Ninjas

The ruthless leader of a Ninja Organization plans to expand his drug dealing operation worldwide and a highly trained agent from America's Anti-Drug Agency is given the suicidal mission of seeking out and destroying him first.

Another depiction of the ninja hero, starring Onoe Matsunosuke - see entry for Jiraiya Goketsu Tan-Banshi (1912)

The story of Jiraiya, a legendary ninja with great powers who set off on a adventure.

Based on the old tale of Jiraiya, this 1937 version is essentially a revenge story with fantastic visuals.

A young ninja becomes embroiled in a plot to kill a tyrannical warlord. He journeys across feudal Japan, facing deceit, betrayal, and enemy ninja at every turn. Goemon must complete his mission, regain his honor, and survive.

Confident that he has destroyed the Iga Ninja, the evil Oda Nobunaga continues his quest to conquer Japan. Meanwhile, Ishikawa Goemon (Ichikawa Raizo) has settled down with his wife and child, and wishes only to live in peace -- a wish that will not be granted. As mighty warlords battle and connive, Goemon must once again try to assassinate Nobunaga, in order to save the Bhuddist religious community that has come to mean so much to him. But the path to success is once again a twisted one, full of scheming samurai and nefarious traps!

When we last saw the intrepid ninja Ishikawa Goemon (Raizo Ichikawa), he was about to be boiled alive. But a good ninja is both hard to find, and even harder to kill. With the help of the enigmatic Hattori Hanzo, Goemon lives to skulk another day, and sets his sights on bringing down the warlord who tried to turn him into soup -- Toyotomi Hideyoshi. And as always, in the background, the suble hand of Tokugawa Ieyasu is pulling strings as he plots to rule all of Japan!

This is a classic early Japanese Ninja movie. The Iga ninjas are a dying breed as Toyotomis rule allows Japan to experience some peace. Juzo, an Iga ninja who had vowed revenge for the death of his family, is hired by a rich weapons merchant to assassinate Toyotomi, restarting his quest for blood. In his way are rival ninja, and his once best friend who has decided to become a government vassal. The main plot centers around the conflicts that confront Juzo. The largest of these is the conflict between Juzo and his oldest friend, Gohei. Then there is the conflict each of these characters has with their respective women, whom are also Ninja in their own right. Finally Juzo is faced with the ultimate conflict between duty and happiness. Can he complete his mission of assassinating Toyotomi? Or will he choose a life of happiness and fulfillment with his woman? There was a remake of this classic in 1999 entitled Owl's Castle, but for people that have seen both versions, this first version, Castle of Owls, stands as the penultimate adaptation of the classic Ryotaro Shiba novel "Ninja hicho fukuro no shiro".

A lone masterless warrior with some new friends helps ship 300 rifles to a Japanese warlord during the sengoku period.

Tokugawa Ieyasu is the ruler of all Japan. But one last loose thread must be tied up before his domination is complete -- the destruction of the Toyotomi clan, now beseiged in Osaka castle. Ieyasu's ninja are the only ones who can penetrate the fortress, but unfortunately for Ieyasu, Kirigakure Saizo (Ichikawa) and the other Toyotomi ninja can just as easily get out. As armies of samurai maneuver for battle, the fate of the nation will be decided by a desperate struggle in the dark!

In part five of the 8-part Shinobi No Mono Ninja film series the heroic ninja Kirigakure Saizo (Raizo Ichikawa, of Sleepy Eyes of Death fame) serves the daimyo Sanada, played by Lone Wolf and Cub star Tomisaburo Wakiyama. They are assaulted by Ieyasu and his soldiers. They flee to an allied camp, and once there start plotting how to fight back and win the war. They come across a gun merchant with a unique, three-barrel gun, giving the holder incredible fire power. They begin to strategize ways to find out how the merchant selling these firearms has acquired them, hoping that possession of these weapons in their arsenal will lead to ultimate victory. The merchants of Tanegashima are the makers of the gun, and claim they have made it according to a blueprint gained from the only Western traders they are allowed to do business with, the Portuguese. The Sanada partisans know that can't be true because the 3-barrel gun is made of iron too fine for the Portuguese to have access to. They must unravel the secret of the "3-barrel gun". Kirigakure is sent to the Island city of Tanegishima to solve the mystery. Once there he will need all his ninja skills to survive, not only the Tanegishima cartel and their Chinese allies, but enemies from his past, in the form of the daughters of a slain enemy ninja. Can he get the job done and stay alive?

In Osaka during the Edo period, ruler Sanada Yukimura was in losing position. Fearing Toyotomi's blood descendants would end, he impregnates one Shinano female ninja with the seed of Toyotomi in hopes of continuing the bloodline.