Movies Like Kenpu Renpeikan

If you liked Kenpu Renpeikan (1944), a history and drama movie directed by Kiyohiko Ushihara, here are 20 movies with a similar feel, based on TMDB's recommendations. Each one links to its cast, trailer and where it's streaming.

1
Rurouni Kenshin Part I: Origins (2012)
★ 7.5/10Also history
In 1868, after the Bakumatsu war ends, the ex-assassin Kenshin Himura traverses Japan with an inverted sword, to defend the needy without killing.
2
Rurouni Kenshin Part II: Kyoto Inferno (2014)
★ 7.6/10Also drama
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…
3
Rurouni Kenshin: The Final (2021)
★ 7.7/10Also history and drama
In 1879, Kenshin and his allies face their strongest enemy yet: his former brother-in-law Enishi Yukishiro and his minions, who've vowed their revenge.
4
Chûshingura (1962)
★ 7.1/10Also history and drama
After their lord is tricked into committing ritual suicide, forty-seven samurai warriors await the chance to avenge their master and reclaim their honor.
5
11 Rebels (2024)
★ 6.9/10Also drama and history
When the brutal Boshin War breaks out in Japan, a group of inmates on death row unite to defend a fortress against the Imperial army.
6
Kagemusha (1980)
★ 7.8/10Also drama and history
A feudal epic presenting the tale of a petty thief who is recruited to impersonate Shingen, an aging warlord, in order to avoid attacks by competing clans. The impostor becomes comfortable living his life among…
7
47 Ronin (2013)
★ 6.2/10Also drama
Kai—an outcast—joins Oishi, the leader of 47 outcast samurai. Together they seek vengeance upon the treacherous overlord who killed their master and banished their kind. To restore honour to their homeland, the…
8
13 Assassins (2010)
★ 7.3/10Also drama
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…
9
Taboo (1999)
★ 6.6/10Also drama and history
Set during Japan's Shogun era, this film looks at life in a samurai compound where young warriors are trained in swordfighting. A number of interpersonal conflicts are brewing in the training room, all centering on a…
10
The Sword of Doom (1966)
★ 7.8/10Also drama
Ryunosuke, a gifted swordsman plying his trade during the turbulent final days of Shogunate rule, has no moral code and kills without remorse. It’s a way of life that leads to madness.
11
Samurai I: Musashi Miyamoto (1954)
★ 7.2/10Also drama
Struggling to elevate himself from his low caste in 17th century Japan, Miyamoto trains to become a mighty samurai warrior.
12
The Hidden Fortress (1958)
★ 8/10Also drama
In feudal Japan, during a bloody war between clans, two cowardly and greedy peasants, soldiers of a defeated army, stumble upon a mysterious man who guides them to a fortress hidden in the mountains.
13
Samurai Marathon (2019)
★ 6/10Also drama and history
When feudal lord Itakura Katsuakira decides to prepare his samurai troops for the onslaught of modernization by having them compete in a marathon, his independent-minded daughter Yuki secretly joins the race.
14
Sekigahara (2017)
★ 7/10Also history and drama
The background to and depiction of a watershed battle in Japanese history, at Sekigahara in 1600, when Tokugawa Ieyasu's Army of the East defeated the Army of the West of Ishida Mitsunari. The story includes the…
15
Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai (2011)
★ 7.2/10Also drama and history
A tale of revenge, honor and disgrace, centering on a poverty-stricken samurai who discovers the fate of his ronin son-in-law, setting in motion a tense showdown of vengeance against the house of a feudal lord.
16
The 47 Ronin (1941)
★ 6.9/10Also drama and history
In the early 18th-century, Lord Takumi-no-kami Asano, feuding with Lord Kira, tries to kill his opponent in the corridors of the Shogun's palace. The Shogun sentences Asano to seppuku and deprives the palace and lands…
17
Tenchu! (1969)
★ 7/10Also history and drama
A ronin desperately seeks a way out of financial straits; he allies with the Tosa clan under the ruthless leader Takechi, who quickly takes advantage.
18
Samurai Assassin (1965)
★ 7.3/10Also drama and history
Japan, 1860. The men of the Mito clan, victims of the Ansei purge, anxiously prowl around the Sakurada Gate of Edo Castle with the intention of assassinating Naosuke Ii of Hikone, tairō of the Tokugawa shogunate and…
19
Yojimbo (1961)
★ 8.1/10Also drama
A nameless ronin, or samurai with no master, enters a small village in feudal Japan where two rival businessmen are struggling for control of the local gambling trade. Taking the name Sanjuro Kuwabatake, the ronin…
20
Samurai Rebellion (1967)
★ 8.2/10Also drama
The mother of a feudal lord's only heir is kidnapped by the lord. Her husband and his samurai father must decide whether to accept the unjust decision, or risk death to rescue her.