Japan: Memoirs of a Secret Empire
Genres
Overview
Japan blossomed into its Renaissance at approximately the same time as Europe. Unlike the West, it flourished not through conquest and exploration, but by fierce and defiant isolation. And the man at the heart of this empire was Tokugawa Ieyasu, a warlord who ruled with absolute control. This period is explored through myriad voices-- the Shogun, the Samurai, the Geisha, the poet, the peasant and the Westerner who glimpsed into this secret world.
Details
Budget
$0
Revenue
$0
Runtime
165 min
Release Date
2004-05-26
Status
Released
Original Language
English
Vote Count
2
Vote Average
9.5
Michael Auslin
Himself - Nikko Toshogu Shrine
Beatrice M. Bodart-Bailey
Herself - Otsuma Women's University
Richard Chamberlain
Narrator
Michael Cooper
Himself - Former Editor, 'Monumenta Nipponica'
Luke S. Roberts
Himself - UC Santa Barbera
7.8
Kagemusha
Akira Kurosawa's lauded feudal epic presents the tale of a petty thief who is recruited to impersonate Shingen, an aging warlord, in order to avoid attacks by competing clans. When Shingen dies, his generals reluctantly agree to have the impostor take over as the powerful ruler. He soon begins to appreciate life as Shingen, but his commitment to the role is tested when he must lead his troops into battle against the forces of a rival warlord.
1980-04-26 | ja
6.0
The Samurai of Edo
This historical film depicts the life of a man who was at the mercy of the waves during transition from the end of the Edo period to the Meiji Restoration, and therefore, shows audience the dynamic change from Edo to Meiji. Before the war, the director, Eisuke Takizawa, together with the writers, formed a scenario writer group "Narutaki-gumi and they shot many historical masterpieces.
1955-10-23 | ja
6.0
Sakura Official
As Japan’s Tokugawa shogunate nears the end of its rule, Edo North Magistrate Toyama no Kinsan is called upon to judge the most difficult case of his career. In a masterfully woven tale, he has to face the truth about his estranged father’s possible involvement in a nefarious plot to take over rule of the Hizen Shimabara clan by assassinating the rightful lord, his son, and install one of Shogun Ienari’s offspring as daimyo.
1962-02-28 | ja
7.2
Prehistoric Park
A BBC miniseries about Nigel Marvin's quest to bring the extinct dinosaurs through time to Prehistoric Park.
2006-07-22 | en
6.8
Tsubaki Sanjuro
"Tsubaki Sanjuro" is a remake of Sanjuro (1962) by Akira Kurosawa. Sanjuro returns with sharper, faster, subtler sword, talking and perception. He uses them to settle the trouble and uses them good!
2007-12-01 | ja
8.5
The Making of a Japanese
Intimately following 1st and 6th graders at a public elementary school in Tokyo, we observe kids learning the traits necessary to become part of Japanese society.
2024-04-05 | ja
6.7
Miss Hokusai
A daughter is constantly overshadowed by her famous father, but she is determined to make her own mark in the world.
2015-05-09 | ja
7.1
John Rabe
A true-story account of a German businessman who saved more than 200,000 Chinese during the Nanjing massacre in 1937-38.
2009-04-02 | de
0.0
Craft Beer in Japan
Craft beer is a fast growing popular movement in Japan. Traveling to Japan to scout this exciting emerging market, american craft beer brewmaster Rob LoBreglio sets out on an off-the-beaten-track visit to meet with beer brewers, pub owners and beer lovers to discover the Japanese way of beer. Kanpai!
2016-01-01 | en
7.0
Three Nobunagas
Warlord Oda Nobunaga has lost the battle in sixteenth century Japan and is currently being pursued by Ujinori Kanbara who was Yoshimoto Imagawa's vassal. Yoshimoto was slayed by Nobunaga and the former vassal is burning with the fires of revenge. Yet, success is seemingly tripled when he captures not one but three Nobunagas. Each prisoner claims to be the warlord.
2019-09-20 | ja
7.6
Ask This of Rikyu
Sen no Rikyu (Ebizo Ichikawa) is the son of a fish shop owner. Sen no Rikyu then studies tea and eventually becomes one of the primary influences upon the Japanese tea ceremony. With his elegant esthetics, Sen no Rikyu is favored by the most powerful man in Japan Toyotomi Hideyoshi (Nao Omori) and becomes one of his closest advisors. Due to conflicts, Toyotomi Hideyoshi then orders Sen no Rikyu to commit seppuku (suicide). Director Mitsutoshi Tanaka's adaptation of Kenichi Yamamoto's award-winning novel of the same name received the Best Artistic Contribution Award at the 37th Montréal World Film Festival, the Best Director Award at the 2014 Osaka Cinema Festival, the 30th Fumiko Yamaji Cultural Award and the 37th Japan Academy Film Prize in nine categories, including Best Art Direction, Excellent Film and Excellent Actor.
2013-09-01 | ja
7.0
The Lenz Papers
Four-part german limited serial about the baden revolution in 1848 and 1849.
1986-10-04 | de
7.6
Hiroshima
Historical fiction about the aftermath of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan, on 6 August 1945, and its effects on various civilians, especially children, of that city.
1953-10-07 | ja
7.3
The Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance
From a small Italian community in 15th-century Florence, the Medici family would rise to rule Europe in many ways. Using charm, patronage, skill, duplicity and ruthlessness, they would amass unparalleled wealth and unprecedented power. They would also ignite the most important cultural and artistic revolution in Western history -- the European Renaissance. But the forces of change the Medici helped unleash would one day topple their ordered world.
2004-02-04 | en
5.4
The Roman Empire in the First Century
Two thousand years ago, at the dawn of the first century, the ancient world was ruled by Rome. Through the experiences, memories and writings of the people who lived it, this series tells the story of that time - the emperors and slaves, poets and plebeians, who wrested order from chaos, built the most cosmopolitan society the world had ever seen and shaped the Roman empire in the first century A.D.
2001-01-01 | en
7.0
Sekigahara
The background to and depiction of a watershed battle in Japanese history, at Sekigahara in 1600, when Tokugawa Ieyasu's Army of the East defeated the Army of the West of Ishida Mitsunari. The story includes the intrigues and shifting loyalties of the various retainers, family members, and samurai.
2017-08-26 | ja
7.7
Sandakan No. 8
A young journalist interviews an elderly woman about being forced into prostitution in Borneo at a brothel called Sandakan No. 8.
1974-11-02 | ja
0.0
Bushido
A high-stakes action film set against the backdrop of feudal Japan.
| en
6.6
Samurai Cat: The Movie
The ever versatile Kazuki Kitamura stars as masterless samurai Kyutaro Madarame, a feared swordsman who has fallen on hard times in old Edo. Caught between two warring gangs in an epic battle of cat lovers and dog lovers, he begrudgingly accepts the canine faction's offer to assassinate the opposite leader's beloved pet: an adorable white cat. Yet upon raising his lethal sword, he cannot bring himself to go through with the act, and the cat melts his ronin heart. But before finding peace as a newly minted cat person, the still fearsome Madarame will have to take on both gangs in a classic samurai street brawl.
2014-03-01 | ja
6.8
Samurai Hustle
During the reign of the eighth shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate, the Yunagaya Domain in the Tohoku region is a small han. But at the han, there is a gold mine. Suddenly, Masaatsu Naito of Yunagaya Domain receives an order to perform Sankin-kotai within 5 days. Sankin-kotai is a custom that requires the daimyo to visit the shogun in Edo. Unfortunately, the time needed to visit the shogun in Edo for Masaatsu Naito is 8 days. Masaatsu Naito also learns he received the order because a high ranking government official wants the gold mine. Also, the expense for Sankin-kotai is high and the Yunagaya Domain is such a small han that it seems impossible to complete. Nevertheless, Masaatsu Naito begins an unexpected operation to complete Sankin-kotai in 5 days.
2014-06-21 | ja