The Twilight Samurai

Name: The Twilight Samurai
Genre: Drama, Romance
Released: 2002-11-02
Duration: 2 h 9 min
Rating: 7.8
Cast: Hiroyuki Sanada, Rie Miyazawa, Nenji Kobayashi, Mitsuru Fukikoshi, Min Tanaka

2002·Movie·129 min·★ 7.8(357)

Drama Romance More Japanese titles

Seibei Iguchi leads a difficult life as a low ranking samurai at the turn of the nineteenth century. A widower with a meager income, Seibei struggles to take care of his two daughters and senile mother. New prospects seem to open up when the beautiful Tomoe, a childhood friend, comes back into he and his daughters' life, but as the Japanese feudal system unravels, Seibei is still bound by the code of honor of the samurai and by his own sense of social precedence. How can he find a way to do what is best for those he loves?

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Where to watch The Twilight Samurai in United States

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Click a service to open The Twilight Samurai there. Availability last verified on June 20, 2026.

Where is The Twilight Samurai streaming around the world?

Country	Streaming on	Rent / Buy
Japan	Hulu, U-NEXT, Cinefil Wow Plus Amazon Channel, FOD Channel Amazon Channel	Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies
South Korea	Netflix, wavve, Watcha, Netflix Standard with Ads	wavve

About The Twilight Samurai

The Twilight Samurai is a 2002 Japanese-language drama and romance film directed by Yoji Yamada. The cast is led by Hiroyuki Sanada, Rie Miyazawa, Nenji Kobayashi. It has a runtime of 2h 9m. Viewers rate it 7.8/10 across 400 ratings.

The Twilight Samurai was produced by Shochiku, Sumitomo Corporation, and Hakuhodo and made in Japan. It was released on November 2, 2002. Made on a budget of about $5 million, it went on to gross $7 million worldwide.

Director: Yoji Yamada
Writers: Yoshitaka Asama, Yoji Yamada
Release date: November 2, 2002
Original language: Japanese
Status: Released
Country: Japan
Budget: $5 million
Box office: $7 million
Production: Shochiku, Sumitomo Corporation, Hakuhodo

#daughter#japan#samurai#based on novel or book#sword#mission of murder#teacher#sword fight#honor#period drama#historical#widower#jidaigeki#feudal japan

The Twilight Samurai cast & crew

The Twilight Samurai was directed by Yoji Yamada and written by Yoshitaka Asama and Yoji Yamada.

The cast features Hiroyuki Sanada as Seibei Iguchi, Rie Miyazawa as Tomoe Iinuma, Nenji Kobayashi as Choubei Kusaka, Mitsuru Fukikoshi as Michinojo Iinuma, Min Tanaka as Zenemon Yogo, and Ren Osugi as Toyotaro Koda.

Behind the camera, the score was composed by Isao Tomita, cinematography is by Mutsuo Naganuma, and it was produced by Hiroshi Fukazawa and Tomoo Miyagawa.

Is The Twilight Samurai worth watching?

The Twilight Samurai holds an audience score of 7.8/10 from 357 ratings, marking it as well-reviewed drama films.

At 2h 9m, it's a standard feature-length watch.

If you enjoy drama and romance, The Twilight Samurai is worth a place on your watchlist.

How and where to watch The Twilight Samurai

The Twilight Samurai isn't currently available on major streaming services in United States. We track availability continuously — add it to your watchlist and we'll keep an eye out.

Streaming rights change country by country and month by month, so the options above reflect United States today — switch your country at the top of the where-to-watch section to see availability elsewhere.