Ayako Wakao

In Edo Japan, a kabuki actor seeks revenge against the three men who drove his parents to their deaths years ago.

A mysterious tattoo artist puts his masterpiece, a human-faced spider, on a kidnapped woman's back. She and her lover are then forced into a...

With a price on his head, Ichi seeks tranquillity in a favorite village. Since his last visit, it has fallen prey to Boss Masagoro, the son of a...

The lives of five prostitutes employed at a Japanese brothel while the nation is debating the passage of an anti-prostitution law.

After the boxing champion retires, the head of a powerful gym, Minegishi (So Yamamura), recommends Yamanaka (Hiroshi Kawaguchi), who is no longer in...

On his release from prison a young yakuza, along with his brother, decides to turn his back on criminal life instead of taking over the position of...

Eiko seeks out Miyoharu, a geisha, and asks to be her apprentice. When she is ready to receive clients, both women want the right to refuse certain...

When a theater troupe's master visits his old flame, he unintentionally sets off a chain of unexpected events with devastating consequences. A remake...

The four principals in a love affair collide when jealousy, blackmail and suicide enter the picture.

In 221 BC, Qin Shihuangdi conquered the rest of China. Qin's great accomplishments and also his serious faults are showed in this film. Qin adopted...

Two poor, married farmers have recently lost their only child; after a freak visitation, they pry open an alien cocoon to greet their new daughter.

In 1939, Sakura Nishi is a young army nurse who is sent to the field hospitals in China during the Sino-Japanese war. She has to assist the surgeon...

Fascinated with women from an early age, Yonosuke had his first sexual encounter at the age of seven. From that day on, he recklessly and forwardly...

Sentaro is been severely beaten for his defiance of the government and the high taxes during a time of famine. He is befriended by Kada Gentaro, a...

A greedy, materialistic family attempts to cover-up the embezzlement committed by the son while keeping their other schemes active. They discover...

Tied to a mountain between her brutalizing spouse and her secret lover, disaster strikes; the authorities accuse her of murder and prompt a...

On the eve of the Russo-Japanese war at the beginning of the 20th century, small-town girl Okane has married an old wealthy man to escape a life of...

The disturbing story of a physician who conducted the first operation with general anaesthetic, and the women in his life who are both so determined...

[Period covered: 1614-1615] 4th film in the shinobi no mono series Tokugawa Ieyasu is now the ruler of all Japan. But one last loose thread must be...

TV movie based on the novel "The Tale of Genji" by Murasaki Shikibu, which tells about the life of Prince Hikaru Genji, who was nicknamed "Shining"...

[Period covered: 1595-1600] Third film in the famous shinobi no mono series. We last saw ninja Ishikawa Goemon (Raizo Ichikawa), as he was about to...

Following the tragic death of his father, a young boy's family trains his horse to compete in the local derby.

Torajiro becomes homesick during his travels after watching a television report about his hometown and meeting a young woman that reminds him of his...

A girl rebels against her mother, who runs a brothel in Yokohama, and attempts to find freedom on her own.

A biting portrait of the world of classical Japanese dance: an ambitious young woman (Wakao Ayako) shoves aside her mentor (Kyo Machiko) on her way...

Legendary yakuza Shimizu Jirocho and his 28 henchmen travel the unruly path from a 'Fire Festival' in Akiba to a decisive battle by the Fujigawa.

Adaptation of the Yukio Mishima novel.

Once upon a time, Okuro (Ayako Wakao), a young female racoon, lived poorly with her drunken father. One day after they disguised themselves as...

Adaptation of the Shôji Yuki novel.

1930. In splendid snowy settings, the trials and pain of a woman married to a man who maintains a relationship with their servant.

Momoko and Asako are half sisters, daughters of the famous architect Tsuneo Mizuhara, who also have another half sister in Kyôto, Wakako, whom...

Princess Kiyo accidentally injures a local priest, Anchin, while on a hunt. She apologizes, but feels irritated by Anchin’s indifference to her...

A youth drama set in a Japanese university which is home to a group of active, leftist students.

Namiko gets a crush on Ishizuka, a young CEO of a nightclub, but he was plotting to destroy her husband’s company by greenmail.

Yuko is sent to the coastal regions to be raised away from the rest of her sophisticated family where she finds out from her ill grandmother that she...

The middle of the Meiji period. Tororo Goro, a Nanjing expedition hit the first time to join the white thread at the water entertainer waterfall,...

Based on the first novel, Spring Snow, of Mishima Yukio's Sea of Fertility tetralogy, it follows the troubled and illicit affair between two...

Ichikawa's 1956 adaptation of Nihonbashi was the first to take the work of Kyoka Izumi— until then regarded as a writer of common tragic...

A young scriptwriter with a yakuza upbringing, an iron-fire dancer, a young painter, and a pure-hearted downtown girl fall in love in Asakusa in this...

The intense selfishness of a man brings him fame and fortune but not happiness.

Shimada is a student of U College. When the college's baseball team wins the day, he and his friend Ito drug two girls they met at the game.

In a match where professional baseball referee Yuzo Tagami was observing a young referee, Hara, a player who got angry at the indecisive judge,...

Group of women escape Chinese controlled area for Japanese occupied lands during Pacific War.

On his return from school, young Ichiro finds his father in bed with his adopted sister, Namie. Enraged, he decides to outdo his father in terms of...

After a random encounter at a bar, two couples collide. Two men, two women, embroiled in a love-and-hate drama that threatens to engulf them. The...

Based on the original novel by Tokuda Shusei, adapted by frequent Masumura scribe Kaneto Shindo, this downbeat melodrama features a battle of women...

Satoko is a mistress by trade or fate: when her master, the silkscreen artist of the Kohoan Temple in Kyoto, dies, she is given to the temple's...

Japanese film directed by Tadashi Imai.

Seventeen years after the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, a newspaper reporter looks for the bomb's effects, but everyone seems to have...

The film depicts a group of boys and girls who graduate from a local junior high school and head to Tokyo to find employment, and the teachers who...

It depicts a few days in the life of a farmer's wife who takes her first vacation in Tokyo.

Set in the 1860s, the final years of the Tokugawa Shogunate, The Fireflies focuses on Tose (Awashima Chikage), the mistress of the Teradaya, a small...

"The Time of Reckoning" transforms a screwball-comedy plot into a sober study of a successful businessman with serious relationship problems...

It depicts the emotional ups and downs of a designer who runs a clothing store and her husband over the course of a summer.

Yano Reiko is a part-time student. After being introduced by a well-known classmate, she becomes the tutor for Mariko, the second daughter of the...

A small, out-of-the-way izakaya in Tokyo has become the favorite hangout of people searching for nourishment for their bodies and their souls. The...

A small, out-of-the-way izakaya in Tokyo has become the favorite hangout of people searching for nourishment for their bodies and their souls. The...

The drama special satirizes the daily life of a wife with a businessman husband who is busy with his work.

Utsugi, a seventy-seven-year-old man of refined tastes who is recovering from a stroke, discovers that, while his body is decaying, his libido still...

Based on a novel by Tsutomu Mizukami, this haunting melodrama focuses on a young bamboo worker who takes his father's prostitute as his wife.

This unique melodrama depicts the anguish of a new wife whose husband confesses to her his infertility on their wedding night. The virgin wife, who...

Japan, 1701. A group of samurai become rônin after their lord is forced to commit seppuku for assaulting a court official, who will become the...

Adaptation of Seicho Matsumoto's novel of the same name.

Kikuji is the scion of an Osaka merchant family whose traditional power is matrilineal. Instructed by his overbearing mother and grandmother to give...

A young woman decides to leave school in order to help her sister.

The first story concerns an attractive young woman who works in a Tokyo nightclub. Her plan for a solid financial future has a double whammy. In the...

Keizo Tsujiguchi believes his wife Natsue was having an extramarital affair when their child was kidnapped and killed. He believes of her...

The entangled relations between the son of a seductive tea-ceremony teacher and the women in his father's life. Based on the novel by Kawabata...

Well before “Shogun” as warring clans were fighting for power throughout Japan, a Portuguese vessel ran aground off Tanegashima. Lord...

A young girl is rigorously trained in the feminine arts so that she can become a geisha. As she struggles through life, she learns to live not just...

In 39 interviews with actors and actresses, writers, producers and staff members, interspersed with film excerpts and stills, Shindō recounts the...

A story of aristocratic star-crossed love.

Adaptation of the novel by Masao Kume.

A father decides to put his delinquent daughter into a temple in Kyoto known for its austere novitiate. Initially resistant to all forms of...

Hikaru Genji, the haunted romantic hero of Lady Murasaki Shikibu’s “Genji Monogatari” (Tale of Genji) comes to life in this new...

A musical about the escapades of some tanuki passing themselves off as humans in human society.

Yoshimura's 48th film is the contemporary story of a well-to-do family showing the frailties and failings of the class, the egotism, and the complete...

Comedy drama by Kon Ichikawa

The story of three sportsman brothers living in the Ginza. One day, the three meet a raving beauty on separate occasions and are unaware they have...

A Yasuzō Masumura film about a love affair starring Ayako Wakao. The literal title is The Two Who Got Wet.

Ayako Wakao portrays a downtown rice ball shop girl whose heart is set on her business. Involved in her life are three young men—stage actor...

A romantic comedy depicting the variant and whimsical daily lives of the Japanese mademoiselles in the Metropolis of Tokyo. How they react against...

A light comedy with Ayako Wakao charming her patients.

In a rural district of Tokyo, the owner of a farm is abandoned by his two daughters who are attracted to the life of the big city.

A young man is determined to have as many affairs as possible but not to get married. One of his conquests is of a different mind however. For she is...

Heitaro, who had served his firm loyally for 30 years, reaches the retirement age. He has four unmarried daughters and decides to split his...

In the forties in Japan, a group of brilliantly qualified university students are selected to break all ties with their previous lives and form the...

A young woman marries someone else, but cannot forget her first lover.

A story about a wealthy family and the greed and selfishness of three daughters and relatives, after the passing of their old father

Shikiko Oba is nimble with her fingers and teaches dressmaking and designing. Among her pupils are Rinko, Katsumi and Tomie. Ginshiro, who is as...

Otama, daughter of a poor candy vendor, becomes the mistress of a man whom she believes to be a widower and owner of a prosperous dry goods store....

The inventor of a ground-breaking glue, Sanada, becomes rich thanks to his discovery a high executive in his company. Because of this promotion, his...

Film directed by Saeki Kozo with Wakao Ayako.

Film directed by Eichi Koishi and starring Wakao Ayako

Film directed by Shima Koji and starring Wakao Ayako

Film directed by Seiji Hisamatsu and starring Wakao Ayako

A Girl isn't Allowed to Love is a 1955 Japanese film directed by Teinosuke Kinugasa.

Ayako Wakao won the Blue Ribbon and the Kinema Jumpo for this film.

During the bloody era of the Tokugawa Shogunate collapse, a man appeared capable of overthrowing a corrupt government and ending the feud between the...

From a novel by Mishima Yukio

At sixteen, due to illness, Tsuruko goes blind, and has no choice but to become a massage therapist. One day, stumbling on a staircase, he meets a...