
Tokuzō Tanaka
Directing
Biography
Tokuzō Tanaka (田中徳三, Tanaka Tokuzō, September 15, 1920 – December 20, 2007) was a Japanese film director. He is well known for directing Zatoichi series and Nemuri Kyōshirō series films.
Known For

No description available.
Furuya Ikkou's Great Detective Kindaichi Kousuke Series

Four people recount different versions of the story of a man's murder and the rape of his wife.
Rashomon

Ogami Itto is a master swordsman who holds a position of high power in the Tokugawa Shogunate. Highly trusted by the Shogun, he serves as the official decapitator, assisting lords and samurai who have been ordered by the Shogun to commit seppuku. One day, Itto’s wife and members of his household are brutally murdered by a clan seeking to avenge their lord’s execution, which had been carried out by Itto. In the wake of the attack, two items are left in Itto’s home: his unhurt infant son, Daigoro, and a symbol meant to signify Itto’s betrayal of the Shogun. Disgraced by the false symbol, Itto is labeled a traitor and forced to forfeit his position. He becomes a ronin, wandering the country with his son, searching for the men who killed his wife, seeking to clear his name and avenge her death.
Lone Wolf and Cub

Nakamura Mondo was relegated to a post in Hachioji from the Minamimachi Bugyōsho and he has retired from professional assassin. But one day he was ordered to return to the Minamimachi Bugyōsho. Shikazō worked behind the scenes to get Mondo back to the Minamimachi Bugyōsho. Shikazō asks Nakamura Mondo to kill a man, once Mondo refuses but he is blinded by big money and eventually take the offer. Mondo restarts killing villains again with Kazarishokunin no Hide and Nawate Samon.
Hissatsu Shigotonin
Set in the eighteenth century, during the reign of the fifth Tokugawa shōgun Tokugawa Tsunayoshi. Akō-han is demolished by the Tokugawa shogunate. Hotta Hayato is a ronin who is living a desperate life because of his sad past. But one day he starts working for Chisaka Takafusa, the Chief retainer of the Uesugi clan. The Uesugi clan and Chisaka are wary of Ōishi Kuranosuke and Ako Roshi's movements, so Chisaka orders Hotta to observe Ōishi Kuranosuke.
The 47 Ronins of Ako

In 11th-century feudal Japan, following the exile of an idealistic governor, his wife and children are separated by slave traders; the children, Zushio and Anju, are sold into brutal servitude under the cruel bailiff Sansho.
Sansho the Bailiff

Kohei Akiyama, a popular master swordsman, and his son Daijiro live in the town of Edo in good faith. While running a dojo, Daijiro and his father find themselves wrapped up in a series of events with the town's people.
Kenkaku Shōbai

In 16th century Japan, peasants Genjuro and Tobei sell their earthenware pots to a group of soldiers in a nearby village, in defiance of a local sage's warning against seeking to profit from warfare. Genjuro's pursuit of both riches and the mysterious Lady Wakasa, as well as Tobei's desire to become a samurai, run the risk of destroying both themselves and their wives, Miyagi and Ohama.
Ugetsu

«Japanese Masterpiece Ghost Story Theatre» - is a 13-episode series based on classic Japanese ghost stories.
Japanese Masterpiece Ghost Story Theatre

In the Kyoho era, Hayato, a shogun vassal commissioned as a traveling inspector by Tokugawa Yoshimune, adopts the guise of a ronin. Accompanied by the enigmatic Kihachi the kappa, he journeys discreetly through different provinces, administering justice to the malevolent forces...
Hayato is Coming

Saotome Mondonosuke, "Hatamoto" (direct servant of the shogun), a handsome man with a scar on his forehead in the form of a crescent moon, a favorite of the shogun. He is a master of martial arts, who owns the style of Moroha-ryu seigan-kuzushi (fencing), Yoshin-ryu tai-jutsu (the art of fighting without weapons) and even military science, but in the era of Genroku (1688-1704) all these skills are not in demand, and this brings boredom to Mondonosuke. To dispel boredom, this so-called "bored gentleman" walks around the city, and when he hears about some incident, he rushes to the place and defeats evil with his invincible swordsmanship. Mondonosuke has a 17-year-old sister, Kikuji (Yukiko Kashiwagi), and Kikuji's lover, Kirishima Kyoya (Takao Kataoka), becomes his right hand.
Crescent Scarred Hatamoto

When the wife of a 17th-century Kyoto scrollmaker is falsely accused of having an affair with his best employee, the pair flee the city and find themselves truly falling for one another.
Chikamatsu Monogatari

Wishing to find peace, Zatoichi travels to his old village but only finds trouble when he ends up in a love triangle and finds old scores have followed him home.
New Tale of Zatoichi

Two sculptors spend the night in a mountain lodge after being caught in a snowstorm. A female spirit appears and takes the life of one of the men. She spares the other man's life on the condition that he never tell anyone what happened that night.
The Snow Woman

After arriving in the town of Shimonita, Ichi finds that a price has been put on his head by a local yakuza boss. He's drawn into a trap, but after hearing of the slaying of a former love, Ichi furiously fights his way through the entire clan to face the killer, a hired ronin.
Zatoichi the Fugitive

Learning of his family's collapse, acolyte Goichi, sent to study silently at the Temple of the Golden Pavilion, must endure acute psychological distress.
Conflagration

The shogun's vassal Harima Aoyama and a chamber maid are in love with each other, but they cannot be together due to a difference of their status. Soon, an offer of marriage is brought to Harima. Trying to test his love, Okiku breaks one of the plates of the family treasure of the Aoyama family, but Harima doesn't notice. However, someone surrounding her witnesses the moment Okiku breaks the plate on purpose.
A Samurai Never Tells a Lie

[Period covered: 1614-1615] Tokugawa Ieyasu is now the ruler of all Japan. But one last loose thread must be tied up before his domination is complete -- the destruction of the Toyotomi clan, now beseiged in Osaka castle. Ieyasu's ninja are the only ones who can penetrate the fortress, but unfortunately for Ieyasu, Kirigakure Saizo and the other Toyotomi ninja can just as easily get out. As armies of samurai maneuver for battle, the fate of the nation will be decided by a desperate struggle in the dark!
Shinobi no Mono 4: Siege

No description available.
Ken ni kakeru

The second film in the "Suruga yukyoden" series, in which Shintaro Katsu plays Jirocho Shimizu. The film features Omasa, Komasa, Ocho, who will become Jirocho's wife, as well as other members of his future family. There is a particularly great swordfight near the end where Katsu and cronies attack the rival villainous yakuza clan to rescue their ailing, elderly boss. The action choreography, cinematography and editing of this sequence is quite brilliant, treading a difficult tightrope act between genuinely goofy antics and exhilirating, bloody violence.