In 1999, the famous magazine Kinema Jumpo elected the Top 100 best japanese movies ever made:
1. Seven Samurai (1954, Akira Kurosawa)
2. Floating Clouds (1955, Mikio Naruse)
3. A Fugitive from the Past (1965, Tomu Uchida)
4. Tokyo Story (1953, Yasujiro Ozu)
5. The Sun Legend of the End of the Tokugawa Era (1957, Y. Kawashima)
6. Rashomon (1950, Akira Kurosawa)
7. Intentions of Murder (1964, Shohei Imamura)
8. Battles Without Honour & Humanity (1973, Kinji Fukasaku)
9. Twenty-Four Eyes (1954, Keisuke Kinoshita)
10. Tales of Ugetsu (1953, K. Mizoguchi)
11. To Live (1952, Akira Kurosawa)
12. The Life Of Oharu (1952, Kenji Mizoguchi)
13. Vacuum Zone (1952, Satsuo Yamamoto)
14. Harakiri (1962, Masaki Kobayashi)
15. The Man Who Stole the Sun (1979, Kazuhiko Hasegawa)
16. My Neighbor Totoro (1988, Hayao Miyazaki)
17. Muddy River (1981, Kohei Oguri)
18. Humanity and Paper Balloons (1937, Sadao Yamanaka)
19. The Rickshaw Man (1958, Hiroshi Inagaki)
20. Yojimbo (1961, Akira Kurosawa)
21. Fall Guy (1982, Kinji Fukasaku)
22. Boy (1969, Nagisa Oshima)
23. All Under the Moon (1993, Yoichi Sai)
24. Early Summer (1951, Yasujiro Ozu)
25. Vengeance is mine (1979, Shohei Imamura)
26. Family game (1983, Yoshimitsu Morita)
27. The castle of sand (1974, Yoshitaro Nomura)
28. Cruel Story of Youth (1960, Nagisa Oshima)
29. The Human Condition (1959-61, Masaki Kobayashi)
30. Till We Meet Again (1950, Tadashi Imai)
31. Ichijo Sayuri (1972, Tatsumi Kumashiro)
32. Cupola (1962, Kiriro Urayama)
33. Fighting Elegy (1966, Seijun Suzuki)
34. The Yellow Handkerchief (1977, Yoji Yamada)
35. Shall we Dance? (1995, Masayuki Suo)
36. The Insect Woman (1963, Shohei Imamura)
37. Marital Relations (1955, Shiro Toyoda)
38. Begging for Love (1998, Hideyuki Hirayama)
39. A Woman With Red Hair (1979, Tatsumi Kumashiro)
40. Distant Thunder (1981, Negishi Kichitaro)
41. Graveyard of Honor (1975, Kinji Fukasaku)
42. Sonatine (1993, Takeshi Kitano)
43. High and Low (1963, Akira Kurosawa)
44. Japan’s Longest Day (1967, Kihachi Okamoto)
45. Night and Fog in Japan (1960, Nagisa Oshima)
46. Emperor’s Naked Army Marches on (1987, Kazuo Hara)
47. Ryuji (1983, Toru Kawashima)
48. Ball at the Anjo House (1947, Kozaburo Yoshimura)
49. Young Brother (1960, Kon Ichikawa)
50. The Hidden Fortress (1958, Akira Kurosawa)
51. The Thirteen Assassins (1963, Eiichi Kudo)
52. The Crucified Lovers (1952, Kenji Mizoguchi)
53. Princess Mononoke (1995, Hayao Miyazaki)
54. Beyond the Green Hills (1963, Katsumi Nishikawa)
55. The Profound Desire of the Gods (1968, Shohei Imamura)
56. Kids Return (1996, Takeshi Kitano)
57. The Cherry Orchard (1990, Shun Nakahara)
58. The Youth Killer (1976, Kazuhiko Hasegawa)
59. Typhoon Club (1984, Shinji Somai)
60. Tange Sazen and the Pot Worth a Million Ryo (1935, S. Yamanaka)
61. Angel Guts Red Classroom (1979, Chusei Sone)
62. Ballad of Narayama (1958, Keisuke Kinoshita)
63. She Was Like a Wild Chrysanthemum (1955, Keisuke Kinoshita)
64. Miyamoto Musashi (1961-65, Tomu Uchida)
65. Ryoma Assassination (1974, Kazuo Kuroki)
66. Street of Shame (1956, Kenji Mizoguchi)
67. Red Beard (1965, Akira Kurosawa)
68. Station (1981, Yasuo Furuhata)
69. Twisted Path of Youth (1973, Tatsumi Kumashiro)
70. Sado (1978, Yoichi Higashi)
71. The Makioka Sisters (1983, Kon Ichikawa)
72. Narita：Heta Village (1973, Shinsuke Ogawa)
73. Failed Youth (1974, Tatsumi Kumashiro)
74. A Japanese Tragedy (1953, Keisuke Kinoshita)
75. Something Like It (1981, Yoshimitsu Morita)
76. The Naked Island (1960, Kaneto Shindo)
77. Stake Out (1957, Yoshitaro Nomura)
78. Scattered Clouds (1967, Mikio Naruse)
79. The Rendezvou (1972, Koichi Saito)
80. The Beast to Die (1980, Toru Murakawa)
81. In the Realm of the Senses (1976, Nagisa Oshima)
82. Red Lantern (1974, Toshiya Fujita)
83. Capricious Young Man (1936, Mansaku Itami)
84. The Devil’s Ballad (1977, Kon Ichikawa)
85. Lightning (1952, Mikio Naruse)
86. Singing Lovebirds (1939, Masahiro Makino)
87. The Funeral (1984, Juzo Itami)
88. Kagemusha (1980, Akira Kurosawa)
89. House on Fire (1986, Kinji Fukasaku)
90. Carmen comes home (1951, Keisuke Kinoshita)
91. Listen to the roar of the ocean (1950, Hideo Sekigawa)
92. Cure (1997, Kiyoshi Kurosawa)
93. One Man of the Gambler’s Code (1966, Tai Kato)
94. Throne of blood (1957, Akira Kurosawa)
95. Crazed Fruit (1956, Ko Nakahira)
96. A Last Note (1995, Kaneto Shindo)
97. An Autumn Afternoon (1962, Yasujiro Ozu)
98. Jirochô sangokushi (1953, Masahiro Makino)
99. Diary of a Shinjuku Thief (1969, Nagisa Oshima)
100. Woman in the Dunes (1964, Hiroshi Teshigahara)
And:
101. One Wonderful Sunday (1947, Akira Kurosawa)
102. Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence (1983, Nagisa Oshima)
103. W’s Tragedy (1984, Shinichiro Sawai)
104. A Diary of Chuji’s Travels (1927, Daisuke Ito)
105. Zigeunerweisen (1980, Seijun Suzuki)
106. Sanjuro (1962, Akira Kurosawa)
107. The Ghost of Yotsuya (1959, Nobuo Nakagawa)
108. Knockout (1989, Junji Sakamoto)
109. Nikudan (1969, Kihachi Okamoto)
110. A Treatise on Japanese Bawdy Songs (1967, N. Oshima)
111. A Man Vanishes (1967, Shohei Imamura)
112. Wet Sand in August (1971, Toshiya Fujita)
113. The River Fuefuki (1960, Keisuke Kinoshita)
114. Pigs and Battleships (1961, Shohei Imamura)
115. Darkness at Midnight (1956, Tadashi Imai)
116. Repast (1951, Mikio Naruse)
117. Drunken Angel (1948, Akira Kurosawa)
118. The Girl I Abandoned (1969, Kiriro Urayama)
You can continue with the annual Top 10 from 1926 to 1970 (Japanese inside).
What do you think of this ‘official’ top?
What films from the 2000′s would you include?
Thanks Martin
{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
I’ve only seen 21 from the top 100 list. Glad they inluded Taifu Club, although it should be no 1, not 59… A bit weird to see Ichijo Sayuri ranked as 31, but then again I never was a huge fan of Kumashiro’s 70’s work. From Nikkatsu’s meisaku roman catalogue Retreat Through the Wet Wasteland should be there, though.
And where’s Hideo Gosha? Or Sogo Ishii? Or the entire ninkyo yakuza genre. Perhaps that was a bit of a difficult genre as usually the best films were the sequels, not the originals.
No Gojira? Not that it necessarily needs to be on a top 100 list, but it’s weird to see one without it. And Kid’s Return over Hana-Bi or A Scene at the Sea. Hmm… I would’ve expected them to include Tenkousei by Obayashi. Certainly it would deserve to be there.
This sure is a curious list. I haven’t seen much more than half of the 100 titles myself, but there’s so much disagreeable stuff in there, that I really can’t take it too seriously.
Since when is the very forgettable Endless Desire Imamura’s best film? What do you mean not a single Shinoda, Yoshida or Masumura made it? Fighting Elegy is the only Seijun while you have room for four Fukasaku? No Onibaba, Jigoku, Godzilla and indeed nothing from Gosha or Misumi? Nah, this is not right, I’m telling you.
Oh wait, either the title or year for Endless Desire is wrong. I’m guessing it’s the title, which should have been Intentions of Murder instead — this one definitely is one of Imamura’s best works.
Alo, you’re right, it’s Intentions of Murder – not Endless Desire!
Thanks, correction done
i recomend Old Boy from 2003
@lala Oldboy is a korean film. In addition to the lack of Gosha, Misumi, and Sogo Ishii what happened to Teruo Ishii, Tsukamoto and, Terayama?
Thanks, but according to my data, ‘Muhomatsu no issho’ (number 19) refers to the original 1943 version.
Provocative list to be sure. Has introduced me to several I have not seen. However: only 3 from Ozu? Realm of the Senses is 81st?? Graveyard of the Fireflies, one of the greatest films ever made, the greatest war movie ever made…????? Spirited Away???? Fireworks???? I could go on….
This list cannot be taken too seriously Im afraid.
Tampopo? Cure but not Pulse (and only one Kiyoshi K film)? Nothing from Miike (Ichi, Bird People, Audition…)? Kore eda? Nothing by Koreeda is even in the *top* 110? A Story of Floating Weeds? You leave out Ikuru, Ran and Madadayo from A Kurosawa?
Typical of these lists too many films from the recent path and master of the worth of Yasijro Shimazu, Heinsoke Gosho and Hiroshi Shimizu not being represented at all. And of course Kurosawa is over represnted and Ozu, Mizoguchi, Naruse under represented. Still there are 60 good picks here maybe more. As these lists go not bad.
The list needs rdoing with a cut of date of 25 years.
I agree Glyn
alot of the films are from the 50s and 60s not a bad thing of course but many new lovers of asian movies will just not appreciate their works.
a new poll with a cut off date say of the last 20 years or so.
Wildgrounds – you know a thing or two about japanese movies how about a poll for your visitors ? let us pick