M.R. Dowsing's Blog

Obscure Japanese Film #273

Takahiro Tamura

Arai Yohiro

Minoru (Takahiro Tamura) is a middle-aged man who returns to theisland of Okinoerabu in the far south of Japan for the first time inover 30 years. He relives long-forgotten memories of his childhoodand his widowed mother (Atsuko Kaku), who died there when he wasstill a boy (Arai Yohiro), and meets an old man (Kamatari Fujiwara) who had been inlove with her.

Atsuko Kaku

Based on anautobiographical novel by Jiro Isshiki (1916-88) which won the OsamuDazai prize on its publication in 1967, this was the first ofjust two films directed by renowned cinematographer ToichiroNarushima (1925-93), who also worked as his own DP and producer herein addition to co-writing the screenplay. Previously, he had providedfirst-rate camerawork for mostly ‘new wave’ directors such asYoshishige Yoshida, Masahiro Shinoda, Noboru Nakamura and NagisaOshima after starting out as an assistant cameraman for KeisukeKinoshita. He clearly learnt a few things from working with suchacclaimed filmmakers as, not only is the photography in this film asstriking as one would expect from Narushima, but he proves to have afirm hand in other areas too.

Atsuko Kaku

The story is thesort of nostalgic, sentimental material that could easily have becomecloying, but Narushima mostly avoids this by preventing his actorsfrom overdoing it and staging his scenes with taste and subtlety,while the device of having the young and old Minoru frequentlyappearing together - almost as if the older one were a timetraveller – works especially well, as does the purposefully non-chronological unfolding of events in the flashbacks (the most dramatic scene is held back until the older Minoru can finally face it). Time within Memory alsobenefits from its well-used locations and Toru Takemitsu’s score,which provides much of the emotional resonance even if its not one ofhis greatest.

Yunosuke Ito and Hisano Yamaoka

Delivering a fineperformance in only her third film appearance, Atsuko Kaku won theMainichi Film Concours Award for Best Actress, but for some reasonnever made another film. Like Tatsuya Nakadai and many otherwell-known Japanese actors, she was a member of the Haiyuza theatrecompany. 

Jun Hamamura

As a passive observer of his own past, Takahiro Tamura hasless to do despiteostensibly having the lead role, while other notables among the castinclude Yunosuke Ito as Minoru’s eccentric inventor grandfather and Hisano Yamaoka as his wife, Taiji Tonoyama as a shopkeeper sympathetic to the youngMinoru, and Jun Hamamura as a mumbo-jumbo mumbling shaman. However,it’s Kamatari Fujiwara who impresses the most among the supportingcast when he sings and accompanies himself on the shamisen ina uniquely individual style (assuming he wasn’t dubbed).

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Kamatari Fujiwara

Obscure Japanese Film #272

Kinnosuke Nakamura 

The late Muromachi period,c.1467, the beginning of the Onin War. Samé, or ‘Shark boy’(Kinnosuke Nakamura), is a young shark fisherman who lives as anoutcast near a fishing village on the Echizen coast. As itinerants,his family are not accepted by the villagers and he is forced to handover his catch every day and accept the scraps they allow him to keepfor himself. When hostility towards the itinerants increases, theirhuts are burned and Samé’s mother (Akiko Kazami) killed, so he andan itinerant elder(Yoshi Kato)decide to head for the capital (Kyoto) on foot in search of a betterfuture. 

Yoshi Kato

However, the old manfalls ill andpasses away en route, after which Samé hooks up with a middle-agedwoman (Michiyo Kogure) making the same journey alone. She has amysterious supply of meat which keeps them going but, horrified todiscover that it’s actually human flesh, Samé abandons her andcontinues on his own.

Michiyo Kogure
Minoru Chiaki

It’sa time of widespread famine, and Samé turns to stealing in order tosurvive. He’s taken under the wing of Shirasawa (Minoru Chiaki), aone-armed criminal with a black mark on his face, who teaches Saméto be more ambitious in his thievery and even encourages him to kill.Inevitably, the pupil eventually turns on his master and, by the timeSamé has become a fully-fledged adult, he’s a ruthless man indeed. 

Daisuke Kato 

He next joins a gang of mercenaries led by Genji of Chikushi (DaisukeKato) in the hope of receiving not only wealth but a position ofpower in exchange for the heads he takes in battle. By this time, hiswillingness to commit evil seems to know no bounds, but when he triesto rape a nun (Yoshiko Mita), her unexpected reaction awakens hislost humanity.

Yoshiko Mita

Basedon a best-selling, prize-winning two-part novel of the same name byNobuhiko Matsugi (1932-2016) and adapted for the screen by directorTomotaka Tasaka’s regular collaborator Naoyuki Suzuki (who alsofrequently worked for Tomu Uchida), like many of Tasaka’s films,this is a lengthy one, clocking in at around 165 minutes. With formerkabuki actor Kinnosuke Nakamura – one of the biggest stars ofJapanese cinema at the time – in the lead role. it was a majorproduction for Toei, so it’s surprising that it’s not betterknown, though this is likely because it was not an award winner andappears to have been out of circulation for many years. At the time,Kinema Junpo ranked it 17th in the list of bestfilms of 1964, and it was the third most successful of the year interms of box office.

Nakamura

Thefilm depends heavily on its star, Kinnosuke Nakamura, a talentedactor but one who had a tendency to go over the top, which hecertainly does here, with his maniacal laugh being overused in thelater scenes. It might also have been better to cast a younger actorin the part of Samé as a boy – indeed, it took me a while torealise that the 32-year-old actor was playing a boy at thebeginning. Regarding the other cast members, it’s as surprising tosee Michiyo Kogure as a cannibal as it is predictable to see thecadaverous Jun Hamamura – who had already tasted ‘monkey meat’in Fires on the Plain (1959) – desperate for a taste, butit’s the two Seven Samurai veterans, Minoru Chiaki andDaisuke Kato, who come off best as Nakamura’s two mentors ofvillainy.

Jun Hamamura

LikeNakamura, director Tasaka was left-leaning politically, and the filmmakes it very clear that Samé is driven to crime by poverty and themerciless feudal system. Although most of Samé’s actions areselfish ones, at one point he clearly takes sides when he attackssome men escorting stocks of rice, liberating the food not for hisown benefit, but for all the starving poor to share. This scene isalso an example of several complex action sequences involvingnumerous actors that Tasaka stages quite brilliantly. His usualcinematographer at the time, Masahiko Iimura, makes effective use ofcolour and widescreen, although I couldn’t help thinking that blackand white would have suited such dark material better. There’s alsoa fitting score by one of Japan’s top film composers, Masaru Sato.However, well worth seeing though it is, I wouldn’t personally makeany claims for this film as a lost masterpiece because I found it rather lacking in subtlety both in terms of story and performance, and Ididn’t buy Samé’s rather corny religious redemption at the end.

Thanksto A.K.

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Obscure Japanese Film # 271

Eiji Nakano

A newspaper reporter, Tarama (Zenpei Saga), gets a call from an old friend, Miyamoto (Eiji Nakano), who’s broke but about to become a father with Noriko (Sachiko Chiba) although they’re not yet married. Miyamoto works for a dubious company specialising in insider trading but his boss won’t lend him a penny and he’s hoping that Tarama can help him financially. They arrange to meet that night for a drink in Ginza; later, on his way to meet Tarama, Miyamoto is approached by an old man (Yoyo Kojima) in the street who wants to sell him the evening paper – only it’s not that evening’s paper, it’s the one for the following day. Miyamoto assumes he’s a crackpot and buys a paper to get rid of him.
Yoyo Kojima
At a bus stop, Miyamoto notices a young homeless woman sleeping in the street next to a newspaper advert with the headline ‘Brutally murdered body of a young girl found in a sewer. Murder thought to have been committed by prostitute due to financial hardship.’ After boarding a bus, he begins perusing his paper and is astonished to see that it does indeed bear the following day’s date. Among the headlines are ‘Shock news! Murder suspect is popular singer, Hanako Hanamura’,  ‘Robbery on the bridge at 4:30 in the morning!’, and ‘Earthquake causes fire at Chameleon Bar’ – the very bar in which Miyamoto has arranged to meet his friend and where the proprietress (Chikako Hosokawa) favours oil lamps over electric ones. However, the item which most piques his interest is the following day’s racing results, but at this point he still assumes it’s all some kind of elaborate joke. 
Sachiko Chiba


Tarama fails to show, so Miyamoto heads home. When an earthquake hits and the fire brigade rush past him on their way to the Chameleon Bar, he realises that the contents of his mysterious newspaper should be taken seriously after all. Determined to raise some money to bet on the horse races, he decides to ask Noriko for some things to pawn and leaps into a taxi, where he’s disconcerted to learn that the driver keeps his wife’s ashes in an urn on the back seat. After visiting Noriko, he wakes up a pawnbroker (Osamu Takizawa) who has already closed for the night, but he’s disappointed with the amount of money he receives. Remembering the newspaper story about the robbery on the bridge, he decides to head there and rob the robber. He ends up killing the man he suspects to be the robber and throwing his body in the river. The man’s wallet contains only a little money (implying that he killed an innocent man), but now he at least has the funds he needs to make a different kind of killing. After winning big at the racetrack, he starts to become nervous about the police connecting him with the dead man and decides to leave Tokyo. He gives Noriko some money and says he’s going to Osaka and will send for her later, but heads for Yokohama instead. In another taxi, he takes out the newspaper again and notices something he’d overlooked the first time – his own obituary, which states that he died at 7:03 that evening. It’s now 6:35...

Eitaro Ozawa in one of his earliest screen roles as a cop


Japanese horror films from the 1930s are as rare as hen’s teeth, so it was a real treat to see this obscurity, especially as it turned out to be pretty good. Running a mere 55 minutes, I’m uncertain whether or not it’s complete – the fact that the newspaper story about a popular singer becoming a murder suspect is not followed up made me suspect there are scenes missing. 

Nakano and Chiba


The film begins with a title stating that it’s based on the final work of Itsuma Maki. Born at the turn of the century, Maki had died of a heart attack* aged just 35 shortly before the film was made (whether or not he died at 7:03 I don’t know). Itsuma Maki was actually one of several pen names of Kaitaro Hasegawa. Under the name Fubo Hayashi, he had created the famous one-eyed, one-armed swordsman Tange Sazen, while Maki was his chosen name for crime and horror stories, of which this last had been finished by Maki’s editor (who knew the intended ending) after the author’s death. However, Maki had spent time in London in the late 1920s, where he’d purchased numerous books of crime and horror stories, and ‘7:03’ is, in fact, closely based on the short story ‘The Old Man’ by the British author Holloway Horn.** Incidentally, Maki’s version of the story is apparently more humorous than the film, which plays it nightmarishly straight throughout. 
Kojima and Nakano


One nice touch is that actor and opera singer Yoyo Kojima plays not merely the old man, but also pops up in four other roles: a driver, the man Miyamoto kills, the disconcerting man who wants to use the phone box, and a racetrack spectator. When Miyamoto walks the deserted streets just before meeting the old man who sells him the paper, there’s also an effective use of sound and shadows to suggest a hidden danger which brings to mind Val Lewton’s later approach to similar material. It’s atmospherically shot by cinematographer Akira Mimura, who would go on to shoot Sanshiro Sugata (1943) for Kurosawa. 
Nakano


This is the only film I’ve seen by director Sotoji Kimura (1903-88), though he made quite a few during his 30-year-plus career. This seems not to have been at all typical of his work, much of which was on musicals and comedies – something I found pretty surprising after watching this! Perhaps the film was a box office flop, but to me it’s a pity he didn’t make more like it.




Leading man Eiji Nakano was a star of contemporary dramas known for his fashion sense, bad boy image and violent temper – his Japanese Wikipedia page states that film critics were afraid to give him a bad review in case he beat them up. In this case, I need not fear his ghost as I thought he gave a fine performance. He appeared in a dozen films for Mizoguchi but more or less retired from the cinema in 1939 to pursue other interests. 
The film was made for PCL Film Productions, which was active from 1933-37 and later became part of Toho. 
*English Wikipedia states that he died of acute bronchial asthma, but Japanese Wikipedia gives the cause as a heart attack. 
**The easiest way to access the original Holloway Horn story is probably via Gav Cross’ likeably eccentric reading on YouTube.

Japanese sources:https://borderland.txt-nifty.com/weblog_on_the_borderland/2009/03/post-7ed1.htmlhttps://nihoneiga1920-1960.hatenablog.com/entry/2022/11/23/125253
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Obscure Japanese Film #270

Yumeji Tsukioka

Yokohama c.1880. Okinu (Yumeji Tsukioka) is a young woman who singsand plays the gekkin (aka yueqin or ‘moon lute’) inrestaurants to earn a living. She’s in love with Shinkichi (KanjiKoshiba), a carriage driver studying to be a lawyer under windbagProfessor Naito (MitsusaburoRamon).

Kanji Koshiba

Her neighbour, Kikue (Yaeko Mizutani I,frequently confused with her daughter, Yaeko Mizutani II), is awidowed sewing instructor who was forced to endure an unhappymarriage. As a young woman, she had been in love with Takano, butunable to marry him as he was an ashigaru (samurai of thelowest rank). Instead, she was made to recite the ‘Three Obediencesof a Woman’ – which are first to her parents, second to herhusband and finally to her children – until it nearly drove her madand then had to marry a man who had no feelings for her.

Yaeko Mizutani

When the supposedly liberal ProfessorNaito proves objects strongly to Shinkichi’s intention to marryOkinu, Kikue is determined that Okinu not suffer the same fate, soshe takes matters into her own hands and visits the professorherself…

Misusaburo Ramon (supposedly!)

Produced by Daiei at their Kyotostudios, this was supposedly based on an original screenplay byYoshikata Yoda. However, Yoda clearly stole the plot from KyokaIzumi’s 1907 novel Onna keizu, the multiple film versions ofwhich include Teinosuke Kinugasa’s The Romance of Yushima andKenji Misumi’s 1962 version (the latter of which had a screenplayby Yoda).

This was director Keigo Kimura’s firstpost-war film and the conditions he had to work under would have beenquite restrictive this early on during the occupation, when theauthorities would only give the green light to pictures that promoteddemocracy and were against feudalism. This one is not terribly subtlein its approach and contains dialogue such as, “I despise suchfeudalistic thinking! Japan still hasn’t managed to break free fromit…”, etc etc.

Yaeko Mizutani

The acting is not terribly interestingeither, with Yaeko Mizutani’s theatrical origins being all tooobvious and her decision to speak like Minnie Mouse when playing theyoung Kikue in the flashbacks especially regrettable. Director Kimuramanages some nice moments here and there, but overall this is acontrived and sentimental affair which has not aged well.

A note on the title:

A few slightly different variations arepossible but, because the title seems to refer to Kikue, who opens a(metaphorical) door for Okinu – and potentially for other women insimilar positions – the most apt translation is perhaps ‘TheWoman Who Opened Doors’.

Thanks to A.K.

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Obscure Japanese Film #269

Raizo Ichikawa

Yutaro(Raizo Ichikawa), a prince whose father (also played by Ichikawa) wasforced to commit suicide, masquerades as a ronin and uses hisformidable skill with a sword to right a few wrongs he sees beingperpetrated on his wanderings. One day, he takes an ornate box stolenby a pickpocket away from the thief and discovers that it contains aMacGuffin in the shape of a map. A disgraced clan are attempting torestore their fortunes but need the map to do it, so they enlist thehelp of the famous swordsman Hirate Miki (Kenjiro Uemura) to slayYutaro. Meanwhile, Oyu (Masako Kishi) and Sayuri (Yoko Uraji) competefor Yutaro’s affections, but he seems more interested in PrincessTsu (Atsuko Kindaichi) even though she’s involved with the baddies…

ThisDaiei production was based on a novel by Renzaburo Shibata (1917-78),creator of the Nemuri Kyoshiro (orSleepy Eyes of Death)series, the films of which also starred Raizo Ichikawa. The plot ispure hokum, but the film is well made, fast-paced and entertainingand looks a treat thanks largely to the superb widescreen black andwhite cinematography of veteran Kohei Sugiyama, who had shot suchclassics as A Page of Madness (1926) and Gate of Hell(1953). This was one of his final films before he passed away in1960.

It’sdifficult to think of anyone who looks more the part of the heroicsamurai than Raizo Ichikawa does in this movie and the supportingcast also give a good account of themselves, especially KenjiroUemura, who manages to be even more dour than Shin Saburi in HirateMiki (1951). 

Kenjiro Uemura

The femalelead, Atsuko Kindaichi, was appearing in a period film for the firsttime here, having debuted as a Daiei ‘New Face’ in 1957 and beenkept very busy since. In 1960 she was cast in Shunkai Mizuho’sSure-sure, which involved a bed scene with Hiroshi Kawaguchi,so she refused to do it and quit the business. Few would blame forthat, although I don’t think it was specifically because it wasKawaguchi…

Atsuko Kindaichi

DirectorKatsuhiko Tasaka was the younger brother of the better-known TomotakaTasaka and seems to have worked almost entirely in the chambara(sword fighting) genre. As this is pre-Yojimbo,there is no spurting blood or slashing sounds, just some ratherclichéd music, but on the plus side, Tasaka delivers amemorably weird scene involving a giant talking Buddha statue and adancing woman with impractically long sleeves.

Anote on the title:

I’mnot sure the film has an official English title, but it’s sometimesreferred to as Yutaro’s Secret Story or Yutaro’s SecretSword; the former seems to be a reasonable reflection of theJapanese title, in which 巷談(kodan)is generally translated as ‘rumour’.

DVD at Amazon Japan (no English subtitles)

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Obscure Japanese Film #268

Kiyoshi Atsumi

1944. Private Nishiyama(Kiyoshi Atsumi) comes down with a fever while serving in China. He’ssent to hospital to recover, but develops pleurisy, making him unfitfor service. When the rest of his platoon hear he’s to be senthome, they all write letters to their loved ones and give them toNishiyama to deliver. However, Nishiyama has to wait months before hecan get a passage on a ship back to Japan, by which time the rest ofhis platoon have been wiped out. He decides that the least he can dois deliver the letters, but this proves to be no easy task in theturmoil of post-war Japan and he spends the next 8 years travelling the lengthand breadth of the country trying to track down the recipients…



Afterreading the 1960 novel Isho haitatsunin (‘Death LetterDelivery Man’) by Red Angel author Yorichika Arima(1918-80), actor Kiyoshi Atsumi – a very popular star thanks to hisrole as Tora-san in the long-running series – set up his ownproduction company to turn it into this film in collaboration withShochiku. Naoyuki Suzuki, the award-winning screenwriter of TomuUchida’s A Fugitive from the Past (1965) and a specialist inliterary adaptation, came on board to write the script, while TadashiImai – always passionate about material with an anti-war theme –was hired to direct, shooting on many different locations acrossJapan.

Chieko Baisho

Asidefrom the Chieko Baisho segment, which feels rather awkwardlyshoehorned in (perhaps to give Atsumi’s regular Tora-san co-starsomething to do), the episodic structure of the film works quitewell, keeping tedium at bay and avoiding much in the way ofrepetition, while Atsumi’s completely straight, low-key performanceis a definite asset and folk singer Hitoshi Komuro’s solo guitarscore generally hits the right notes. Given the nature of the story,the film could have been unbearably mawkish, but as we see Atsumideliver the letters to sundry familiar character actors, there’snot always the big emotional scene one might expect – in some casesthe recipients have become quite indifferent by the time he getsround to them. The letters themselves are not always kind either, andone hapless father receives a hate-filled missive from his dead sonsaying that it should be the old who die, not the young. In othercases, Nishiyama finds himself stirring up trouble rather thanbringing closure to the bereaved, and all the while his commitment tohis quest means that he misses out on various opportunities in hisown life. Is he really helping people or has he just made a rod forhis own back due to a bad case of survivor’s guilt? Indeed, thereal strength of this film is its questioning nature – there’s nosense of certainty that Nishiyama has done the right thing, and it'squite rightly left for him – and us – to ponder.



DVD at Amazon Japan (no English subtitles)

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Obscure Japanese Film #267

Susumu Fujita

Takashi Shimura 

Ishimatsu (Susumu Fujita, best-known for playing the title role in Kurosawa’s Sanshiro Sugata) is a poor tenant tea farmer fed up with working like a slave for a pittance. After losing the little money he had in a dice game against gambling boss Shimachidori (Takashi Shimura), he resolves – with the encouragement of tea house hostess Oshin (Kyoko Asagiri) – to abandon agriculture and turn to crime despite the objections of his mother (Choko Iida) and best friend Gosaku (Taiji Tonoyama). He finds employment with the famous yakuza Jirocho Shimizu (Komei Minami) but has little success in his new endeavour until, determined to make a name for himself, he shows reckless bravery in a fight but loses an eye in the process. Now with a formidable reputation to live up to, he falls in love with Ofuji (Yukiko Todoroki), but she won’t marry him unless he gives up his life of crime…

Yukiko Todoroki

Mori no Ishimatsu was said to have been a subordinate of the real life Jirocho Shimizu (1820-93), but it’s unclear whether Ishimatsu was, in fact, a real person. In any case, he had already been the subject of at least half a dozen movies by the time this one was made and would go on to inspire many more, most of which seem to be comedies, which is understandable given that Japanese Wikipedia states that he was traditionally portrayed as ‘a lovable character who is a drunken ruffian but has a strong sense of loyalty and compassion, and is somewhat absent-minded.’

This Shochiku production was based on an original screenplay by Kaneto Shindo and directed by his regular associate Kozaburo Yoshimura. Also frequently comic in tone, with a rather dim-witted hero and the sword fighting scenes emphasising the clumsiness and reluctance of the opponents, their film nevertheless has its serious side and criticises both gangsterism and the exploitation of workers by the old feudal system. Indeed, it was probably these themes that saw it approved by the censors of the Occupation authorities, who prevented many period films from being made at the time (this was Yoshimura’s first) as they felt that such stories often gave tacit approval to feudalism, the mindset of which had allowed the military to take over the government of Japan and lead it into war.

Taiji Tonoyama

As a film, this is no lost masterpiece, but it is a well-made and enjoyable watch which clearly had quite a lot of effort put into it – the period details, for example, look quite authentic, and there is some effective use made of real locations, nifty tracking shots (courtesy of Yoshimura’s regular cinematographer at the time, Toshio Ubukata) and a number of complex, well-staged scenes in which elaborate sets and large numbers of extras are also used. Another asset is the cast, in which Shimura makes a fine villain, while Choko Iida stands out as Ishimatsu’s put upon, sutra-chanting mother. Other notables featured are Koji Mitsui, Sadako Sawamura and an almost unrecognisable Chishu Ryu. 

Choko Iida

Chishu Ryu

Note on the title:

Although it’s often translated as ‘Ishimatsu of the Forest’, there’s no sign of a forest; apparently, the ‘Mori’ of the title actually refers to Mori-machi village, in what was then the Enshu region, and is where Ishimatsu was said to be from.

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Obscure Japanese Film #266

Kinya Kitaoji
Kunie Tanaka

Goshogawa (Kinya Kitaoji) andYujiro (Kunie Tanaka) are young truck drivers in Toyama. Having todrive to Niigata, they stop off to visit Yujiro’s sister, Yoshiko(Ayumi Ishida), who is in there with tuberculosis. Goshogawa findshimself attracted to a nurse, Nami (Yuriko Hoshi); meanwhile, Yujirotakes the opportunity to tell the doctor (Mikijiro Hira) thatGoshogawa has been complaining about his gums bleeding recently.Examining Goshogawa, the doctor discovers that he has leukemia, butdoesn’t tell him. However, Goshogawa soon learns the truth, and itemerges that he had been on a fishing boat near Bikini Atoll at thetime of the US nuclear bomb test…

Yuriko Hoshi
Mikijiro Hira

ThisToho production was based on an original screenplay by HidekoTakamine’s husband, Zenzo Matsuyama, who had a penchant for writing– and sometimes directing – what are somtimes termed ‘issue’films; in other works, he tackled sensitive subjects such as forcedemigration (Mother Country), dementia (The Twilight Years),and disability (The Happiness of Us Alone), some moresuccessfully than others. Unfortunately, this is not an example ofhis better work, featuring as it does some clumsy – and corny –writing, and being really just a sentimental tearjerker at heart,with realism not on the agenda. (The most idiotic scene is the one inwhich the shouting policeman lets the cat out of the bag aboutGoshogawa’s illness).

Yuriko Hoshi

Asone would expect from a film directed by Shiro Toyoda and lensed byhis frequent collaborator, Kozo Okazaki, it’s very well shot andhas some effective scenes – the one in which Goshogawa chases atrain in his truck is a technical tour de force – but that’s notenough here, partly due to the deficiencies in the script, but alsobecause there are other issues, too. Kinya Kitaoji and Kunie Tanakaoveract shamelessly for the most part, although Kitaoji is effectivein some scenes after the diagnosis, while Masaru Sato’smusic tries rather too hard to tug at our heartstrings. The women inthe cast fare better, but have a tough job given what they have towork with.

Thefilm failed to win any awards, but it was a box office hit, and KinyaKitaoji and Yuriko Hoshi were re-teamed the following year inKitahodaka zessho, in which Kitaoji suffers from amnesiainstead of leukemia, and again for 1969’s Tsugaru zessho, inwhich he suffered, I think, from general misfortune. Neither of thesecash-ins had any involvement from Matsuyama or Toyoda.

Asa footnote, it’s perhaps worth mentioning that, in Japan, itapparently used to be common for doctors not to inform patients ifthey had a terminal illness, although I believe that this hasgradually changed over the last few decades.

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Obscure Japanese Film #265
Tatsuya Mihashi and Michiyo Aratama

1906,the 39th year of the Meiji Era. Kanta (Tatsuya Mihashi)and O-Gin (Michiyo Aratama) arrive in Chushojima, the red lightdistrict of Fushimi City near Kyoto, with the intention of setting uptheir own brothel with the help of O-Gin’s somewhat reluctant uncle(Jukichi Uno). They find an ideal property, but are less lucky infinding prostitutes – of the three they initially hire, one (HarunaKaburagi) comes down with a venereal disease and has to behospitalised, another (Harue Tone) is planning to abscond with heryakuza boyfriend (a pre-cheek-job Joe Shishido) and the remainingone, Kikuno (Izumi Ashikawa), is unable to reconcile herself with hernew profession and is utterly miserable. If that weren’t badenough, Kanta finds himself in conflict with Ikarigawa (MisaoShimizu), the local yakuza boss, and the Salvation Army are spreadinganti-prostitution propaganda. It’s a tough life being a ponce…

Jukichi Uno
Joe Shishido

ThisNikkatsu production was based on the first part of a bestsellingtrilogy of novels entitled Kuruwa by Katsumi Nishiguchi(1913-86) published between 1956 and 1958. According to JapaneseWikipedia, Nishiguchi had himself been born into a family that owneda brothel in Chushojima, and Nikkatsu’s website states that Kantawas based on his father. In 1957, prostitution was a hot topic inJapan as the Prostitution Prevention Law had just been passed and wasdue to come into force the following year, hence there were a numberof films on the topic produced around this time, most famously KenjiMizoguchi’s Akasen chitai,but also Yuzo Kawashima’sexcellent Suzaki Paradise: Red Light District,another Nikkatsu production starring Mihashi, Aratama and Ashikawareleased the previous year to this one. Nishiguchi,a member of the Japanese Communist Party, seemsto have beenstrongly opposed to prostitution despite his family background, andthis film has an obvious anti-capitalist message at its heart.

Izumi Ashikawa (front) and friends on display for passing customers
Tatsuya Mihashi

TatsuyaMihashi, the film’s leading man, would have had little sympathywith Nishiguchi’s communist beliefs – the actor had been aprisoner of war in Siberia, and subsequently refused to take anyplane that flew over Russian airspace. Mihashi was known as ‘theJapanese Cary Grant’ due to his alleged resemblance to theHollywood star, though I can’t really see it myself. In any case,this is one of the best roles he ever had in the movies.

Oneinteresting aspect of this film is the choice to make theperpetrators rather than the victims the main protagonists as one canhardly root for people like these. However, they’re certainly notone-dimensional villains – Kanta seems to have become obsessed withmoney only as a result of witnessing how the poor can be victimisedby the rich and powerful with impunity, and he has a reckless couragein taking on a gang of yakuza single-handed. For her part, O-Gin’slove for her husband is strong enough to override her misgivings, atleast at the beginning. The rounded performances by the two leads alsoensure we never completely despise them and, in fact, do rootfor them in one way, at least – by hoping they will come to see theerror of their ways. But perhaps that’s not easy for them in aworld where the other local business owners see it as their right toexploit women by forcing them into sexual slavery. By showing allthis so clearly, the film forces the audience to think seriouslyabout Japan’s uncomfortable history with prostitution and the pricethat is paid when people decide to choose money over morality.

Misao Shimizu

Theunconventional ending strongly suggested to me that there wassupposed to be a sequel, but for some reason one was never made. Ithink the film may have rubbed people’s noses in it a bit too muchto have been a box office success, but this is pure speculation on mypart. In any case, this is a verywell-done film all around andthe best I’ve seen so far by director Eisuke Takizawa, here workingfrom a screenplay by the prolific Toshio Yasumi.

Anote on the title:

The film begins by displaying the character 廓 (kuruwa), then 無法一代 (muho ichidai) is superimposed over the top. Most Japanese sites list the film as 「廓」より　無法一代  (‘Kuruwa yori Muho ichidai’, which is perhaps best translated as ‘From Red Light District: The Lawless Age’), but sometimes the film is listed simply as Muho ichidai, omitting the reference to the title of the novel. Others have translated muho ichidai as ‘Outrageous Generation,’ but in my opinion this is a poorer fit for the material and was never an official English title as far as I can see. I believe the standard Japanese for ‘red light district’ is akasen chitai; kuruwa is an alternative which I suspect had fallen out of use or was only used in a specific area, but if anyone knows better, please leave a comment below. 

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Obscure Japanese Film #264

Takahiro Tamura

1928.‘One-Shot’ Ginzo (Takahiro Tamura), a matagi, or bearhunter, returns to his home village of Ani in Akita Prefecture afterhaving spent 10 years in the penal colony on Sakhalin Island forfighting. He learns that his son was killed in action in Siberiaseven years earlier, and that most of the villagers now work at thenew mine. Ginzo’s daughter-in-law, Kimi (Junko Sakurada), isliving as a widow with his grandson, Ippei (Hiroshi Miyata).

Junko Sakurada

Whena bear kills one of the villagers, Ginzo sets out to kill it andsucceeds. However, shortly after this, a bear cub turns up lookingfor its mother. Ginzo, believing that he has committed a sin againstthe god of the mountains by making the cub an orphan, resolves togive up hunting and raise the cub to make amends. Ippei is delightedto have a furry new playmate, but of course cute little bears turninto big scary ones and one day they will have to release it backinto the wild…

Hiroshi Miyata and friend

Thisco-production between Toei and the independent Kobushi Productionswas made to capitalise on the success of director Toshio Goto’searlier film The Old Bear Hunter (1982), although this film isaimed more specifically at the family market, with considerable focuson the boy and the bear cub. There are even two montage sequences ofthe two frolicking together and the bear getting into variousmischief over which a female singer croons a cheesy ballad abouthuman-animal friendship. The film is not exactly subtle, then, but itis quite well-made and entertaining, and some of the animal andnature footage is certainly impressive even if the filmmakersoccasionally resort to using a fake bear for the more difficultshots (there is some pretty amazing ursine actingat the end, though…)

Aswith Goto’s other wilderness movies, I would question how much thewelfare of the animals was considered here, and I can’t helpfeeling there’s some hypocrisy in promoting such a film aswholesome family entertainment when some of the various bears usedmust have had an unpleasant time in certain scenes . Still, I supposethis reflects our generally inconsistent attitude to animals, whicheasily changes depending on convenience; in this film, bears are bothmonstrous killers and cute anthropomorphised playmates as the storydemands.

It’sperhaps worth saying a few words about this film’s star, TakahiroTamura (1928-2006), whose father was none other than TsumasaburoBando, the sword-fighting star of silent films whose career continueduntil his untimely death in 1953 at the age of 51. Apparently, Bandodied owing money to Shochiku, the studio which had him undercontract, and Tamura was urged to follow in his father’s footstepsas a means of repaying his debts, which he agreed to do. However, herefused to be marketed as Tsumasaburo Bando mark II and resistedappearing in period dramas for the most part. He worked for Shochikufrom 1953-1963, becoming a regular in Keisuke Kinoshita’s films,then went freelance. Career highlights include his role as ShintaroKatsu’s sidekick in The Hoodlum Soldier series (1965-68),Seisaku in Yasuzo Masumura’s Seisaku’s Wife (1965)opposite Ayako Wakao, the air force commander in Tora! Tora! Tora!(1970), and the father in the Oscar-nominated Muddy River(1981). I don’t think Tamura ever became a box office draw, but hewas a serious, hard-working actor who managed to avoid typecastingand successfully took on a wide range of roles. His performance inthis film may be a tad broad at times, but on the whole he makes agood fist of it and, though Ginzo initially appears unlikeably gruffand aggressive, Tamura gradually reveals the heart ofgold that’s concealed beneath the surface.

Anote on the title:

イタズ(itazu)means ‘bear’ in the matagi language, but as this would notbe understood by most Japanese people, the original title alsocontains the standard Japanese word for ‘bear’, 熊(kuma).

Englishsubtitles at Open Subtitles

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