Battles Without Honor and Humanity (Jingi Naki Tatakai, 仁義なき戦い) is a groundbreaking 1973 yakuza film by Japanese director Kinji Fukasaku. (It is also sometimes known as "The Yakuza Papers"). This article may be confusing for some readers, and should be edited to enhance clarity. ... Kinji Fukasaku (深作欣二 Fukasaku Kinji) (3 July 1930–12 January 2003) was a Japanese film actor, writer and director. ...

The violent, documentary-style film chronicles the underworld tribulations of Shozo Hirono (Bunta Sugawara), a young ex-soldier and street thug in post-War Hiroshima. Bunta Sugawara is a Japanese actor born in 1933. ... Main keep of Hiroshima Castle The city of Hiroshima (広島市; -shi) is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture, and the largest city in the Chugoku region of western Honshu, the largest of Japans islands. ...

Starting in the open-air black markets of bombed-out Hiroshima in 1945, the film spans a period of more than 10 years. It gave way to four sequels, which form a sprawling yakuza epic. It is often called "the Japanese Godfather". The Godfather is a film adaptation of the novel of the same name (see The Godfather (novel)) written by Mario Puzo, directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Marlon Brando and Al Pacino. ...

The title refers to the post-War yakuza's lack of jingi, a Japanese term loosely translated as "honor and humanity". Previous yakuza movies had, for the most part, been tales of chivalry set in pre-War Japan. A commercial and critical success, Battles Without Honor and Humanity changed that, and Japanese cinema, forever.

Sequels

The film's success quickly spawned four sequels:

• Battles Without Honor and Humanity: Deathmatch in Hiroshima (1973)
• Battles Without Honor and Humanity: Proxy War (1973)
• Battles Without Honor and Humanity: Police Tactics (1974)
• Battles Without Honor and Humanity: Final Episode (1974)

External links

• IMDB listing
• HVE DVD page, with trailers