Movies like Chûshingura
If Chûshingura's mix of japan, samurai and revenge stayed with you, start here. Each film below was picked from what Chûshingura's fans love most, with the reason it belongs on this list.
- 1
Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto
1954 · Directed by Hiroshi Inagaki · 94 min7.2
Why you'll like itAlso directed by Hiroshi Inagaki · With Toshirō Mifune · Shares: samurai, jidaigeki · Also a Japanese drama
Struggling to elevate himself from his low caste in 17th century Japan, Miyamoto trains to become a mighty samurai warrior.
- 2
Seven Samurai
1954 · Directed by Akira Kurosawa · 207 min8.5
Why you'll like itWith Toshirō Mifune and Takashi Shimura · Shares: japan, samurai, jidaigeki · Also a Japanese action film
A samurai answers a village's request for protection after he falls on hard times. The town needs protection from bandits, so the samurai gathers six others to help him teach the people how to defend themselves, and…
- 3
The Hidden Fortress
1958 · Directed by Akira Kurosawa · 139 min8.0
Why you'll like itWith Toshirō Mifune and Takashi Shimura · Shares: japan, jidaigeki · Also a Japanese drama
In feudal Japan, during a bloody war between clans, two cowardly and greedy peasants, soldiers of a defeated army, stumble upon a mysterious man who guides them to a fortress hidden in the mountains.
- 4
The Sword of Doom
1966 · Directed by Kihachi Okamoto · 122 min7.8
Why you'll like itWith Yūzō Kayama and Toshirō Mifune · Shares: samurai, jidaigeki · Also a Japanese drama · From the same decade (1960s)
Ryunosuke, a gifted swordsman plying his trade during the turbulent final days of Shogunate rule, has no moral code and kills without remorse. It’s a way of life that leads to madness.
- 5
Harakiri
1962 · Directed by Masaki Kobayashi · 135 min8.5
Why you'll like itShares: japan, samurai, revenge · Also a Japanese action film · From the same decade (1960s)
Down-on-his-luck veteran Tsugumo Hanshirō enters the courtyard of the prosperous House of Iyi. Unemployed, and with no family, he hopes to find a place to commit seppuku—and a worthy second to deliver the coup de grâce…
- 6
Ran
1985 · Directed by Akira Kurosawa · 160 min8.0
Why you'll like itShares: revenge, seppuku, jidaigeki · Also a Japanese action film
Shakespeare's King Lear is reimagined as a singular historical epic set in sixteenth-century Japan where an aging warlord divides his kingdom between his three sons.
- 7
Kagemusha
1980 · Directed by Akira Kurosawa · 180 min7.8
Why you'll like itShares: japan, samurai, jidaigeki · Also a Japanese action film
A feudal epic presenting the tale of a petty thief who is recruited to impersonate Shingen, an aging warlord, in order to avoid attacks by competing clans.
- 8
Rurouni Kenshin: The Final
2021 · Directed by Keishi Otomo · 138 min7.7
Why you'll like itShares: japan, samurai, revenge · Also a Japanese action film
In 1879, Kenshin and his allies face their strongest enemy yet: his former brother-in-law Enishi Yukishiro and his minions, who've vowed their revenge.
- 9
Rurouni Kenshin Part II: Kyoto Inferno
2014 · Directed by Keishi Otomo · 138 min7.6
Why you'll like itShares: japan, samurai, jidaigeki · Also a Japanese action film
Kenshin has settled into his new life with Kaoru and his other friends when he is approached with a request from the Meiji government.
- 10
Rurouni Kenshin Part I: Origins
2012 · Directed by Keishi Otomo · 134 min7.5
Why you'll like itShares: japan, samurai, jidaigeki · Also a Japanese action film
In 1868, after the Bakumatsu war ends, the ex-assassin Kenshin Himura traverses Japan with an inverted sword, to defend the needy without killing.
- 11
Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance
1972 · Directed by Kenji Misumi · 84 min7.4
Why you'll like itShares: japan, samurai, jidaigeki · Also a Japanese drama
Official Shogunate executioner Ogami Itto has been framed for disloyalty to the Shogunate by the Yagyu clan, against whom he now is waging a one-man war, along with his infant son, Daigoro.
- 12
13 Assassins
2010 · Directed by Takashi Miike · 141 min7.3
Why you'll like itShares: japan, samurai, seppuku · Also a Japanese drama
A bravado period action film set at the end of Japan's feudal era in which a group of unemployed samurai are enlisted to bring down a sadistic lord and prevent him from ascending to the throne and plunging the country…