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lead=yes is a popular film genre in Japanese cinema which focuses on the lives and dealings of yakuza, Japanese organized crime syndicates. In the silent film era, depictions of bakuto (precursors to modern yakuza) as sympathetic Robin Hood-like characters were common.
Two types of yakuza films emerged in the 1950s and 1960s. The Nikkatsu studio was known for modern yakuza films inspired by Hollywood gangster films, while Toei Company was the main producer of what is known as "chivalry films". Set in the Meiji period and Taishō eras, ninkyo eiga depict honorable outlaws torn between giri (duty) and ninjo (personal feelings).
In contrast to ninkyo eiga, "actual record films" based on real crime stories became popular in the 1970s. These portrayed modern yakuza not as honorable heirs to the samurai code, but as ruthless street thugs living for their own desires.
A subset of films known as 仁侠映画 or "chivalry films" then began to thrive. Most were created by the Toei Company studio and produced by Koji Shundo, who became close with actual yakuza before becoming a producer, and despite his denial, is said to have been one himself. Set in the Meiji period and Taishō eras, the kimono-clad yakuza hero of ninkyo films (personified by Kōji Tsuruta and Ken Takakura) was always portrayed as a stoic honorable outlaw torn between the contradictory values of giri (duty) and ninjo (personal feelings). Sadao Yamane stated their willingness to fight and die to save someone or their boss was portrayed as "something beautiful." In his book, Schilling cited Tadashi Sawashima's Jinsei Gekijo: Hishakaku from 1963 as starting the ninkyo eiga trend. Ninkyo eiga were popular with young males that had traveled to cities from the countryside in search of jobs and education, only to find themselves in harsh work conditions for low pay. In their book Yakuza Film and Their Times, Tsukasa Shiba and Sakae Aoyama write that these young men "isolated in an era of high economic growth and tight social structures" were attracted to the "motifs of male comrades banding together to battle the power structure."
Shundo supervised Takakura and helped Toei sign Tsuruta, additionally his own daughter Junko Fuji became a popular female yakuza actress starring in the Red Peony Gambler series. Nikkatsu made their first ninkyo eiga, Otoko no Monsho starring Hideki Takahashi, in 1963 to combat Toei's success in the genre. However, today Nikkatsu is best known for the Surrealism by Seijun Suzuki, which culminated with the director being fired after 1967's Branded to Kill. Likewise, Daiei Film entered the field with Akumyō in 1961 starring Shintaro Katsu. They also had Toei's rival in the female yakuza genre with Kyoko Enami starring in the Onna Tobakuchi series.
In 1965, Teruo Ishii directed the first installment in the Abashiri Prison series, which was a huge success and launched Takakura to stardom.
Aside from these films featuring modern yakuza in the 20th century, many chanbara (samurai films) made in the 1960s and 1970s featured provincial yakuza in earlier periods. Notable examples include Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo (1961), in which a rōnin hires out his services to rival yakuza gangs, and several entries in the long-running Zatoichi series (1962-1989).
Fukasaku biographer Sadao Yamane believes the films were popular because of the time of their release; Japan's economic growth was at its peak and at the end of the 1960s the student uprisings took place. The young people had similar feelings to those of the post-war society depicted in the film. Schilling wrote that after the success of Battles Without Honor and Humanity, Takakura and Tsuruta received less and less roles at the direction of Toei's president. Soon after, Shundo retired, although he would later return.
Another style emerging in the 1970s was hitman movies, focused on hired assassins who operated within the world of the yakuza but were not bound by the usual traditions and obligations of regular yakuza members. Examples include Tōru Murakawa's Yūgi or Game trilogy (1978-79), and several films starring Sonny Chiba as a hitman with karate skills, such as Yakuza Deka (1970), The Street Fighter (1974), and their various sequels.
Some (softcore sex films) also included yakuza themes, such as Sex & Fury and its sequel Female Yakuza Tale (both 1973).
But in the 1990s, the low-budget direct-to-video movies called Gokudō brought a wealth of yakuza movies, such as Toei's V-Cinema line in 1990. Many young directors had freedom to push the genre's envelope. One such director was Rokurō Mochizuki who broke through with Onibi in 1997. Directors such as Shinji Aoyama and Kiyoshi Kurosawa started out in the home video market before becoming regulars on the international festival circuit. Though the most well-known gokudō creator is Takashi Miike, who has become known internationally for his extremely violent, genre pushing and border crossing (yakuza movies taking place outside Japan, such as his 1997 Rainy Dog) films in the style.
One director who did not partake in the home video circuit is Takeshi Kitano, whose existentialism yakuza films are known around the world for a unique style. His films use harsh edits, minimalist dialogue, odd humor, and extreme violence that began with Sonatine (1993) and was perfected in Hana-bi (1997).
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