Nichiren and the Great Mongol Invasion

The Tibetans refer to the Dalai Lama as 'Kundun', which means 'The Presence'. He was forced to escape from his native home, Tibet, when communist China invaded and enforced an oppressive regime upon the peaceful nation. The Dalai Lama escaped to India in 1959 and has been living in exile in Dharamsala ever since.

In Burma during the closing days of WWII, a Japanese soldier separated from his unit disguises himself as a Buddhist monk to escape imprisonment as a POW.

In the War's closing days, when a conscience-driven Japanese soldier fails to get his countrymen to surrender to overwhelming force, he adopts the lifestyle of a Buddhist monk.

A look at Genghis Khan's life, from his birth to conquests in Asia.

A sister and brother, the last heirs of a family of acrobats, are called upon by a Buddhist monk sect to retrieve an artifact that their ancestors have protected throughout the ages.

Buddhist monks open up about the joys and challenges of living out the precepts of the Buddha as a full-time vocation. Controversies swirling within modern monastic Buddhism are examined, from celibacy and the role of women to racism and concerns about the environment.

In the 1200s, a man arose whose ruthlessness was so feared, he emerged as the greatest empire builder ever known to mankind. Inspired by true historical events.

Before he lost his sight. Before he pledged his service to Kublai Khan. Hundred Eyes saw what made him into the deadly assassin who trains Marco Polo.

In the early 1200s, Dogen brought Chinese Zen philosophy to Japan, and established the Japanese Zen school of Buddhism. He taught that a person was capable of realizing Buddhahood within himself, by way of Zazen. Zazen is extended hours of sitting and meditating to achieve a state of “Mu” (nothingness, or empty existence).

Yohei, a punk rocker, becomes a Buddhist monk in order to inherit a mountain temple. Though initially rebelling against the tough monastic discipline, he learns to adjust. Then his girlfriend shows up, enticing him to return to his rock 'n' roll roots.

Near a remote Buddhist monastery, a young man falls in love with his sister and gets her pregnant. After a monk finds out, the young man becomes an assistant to a master sculptor, only to proceed to complicate matters with his affairs.

The young houseboy in Uta wakes up every night to patrol the house of a teacher with a flashlight. He leads an austere life of meditation and he focuses his devotional attention on writing inscriptions for tombstones.

Story of four young monks left alone in their remote monastery in Myanmar. Shot entirely in newly-opened Myanmar with non-actors, the film bridges spirit, cinema, and traditional Burmese storytelling to open a view onto an unseen world.

Former punk rocker Jonen, now a Buddhist priest, seems to have lost the meaning of his life. His manic depression handicaps him further. Music seems to be the only solution for him to exorcise his demons, against all obstacles and sound volume controllers.

An upcoming film adaptation of the action-adventure video game developed by Sucker Punch Productions and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Jin Sakai, the last surviving member of his clan, must set aside the traditions that have shaped him as a warrior to wage an unconventional war for the freedom of Tsushima.

A human space colony fleet is trying to find a habitable planet near the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. The story focuses on three young adults and the events that occur around them as the fleet faces a crisis of alien origin.

Thanks to a Buddhist hermit in India, a young Japanese wrestler transforms into a 7-phased superhero and fights an evil organization hell-bent on destroying Japan.

Meet Haruto Hojo, an ordinary high school student with an unusual problem. He's got ghosts and spirits running amuck at school! Appointed President of the Saints Club, Haruto, Mutsuki, and Kazuo are charged with the task of investigating strange phenomena on campus and improve the quality of life for the school spirits that roam the halls. But how can three students handle the likes of Hanako, the sultry bathroom spirit, a Kosak-dancing skeleton, a fish monster living in the school's pool, Red Mantle, Nino-kun, and the rest of the Saito school spirits?

An alien race known as the Oni arrive on Earth to invade the planet. Instead of taking over the planet by force, the Oni give humans a chance to fight for the rights to the planet by taking part in a competition. The computer-selected human player is Ataru Moroboshi, a lecherous, unlucky and stupid high school student from the Japanese city of Tomobiki, and the Oni player is Princess Lum, daughter of the leader of the Invasion force.

Many years ago, humans and demons lived in harmony. But that unity ended when demons started attacking humans and plotted a mission to unleash Gyumao - an evil demon imprisoned for thousands of years. Now, Genjo Sanzo, a rogue priest, must team up with three demons - Sha Gojyo, Son Goku, and Cho Hakkai - and embark on a perilous journey to the west to stop these demons from resurrecting Gyumao and restore the balance between humans and demons on Earth.

Prayer Beads, also called "omoinotama" or "nunju" in Japanese, are the small wooden beads strung on a loop used in Buddhist worship. The number of beads is typically 108, corresponding to the 108 earthly desires or sins that the beads have the power to extinguish. "Prayer Beads" is a series of 9 episodes of 30-minute dramas strung together, with the characters in each episode designing one thread of fate. The short independent episodes are skillfully linked together to become one story. The protagonists' dreams and fears and feelings about this life are all taken up and spun around to reach a dramatic conclusion in the final story.

The 40th NHK Taiga Drama is Hojo Tokimune. It tells the dramatic and turbulent life of young shikken Hojo Tokimune, and his successful defense of Japan from invasion by Mongolia in the 1200's. It is a tragic story of betrayal and clan wars and Hojo Tokimune is at the center of it all. The main focus of the story is Hojo Tokiyori's older sons, their relationship, and their views and actions concerning Kublai Khan's attempted invasion. The two brothers, Tokimune and Tokisuke, are torn apart by politics.

The story follows a group of samurai attempting to defend Japan from the first Mongol invasion in 1274.

A group of young pirates come from space to Earth to obtain the "Greatest Treasure in the Universe", which can only be acquired after obtaining the Ultimate Powers of the different 34 Super Sentai Teams. However, they end up running afoul of the Space Empire Zangyack, whose earlier invasion forces were wiped out by the 34 Sentai groups long ago. As a result, the space pirates use "pirate copies" of the powers of the older teams and fight the Zangyack forces as the Gokaigers.

Due to the invasion of Disas—enigmatic creatures of soil from the land of the dead—mankind, who was on the verge of crisis, was saved by the efforts of magical girls who had obtained a mysterious magical power... Three years later, new incidents suddenly occur, tearing apart the normalcy of the girls who had each returned to their normal lives. The saviours of humanity, those magical girls called "The Magical Five" now live each day fighting for their lives, even as they are trifled with by fate...

Shibusawa Eiichi was born in 1840 to a farmer’s family. He grew up helping his family with work, which was to manufacture and sell indigo production and also silk farming. He left his hometown at the age of 23 and began working for the government. He later traveled to Paris and learned about banking. Upon his return to Japan, he helped build up the first modern bank in Japan. He eventually became a founder or supporter to about 500 companies and was involved with about 600 public services, including education for women.

"I know! I'll become a monk!" Akagami Akemitsu has spent his days and nights absorbed in studying and part-time work in an effort to distance himself from his family, which is notorious as a household of philanderers. One day, he falls in love at first sight with a girl named Aoba Yuzuki, and suddenly he's constantly drowning in worldly desires. Hoping to fight back against his genes and live a more stoic life, he enters a temple... only to find out that it's a convent filled with gorgeous girls! So begins a new rom-com about the temple life of three adorable triplets and two beautiful freeloaders!

Set at the end of the 12th century when several wars for control of Japan disrupted a long era of peace, this tale of "Heike" (another name for the Taira clan) focuses on Taira Kiyomori who fights alongside other members of his clan to at first successfully overcome the Minamoto clan and their bid for power. Battles and intrigue abound, as the puppet Emperor and Buddhist monks take sides in the power struggle. At issue is Kiyomori's parentage, not an unusual problem for the nobility in that era where clandestine liaisons among courtiers and the upper classes were common.

High school girl Shimoshiraishi Mugi, a former idol otaku is about to graduate high school but still is undecided in her career path. Her grandfather, who was the chief priest of a temple, passes away, and during the funeral, she discovers he had left behind considerable debt. There she also meets her childhood friend Isono Shuu, who had studied at a Buddhist University and is a qualified monk. Mugi, who doesn’t want to let go fully of her grandfather’s temple accepts Shuu’s proposal to become chief priest, and the two work together to rebuild the temple.

Ever since gifted conductor Natsume’s wife and daughter left him five years ago, he has isolated himself from the music scene. Then one day, he decides to return to Japan for the first time in decades to conduct a small town orchestra and return to his estranged daughter, Hibiki, who loathes him and his music. Now he must try to thaw a relationship with his daughter frozen in time for five years, and learn to be a father.