Samurai era movies and TV shows

The list contains the best, new and most relevant samurai era movies ordered by relevance. The recommendation service has sorted out captivating, tense, exciting, jidai geki, disturbing and serious films and TV shows about / with samurai era, samurai, fight, martial arts, katana, battles, heroes, warrior, swordplay and japanese history plots mostly in Drama, Action and History genres shot in Japan, USA, UK and other countries.
samurai era
 33
samurai era movies
TOP 10 movies tagged as samurai era: The Twilight Samurai (2002), Naotora: The Lady Warlord (2017), 47 Ronin (2013), 13 Assassins (2010), Sanadamaru (2016), Brave: Gunjyo Senki (2021), Awaiting Kirin (2020), Shinsengumi! (2004), Ballad (2009), Black Fox: Age of the Ninja (2019).

List of samurai era movies

Watch Trailers From This List to Choose a Movie
The Twilight Samurai (2002)
Genre: Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 129 min.
Story: Seibei Iguchi leads a difficult life as a low ranking samurai at the turn of the nineteenth century. A widower with a meager income, Seibei struggles to take care of his two daughters and senile mother. New prospects seem to open up when the ...
Style: tense, emotional, realistic, atmospheric, sincere ...
Plot: samurai, sword fight, feudal japan, poverty, love, friendship, medieval, character study, tragedy, visceral, love story, assassination ...
Time: 19th century, 2000s, year 2002, y2k, 1800s
Place: japan, east asia, asia
Is relevant ?
Naotora: The Lady Warlord (2017)
Genre: Drama, History
Country: Japan
Duration: 45 min.
TV show
Story: Naotora Ii is a woman given a male name, who succeeded as the head of the Ii family during the Warring States period when her father passed away. With her wisdom, courage and affection for loved ones, Naotora lived through turbulent times and paved ...
Style: thought provoking, captivating
Plot: woman, strong female lead, civil war, fight for supremacy, samurai, japanese woman, power struggle, struggle for survival, dynasty, showdown, samurai era, fight ...
Time: medieval times, 16th century
Place: japan
Is relevant ?
Rurouni Kenshin Part II: Kyoto Inferno (2014)
Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama, Fantasy
Country: Japan
Duration: 138 min.
Story: Kenshin has settled into his new life with Kaoru and his other friends when he is approached with a request from the Meiji government. Makoto Shishio, a former assassin like Kenshin, was betrayed, set on fire and left for dead. He survived, and is ...
Style: stylized, anime, intense, suspense, exciting ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: samurai, katana, martial arts, sword fight, survival, medieval, redemption, assassin, good versus evil, ambition, rivalry, political unrest ...
Time: 19th century, 1870s
Place: japan, asia, kyoto japan
Is relevant ?
 6.2
 170K
47 Ronin (2013)
Genre: Action, Drama, Fantasy
Country: USA, UK, Japan, Hungary
Duration: 128 min.
Story: Based on the original 1941 movie from Japan, and from ancient Japan’s most enduring tale, the epic 3D fantasy-adventure 47 Ronin is born. Keanu Reeves leads the cast as Kai, an outcast who joins Oishi (Hiroyuki Sanada), the leader of the 47 ...
Style: stylized, epic, exciting, fairy tale, suspenseful ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: samurai, martial arts, ronin, medieval, battles, beast, revenge, shogun, exile, samurai sword, sword and sorcery, heroes ...
Time: 18th century, year 2013, middle ages, 2010s
Place: japan, asia, ancient china
Is relevant ?
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Rurouni Kenshin 3: The Legend Ends (2014)
Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama, Fantasy
Country: Japan
Duration: 134 min.
Story: Shishio has set sail in his ironclad ship to bring down the Meiji government and return Japan to chaos, carrying Kaoru with him. In order to stop him in time, Kenshin trains with his old master to learn his final technique.
Style: exciting, stylized, dorama, anime, manga ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: samurai, martial arts, samurai era, fight, medieval, good versus evil, heroes, master warrior, battles, showdown, hitman, political unrest ...
Time: 19th century, 1870s
Place: japan, asia, tokyo, kyoto japan
Is relevant ?
 7.5
 68K
13 Assassins (2010)
Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama
Country: Japan, UK
Duration: 141 min.
Story: A bravado period action film set at the end of Japan's feudal era in which a group of unemployed samurai are enlisted to bring down a sadistic lord and prevent him from ascending to the throne and plunging the country into a war-torn future.
Style: intense, suspense, harsh, tense, visually appealing ...
Plot: samurai, sword fight, samurai sword, warrior, seppuku, swords and armor, shogun, battles, martial arts, revenge, swordsman, medieval ...
Time: 19th century, year 2010, 2010s, 2000s, 1800s ...
Place: japan, east asia, asia
Is relevant ?
 7.8
 491
Sanadamaru (2016)
Genre: Drama, History
Country: Japan
TV show
Story: Spanning over 50 episodes, we follow the historical fiction of the Sanada clansmen as they plotted and fought their ways to survive the changing political alliances during the Warring States Period of Japan.
Style: tense, captivating, disturbing
Plot: samurai, wartime, fight for supremacy, soldier, clan, political conspiracy, power struggle, fight, struggle for survival, military, samurai era, war ...
Time: medieval times
Place: japan
Is relevant ?
The Pass: Last Days of the Samurai (2020)
Genre: Drama, History
Country: Japan
Duration: 114 min.
Story: The last year of Ryotaro Shiba's life, as he tried to achieve peace and independence without joining the armies of East and West.
Style: thrilling, captivating, period drama
Plot: samurai era, empire, army, historical figure, warrior, japanese army, ninja warrior, emperor, battles, fight, samurai sword, samurai
Time: 1860s
Place: japan
Is relevant ?
Brave: Gunjyo Senki (2021)
Genre: Adventure, Fantasy, History
Country: Japan
Duration: 115 min.
Story: Students, including Aoi Nishino, take part in class and sports activity at a prestigious high school. Aoi Nishino is a member of the school's archery club. He practices archery studiously and doesn't socialize much with the other students. ...
Style: captivating, entertaining, seinen
Plot: time travel, samurai, japanese schoolgirl, sent to the past, time jump, time warp, samurai era, time traveler, japanese teenager, changing the past or future, friends, back in time ...
Place: japan
Is relevant ?
Awaiting Kirin (2020)
Genre: Drama
Country: Japan
TV show
Story: After the Onin War, the world is plunged into chaos. Amid this situation, heroes of the warring states begin to emerge in an attempt to unify the country and rule in these turbulent times. In the mid-1540s, there is a young wandering samurai in Mino ...
Style: tense, suspenseful, captivating
Plot: fight, samurai era, fight for supremacy, warrior, battles, taiga, samurai
Place: japan
Is relevant ?
 8.0
 153
Shinsengumi! (2004)
Genre: Drama, History, War
Country: Japan
Duration: 45 min.
TV show
Story: Shinsengumi! is a Taiga drama television series produced by Japanese broadcaster NHK. It was a popular drama about the Shinsengumi, a Japanese special police force from the Bakumatsu period.
Style: tense, captivating, exciting, historical drama, costume drama ...
Plot: fight, warrior, power struggle, war, samurai, showdown, fight for supremacy, ronin, samurai era, battles, edo period, taiga ...
Place: japan
Is relevant ?
 5.6
 301
Ballad (2009)
Genre: Action, Drama, Romance
Country: Japan
Duration: 127 min.
Story: Based on the plot of an award-winning Crayon Shin-chan animated movie from 2002, a boy named Shinichi (Takei) does the time-traveling and meets a feared general named Ijiri Matabei (Kusanagi). Ijiri is in love with Princess Ren (Aragaki) who ...
Style: tense, disturbing, captivating
Plot: medieval, character change, fight, princess, love affair, time jump, changing the past or future, warrior, time traveler, changing lives, time travel, relationship problems ...
Place: japan
Is relevant ?
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Black Fox: Age of the Ninja (2019)
Genre: Action, Drama, Fantasy
Country: Japan
Duration: 92 min.
Story: The era when Samurai and Ninja existed in Japan. Rikka Isurugi was born and raised in a Ninja clan secluded from society. She soon meets Miya, a girl with a mysterious power, who is found lost in the mountains. As Rikka is concerned that someone is ...
Style: captivating, exciting, tense
Plot: ninja, strong female lead, female protagonist, female ninja, ninja warrior, ninja master, samurai, fight, woman, magical power, battles, showdown ...
Is relevant ?
 7.8
 206
Bloody Romance (2018)
Genre: Action, Fantasy, Romance
Country: China
Duration: 45 min.
TV show
Story: What doesn’t break you can make you stronger. Qi Xue is a beautiful 16-year-old whose life takes a horrific turn when her father sells her to a brothel. There, she undergoes unspeakable abuse that nearly breaks her spirit. But when Qi Xue enters ...
Style: captivating, tense, suspense
Plot: power struggle, conspiracy, assassination plot, life risking, warrior, showdown, risk, second chance, samurai era, new life, fight for supremacy, struggle for survival ...
Is relevant ?
Love and Glory (2006)
Genre: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 45 min.
TV show
Story: Kazutoyo lived during the end of the Sengoku period (1546-1605). He was the first feudal lord of the fief of Tosa on the island of Shikoku. He served Nobunaga Oda, Hideyoshi Toyotomi and Tokugawa Ieyasu. Chiyo (1557-1617) was his wife, and was known ...
Style: tense, captivating, disturbing
Plot: taiga, samurai era, family relations, samurai, life is a bitch, social problems, couple relations, relationship problems, husband wife relationship, male female relationship, family problems
Time: medieval times
Place: japan
Is relevant ?
The Floating Castle (2012)
Genre: Comedy, Drama, History
Country: Japan
Duration: 144 min.
Story: In the year 1590, the mighty warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi is close to fulfilling his ambition of unifying all of Japan under his banner when he comes across unexpected resistance in the form of a floating fortress known as Oshi Castle. Narita ...
Style: captivating
Plot: fight, japanese history, castle, power struggle, showdown, warrior, samurai era, protector, battles, protection, samurai
Time: 2010s, medieval times
Place: japan
Is relevant ?
Nobunaga Concerto (2014)
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Sci-Fi
Country: Japan
Duration: 54 min.
TV show
Story: Saburo is a high school student good in sports, but not very good with his studies. One day, Saburo travels back in time and arrives in the Sengoku period of 1549. There, Saburo meets Nobunaga Oda who looks and sounds just like Saburo. Nobunaga Oda ...
Style: captivating, humorous, entertaining, anime
Plot: time travel, time traveler, empire, emperor, switching bodies, time loop, sent to the past, samurai era, time jump, generation gap, samurai, political unrest ...
Time: medieval times
Place: japan
Is relevant ?
Samurai Marathon (2019)
Genre: Action, Adventure, History
Country: Japan, UK
Duration: 103 min.
Story: The American imperialists are at the door and intruding on Japan. To assess and train his troops the lord of the land announces a marathon through the land crisscrossing shores, forests and the mountain. The shogunate in Edo was not approving and ...
Style: tense, captivating, bloody, intense, exciting ...
Plot: samurai, swordsman, edo period, marathon, spy, rivalry, princess, rescue, imperialism, japanese history, samurai era, japanese woman ...
Time: 19th century, 1850s
Place: japan, asia
Is relevant ?
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 6.0
 5K
Izo (2004)
Genre: Action, Drama, Fantasy, Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller, War
Country: Japan
Duration: 128 min.
Story: Izo is an assassin in the service of a Tosa lord and Imperial supporter. After killing dozens of the Shogun's men, Izo is captured and crucified. Instead of being extinguished, his rage propels him through the space-time continuum to ...
Style: rough, disturbing, mindfuck, serious, stylized ...
Audience: boys' night
Plot: samurai, time travel, murder, heroic mission, righting the wronged, vengeance, rivalry, vigilantism, danger, master warrior, supernatural, reincarnation ...
Place: japan, tokyo, asia
Is relevant ?
Ninja 6: The Last Iga Spy (1965)
Genre: Action, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 89 min.
Story: [Period covered: 1637-1651] This is one of the most complicated plots of any of the Shinobi no Mono films! This film tells the story of Saizo’s son, Kirigakure Saisuke, who after seeing his father die at the Battle Of Shimabara, grows up to be an ...
Plot: ninja, samurai, swordplay, martial arts, samurai sword, father, samurai era, japanese history
Place: japan
Is relevant ?
 6.7
 231
Ninja 4: Siege (1964)
Genre: Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 87 min.
Story: [Period covered: 1614-1615] 4th film in the shinobi no mono series Tokugawa Ieyasu is now 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 ...
Plot: ninja, samurai, medieval, martial arts, swordplay, siege, japanese history, samurai era
Place: japan
Is relevant ?
Shinsengumi: Assassins of Honor (1969)
Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama, History
Country: Japan
Duration: 122 min.
Story: Near the end of the nineteenth century, as the balance of power shifts from Shogunate towards the Emperor, Japan restlessly awaits the dawning of a new age. But not all are content...The Shinsengumi, a small army of samurai, farmers and peasants, ...
Style: jidai geki
Plot: samurai, japanese history, medieval, martial arts, tokugawa shogunate, edo period, swordplay, ancient, katana, samurai era, sword fight, warrior
Time: 19th century, 1860s
Place: japan, kyoto japan
Is relevant ?
Ninja, a Band of Assassins (1962)
Genre: Action, Drama
Country: Japan
Duration: 104 min.
Story: [Period covered: 1575-1681] Fist film in the Shinobi series starring Raizo Ichikawa. Warlord Oda Nobunaga seeks to unite a fractured Japan, a young man trained in the arts of ninjitsu is manipulated by a ninja master into attempting to assassinate ...
Style: exciting, serious, rough, suspenseful, jidai geki ...
Plot: ninja, samurai, martial arts, medieval, tokugawa shogunate, swordplay, clan, sword, kung fu, assassination, religions or cults, battles ...
Time: medieval times, 60s
Place: japan, asia
Is relevant ?
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 7.4
 1K
13 Assassins (1963)
Genre: Adventure, Action
Country: Japan
Duration: 125 min.
Story: A group of assassins come together for a suicide mission to kill an evil lord.
Style: epic, jidai geki, captivating, exciting, serious ...
Plot: samurai, martial arts, medieval, ninja, fight, exploitation, swordplay, assassin, edo period, violent content, rivalry, assassination ...
Time: 19th century
Place: japan, asia
Is relevant ?
Bright: Samurai Soul (2021)
Genre: Animation, Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Thriller
Country: USA, Japan
Duration: 80 min.
Story: Izo, a Ronin, and Raiden, an orc, work to bring a young elf girl and the wand she carries to the land of the elves in the north.
Style: anime, disturbing, tense, captivating, perverse ...
Plot: samurai, battles, fight, magic, wizard, magical, wizards and magicians, warrior, elf, feudal japan, sword, girl ...
Place: japan, asia
Is relevant ?
 5.6
 22K
Batman Ninja (2018)
Genre: Animation, Action, Sci-Fi
Country: Japan, USA
Duration: 85 min.
Story: Gorilla Grodd's time displacement machine transports many of Batman's worst enemies to feudal Japan —along with the Dark Knight and a few of his allies. The villains take over the forms of the feudal lords that rule the divided land, ...
Style: anime, tense, entertaining, exciting, captivating ...
Audience: teens, family outing
Plot: superhero, batman, ninja, battles, martial arts, vigilante, time traveler, good versus evil, butler, sword fight, fistfight, hand to hand combat ...
Place: japan
Is relevant ?
Joran: The Princess of Snow and Blood (2021)
Genre: Animation, Action, Fantasy
Country: Japan
Duration: 23 min.
TV show
Story: The year is 1931. Prince Tokugawa Yoshinobu holds absolute control over Japan. Remnants of the Meiji era’s culture can be seen around the city, but scientific technology and Japanese esoteric cosmology Onmyodo are also developing. Yet lurking ...
Style: anime, exciting, captivating, tense
Plot: samurai, power struggle, political conspiracy, government, political unrest, political intrigue, murderer, alternate reality, alternate world, alternate history, alternate universe, samurai era
Time: year 1931
Place: japan
Is relevant ?
A Tale of Samurai Cooking (2013)
Genre: Drama, History
Country: Japan
Duration: 122 min.
Story: Set within the Kaga Domain in the Edo Period. Oharu is an excellent cook and recognized for her skills. Due to her cooking talents, she marries Yasunobu, who is an heir in the Funaki family. The Funaki family serves as the cook for the Kaga Domain. ...
Style: humorous, touching, sentimental, culinary, semi serious ...
Plot: samurai, cooking, food, chef, couples, unsupportive spouse, couple relations, society, unfulfilled love, husband wife relationship, edo period, rebellion ...
Time: 18th century
Place: japan
Is relevant ?
Rurouni Kenshin: Trust & Betrayal (1999)
Genre: Animation, Action, Adventure, Drama, History
Country: Japan
Duration: 118 min.
TV show
Story: A young boy is saved from death at the hands of bandits by a passing swordsman. The swordsman offers to take the boy in as his apprentice and renames him "Kenshin". After years of training, Kenshin abandons his master to join the growing ...
Style: anime, manga, perverse, artsy, adult animation ...
Plot: master warrior, samurai, revolution, mature, treason, tragedy, rurouni kenshin, japanese history, superhero, heroes, idealism, redemption ...
Is relevant ?
 8.0
 360
Ryōmaden (2010)
Genre: Drama, History, War
Country: Japan
Duration: 45 min.
TV show
Story: Ryōmaden is the 49th NHK Taiga drama. It was shown on NHK from January 3 to November 28, 2010 spanning 48 episodes. The story centers on the life of 19th-century Japanese historical figures Iwasaki Yatarō and Sakamoto Ryōma. It has been announced ...
Style: suspense, captivating, tense, disturbing
Plot: samurai, historical figure, political intrigue, historical character, fight, competitor, power struggle, life philosophy, intrigue, edo period, taiga, tokugawa shogunate ...
Time: 19th century
Place: japan
Is relevant ?
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