The Retired Samurai

Japan's greatest jidaigeki star, Mifune Toshiro is Shogun's Advisor Okubo Hikozaemon who must be coaxed out of retirement to save Shogun Iemitsu from danger. The elderly Hikozaemon has been belittled of late and has seemingly lost the will to live, much less the desire to assert himself and make Iemitsu listen to reason. The plot thickens when a lovely young woman enters the picture. Can she change Hikozaemon's mind, and thus alter the path of Japanese history? No longer a young man, can Hikozaemon gain the shogun's ear, and succeed in warning him of the evil plot to overthrow him?

7.2

Asia-Pol

Yang Ming Xuan intercepts a truckload of contraband, but the criminals stage a brazen helicopter attack, ruthlessly eliminating their own operatives and destroying most of the shipment before it can be confiscated. In the process, Ming Xuan's partner is killed, and the young agent is brought to the unwelcome attention of the leader of the smuggling operation.

7.0

The Fugitive Samurai

Itto Ogami- High Executioner to the Shogun- has been betrayed by his political enemies and sentenced to a dishonorable death. Seeking to restore the honor of his name, Ogami- The Wolf- must flee the Shogun's grasp and live long enough to prove his innocence. Taking only his sword and his son, Ogami embarks on a bloody journey of righteousness and revenge as he seeks to destroy those who would disgrace his family's name. Hunted mercilessly by the Shogun's troops, by his enemies, and by those who seek the reward put on his head, Ogami must fight his way through feudal Japan, challenging and defeating all who stand in the way of his quest for honor. Can Ogami- a true Samurai Warrior- endure the ceaseless violence which surrounds him?

6.9

Our Town

In 1906, after finishing a tough migrant job in the Philippines, Takichi has returned to Japan. He starts to work as a rickshaw driver, but his lover had died of an illness, leaving a baby girl, Hatsue. Hatsue grows up beautifully and falls in love with Shintaro. But Takichi objects to their relationship...

N/A

A World For Two

On a passenger ship to Japan, the journalist Kawase encounters a man who claims to be a Filipino, but Kawase believes he is a murder suspect who fled Japan fifteen years ago, Hojo Shuichi. To throw Kawase off, the man talks a female passenger, Reiko, into acting as if she was his long-time friend. When the man - who is, in fact, Hojo - secretly leaves the ship, Reiko, who has fallen for him, joins up with Kawase to go looking for him. Meanwhile, Hojo, who has returned to Japan to find the true murderer before the 15-year statute of limiitations on murder expires, tracks down the man whom he believes ordered the murder he was accused of.