Taira Clan Saga (1955)

In 1137 Japan, the Fujiwara clan rule the country, rivalled only by the Cloister Court and the Taira clan, the latter of which boasts a military force. Kiyomori Taira (Raizo Ichikawa) resents his father's deference to the Cloister, and begins to rebel against the Fujiwaras when he discovers that his mother was once one of their courtesans. Kenji Mizoguchi's penultimate film chronicles the rise to power of the samurai Tairas, who were themselves later defeated by the Minamoto clan - the first of the Shoguns.