The series is loosely based on the serialized two-volume novel by Koichi Iiboshi that chronicles the Hiroshima gang war that lasted nearly twenty five years. The series revolves around Shozo Hirono an ex-soldier living in Hiroshima after World War II.

Set in 1963, Shozo Hirono (Bunta Sugawara), expelled from the Yamamori gang, has allied himself with the cowardly Uchimoto (Takeshi Kato) and the Akashi family, who are engaged in a power struggle with the Shinwa Group, allied with the Yamamori. But mainstream society, enjoying unprecedented economic prosperity, will no longer tolerate their violent criminal activities. The police begin a major crackdown, putting the gangs on the defensive. But rogue...

Set in 1960, a power vacuum is formed within the Muraoka family when underboss Uchimoto (Takeshi Kato) refuses to avenge the assassination of a superior. With the help of series hero Shozo Hirono (Bunta Sugawara), Uchimoto pledges loyalty to the powerful Akashi gang, but is soon expelled from the Muraoka for the act. Meanwhile, Akashi rivals the Shinwa Group form their own pact with Muraoka, and the enmity between the two gangs threatens to erupt...

This the movie that introduced the legend of Zatoichi, ushering in a new era of the Japanese samurai film. Practicing his trade as a masseur in a small province, Zatoichi finds himself caught in a turf war between rival yakuza gangs. Aware of Zatoichi's reputation as an undefeatable swordsman, yakuza leader Sukejoro tries to hire him--unsuccessfully--as a mercenary. But it's too late. The other gang leader, Shigezo, hires a warrior with an equally...

With more killer swordsmanship, romance and action-packed drama, the Blind Swordsman is back in the first color episode of the Zatoichi series. Masseur Ichi returns to his home village to discover that his former teacher has been hiring out his swordsmanship skills to a ruthless gang of kidnappers. Meanwhile, the mentor's sister offers herself in marriage to Zatoichi, who must decline because of the danger it would bring to any woman Ichi was known...

When Zatoichi discovers the lord who has hired him suffers from a madness that, if made public, would bring ruin to his empire and the livelihood of the samurai warriors he employs, the blind masseur becomes a wanted man for the secret he now possesses. Attacked at every turn by the crazed lord's samurais and hired yakuza thugs, Zatoichi manages to escape relatively unscathed. But in a final duel, masseur Ichi must face his old foe, the infamous one-armed...

Akemi is a dragon tattooed leader of the Tachibana Yakuza clan. In a duel with a rival gang, she slashes the eyes of an opponent and a black cat appears, to lap the blood from the gushing wound. The cat along with the eye-victim go on to pursue Akemi's gang in revenge, leaving a trail of dead Yakuza girls, their dragon tattoos skinned from their bodies. A bizarre blend of the female Yakuza film and traditional Japanese ghost story, with a strong dash...

Retired detective Harry Kilmer (Robert Mitchum) is called upon by an old friend, George Tanner (Brian Keith). Tanner has been doing business with a yakuza gangster, Tono (Eiji Okada), who has taken Tanner's daughter and her boyfriend hostage to apply pressure in a business deal involving the sale of guns. Tanner hopes that Kilmer can locate and rescue the girl using his Japanese connections.

A story of yakuza lynching during the Edo, Taisho, and Showa periods.

Follow the rise and fall of real-life gangster Rikio Ishikawa.