As part of their Monthly Classics Double-Edged Sword series, New York’s Japan Society is showcasing the 1964 classic film Nemuri Kyoshiro At Bay: The Sword of Seduction AKA Sleepy Eyes of Death 4 on Saturday, April 24th, at 7:00 pm. In you live in the area, please be sure to check out the film and support Japan Society for their dedication towards showcasing Japanese content.

For info on screenings and for tickets, see this link.

1964, 87 min., 35mm, color, in Japanese with English subtitles, Directed by Kazuo Ikehiro. With Raizo Ichikawa, Michiko Ai, Akira Amemiya, Shinjirô Asano, Saburo Date, and Tomisaburo Wakayama. Print courtesy of Kadokawa Pictures.

Half-breed warrior Nemuri (“Sleepy-Eyed”) Kyoshiro, the other most popular swordsman of all time (alongside Zatoichi), and the self-proclaimed “Son of the Black Mass,” was the archetypal anti-hero: dark, romantic and desperate! Widely considered to be the strongest entry in the wonderfully perverse and violent samurai Nemuri saga, The Sword of Seduction finds the shadowy outcast mixed up in a labyrinthine intrigue involving persecuted Christians, opium smuggling, a drug-addled princess, and a search for a holy Madonna!

About New York’s Japan Society:

Established in 1907, New York’s Japan Society has evolved into North America’s single major producer of high-quality content on Japan for an English-speaking audience. Presenting over 100 events annually through well established Corporate, Education, Film, Gallery, Lectures, Performing Arts and Innovators Network programs, the Society is an internationally recognized nonprofit, nonpolitical organization that provides access to information on Japan, offers opportunities to experience Japanese culture, and fosters sustained and open dialogue on issues important to the U.S., Japan, and East Asia.

As part of their Monthly Classics Double-Edged Sword series, New York’s Japan Society is showcasing the 1963 classic film New Tale of Zatoichi on Saturday, April 24th, at 5:00 pm. In you live in the area, please be sure to check out the film and support Japan Society for their dedication towards showcasing Japanese content.

For info on screenings and for tickets, see this link.

1963, 91 min, 35mm, color, in English with Japanese subtitles. Directed by Tokuzo Tanaka. With Shintaro Katsu, Mikiko Tsubouchi, Seizaburo Kawazu. Print courtesy of Janus Films.

Returning to his hometown in the hope of laying down his cane-sword and renouncing the wayward ways of his hack-and-slash life, Zatoichi reunites with his former sensei, in the throes of his own moral dilemma. Trouble is once again around the corner as a mysterious gang of marauders ravages the town, a fellow drifter thirsty for revenge lurks in the shadows, and a forbidden love threatens to stand between Ichi and his beloved mentor.

About New York’s Japan Society:

Established in 1907, New York’s Japan Society has evolved into North America’s single major producer of high-quality content on Japan for an English-speaking audience. Presenting over 100 events annually through well established Corporate, Education, Film, Gallery, Lectures, Performing Arts and Innovators Network programs, the Society is an internationally recognized nonprofit, nonpolitical organization that provides access to information on Japan, offers opportunities to experience Japanese culture, and fosters sustained and open dialogue on issues important to the U.S., Japan, and East Asia.

New York’s Japan Society is showcasing the 1960 classic film Scar Yosaburo on Saturday, March 20th, at 7:00 pm. In you live in the area, please be sure to check out the film and support Japan Society for their dedication towards showcasing Japanese content.

For info on screenings and for tickets, see this link.

1960, 94 min., 35mm, color, in Japanese with English subtitles. Directed by Daisuke Ito. With Raizo Ichikawa, Manami Fuji, Keiko Awaji. Print courtesy of The Japan Foundation with permission from Kadokawa Pictures.

In Scar Yosaburo, a band of yakuza ruffians mutilate the face of an actor after he is caught with the gang boss’s mistress. A misty, moonlit tale from the kabuki repertoire and a stirring classic of the most artful category of samurai films, zankoku jidai-geki (“cruel historicals”).

About New York’s Japan Society:

Established in 1907, New York’s Japan Society has evolved into North America’s single major producer of high-quality content on Japan for an English-speaking audience. Presenting over 100 events annually through well established Corporate, Education, Film, Gallery, Lectures, Performing Arts and Innovators Network programs, the Society is an internationally recognized nonprofit, nonpolitical organization that provides access to information on Japan, offers opportunities to experience Japanese culture, and fosters sustained and open dialogue on issues important to the U.S., Japan, and East Asia.

New York’s Japan Society is showcasing the 1963 classic film Zatoichi on the Road: Fighting Journey on Saturday, March 20th, at 5:00 pm. In you live in the area, please be sure to check out the film and support Japan Society for their dedication towards showcasing Japanese content.

For info on screenings and for tickets, see this link.

Also known as “Zatoichi and the Scoundrels.”

1963, 87 minutes, 35mm, color, in Japanese with English subtitles. Directed by Kimiyoshi Yasuda. With Shintaro Katsu, Reiko Fujiwara, Shiho Fujimura. Print courtesy of Janus Films.

In chapter five of the Blind Swordsman saga, Zatoichi encounters a dying man who asks him to deliver the maiden O-Mitsu to her family. Feeling honor-bound to fulfill the request, the canesword-wielding masseur goes on a perilous journey and soon finds himself between a rock and a hard place as rival gangs compete to kidnap his beautiful protégée for a ransom. There will be blood indeed!

About New York’s Japan Society:

Established in 1907, New York’s Japan Society has evolved into North America’s single major producer of high-quality content on Japan for an English-speaking audience. Presenting over 100 events annually through well established Corporate, Education, Film, Gallery, Lectures, Performing Arts and Innovators Network programs, the Society is an internationally recognized nonprofit, nonpolitical organization that provides access to information on Japan, offers opportunities to experience Japanese culture, and fosters sustained and open dialogue on issues important to the U.S., Japan, and East Asia.

New York’s Japan Society is showcasing the 1962 classic film Destiny’s Son on Friday, February 19, at 7:30pm. In you live in the area, please be sure to check out the film and support Japan Society for their dedication towards showcasing Japanese content.

For info on screenings and for tickets, see this link.

Excerpt from site:

1962, 71 min., 35 mm, color, in Japanese with English subtitles. Directed by Kenji Misumi. With Raizo Ichikawa, Eijiro Yanagi, Yoshio Inaba, Masayo Banri. Print courtesy of The Japan Foundation with permission from Kadokawa Pictures.

“Destiny’s Son is like a haiku.  Lyrical, minimalist, a true gem.”
- Patrick Galloway, Stray Dogs & Lone Wolves

In Kenji Misumi’s breakthrough film, Ichikawa seeks revenge and redemption after his family is murdered by a rival clan. An astonishing, dreamlike samurai film written by Kaneto Shindo, Destiny’s Son is a demonic masterpiece: designed with quasi-expressionist artistry, awash with surreal landscapes, and subsumed in an otherworldly beauty that fuses Zen and sword.

Destiny’s Son is a film filled with stylistic highlights: the one-take dolly shot of Ichikawa’s running battle with a battalion of swordsmen under an inky sky, the labyrinth of empty castle chambers through which he attempts to find his ambushed master, the scene in which the unarmed hero defends himself with a twig of cherry blossom, and especially the recurring flashback to his mother’s execution at the hands of her own lover, in a barren landscape beside a single, ancient tree.
– Tom Mes, Midnight Eye

About New York’s Japan Society:

Established in 1907, New York’s Japan Society has evolved into North America’s single major producer of high-quality content on Japan for an English-speaking audience. Presenting over 100 events annually through well established Corporate, Education, Film, Gallery, Lectures, Performing Arts and Innovators Network programs, the Society is an internationally recognized nonprofit, nonpolitical organization that provides access to information on Japan, offers opportunities to experience Japanese culture, and fosters sustained and open dialogue on issues important to the U.S., Japan, and East Asia.

New York’s Japan Society is showcasing the 1963 classic film Zatoichi, the Fugitive on Friday, January 22nd, 7:30 PM. In you live in the area, please be sure to check out the film and support Japan Society for their dedication towards showcasing Japanese content.

For info on screenings and for tickets, see this link.

Excerpt from site:

1963, 86 min., 35 mm, color, in Japanese with English subtitles. Directed by Tokuzo Tanaka. With Shintaro Katsu, Miwa Takada, Masayo Banri, Junichiro Narita, Katsuhiko Kobayashi.

Zatoichi, the Fugitive is one of the classiest Samurai films ever to emerge from Japan.
– Luther Manning, DVD CULT

As the iconic blind masseur Zatoichi, Katsu enters this fourth episode of the saga—one of the most acclaimed—with a bounty on his head. Soon, he is up to his neck slicing and dicing through a throng of yakuza thugs, fending off a long-lost love and battling a ruthless ronin for hire.

About New York’s Japan Society:

Established in 1907, New York’s Japan Society has evolved into North America’s single major producer of high-quality content on Japan for an English-speaking audience. Presenting over 100 events annually through well established Corporate, Education, Film, Gallery, Lectures, Performing Arts and Innovators Network programs, the Society is an internationally recognized nonprofit, nonpolitical organization that provides access to information on Japan, offers opportunities to experience Japanese culture, and fosters sustained and open dialogue on issues important to the U.S., Japan, and East Asia.