The 25 Best Yakuza Movies

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In Japan, the Mafia goes by a different name: Yakuza. The Japanese crime syndicate has business cards, corporate offices, runs both legal and illegal businesses, and controls huge stakes in the country's socio-economic and political structures, stock markets, real estates, and entertainment industry. They even have several tabloid magazines solely dedicated to documenting their "work." And there's also an entire film genre dedicated to their world. First gaining popularity during Japan’s post-war economic period of the 1960s, yakuza movies tell stories of criminals (sometimes with samuria influences) seeking honor and enforcing violent heroism.

What started initially as stories of chivalrous, kimono-clad, and sword-swinging gangsters hav evolved into tales of street thugs, organized crime bosses, corrupt cops, and ex-cons. Today, genre auteur Takeshi Kitano’s latest film, Outrage, opens in limited release. Outrage details the life of the modern-day yakuza, complete with plot twists and excessive homicide. To commemorate the film's release, we're counting down The 25 Best Yakuza Movies.

25. Tokyo Mafia: Yakuza Wars (1995)

Director: Seiichi Shirai

It’d be criminal to discuss yakuza films without mentioning the iconic V-cinema (direct-to-video) star Riki Takeuchi. The slick-haired and gruff-voiced actor was an essential figure in the world of B-class yakuza flicks throughout the ‘90s.

One of his most notable films is the first of the Tokyo Mafia series, Tokyo Mafia: Yakuza Wars. Takeuchi plays Ginya Yabuki, a mid-level gangster who wields some weight in the Yamaryu crime syndicate (a fictional version of Yamaguchi-gumi). All's kosher until he receives a whooping from the organization’s second-in-command, which gets him kicked out of the clan; he even loses a pinky as a form of atonement.

The film then rolls into a series of extremely gory scenes; throughout the movie, multiple bodies are dismembered, ashtrays are cracked on facials and eyeballs get popped out. It’s a quintessential B-class yakuza movie with cheesy jazz background music and over-the-top dialogue (with actors extensively rolling the “R” sound). Although not an arthouse flick or a period piece with much content, Tokyo Mafia: Yakuza Wars is a prime example of the straight-to-video yakuza movies produced during this era.

24. The Yakuza (1975)

Director: Sydney Pollack

Academy Award-winning director Sydney Pollack’s The Yakuza may have failed to garner much box office success, but it’s certainly one of the few Western-made films to properly showcase reverence to Japanese culture.

The Yakuza is both a thriller and a piece of social commentary, depicting the differing perspectives between the east and the west. Robert Mitchum plays a detective, Kilmer, who falls for a Japanese woman named Eiko but soon discovers a troubling reality: Eiko’s brother (Ken Takakura) is a returning, pissed-off imperial soldier.

Kilmer reluctantly asks for former yakuza member Ken's help in saving a kidnapped child. The unlikely relationship between two characters from very different cultures could’ve devolved into a series of painful stereotypes; however, The Yakuza never lampoons its subject matter.

23. Abashiri Prison (1965)

Director: Teruo Ishii

Ken Takakura stars in Abashiri Prison as Shinichi Tachibana, an obedient prisoner who has six months left until freedom. Unfortunately, he gets handcuffed to Gunda, a hardboiled yardfather with planning of escaping alongside other inmates. Lest you think we're talking about The Great Escape, though, Abashiri Prison differs from that classic through its snowy weather and multiple inmates on the run.

Although it's not the best work from either director Teruo Ishii or Takakura, Abashiri Prison touches upon many of the genre’s now-staple features (manliness, codes of honor, righteous outlaws), and helped to make both Ishii and Takakura two of the genre's most familiar names.

22. Brutal Tales Of Chivalry (1965)

Director: Kiyoshi Saeki

Honor, loyalty, and the genesis of organized crime in Japan are highlighted throughout Brutal Tales Of Chivalry. Ken Takakura plays Gennosuke, a returning imperial solder who returns home and sees an impoverished townscape full of despair. And like most righteous yakuza types of the '60s Gennosuke, equipped with moral righteousness and determination, decides to defend his homeland against evil gangs. Which sounds cliche, sure, but it’s truly one of the first stylized films that properly introduced fans to the yakuza’s origins.

21. Boiling Point (1990)

Director: Takeshi “Beat” Kitano

In Boiling Point, award-winning director/writer/actor Takeshi Kitano handles the lead role of Uehara, a disgustingly brutal killer and rapist who’s excommunicated by the yakuza because of his inhumane methods (i.e. raping men, or forcing his girlfriend to have sex with strangers). He stumbles upon two young boys that want to cop hammers from Okinawa, and decides to ominously circulate around the younger souls for his own revengeful agenda. One lesson to be learned here: Don’t befriend strangers with squinting eyes that were forcefully removed from the yakuza.

20. A Yakuza In Love (a.k.a. Villainous Love) (1997)

Director: Rokuro Mochizuki

Sure, this flick's title sounds soft like cotton; after all, why would a yakuza who pillages pachinko parlors and blazes girls in hostess clubs want to fall in love? How about a low-ranking member of an ill-fated clan who’s about to get a sashimi knife stuck in the abdomen?

A Yakuza In Love starts off like any typical love story, but it quickly turns twisted and humorous as the romantic protagonist stumbles upon heaps of crime. And it doesn't help matters that he drugs and kidnaps the girl as a form of affection. Director Rokuro Mochizuki's film never quite falls into Bonnie & Clyde territory, nor does it fit into the realm of typical Yakuza stories that incorporate courtesans or prostitutes. Spiced up with graphic sex scenes and underlying dark comedy, A Yakuza In Love is a winner that's also layered with Mochzuki's typically great character development.

19. Theater Of Life: Hishakaku (1963)

Director: Tadashi Sawashima

In the genre's early stages, yakuza films were known as ninkyo eiga, or “chivalry films.” The outlaw heroes portrayed during this time period were mostly kimono-clad loners with honorable intentions and charismatic postures that had women dropping down to their knees with ease.

Tadashi Sawashima’s Theater Of Life is highly regarded as the blueprint of this yakuza film era. The contradictory values of duty and personal feelings are clearly represented as the main protagonist Hishakaku falls in love with Otoyo, a courtesan. His subsequent prison stint separates the two, and the fact that other gangsters want to run all up in Otoyo as a jumpoff, instead of seeing her as a noble sweetheart, brings the pain to all involved.

18. Graveyard Of Honor (2002)

Director: Takeshi Miike

In 1975, Kinji Fukasaku, a.k.a the godfather of the yakuza genre, directed a movie also called Graveyard Of Honor; Takeshi Miike’s version, though, is an exciting and equally distressing film with much more blood-splatter and unsympathetic cruelty.

The story follows dish-washer Ishimatsu, who coincidentally saves a yakuza boss from an assassin. As a result, he quickly rises through the yakuza rank, which angers other lieutenants and older G's in the organization. To make matters worse, Ishimatsu's sudden power gets to his head, and he starts recklessly killing people, raping women, and indulging in massive amounts of heroin.

Miike's Graveyard Of Honor depicts an underachiever’s luck-driven prosperity can crumble just as fast as his ascension. While the film's violence is blatant, the underlying sadness dilutes the overall chaos, giving Graveyard Of Honor an undeniable sense of depth.

17. Yakuza Graveyard (1976)

Director: Kinji Fukasaku

Yakuza Graveyard follows an abusive cop who beats up thugs for a living and pledges allegiance to a yakuza underboss. The corrupt officer's methods bother one of his colleagues (played by Tetsuya Watari), but who is he to point fingers when he’s tied to the mob himself? Good luck finding an innocent hero in director Kinji Fukasaku's unapologetic bruiser of a film.

16. Another Lonely Hitman (1995)

Director: Rokuro Mochizuki

Being a killer isn’t fun—for the main character in Another Lonely Hitman, specifically, it’s lonely, emo, and drenched in solitude like a Drake record, except there are guns and carcasses abound. It’s even worse when you’re a former killer who spent a decade in the cage and returns home to a selfless clique indulged with greed, drugs, and dishonor.

As new-age yakuza families focus their concerns on profit over ethical codes of honor, Another Lonely Hitman details the story of an old-fashioned mobster who feels abandoned in a criminal world of new orders. Though the movie certainly has instances that feel contrived and incomplete, as a whole it's a strong bit of thugged-out entertainment and character exploration.

15. Red Peony Gambler (1968)

Director: Kosaku Yamashita

Sumiko Fuji, famous for her roles in yakuza films alongside actors Ken Takakura and Koji Tsuruta, stars in the eight-part Red Peony Gambler series, which follows the burdened daughter of a local yakuza boss. She grows up to become a wandering gambler under the name Oryu (the Red Peony), and sets off to kill her father’s enemies and the traitors who left her wronged her family.

Back in 1968, Red Peony Gambler, the series' first entry, pushed a female protagonist during the genre’s "chilvalry films" era. With her status as an ass-kicking female in a male-dominated world intact, Fuji's character carries herself with honor. 

14. Ryuji (1983)

Director: Toru Kawashima

Starring Shoji Kaneko, who unfortunately succumbed to cancer one week after the film’s release, Ryuji is a drama portraying a young yakuza’s life after jail. Once free, Kaneko's character attempts to leave the criminal world for the sake of his loving wife and daughter. What sets Ryuji apart is its presentation of a hardended criminal who's also fragile. The performances, especially Kaneko's (he joined a real gang to properly research the role), truly brings Toru Kawashima film to life.

13. Blood Of Revenge (1965)

Director: Tai Kato

Koji Tsuruta, often considered the yakuza genre’s first star, kills it in the savage classic Blood Of Revenge. The story takes place iin Osaka, 1907; Asajiro (played by Tsuruta) must keep his business functioning smooth like cream, keep his late oyabun’s hot-blooded son in check, and deal with his emotions for a beautiful geisha named Hatsue (Junko Fuji). Director Tai Kato skillfully seizes every moment of conflict, and succeeds in displaying rampant blood-gushing.

12. Dead Or Alive (1999)

Director: Takashi Miike

Probably the most violent film on this list, Takashi Miike’s drug-entrenched cinematic piece Dead Or Alive will leave you shocked, cringing, and wanting to go sit inside a quiant park flanked by trees. From the snorting of 15-foot lines of coke to bazooka-blasting, arm-severing and laser-crystal-firing, the violence here is consistently bonkers.

Dead Or Alive finds a Chinese yakuza member (played by the always serious Riki Takeuchi) battlingagainst a Japanese killer (Sho Aikawa) in the rugged lands of Tokyo’s Shinjuku area. The film is at times, comical, but there’s no doubt that the final battle scene, soaked with tanks of blood, is one of the genre's most entertainingly brutal sequences.

11. Youth Of The Beast (1963)

Director: Seijun Suzuki

To the film’s credit, the protagonist in Youth Of The Beast is incredibly badass. Jo (played Joe Shishido) shows up to the syndicate's headquarters and starts cracking skulls, and points a pistol at the boss’s dome as he politely asks for a job. After scoring the gig, he does the same at a rival gang's HQ, inciting an all-out war. With elements of film noir, Youth Of The Beast is an outlandish visual extravaganza that clearly influenced the likes of Takashi Miike.

10. Outrage (2010)

Director: Takeshi Kitano

Originally released in Japan last year, Outrage has plenty of violence, yet it's more concerned with the yakuza's behind-closed-door business dealings. Kitano stars as an OG who gets betrayed by his own crew, leading to a tragic conclusion. For its look into the new-age yakuza's changing ways, this one's a must-see.

9. Onimasa (1982)

Director: Hideo Gosha

When it was released in 1982, Hideo Gosha’s Onimasa was a step away from his action films of the ‘60s and ‘70s. Told through the eyes of Matsue (Masako Natsume), the adopted daughter of yakuza boss Onimasa, the film's plot stretches from early 1900s Japan to the beginnings of World War II. Although the story is told from a female protagonist's point-of-view, Tatsuya Nakadai’s character, Onimasa is paid much attention; he's a somewhat delusional boss who wishes to live the life of a samurai.

Onimasa is beautifully orchestrated with both lead actors masterfully handling their crafts. While it doesn’t feature as much violence as Gosha’s previous efforts, it’s a humane drama packed with humor and tragedy.

8. Sympathy For The Underdog (1971)

Director: Kinji Fukasaku

The movie that directly influenced the 1993 classic Sonatine (more on that later in the countdown), Kinji Fukasaku’s Sympathy For The Underdog mainly takes place in the island of Okinawa. Koji Tsuruta plays a yakuza boss who returns home from prison, assembles a crew, and attempts to run Okinawa. But the same Tokyo-based force that previously took over his region has their eyes set on Okinawa. As a result, all-out bloodshed ensues. 

7. Violent Streets (1974)

Director: Hideo Gosha

Violent Streets covers standard yakuza ground: the retired gangster forced back into the crime world. A beef brewing within Tokyo’s underworld sets off a series of spectacular violence headlined by some of the genre's best actors: Noboru Ando, Bunta Sugawara, Akira Kobayashi, and Tetsuro Tanba. Gosha’s skillful delivery prevents the film from losing any sense of seriousness, even at its most violent.

6. Cops Vs. Thugs (1975)

Director: Kinji Fukasaku

A precursor to 1976's Yakuza Graveyard, Cops Vs. Thugs follows the Kurashima City police department's efforts to eradicate organized crime, which aren't all that successful. In Fukasaku's world, money easily sways the law, shedding light on the real-life police system's frail infrastructure against crime.

5. The Wolves (1971)

Director: Hideo Gosha

The Wolves features an all-star cast, including Tatsuya Nakadai (Harakiri, Ran), Noboru Ando (a real-life yakuza turned actor specializing in yakuza roles), and Kyoko Enami. In 1929, as a celebration of Showa Emperor Hirohito’s ascension to the throne, hundreds of yakuza were pardoned and released from jail. Nakadai plays Seiji Iwahashi, a tired yakuza that aimlessly wanders back to what he sees as a dismantled remains of a once honorable underworld.

Plot twists and betrayals of former brothers aside, the distressed environment captured in early 20th century Japan full of greedy men against those attempting to hold on to last tips of the past is conveyed with effective realism.

4. Onibi (1997)

Director: Rokuro Mochizuki

Often praised as director Rokuro Mochizuki’s masterpiece, Onibi artfully inserts romanticism and sexual desire into the otherwise brutal yakuza genre. Yoshio Harada plays Noriyuki Kunihiro, an experienced, I-don’t-give-a-fuck contract killer who completes a long stint in prison and returns to home with motivation to reform his life, settle down with a girl young enough to be his daughter, and work an honest job. Despite his calm posture, Kunihiro constantly struggles with his violent nature. Which, in true yakuza movie fashion, doesn't end well for him.

3. Street Mobster (1972)

Director: Kinji Fukasaku

Kinji Fukasaku's Street Mobster centers on a low-ranking thug named Isamu Okita (played by Sugawara), who's not at all happy about America's presence in Japan. Noboru Ando’s character, meanwhile, is an older, much wiser gent who accepts Japan’s changing social climate. But his presence doesn't stop Okita from making his mark in the yakuza world.

Street Mobster not only marked the beginning of a new direction for the genre, but it also started the working relationship between Fukasaku and Sugawara, which led to the classic Battles Without Honor And Humanity (a.k.a. Yakuza Papers) series.

2. Sonatine (1993)

Director: Takeshi Kitano

Sonatine is regarded by many critics as Takeshi Kitano's best film. The writer-director also stars in the picture, playing Murakawa, a Tokyo yakuza whho's grown tired tired of the gangster lifestyle. Murakawa is sent to Okinawa to negotiate a dispute between two rival clans, but he soon realizes that the order was a ploy to have him and his men removed. After fighting off a bunch of assailants, Murakawa and his colleagues find refuge in a beach house, where things only get worse.

Let's just say that, soon enough, Murakawa acquires a colt commando and sprays everyone who betrayed him. This classic arthouse flick ends quite bitterly, but achieves an elegant veneer through Joe Hisaishi’s masterful soundtrack and Kitano’s stoic charm, certifying the filmmaker as a true G of the genre.

1. Battles Without Honor And Humanity (a.k.a The Yakuza Papers) (1973)

Director: Kinji Fukasaku

Kinji Fukasaku’s five-film, postwar yakuza saga Battles Without Honor And Humanity has drawn comparisons to Francis Ford Coppola’s Godfather series, and rightfully so. Battles is an artful interpretation of constantly shifting powers within the unapologetically violent landscapes occupied by the Hiroshima gangsters. Inspired by real-life events, the film's interpolate scenes with newspaper clippings and narration adding a sense of documentary-style storytelling.

In a way, Fukasaku's epic seriesm reflects Japan’s samurai-warring period with guns and “R”-rolling yakuza members instead of katana blades and bushido-obeying warriors; basically, same shit, different outfits. But, nevertheless, it's excellent.