Movies like Sword for Hire (1952)

Samurai II: Duel at Ichijoji Temple (1955)

After years on the road establishing his reputation as Japan's greatest fencer, Takezo returns to Kyoto. Otsu waits for him, yet he has come not for her but to challenge the leader of the region's finest school of fencing. To prove his valor and skill, he walks deliberately into ambushes set up by the school's followers.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & action

The Hidden Fortress (1958)

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.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & action

Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto (1954)

Struggling to elevate himself from his low caste in 17th century Japan, Miyamoto trains to become a mighty samurai warrior.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & action

Zatoichi: Darkness Is His Ally (1989)

Older, wiser but still a wandering loner, the blind, peace-loving masseur Ichi seeks a peaceful life in a rural village. When he's caught in the middle of a power struggle between two rival Yakuza clans, his reputation as a deadly defender of the innocent is put to the ultimate test in a series of sword-slashing showdowns.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama

New Tale of Zatoichi (1963)

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.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama

13 Assassins (2010)

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 into a war-torn future.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & drama

Zatoichi (2003)

Blind traveler Zatoichi is a master swordsman and a masseur with a fondness for gambling on dice games. When he arrives in a village torn apart by warring gangs, he sets out to protect the townspeople.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & drama

The Tale of Zatoichi Continues (1962)

Returning to the village where a year before he had killed Hirate, a much-admired opponent, Zatoichi encounters another swordsman and former rival in love.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & action

Zatoichi's Pilgrimage (1966)

Zatoichi's trek through 88 temples to atone for his violent past is interrupted as he stumbles into a village terrorized by a violent yakuza boss.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & action

The Tale of Zatoichi (1962)

The adventures of a blind, gambling masseur and master swordsman. Zatoichi targets a yakuza-controlled village, because war with a neighbouring town's smaller gang is brewing.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & action

Shogun's Samurai: The Yagyu Clan Conspiracy (1978)

Following the death of the second Tokugawa shogun, it is revealed that he was poisoned by retainers of his son Iemitsu in hopes of gaining him the shogunate despite the stammer and birthmark which undermine his respect. Iemitsu and his brother Tadanaga become bitter rivals for the shogunate, and the land is split into factions, eventually erupting into warfare. Iemitsu's mentor, his fencing instructor Yagyu, is fixated upon securing Iemitsu the shogunate and ends up betraying everyone, even his own family, in pursuit of the goal.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama

Zatoichi Challenged (1967)

Ichi is staying at an inn when a woman dies. Her dying wish is that Ichi take her son to his father, an artist living in a nearby town. After arriving in the town, Ichi finds out that the father has been forced by a local boss to create illegal pornography to pay off his gambling debts. Ichi makes it his mission to save the man and reunite the family, even though it brings him into conflict with a samurai he sort of befriended on his way to the town.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & action

Rurouni Kenshin: The Final (2021)

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.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & adventure

Kamui (2009)

A rebellious ninja in 17th century Japan takes refuge with a fisherman and his family.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & action

The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail (1952)

A fugitive lord and his six retainers disguise themselves as monks to bluff their way through a hostile checkpoint.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & adventure

Chûshingura (1962)

After their lord is tricked into committing ritual suicide, forty-seven samurai warriors await the chance to avenge their master and reclaim their honor.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & action

Battles Without Honor and Humanity: Deadly Fight in Hiroshima (1973)

Repeatedly beat to a pulp by gamblers, cops, and gangsters, lone wolf Shoji Yamanaka finally finds a home as a Muraoka family hitman and falls in love with boss Muraoka's niece. Meanwhile, the ambitions of mad dog Katsutoshi Otomo draws our series' hero, Shozo Hirono, and the other yakuza into a new round of bloodshed.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & action

Picnic (1996)

Believing that the world will end that very day, three mental patients Coco, Tsumuji, and Satoru set out upon a journey. Walking upon the tops of the walls of the city, they seek to find a picnic spot with the best vantage point to view the final event.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & adventure

Rurouni Kenshin Part III: The Legend Ends (2014)

Shishio sets sail in his ironclad ship to bring down the government. In order to stop him, Kenshin trains with his old master to learn his final technique.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & adventure

K-20: The Fiend with Twenty Faces (2008)

In an alternate version of 1949 Japan in which World War II never happened, the Japanese capital of Teito is home to both an ultra rich upper class and the dirt poor masses. The city is thrown into a state of panic when a phantom thief called “The Kaijin (Fiend) with 20 Faces” (K-20 for short) begins to use his mysterious abilities to steal from the rich and give to the poor. One day a circus acrobat named Heikichi Endo (Takeshi Kaneshiro) is framed for K-20’s crimes and becomes determined to clear his name. He teams up with K-20’s next target, a wealthy duchess named Yoko Hashiba (Takako Matsu) and her detective fiancé (Toru Nakamura), to take K-20 down once and for all.

Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & adventure

Kagemusha (1980)

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. The impostor becomes comfortable living his life among nobility, but his responsibilities to his station grow more demanding the longer he occupies it.

Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & drama

Stray Nightingale (2017)

Japan, 1785. Jūzaburō, a famous thief who refuses to kill innocent people, is betrayed, ambushed, and left for dead.

Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & action

Onihei Crime Files: The Final Zenpen - Gonenme no Kyaku (2016)

Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & drama

Snow on The Blades (2014)

At Sakurada Gate in 1860, the shogun’s chief minister and his retinue of bodyguards are ambushed and annihilated. Bearing the responsibility and shame for this failure is Shimura Kingo, master swordsman and chief of the guard. Forbidden to take his own life in atonement, he is instead tasked with hunting down the remaining assassins; however, fate intervenes and now only one is left. Devoted to his late lord and his duty, he relentlessly pursues the sole remaining assassin for the next thirteen years. But times are changing in Japan and the way of the sword has become outlawed. What does this mean for Kingo?

Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & drama

Deadly Professional 2023 (2023)

An epidemic is spreading through the towns of Edo – it spreads via people, and if you get the fever, your face will turn red like a demon, and then you will die. There is no cure in sight, and people’s anxiety is increasing.

Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & action

While Traveling (1962)

In this film, Hibari plays a dual role as brother and sister. The story involves a journey to Hanagasa for an incognito Lord (Kotaro Satomi) to overthrow an attempted usurpation of his domain, while being harassed by vassals of the usurper (Kensaku Hara). There's also a mysterious ronin played by Jushiro Konoe. The songs are seamlessly woven into the narrative and don't overwhelm the action. While the plot is derivative it is good example of its type and quite enjoyable. Note that there are some flashback sequences in black and white.

Why it matches: Similar story and style · both adventure & drama

Bring Me the Head of Shichiemon! (1993)

During the Sengoku period, an army relentlessly lays siege to a castle, but they will need the head of the opposing lord to declare victory.

Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & action

Onihei Crime Files: Sutegoro Takahagi (2010)

Takahagi Sutegoro is highly skilled at casing locations for thieves so that he can sell detailed floor plans to them. He suffers an injury to his leg while trying to help a parent and a child being threatened by samurai. Heizo jumps in and chases the samurai away. Feeling indebted to Heizo, Sutegoro decides to become his spy. Now, together they will try to stop scheming Myogi Danemon’s gang of merciless thieves...

Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & drama

Throne of Blood (1957)

Returning to their lord's castle, samurai warriors Washizu and Miki are waylaid by a spirit who predicts their futures. When the first part of the spirit's prophecy comes true, Washizu's scheming wife, Asaji, presses him to speed up the rest of the spirit's prophecy by murdering his lord and usurping his place. Director Akira Kurosawa's resetting of William Shakespeare's "Macbeth" in feudal Japan is one of his most acclaimed films.

Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama

Red Beard (1965)

Aspiring to an easy job as personal physician to a wealthy family, Noboru Yasumoto is disappointed when his first post after medical school takes him to a small country clinic under the gruff doctor Red Beard. Yasumoto rebels in numerous ways, but Red Beard proves a wise and patient teacher. He gradually introduces his student to the unglamorous side of the profession, ultimately assigning him to care for a prostitute rescued from a local brothel.

Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama