Takako Irie
Takako Irie (入江 たか子 Irie Takako, 7 February 1911 – 12 January 1995) was a Japanese film actress. Born in Tokyo into the aristocratic Higashibōjō family (her birth name was Hideko Higashibōjō (東坊城 英子 Higashibōjō Hideko)), she graduated from Bunka Gakuin before debuting as an actress at Nikkatsu in 1927. She became a major star, even starting her own production company, Irie Productions, in 1932. One of Kenji Mizoguchi's silent film masterpieces, The Water Magician, was produced at that company with Irie starring. She appeared in many advertisements, as well as on fans and other commercial goods. Irie was also the subject of a folding screen painting by Nihonga artist Nakamura Daizaburō, which appeared in the 1930 Teiten (Imperial Exhibition), and which is today in the collection of the Honolulu Museum of Art; toy dolls were also produced based on this image.
In the postwar period, Irie became known as a "ghost cat actress" (bakeneko joyū) for appearing in a series of kaidan (ghost story) movies. One of her late memorable roles was in Akira Kurosawa's Sanjuro, where she plays Mutsuta's wife, the lady who warns Sanjuro (Toshirō Mifune) that "the best sword stays in its scabbard".
| Known For | Acting |
|---|---|
| Most Rating | 0.603 |
| Birthday | 1911-02-07 |
| Place of Birth | Tokyo, Japan |
| Also Known As | Такако Ириэ, |
1962
Sanjuro
7.9/746
In this companion piece and sequel to "Yojimbo," jaded samurai Sanjuro helps an idealistic group of young warriors weed out their clan's evil influenc...
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Sanjuro
1983
The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
6.756/39
Kazuko Yoshiyama is a third-year junior-high-school student. One day, while cleaning the lab, she smells lavender and faints. From then on, she has th...
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The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
1929
The Morning Sun Shines
5.75/12
The Morning Sun Shines is a fiction-documentary film by Kenji Mizoguchi and Seiichi Ina. The film is a combination of a drama about a reporter, and do...
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The Morning Sun Shines
1944
The Most Beautiful
5.6/59
Young women at a precision optics factory in wartime Japan push to exceed production quotas, enduring illness, injury, and personal hardship to “serve...
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The Most Beautiful
1951
Judge of the Ashuras
10/1
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Judge of the Ashuras
1932
The Dawn of Manchuria and Mongolia
8/1
Propaganda film, presumed lost.
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The Dawn of Manchuria and Mongolia
1930
Yoshie Fujiwara's Hometown
7/2
While returning by boat to Japan, Yoshie Fujiwara meets a rich woman who suggests him to become a singer thanks to an impresario friend of hers.
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Yoshie Fujiwara's Hometown
1929
Matenro sôtohen
0/0
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Matenro sôtohen
1984
The Deserted City
7.111/9
After noticing in the news there was a fire in an old canal town, Eguchi recalls visiting there a decade ago as a university student.
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The Deserted City
1933
The Water Magician
7.25/20
Taki no Shiraito is a very independent young woman with a famous water juggling act in a travelling carnival troupe. She falls in love with an orphane...
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The Water Magician
1938
Tojuro's Love
7/1
A colourful study of theatrical life. Two acting troupes vie for the Kyoto market during the Genroku Era. Tojuro, an extremely popular actor, feels th...
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Tojuro's Love
1954
Nage Utasamon niban tegara: Tsuri tenjô no semushi otoko
0/0
Second in the Nage Utasamon series
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Nage Utasamon niban tegara: Tsuri tenjô no semushi otoko
1937
A Husband's Chastity: If Spring Comes & Fall Once Again
10/1
Kayo and Kuniko graduated from girls' school together and are as close as sisters. Kuniko's fiancé, Minakami, feels something that attracts him deeply...
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A Husband's Chastity: If Spring Comes & Fall Once Again
1941
White Heron
9/1
OSHINO, the beautiful daughter of restaurant owners, is in love with SHIRASAGI the painter. But there is another young man, the son of a moneylender f...
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White Heron
1942
Green Earth
0/0
Set in Qingdao, China, a Japanese company locates an office there and begins work and cooperation with a local Chinese company for business. Many Japa...
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Green Earth
1937
Learn from Experience, Part One
6.7/6
Wealthy young Toyomi and Shintaro are in love. However, Shintaro’s father is arranging for him to marry Yurie, the scion of an even wealthier family....
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Learn from Experience, Part One
1937
Learn from Experience, Part Two
6.333/6
Toyomi is pregnant -- and while Shintaro and Yurie are on their extended honeymoon, she bears his child, a girl named Kiyoko. She is supported in adve...
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Learn from Experience, Part Two
1946
Life Is like a Somersault
7/1
After learning that he has accidentally killed a man in a fight, Unokichi must look after the man's pregnant widow.
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Life Is like a Somersault
1950
Kagebōshi
0/0
On the night the shogunate's treasury was breached, the guard Utsugi had already been taken down. His colleague Ryunosuke felt responsible and decided...
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Kagebōshi
1950
Zoku kagebōshi ryūkoaiutsutsu
0/0
A continuation of the prior film (影法師).
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Zoku kagebōshi ryūkoaiutsutsu
1947
Koyoi Tsuma to Narinu
0/0
A hospital melodrama where the conflict between love and friendship rules the faith of the protagonists.
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Koyoi Tsuma to Narinu
1939
Enoken’s Shrewd Period
9/1
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Enoken’s Shrewd Period
1953
Ghost of Saga Mansion
7.7/3
A woman loses her son through an evil conspiracy and commits suicide. Shortly afterwards a ghost cat begins haunting the conspirators. This is Takako...
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Ghost of Saga Mansion
1953
Ghost-Cat of Arima Palace
8/2
Okoyo, the mistress of Lord Arima, fears that she is being replaced by a younger woman named Otaki. In a fit of jealousy, she kills the younger girl....
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Ghost-Cat of Arima Palace
1954
Terrible Ghost Cat of Okazaki
9/2
The Lord of Okazaki is killed by his brother-in-law. Although the Lord's widow bears a child, she is also killed. Then, a ghost cat begins stalking in...
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Terrible Ghost Cat of Okazaki
1956
The Monster Cat of the Fifty-Three Stations
8/2
A power struggle in the fief of Okazaki causes the death of Namiji, a nobleman's daughter. As her fiancé seeks revenge, he finds Namiji's cat helping...
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The Monster Cat of the Fifty-Three Stations
1957
Ghost-Cat of Yonaki Swamp
7/2
A remake of Kaidan Saga yashiki (1953).
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Ghost-Cat of Yonaki Swamp
1954
The Ghost Cat of Ouma Crossing
7.1/7
A kabuki actress is murdered. Her pet cat laps its mistress's blood and becomes a demon possessed by the vengeful murder victim.
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The Ghost Cat of Ouma Crossing
1934
Karisome no kuchibeni
7/1
A Japanese version of the musical comedy "Yes, Mr. Brown"
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Karisome no kuchibeni
1931
Jean Valjean: Part One
7/1
The first part of a fascinating melodrama based on Victor Hugo's Les Misérables, the action of which is transferred to the era of the Meiji Revolution...
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Jean Valjean: Part One
1949
Odoroki ikka
0/0
1949 Japanese film
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Odoroki ikka
1950
Blue Sky Angel
8/1
1950 drama film
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Blue Sky Angel
1979
The House of Hanging
6.2/4
This time, Kousuke investigates a murder in a hospital. The murderer leaves misleading evidence to divert Kousuke's attention on the case. Suspicion a...
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The House of Hanging
1931
Jean Valjean: Part Two
0/0
The second part of the melodrama based on the novel Les Misérables by Victor Hugo, the action of which is transferred to the era of the Meiji Revoluti...
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Jean Valjean: Part Two
1939
Sincerity
6/6
Two young girls, Nobiko and Tomiko, go to the same school. The less fortunate girl Nobiko is one of the top students, while the rich girl Tomiko is no...
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Sincerity
1931
Kokoro no jitsugetsu: Retsujitsu hen - Gekko hen
7/1
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Kokoro no jitsugetsu: Retsujitsu hen - Gekko hen
1951
Kurama Tengu: The Fire Festival
0/0
The masked avenger Kurama Tengu is linked to a plot to bring down the Tokugawa shogunate, but is it really our hero, or an imposter?
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Kurama Tengu: The Fire Festival
1947
Political Theater
0/0
1947 Japanese movie
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Political Theater
1953
Love Letter
6.844/32
Five years after the end of the Second World War, Reikichi, a repatriated veteran, translates love letters for Japanese women to American GIs, while s...
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Love Letter
1940
The Snake Princess
8/1
When Sentarô’s father is killed by a drunken samurai, Sentarô avenges him. His deed puts him on the run and leaves his sister behind. While running fr...
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The Snake Princess
1937
Karayuki-san
0/0
"Karayuki-san offers a no-holds-barred depiction of the discrimination faced by a former prostitute who returns to Japan from Singapore with her mixed...
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Karayuki-san
1937
A Woman's Sorrows
6.714/7
Young Hiroko’s conservative principles place her at odds with most modern women, as she has already submitted to her mother’s choice of man for any ma...
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A Woman's Sorrows
1942
Mother Never Dies
6.167/6
The premature death of a young mother serves as inspiration for her husband and son.
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Mother Never Dies
1941
Yukiko and Natsuyo
6/1
Adaptation of a novel by Nobuko Yoshiya that was serialized in "Shufu no tomo" between 1939 and 1940.
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Yukiko and Natsuyo
1930
Behold This Mother
9/1
Directed by Tomotaka Tasaka.
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Behold This Mother
1957
Lord Mito
5.4/5
This most celebrated all-star movie version of the popular series features Tsukigata Ryunosuke as Mito Komon, the sage who wanders the countryside rec...
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Lord Mito
1936
Great Bodhisattva Pass 2
0/0
The sequel to the 1935 film Great Bodhisattva Pass
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Great Bodhisattva Pass 2
1942
Wings of Victory
6.75/4
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Wings of Victory
1942
Omokage no machi
8/1
A 1942 film.
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Omokage no machi
1941
The Battle of Kawanakajima
7/1
This epic depicts the battle between Uesugi Kenshin and Takeda Shingen. The focus of the story is the struggle by the unit leader in charge of the mai...
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The Battle of Kawanakajima
1975
Kenji Mizoguchi: The Life of a Film Director
7.2/14
In 39 interviews with actors and actresses, writers, producers and staff members, interspersed with film excerpts and stills, Shindō recounts the life...
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Kenji Mizoguchi: The Life of a Film Director
1935
Great Bodhisattva Pass
10/1
1930s Japanese film.
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Great Bodhisattva Pass
1929
A Living Puppet
10/1
A man rises in society by cheating, but the institutions in turn take their revenge.
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A Living Puppet
1929
Tokyo March
6.071/21
A classic melodramatic love tragedy addressing social inequality in Taishō-era Japan, The nostalgic scenes of 1920s Tokyo provides a valuable visual e...
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Tokyo March
1944
Four Marriages
8/1
Based on a short story by Dazai Osamu, produced under the national film law. The film's hero falls in love with the youngest daughter of a family he i...
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Four Marriages
1929
Metropolitan Symphony
10/1
A young woman seduced by a rich man, takes revenge on him with the help of a young idealistic worker. Considered a lost film.
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Metropolitan Symphony
1941
Dancers of Awa
7/1
Jurobei, a kaisen tonya (wholesaler in port) in Awa, was wronged and killed on the day of the Dance Festival by the evil merchant & the chamberlin. Hi...
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Dancers of Awa
1954
The Great White Tiger Platoon
6/2
The Great White Tiger Platoon was part of the Aizu clan's last ditch efforts to stop the advance of Imperial troops after the fall of the Tokugawa Sho...
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The Great White Tiger Platoon
1983
Legend of the Cat Monster
5/1
A legendary actress thought to be dead is discovered living in an isolated mansion. A screenwriter is tasked with writing her comeback film, which lea...
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Legend of the Cat Monster
1934
Tsuki yori no shisha
0/0
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Tsuki yori no shisha
1951
Tales of a Drifter
0/0
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Tales of a Drifter
1937
Mother's Melody
0/0
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Mother's Melody
1955
The Roar of The Lion
0/0
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The Roar of The Lion
1956
Matashirō Fighting Journey
0/0
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Matashirō Fighting Journey
1947
Invitation to Happiness
10/1
Kôfuku eno shôtai - Invitation to happiness
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Invitation to Happiness
1957
Fighting Letter for 29 People
0/0
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Fighting Letter for 29 People
1942
Sky of Hope
8/1
What is marriage? Young couple in match-making wanted to know before they decide. They visited married couples of sisters and brothers. Love comedy...
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Sky of Hope
1936
Kuriyama Daizen
0/0
Prewar jidaigeki starring Denjiro Okochi
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Kuriyama Daizen
1956
Case Files of Zenigata Heiji: The Human-Skin Spider
0/0
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Case Files of Zenigata Heiji: The Human-Skin Spider
1937
A Husband's Chastity: Fall Again
0/0
Kayo and Kuniko graduated from girls' school together and are as close as sisters. Kuniko's fiancé, Minakami, feels something that attracts him deeply...
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A Husband's Chastity: Fall Again
1937
A Husband's Chastity: If Spring Comes
0/0
Kayo and Kuniko graduated from girls' school together and are as close as sisters. Kuniko's fiancé, Minakami, feels something that attracts him deeply...
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A Husband's Chastity: If Spring Comes
1954
Maiko monogatari
0/0
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Maiko monogatari
1954
Tsumakoi kuroda bushi
0/0
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Tsumakoi kuroda bushi
1938
Family Diary Part II
0/0
Adaptation of Nobuko Yoshiya’s story.
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Family Diary Part II
1939
Madam with a Ribbon
0/0
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Madam with a Ribbon
1937
Shirobara wa sakedo
0/0
Atsuko, a seamstress at a clothing shop in Ginza, spends her days quietly going about her work, oblivious to the gossip about romance swirling around...
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Shirobara wa sakedo
1947
Female Prisoner #36
0/0
A film depicting the duties of a detective and the anguish of human compassion.
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Female Prisoner #36
1947
Hakata Dontaku
0/0
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Hakata Dontaku
Kakute ninjutsu eiga wa owarinu
0/0
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Kakute ninjutsu eiga wa owarinu
1949
Three Mothers
0/0
Movie about biological mothers, foster mothers, and stepmothers.
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Three Mothers
1949
Doku bara
0/0
A Daiei erotic film depicting the five passionate love affairs of a voluptuous married woman, driven by her beauty.
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Doku bara
1949
Doburoku no Tatsu
0/0
Tomoraka Tasaka's first postwar work.
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Doburoku no Tatsu
1953
Zenigata heiji torimono hikae: Karakuri yashiki
0/0
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Zenigata heiji torimono hikae: Karakuri yashiki
1953
Haha no hitomi
0/0
A blind little girl searches for her mother.
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Haha no hitomi
1953
Shachō hisho
0/0
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Shachō hisho
1953
Dekoboko taikōki
0/0
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Dekoboko taikōki
1954
Yoidore nitōryū
0/0
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Yoidore nitōryū
1954
Hana no nagadosu
0/0
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Hana no nagadosu
1954
Tekka bugyō
0/0
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Tekka bugyō
1954
Akōgishi
0/0
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Akōgishi
1954
Date sōdō: Haha goten
0/0
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Date sōdō: Haha goten
1955
Zenigata heiji torimono hikae: Dokuro kago
0/0
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Zenigata heiji torimono hikae: Dokuro kago
1955
Hana no nijū hachinin shū
0/0
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Hana no nijū hachinin shū
1955
The Rust Cleaner Sings
0/0
A passionate young man takes on a corrupt boss, determined to save innocent teachers and numerous orphans.
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The Rust Cleaner Sings
1955
Nagasaki no yoru
0/0
A mysterious magician with a Japanese mother who came to Nagasaki’s Nankin-machi from the mainland in search of his father’s killer.
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Nagasaki no yoru
1956
Koshimoto gyōjōki
0/0
Three young women who dream of a life of luxury find themselves drawn into a family feud within the Date clan as maids. There, they protect the young...
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