Movies like Yojimbo (1961)
The best movies like Yojimbo (1961) are The Sword of Doom (1966), Seven Samurai (1954) and The Twilight Samurai (2002). If Yojimbo hooked you with its drama and thriller, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedSeven Samurai (1954)8.5/10 from 4,458 votes
- NewestUnforgiven (2013)Released 2013
- In JapaneseThe Sword of Doom (1966)Also in Japanese
- Same seriesSanjuro (1962)Sanjuro
The Sword of Doom (1966)
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.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSeven Samurai (1954)
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 the villagers provide the soldiers with food.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Twilight Samurai (2002)
Seibei Iguchi leads a difficult life as a low ranking samurai at the turn of the nineteenth century. A widower with a meager income, Seibei struggles to take care of his two daughters and senile mother. New prospects seem to open up when the beautiful Tomoe, a childhood friend, comes back into he and his daughters' life, but as the Japanese feudal system unravels, Seibei is still bound by the code of honor of the samurai and by his own sense of social precedence. How can he find a way to do what is best for those he loves?
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSamurai Rebellion (1967)
The mother of a feudal lord's only heir is kidnapped by the lord. Her husband and his samurai father must decide whether to accept the unjust decision, or risk death to rescue her.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisSanjuro (1962)
In this companion piece and sequel to "Yojimbo," jaded samurai Sanjuro helps an idealistic group of young warriors weed out their clan's evil influences, and in the process turns their image of a proper samurai on its ear.
Why it matches: Same series: Sanjuro · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisHarakiri (1962)
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 in his suicide ritual. The senior counselor for the Iyi clan questions the ronin’s resolve and integrity, suspecting Hanshirō of seeking charity rather than an honorable end. What follows is a pair of interlocking stories which lay bare the difference between honor and respect, and promises to examine the legendary foundations of the Samurai code.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisRashomon (1950)
Four people recount different versions of the story of a man's murder and the rape of his wife.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThrone 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: Fans watch both · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisZatoichi (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: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSamurai Assassin (1965)
Japan, 1860. The men of the Mito clan, victims of the Ansei purge, anxiously prowl around the Sakurada Gate of Edo Castle with the intention of assassinating Naosuke Ii of Hikone, tairō of the Tokugawa shogunate and responsible for their misfortune.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance (1972)
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.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe 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: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThree Outlaw Samurai (1964)
Shiba, a wandering ronin, encounters a band of peasants who have kidnapped the daughter of their dictatorial magistrate, in hopes of coercing from him a reduction in taxes. Shiba takes up their fight, joined by two renegades from the magistrate's guard, Sakura and Kikyo. The three outlaws find themselves in a battle to the death.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like this13 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: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisKagemusha (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: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Hidden Blade (2004)
Set in 19th Century Japan a young samurai who finds himself in love with a farm girl leaves his home to begin a new life. He has to take stock of his new life when he is put to the test and ordered to kill a traitor who just happens to be his dearest friend.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWhen the Last Sword Is Drawn (2003)
Kanichiro Yoshimura is a samurai and family man who can no longer support his wife and children on the low pay he receives from his small-town clan. He is forced by his love for his family to leave for the city in search of higher pay to support them.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisZatoichi the Fugitive (1963)
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.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSamurai 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: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRan (1985)
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.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe 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: Fans watch both · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisNew 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: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe 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: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSword of the Beast (1965)
Legendary swordplay filmmaker Hideo Gosha's Sword of the Beast chronicles the flight of the low-level swordsman Gennosuke, who kills one of his ministers as part of a reform plot. His former comrades then turn on him, and this betrayal so shakes his sense of honor that he decides to live in the wild, like an animal. There he joins up with a motley group who are illegally mining the shogun’s gold, and, with the aid of another swordsman, gets a chance not just at survival but to recover his name and honor.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisUgetsu (1953)
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.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisSamurai Spy (1965)
Years of warfare end in a Japan unified under the Tokugawa shogunate, and samurai spy Sasuke Sarutobi, tired of conflict, longs for peace. When a high-ranking spy named Tatewaki Koriyama defects from the shogun to a rival clan, however, the world of swordsmen is thrown into turmoil. After Sasuke is unwittingly drawn into the conflict, he tracks Tatewaki, while a mysterious, white-hooded figure seems to hunt them both. By tale’s end, no one is who they seemed to be, and the truth is far more personal than anyone suspected. Director Masahiro Shinoda’s Samurai Spy, filled with clan intrigue, ninja spies, and multiple double crosses, marks a bold stylistic departure from swordplay film convention.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe 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: Fans watch both · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart to Hades (1972)
Ogami Itto volunteers to be tortured by Yakuza in order to save a prostitute and is hired by their leader to kill an evil chamberlain.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisUnforgiven (2013)
An old swordsman, his former comrade and a young braggart are hired by prostitutes to track down bandits who mutilated one of the women.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLove and Honor (2006)
A look at the relationship between a young blind samurai and his wife, who will make a sacrifice in order to defend her husband's honor.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like this
Like Yojimbo and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Yojimbo?
The closest matches to Yojimbo are The Sword of Doom (1966), Seven Samurai (1954) and The Twilight Samurai (2002). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Yojimbo?
People who watched Yojimbo most often go on to The Sword of Doom (1966), Seven Samurai (1954) and The Twilight Samurai (2002).
What is the highest-rated movie like Yojimbo?
Seven Samurai (1954), rated 8.5/10 by 4,458 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Yojimbo?
Unforgiven (2013) is the most recent release on this list.
Is Yojimbo part of a series?
Yes. It belongs to Sanjuro, which includes Sanjuro (1962).
Are there Japanese movies like Yojimbo?
Yes: The Sword of Doom (1966), Seven Samurai (1954) and The Twilight Samurai (2002).
How are movies similar to Yojimbo chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Yojimbo, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.