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Episode 583 – The Men of Chivalry, Part 3
This week: we take a look at the genre of the yakuza movie, or ninkyo eiga, which started off as a branch of the samurai film genre before becoming very much its own thing–and, for a decade or so in the 1960s and 1970s, dominating the Japanese box office.
Sources
McDonald, Keiko Iwai. “The Yakuza Film: An Introduction.” in Reframing Japanese Cinema: Authorship, Genre, History. Eds. Arthur Noletti, Jr. and David Desser
Schilling, Mark. The Yakuza Movie Book: A Guide to Japanese Gangster Films
Anderson, Joseph and Donald Ritchie. The Japanese Film: Art and Industry, Expanded Edition.
Images
<img decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-9910" data-tf-not-load src="https://isaacmeyer.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/chujitraveldiary-ito.jpg" alt="" width="255" height="200" />One of the few surviving stills of the 1927 Kunisada’s Travel Diary, the first yakuza movie.
<img decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-9911" data-tf-not-load src="https://isaacmeyer.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/MV5BMmMwODUzNDAtYmY1MS00MTgwLWIzYTMtNDdmNTg3NTQ0NmNkXkEyXkFqcGc@._V1_-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" srcset="https://isaacmeyer.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/MV5BMmMwODUzNDAtYmY1MS00MTgwLWIzYTMtNDdmNTg3NTQ0NmNkXkEyXkFqcGc@._V1_-200x300.jpg 200w, https://isaacmeyer.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/MV5BMmMwODUzNDAtYmY1MS00MTgwLWIzYTMtNDdmNTg3NTQ0NmNkXkEyXkFqcGc@._V1_.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px" />A poster for 1959’s Jirocho Fuji, one of the many Shimizu Jirocho films showing noble and good yakuza fighting against the callous and evil ones.
<img decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-9912" data-tf-not-load src="https://isaacmeyer.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Shosetsu-Club-1963-May-2.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="210" />A still from Theater of Life – Hishakaku, with Tsuruta Koji on the right in his infamous ‘casual yakuza’ look.
<img decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-9913" data-tf-not-load src="https://isaacmeyer.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/1_PUlbfDE7BFEFK1LzEQf0jg-300x156.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="156" srcset="https://isaacmeyer.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/1_PUlbfDE7BFEFK1LzEQf0jg-300x156.jpg 300w, https://isaacmeyer.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/1_PUlbfDE7BFEFK1LzEQf0jg-1024x533.jpg 1024w, https://isaacmeyer.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/1_PUlbfDE7BFEFK1LzEQf0jg-768x400.jpg 768w, https://isaacmeyer.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/1_PUlbfDE7BFEFK1LzEQf0jg.jpg 1400w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />One of the many ways in which Battles without Honor and Humanity strays from the older formula of yakuza movies is a lot more use of guns, rather than nobly dismembering people with swords.
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By This week: we take a look at the genre of the yakuza movie, or ninkyo eiga, which started off as a branch of the samurai film genre before becoming very much its own thing–and, for a decade or so in the 1960s and 1970s, dominating the Japanese box office.
Sources
McDonald, Keiko Iwai. “The Yakuza Film: An Introduction.” in Reframing Japanese Cinema: Authorship, Genre, History. Eds. Arthur Noletti, Jr. and David Desser
Schilling, Mark. The Yakuza Movie Book: A Guide to Japanese Gangster Films
Anderson, Joseph and Donald Ritchie. The Japanese Film: Art and Industry, Expanded Edition.
Images
<img decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-9910" data-tf-not-load src="https://isaacmeyer.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/chujitraveldiary-ito.jpg" alt="" width="255" height="200" />One of the few surviving stills of the 1927 Kunisada’s Travel Diary, the first yakuza movie.
<img decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-9911" data-tf-not-load src="https://isaacmeyer.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/MV5BMmMwODUzNDAtYmY1MS00MTgwLWIzYTMtNDdmNTg3NTQ0NmNkXkEyXkFqcGc@._V1_-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" srcset="https://isaacmeyer.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/MV5BMmMwODUzNDAtYmY1MS00MTgwLWIzYTMtNDdmNTg3NTQ0NmNkXkEyXkFqcGc@._V1_-200x300.jpg 200w, https://isaacmeyer.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/MV5BMmMwODUzNDAtYmY1MS00MTgwLWIzYTMtNDdmNTg3NTQ0NmNkXkEyXkFqcGc@._V1_.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px" />A poster for 1959’s Jirocho Fuji, one of the many Shimizu Jirocho films showing noble and good yakuza fighting against the callous and evil ones.
<img decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-9912" data-tf-not-load src="https://isaacmeyer.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Shosetsu-Club-1963-May-2.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="210" />A still from Theater of Life – Hishakaku, with Tsuruta Koji on the right in his infamous ‘casual yakuza’ look.
<img decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-9913" data-tf-not-load src="https://isaacmeyer.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/1_PUlbfDE7BFEFK1LzEQf0jg-300x156.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="156" srcset="https://isaacmeyer.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/1_PUlbfDE7BFEFK1LzEQf0jg-300x156.jpg 300w, https://isaacmeyer.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/1_PUlbfDE7BFEFK1LzEQf0jg-1024x533.jpg 1024w, https://isaacmeyer.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/1_PUlbfDE7BFEFK1LzEQf0jg-768x400.jpg 768w, https://isaacmeyer.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/1_PUlbfDE7BFEFK1LzEQf0jg.jpg 1400w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />One of the many ways in which Battles without Honor and Humanity strays from the older formula of yakuza movies is a lot more use of guns, rather than nobly dismembering people with swords.