A Hundred Years of Japanese Film: A Concise History, with a Selective Guide to DVDs and Videos

Revised

ond Updoted

"What Boswell was to Johnson, what Gibbon was to ancient Rome, Donald Richie is to the Japanese cinema."

A HUNDRED

A

YEARS

ESE

A Concise History, with a Selective Cuide

to DVDs and Videos

DONALD RICHIE Foreword by

Paul Schr ader

KODNSHA INTERNATIONAT Tokyo

. New York . London

OF

Dedicated to the memory of Kawakita Kashiko

(1gos-rgg3)

Nors: Penonal names

re rcmanizedin

their original order: family names fint.

Still captions list actors left to right.

Distributed in the United States by Kodansha America, Inc., and in the United Kingdom and continental Europe by Kodansha Europe Ltd. Published by Kodansha Intemationalltd., 17-14 Otowa l-chome, Bunlryo-ku, Tokyo 112-8652, and Kodansha America, Inc.

Copyright @ 2001 and2005 by Donald Richie. All rights reserved. Printed inJapan. ISBN- I 3 : 97

*77

0v2995-9

ISBN-l0: L7700-29954 Fint edition,

2001

Revised edition, 2005

05 06 07 08 og 10 Lib rary of Con gress

C

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10 g s 7

65 432r

atalo gin g- i n- Publication D ata av ailable.

w w w . ko

dan s ha- intl.

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CONTENTS

Foreword by Paul

Introduction

I

-A

tr

Schrader

7

9

CONCTSE HISTORY OF IAPANESE FTLM

Beginnings and the Benshi

17

Film, Theater , andActors 22 Realism and Western

Reality

Influences

25

27

Tactics

Shingeki andNew Narrative The

H

Gmdnigeki

29

32

Taisho Democr acy

andshochiku

43

The New Gmdnigeki: Shimazu, Gosho, The New Jidaigeki: Itami, Inagal
Shimrzu,Ozu,andNaruse 46

Ito, andYamanakasadao 64

Nik'katsu and the Shimpa: Mizoguchi

Kenji

77

Expressionism, Kinugasa Teinosuke, and the Leftist

Criticism andCrackdown: World War

E

The Occupation of

Japan

Postwar Developments Ozu and

Naruse

Mizoguchi and the

1

Film 84

II 96

107

15

119

Period-Film

129

New Means:Jun-bungaku,, Comedy, and Social

Issues L34

tr

The Advent of Television and the Film's Defenses: Suzuki, Nak ahta,Kawashima,

and

Imamura

177

The Early Independents: Hani and

Teshigahara I92

The "New Wave": 0shima, Yoshi da, After the

tr

andshinoda 196

Wave 208

Making Audiences 213 The New Independents 216

Documentary and

Anime

247

Conclusion 259

II-A SELECTIVE GUIDE TO DVDS AND VIDEOS Introduction 263 Listings

265

Japanese Historical

Notes 294 Glossary 300

Bibliography 303

Index

306

Periods 293

o

o

\(/

D

ver the last forf,v years Donald Richie has

written and rewritten not only the history of Japanese filn but also a history of critical methodology. Whatever we in the West know about Japanese film, and how we latow it, we rnost likely owe to Donald Richie.

in Japan in January I)47 as a civilian staff writer for the Pactfic Stars ar'td initial motivation was "more to get out of Lima lOhio] than to go to Tokyo," but

He arrived Stripes. His

he was s00n gravitating towardJapanese

cultuls-si11ema in particular-and writing film

reviews for the PJ5'. It was an extraordinary time to be an funerican

civilian inJapan Richie

made the most of it, and it made the most of Donald Richie. His studies of Japanese

filrn began in 1959 with

The Japa?xese

Film; Art and Industry,

which he coauthored with Joseph fuiderson. For me, a film student, it was a seminal instructive work. As with Borde and Chaumeton's Panorama du Fi,lm IVoir Americafl, & door opened

filrl

to aworld of fascinating roours. Richie's first history

used a humanistic model: the

director struggling to be an individual while, at the sane tine, moving toward what was

presutlted to be the realistic norm. ("Realistic" or "representational," as opposed to "presen-

tational"-vcritical

distinction centraltoJapanese aesthetics

Tlre arn azing-absolutely

not simply updated his history (like most other every decade 0r s0. Instead,

as

well as to Richie's writing.)

uniqus-n2[ure of Richie's accornplishrnent is that he has film historians) by appending

new chapters

in every later work he has chosen to approach his subject frorn

another angle, rescreening the filrns and rethinking his assumptions, acknowledging that

as

history evolves so does the historian and his methodologies. Riclrie, writing alone, published his second history, Japanese Cinema;

Film Stltle ancl

IVational Charactcr, in 1971. This volume emphasized a cultural point of view: the struggle of Japanese fihnmakers to be Japanese

the critical Zeitgeist of the

in a non-indigenous medium, It

also subscribed to

time-2x[gurism, the notion that the director is responsible for

everything that appears 0n screeu. Nso, at this time, Richie wrote the initi tive

book on Kurosawa and

al andstill defini-

Ozu.

The third of his histories, Japanese Cinenta; An Introductiort (1990), turned its atten-

tion to how filrns were actually made: the rnultitude of practical considerations that define a single

filrn and its contemporaries: politics, economics, morality, intermedia competitiol,

teclrnological advances, persolt ality conflicts. To achieve this

,

A?'t

Introcluction ernphas ized

reporting over theory.

In this new book, A Hundred Years of Japanese Ff,lm, Richie relies even less on theory. He has refined atrd amplified the approach of the 1990 volume, retained his sensitivity to the actual circumstances of fihn production (something filmrnakeffi consider important but his-

torians often overlook), renounced his previous methodologies and proposed a new or're, one

whiclr seeks to oppose then reconcile the unclnsidered assumption of a native Japanese accent and the demands of a cinematic lingu a ftanca. He desires to show the interweave of

fihlmaking (the contributions of directors, writen, cinematographers,

actors, composers, art

directors, as well as financiers). Decline -and-fall modalities are found too sirnplistic, as is the

infancy-maturity rnodel. Film's unspoken asslunptions, the hows and whys of fihnmaking, the laws of supply and demand-these are now central concems. Fascinating issues arise: Japanese assulnptions abor-rt "realisrn," the growing respectability of the "representational," the merging of high and low cnltures, the evolution of the getlre, as well as the demise of the period-film and the emergence of the dominant contemporary theme, in Ozu Stepping ashore

as elsewhere,

in

was given a unique opportunity. response as it

of the failing family.

1947, Donald Richie, the Cornrnodore Perry of Japanese

filrl

history,

Still in Tokyo more than half a century later, he has-in

were-given film historians

a

rlodel of the modern critic: a llan of

restless,

evolving intellect.

Pcrul Schradu

N

C

o

N

I r 1895, when film was first seen in

Ja;tan,a

U

D

C

fifff-year-old member of this initial rnovie audience would have been boru into a feudal world where the shogun, dairnyo, and samurai ruled. He could not have left his archipelago or, if he did, he could not have returned upon pain of death. His manner of dress and way of speech were regulated by his status, and his ignorance of the outside world was general.

It

was still the epoch of the Tokugawa clan which ruled Japan from 1500 through 1867, encompassing much of what we now know as the Edo period.

During the ensuing period, the Meij

t

era (1868-1912), this kimono -clad viewer would

not only have seen the Meiji Restoration (when the sixteen-year-old ernperor was brought

from Kyoto to Edo-now Tolryo-to become the nominal head of the new government), but also the Meiji "Enlightenrnent." Here, under the slogan "A Rich Country and a Strong

Military" (Fukoku lg,ohei),

he

would have seen the abolition of the feudal socioeconomic system under which he had grown up, the adoption of rnodern (Western) production methods, and universal conscrip-

tion. Under another of the many colorful slogans of the period, "Civthzation and Enlighten-

ment" (Bommei lhika), he would have experienced the official urging of Western clothes and nreat eating, the abolition of sword carrying and chommage (topknots), and eventually the disbanding of the samurai themselves.

Tlris hypothetical fifty-year-old would have also witnessed the forced adoption of the Western (Gregorian) calendar, the emergence

of a nationwide public school

system, the

inauguration of telephone and postal seruices, and the construction of railways. fuid through it all, he-now perhaps in a three-piece suit and wearing a bowler

hat-

would have been told to somehow hold on to his Japaneseness. Yet another slogan indicated the way: "Japanese Spirit and Westem Culture" (Wa,kon

Yosai)-in

ineffables of Japan were to illuminate Western materialism.

that order. The national

In this nanner, it

was hoped,

Japan

might avail itself of the ways of the moderu West and, at the same time, retain its

"national entity." It was a difficult task, one whichJapan is still trying to carry out. When

filn

decades. The

cane to Japan, the country had only allowed foreign irnports for a few

nation's culture-which neans its way of accounting for, of constructing, of

assuming-was still its own. Whatever early

debts were owed to China and Korea, they had

long been canceled by an appropriation which rendered their influence "Ja;tanese." The nontraditional, the nodern, the Western, wffi not even half a century old. The traditional, though eroding swiftly, was still centuries deep.

Irr Japan,

fihn arrived as acomnercial product. Though it might eventually be illuminated

by native ineffables, proving that fihn was a uniquely nation aI art was not aJapanese issue. Norwas there a need to discoverparudigms-to trace apathfrom simple to complex, fronr infancy to maturity and beyond. Indeed, it was not necessary to treat film history as destined to

fill

any of the various categories of an aesthetic system.

In time, however, a need to account for a ceftainJapanese tradition in developed, a need which

Japanese films

still remains. And though "Japaneseness" is not a concept which

ever much interested the Japanese filmmaker (though

it

has occasionally fascinated the

politician), filmmakers remain Japanese, and the international language of fihn is even now locally spoken with anat:e accent. As director Ozu Yasujiro once put it: "We are

Japanese

Japanese, so we should makeJapanese things."

Histories of the Japanese

film (both in

Western langllages and in Japanese

itselfl have

most often chosen a t,olksgeist theory where the culturally specific can be used as a vehicle

for histo rical reorienting and aesthetic inquiry, and where the uniqueness of the Japanese filnr may be insisted upon. In actuality, however, therearcmore similarities than differences among the fihns of Europe and America, and those of Japan Though each country creates

a natronal cinem a (and

hence

a nattonal cinematic style), it is only through the most

common, pragm atic, and universal of means. A

film history is a search for a way through

wlrich narrative can be presented more efficiently. Conventionally, the histornn is given several choices. He or she can arrange the ntaterial to fornr a kind of narrative, one which stretches from primitive beginnings toward sornething

like present perfection. 0r, another ploy, the events can be arcanged to assume a familiar

pattern-birth, maturity, decline. 0r,

again, the historian

nay postulate

as

prinary acoun-

try's culture and character. The rnethod adopted here is more eclectic and less concerned

with any single theory. It follows the rnechanics of cause and effect and it believes, along

10

witlr Alexis de Tocqueville, that "history is a gallery of pictures in which there are few originals and nany copies." Further, this narrative insists upon the importance of irnportation. While all countries incorporate culture from elsewhere-the process is called "progrest"-Japan does so with a

certain finality. Any definition of Japarrese style has to face the fact that rnost Japanes e are usually unable to lrandle anything without swiftly nationalizingit. 0r, perhaps better put, the Japanese have a particular genius for assimilation and incorporation. Thus any influ-

ence-be it gagaku, court dancing from medieval

Korea, punk rock from modern fuirerica,

the narrative patternings of European sophisticate Ernst Lubitsch, or the made-in-U.S.A. attitudes of

QuentinTarantino-is

swallowed, digested, and turned into somethillg sometimes

riclr, often strange, and always "Japanese." Nl of these choices, moreover, are purposeful: identity is, in the process, more constructed than discovered.

In Japanese cinema, there was thus no Japanese essence awaiting liberation by a few individual directors. Nor was astorytelling narrative there frorn the first. This rose from the rreeds, often commercial, to regulanzeproduction.

The storytelling cinema was not so muclr

the result of cinernatic discoveries as that of aconsolidation of techniques, nany of thern old, some of them new, all of them depending upon circumstances. Narrative rose from reguIarization ; style from standard ization. The enormous

if rapidly shrinking weight of the traditional certainly infonls

Japanese

culture, but so does the mass of all its imports. Balancing all this, not succumbing entirely to uolksgezsl theory 0n one hand, nor, on the other, completely subscribing to the effects of

foreign influences, is the task of the historian.

One of the ways in which

l have

attempted to identify the demands of an assumed native cul-

ture is by presupposing a polarity between what

I identify as apresentational

ethos, which I

find more in Asia than in the West, and a representational ethos, which I find more in the West than

in Asia.

The representational intends to do just that, represent: It is realist and assumes that "reality" itself is being shown. The presentational, on the other hand, presents. This it does through various sfi/izations, with no assumption that raw realiry is being displayed. The West is farniliar with some

of these stylizations (irnpressionisrn/expressionisrn), and

the

Japanese cinema will introduce us to more. Film "realisn" is itself, to be sure, just one sfyli-

zation among nany, but its position is in the West privileged. It is not so traditionally privileged in the East. fuid, though

l believe my

gene ralization is largely true, we can

still think of

presentational European and American films, and representationalJapanese ones. My use of this presentational-representational axis is not original.

to rnany historians of the

Japanese

It is a concept familiar

film. I am, however, perhaps alone in so stressing it.

Though it remains a scherna, it is a powerful one, because through it one can discover a basic assumption governing the shape of the Japanese

fihn. It provides

a base upon

which to

build The idea of presentation also welcomes an expanding tradition. Japanese tradition now

includes much that was originally foreign. Ozu made

)nr

Gang his 0m, and group-

nrinded Japanese descendants have become the attractive gangs of rascals

in the fihns of

Kitano "Beat" Takeshi and others of his generation. At the sane time, presentation as a dominant assumption makes possible the creation of individual directorial styles. This is true

in all cinema; the gestural canlera in Mizoguchi Kenji and Max Ophtils,

the precision of

detail in Kuros awa and Hitchcock, the narrowly selective realisn of Ozu and Robert Bresson. One

night

say that a rcpresentational ethos results

rn aless individual style.

This said, one must also add that commercial film is a collective effort, and tracing responsibilities is not all that easy. The auteur theory conventionally assigns such responsi-

bility to the director himself, under the assumption that the captain is respottsible for the slrip. However, contributions

to afinished film arevanous, perhaps particularly in Japan,

wlrere harmonious contribution is encou raged and single-minded determittation is uot. In

this work I may not have entirely solved the many problems of attribution but, at least, I have indicated some of those-producers, writen, photographen, art directors, have contributed. In so doing,

actors-who

I hope to have ernphasizedsomething about the nature of this

joint product. fuiyone attempting a history of.Japanese film is at something of a disadvanlage in that little Japanese

film is left. Even in

a world medium where two-thirds of

lost and perhaps a quarter of all sound films

as

all silent cinena

so

is

well, the destruction of the Japanese cinema

is extraordinary. Except for a few known titles, there is little ftrlly extant from the period of

I89l to 1917 andonly

sornewhat rnore

from 1918 to 1945. The 1923 earthquake,

tl-rc 1945

fire-bombing of the rnajor cities, the poslwar Allied Occupation torching of banned films, and the later indifference of the industry itself have meant the destruction of ninety percent

of allJapanese films made before 1945. I lrave noted such missing films in the text with the designation "n.s." (not surviving)

.

Tlrere is now a large amount of scholarly work on the Japauese

film. Since one of nty

aims in writing this llew account is to acconmodate film students, I have puryosely availed myself of it, calling attention

in the bibliography to its availability, For the same reason I

have cornpiled a guide to English-subtitled

film on DVD and videocassette to

teacher and student, as well as the interested reader.

t2

assist both

Finally, in writing this book

I am grateful,

as always, to the KawalttaFoundation, the

JapanFoundation, and the National Film Center, and to their generosity in allowing screenings and lending stills. I want to acknowledge my debt to the \ate Earle Ernst who first introduced me to the presentationaVrcpresentationalparadigm

which has become central to this

book. I am as well indebted to David Borwell, Arthur Nolletti, Keiko McDonald, and Mark Schilling, aII of whom took time to read the manuscript andmake suggestions; to the input of Aaron Gerow; to Paul Schrader, who not only read the manuscript but wrote the foreword; and to my Kodansha editon, Barry Lancet, UchiyamaMichiko

, andCathy Layne. Donald Richie

\

i t \l

13

"One need only compare American, French, and German films to see how greatly nuances of shading and coloration

c

nvary

in motion pictures. In the photographic image itself, to say nothing of the acting and the script, there somehow emerge differences in natio nal character. "

TanizahJun'ichiro , In Praise of Shadnus (1933) Qn'ei rAisAn, translated by Thomas J. Harper and Edward G. Seidensticker, rg77)

BECINNINCS AND THE BENSHI

f I

ilm began in Japan, as in most countries, during the last few years of the nineteenth century. The Cin lmatographe Lumidre made its Osaka debut in 1897. Within weels, Thomas

Edison's Vitascope was also seen there and, shortly afterthat, in Tokyo as well. In the same

yeff tlre fint motion-picture camerawas imported by photographer Asano Shiro of the Konishi Camera Shop, and he was shortly shooting street scenes around the capital. At nearly the same time the Mitsukoshi Department Store formed a photography department and its cameranen, Shibata Tsunekichi and Shirai Kanzo, began taking shots of the Ginza and of geisha. By early 1899, Asano had turned to geisha as well, capturing a series of dances. Komada Koyo, also originally with the Konishi Carnera Shop and soon to be one of the leading

bmshi

(silent-film narrators) ,later remembered the trouble they hadwith the focus andwith keeping the dancers within the sight-lines they had drawn 0n the floor. Nonetheless, after much struggle, they finally produce

d

aJapanese motion picture.

Geisha were chosen as subjects not because they were quintessentially Japanese but because

their appealwas s0 strong. Asano and Kornadahadboth noticed that among the

various popular photographic postcards their stores sold, those of geisha outsold any other. Geisha were therefore a commodity popular enough to wanant the necessary cinematic outlay. By the rniddle

of 1899, Komada had acquired enough capital to leave the camera store

and form the ksociation of Japanese Motion Pictures. This organrzation now sponsore d an entire program of such geisha dances, all newly filmed, all in focus, at the Tokyo Kabu\t-za, and the event was well attended even at the inflated admission prices common to that venue. Thus inspired, other camera-wielding businessmen began producing their own programs. Slribata, at the request of a local dramalic troupe, filmed a scene from one of its plays,

Armed Robber: Shimizu Sadakichi (Pisutoru Goto Shimizu Sadakichi, 1899, n.s.) , and

17

later

in

the year he approached kabuki itself and fihned excerpts frorn Maple Vieuling

(Monrij tgan, 1899) and IVinin

Dojoji (Two People at Dojo Temple, n.s.). The latter was

tinted (anotherJapanfirst) by the Yoshizawa Company, later one of the first fihn production companies.

Maple Viewing, 1 899, Shibata Tsunekichi, with 0noe Kikugoro V, lchikawa Danjuro lX

Originally, the leading kabuki actor Ichikawa Danjuro IX was ag inst the idea of rnotion pictures, dismissing them as (apparently unlike kabuki) merely vulgar Amllselnent. In f.act,

kabuki 26[e6-though not Danjuro hirnself-had already appeared before the Lumidre

caneranen when they visited Japan, but this apparent contradiction was acceptable since those performances were for export. However, Danjuro was eventually won over by the argLl-

nrent that his appe arance would be a gift for posterity. Consequently, joined by Onoe Kikugoro V, Danjuro went through three short scenes for

the camera. Shibata had decided to shoot

rn asrnall outdoor

stage reserved for tea parties

behind the Kabul
fihns to survive , Maple Vieu,ing can still be appreciated today, with the "flying

f.an" scene intact.

In the same year, the active Komada appeared at the Kinkikafr, zsrnall theater in Tokyo's Kanda district where Vitascope prerniered. Dressed

in formal evening wear and carrying

silver-headed cane, he greeted his guests and began explaining what they were

a

seeing-in

tlris case, a series of funertcanVitascope shorts. Although this benshi lecturer-commentator had his counteryarts in most early cinemas, the role was retained longer inJapanthan elsewhere. The need for alive narrator had faded

in the United

ltl

States by 1910,

but inJapan the benshi survived well into the era of sound, and

was not really challenged

until 1932. Eventually, the profession was done in by the enormous

popular success ofJosef von Sternberg's early talkie, Morocco (1930). The reasons for the long life of the benshi were various. Since Japan had only some forty years before been "opened up

to the West" (a phrase invented in the West), ignorance of

much of the outside world was conrnon. The benshi filled in the gaps of knowledge Western viewers hadacquired long before. They were

"a reassuring native presence with a presumed

acquaintance of the foreign object," a necessity which might even now "explain theJapanese affection for teachers, tour guides, sommeliers, and other conduits for the acquisition of new experience."l

In addition to his

educ

ational role, the benshi was essential to the film-viewing experi-

of Japan wff, as elsewhere, a cinem a of slrort, often unrelated clips-initially fihns from abroad: in the Lumidre collection, orle saw

ence.

In part, this was because the early

cinem a

babies being fed, gardeners being squirted, and s0 0n. A commentary connecting these clips

not only made a short progran longer but more coherent. Later, when longer programs becanre available, story links were created by the benshi. Still later came the illusion of a self-contained story-world. Until then, the benshi was

all that

these

little glirnpses had in

colnlnolt. The benshi was also required to Besides

fill the time.

This he accomplished in various ways.

talking, he sometimes lengthened the viewing tirne. Many films were quite short, and

s0 a number were shown 0n a single

bill. Sometimes,

as was common

in early showings in

Frartce and the tinited States, films were repeated. Since the audience had not yet developed

wlrat lras been called

a"linear

response," n0 one minded a second viewing as

it

gave olte a

chance to catch new things the second time around.

In recalling the films he had seen around 1898, as achild of about ten, novelist Tanizaki Jun'ichiro said: "The ends of the reel would be joined together so that the same scene could be projected over and

over,l can still remember, endlessly repeated, high waves rolling in on

a shore somewhere, breaking and then rcceding, and a lone dog playing there, now pursu-

ing, now being pursued by the retreating and advancing waters."

l

(l

Another example of the need for length occurred during the initialJapanese showing 0f tlre Edison

film,

The

Maj, Irutin]ohn Rice Kiss (1895). Though the film was seen by Western

spectaton but once, inJapan, with the ends joined together,John approached May and kissed

her some dozen times. This repetition had consequences. Suspicious police appeared, but the quick-minded

conmentator-one

Ueda

Hoteikan-

expl ained thatWesterners custom ari ly

greeted each other with a ftrll-rnouth kiss and that the ladies and gentlemen of the audience

ought to be edified by this docume ntary footage of what in Arnerica was an everyday courtesy. The technique of repetition has aproperJapanese name, tasuke (continuous loop), and its use remains common 0n Japanese television and in the movie theaters, where advertising

I9

I -r-L-'

clips are repeated several times. The aim now is not to make a short program longer, but the argument holds that anything short rray be twice savored. After all, repetition seemingly for its own sake is so accepted an element inJapanese drantaturgy that its cinematic equivalent seenrs quite

uatural. Perhaps those Western viewers who, even during aMizoguchi Kenji or

an Ozu Yasujiro film, sigh and hope the director will soon get on with it are responding to this tradition of repetition.

The benshi mostly filled

in the time with

lengthy explanations,

l

time-consurning

rhetoric, and drawn-out, often moralizing conclusions. It was the benshi who created the narrative for the audience to follow, and even today, wheu the narrator's performance has been reduced to a more or less scholarly reconstruction, a plethora of explanations, repeti-

tions of information, and voice-overs remains in Japanese commercial film. This was what the uninformed audieuce required and conseqLlently wartted. "What to filmgoers in the West

nriglrt seem an overdetermined, annoying repetition was for Japanese audiences constitutive of meaning."

i

From the Western perspective,

it could

be said that the benshi delayed the cinerttatic

development of narrativeinJapan. However, this line of thought is valid only if one believes

that tlre development of narrative was a "natural" development of the film and that there were no otheL alternatives. Actually

, uJapanese film itself indicates, there were.

In the West, cinema was evolving into a self-sufficient narcative. It seemed the rlost practical and efficient way to entertain increasingly sophisticated audiences. A series of short clips gave way to lengthier, lltore coherent stories. The audience's involvement stories increased attend ance.lt was thus possible to

iu more detailed

find in the narrative film the tnost suit-

able cinerratic form if the industry required films to be quickty and che aply made.

In Japan, however, the perception of narrative was different.

It was the benshi and not

any self-contained cinematic narrative which made sense to the audiettce. He not only explained what was being shown on the screen but also was there "to reinforce, interpret, counterpoint, and in any case to intercede."

*

The role of the benshi was avery traditional one. From the earliest times, Japanese drama

lrad required an informing voice. The chorus in noh drarna, the joruri chanter in bunraku puppet drama, the gidrtl'Lt, naffator itt

kabuki-all

premodern Japanese theater is a pictor-

ial expansion of verbal storytelling. Joseph fuiderson has indeed defined theJapanese drama "in which actors do not autonomously enactevents for spectators; dialogue

as apresentation

spoken by actors is not the primary speech mod ality; and basic plot structure is not based on

conflict, crisis, climax, r'esolution, and dramatic unity."

5

Rather than being presented as an occurrence, drama is presented as a recoultted occurrence. Although many national dramas have entertained like assumptiotts, the Japanese theater (and its descendents, movies and television) has remained remarkably faithful to the

20

authoritativevoice.

As

one early critic expressed it, the fihn itself was like the bunraku puppet

and the benshi was the gidayu reciter.

Initially, the benshi merely told the story before the performance-the setsurnei (surnming Llp), 0r an explanation provided before the fact. Soon, however, he was telling the story during the screening itself. In those fiLst yeaffi, the irnages had been sornetimes accompanied by the actors

(if

available) who voiced their lines behind the screen. Hence the narne of

this teclrnique-tr agezerifu ("shadow dialogue"). Such presentations were somewhat like anotlrer early cinematic fonn called rmsageki (joined drama), where scenes from aplay

witlr real

actors were interspersed

with filmed scenes, the actors stationed behind the screen

to voice their roles. Eventually, the benshi assumed all the lines. To do so, he often resorted to using avariety of voices. This technique, which was an earlier method taken over from the puppet dranta, was called koutairo ("voice coloring"). A

suliving outline of atypical stage-inspired film,

1912, n.s.), suggests how this worked. This

The Golden

Demon (Konjiki yasha,

fihn version of the stage adaptation of }zaki

Koyo's popular novel became a vehicle for Tsuchiya Shoju, a benshi noted for his mastery of "seven separate and distinct voices." This scene of an argument requires three voices:

Koutairo (for the heroine, Omiya): If I nrarry Torniya,what will you say? Koutairo (for the hero, Kanichi):

Tlren you're all set to marry him! What a fickle

flirt

you are!

IVaruator (the benshi voice):

Kanichi, overcome

with

:'age,

kicls the

fragile

0miya

The rnany-voiced benshi also developed avocabulary of styles. The historical

film

was

tlrouglrt to demand an inflated, somewhat nual delivery; fihns about nodern life were more colloquial, and the tone for foreign films was sententious and didactic. When the vocal demands were too great, benshi often shared films, just as bunraku sometimes switches gidayu narrators

in mid-play. There were also benshi "contests," which

drew spectaton attracted to particular benshi rather than to the

film itself. Benshi even made

recordings, which sold well and were listeneC to without the accompaniment of

on the stage, butwithout the film; he even made a 78-rpm recording 0f part of

it that sold quite well. The benshi were employed

in many other ways. One of their nurnber, for exarnple, solved

a serious censorship problem. This concernedaFrench Path6, feature, La

Xyl-Rduolution Frangaise (ca.

Fin du Rdgne de

1907, n.s.), a

film considered incendiary sinceJapan

had proclaimed its own ruler to be of divine descent.

"0n the day before it was to be shown,

Louis

I

fihn. One of

the later benshi constantly rendered his big hit, Robert Wiene'sThe Cabinet of Doctor Cali-

gari (1919),

n

21

-13

tlre French film was withdrawn as arnenace to public peace." In its place appearcd another

film, TIte Cat,e Kng: A Curions Storl, of IVorth Americcr (Hokubei kiden: Gankutsuo, 1!08, n.s.). This was in fact the same film, only now Louis XVI was the "leader of a robber barld," and tlre rabble storming the Bastille became "abandof citizens loyally joining the police to suppress the outlaws,

all this action takingplace in the Rocky Mountains."T

The benshi affected the growth and development of theJapanese cinemain other ways. His preference tended toward simple

stories-the better to exhibit his 0m talents. No narra-

tive function other than his own was welcomed. Given his skills, he also preferred that each scene be

alittle drama, amise-sn-scdne. With

the benshi present, there was n0 need to con-

struct the illusion of a scene-to-scene development, since he himself provided the necessary narrative. He was in this way much like his theatrical predecessors. The influence of the benshi continues even today. Joseph fuiderson renenbers listening to a modern Japanese television soap opera from another r00m in the house and discovering that "voice-over narration not only recaps previous episodes but every so often talks about

tlrings that are happening right now on the tube.

drana.l

I don't have to look at this television

hear it."8

FILM, THEATER, AND ACTORS

Th, Japanese audience perceived film as a new form of theater and not in, say, the I United States) a new form of photography. It is not surprising then that nearly all of the (as

earlyJapanese story films were in some manner or other taken from the stage. Though this is

no longer true, theJapanese

film

audience

still behaves much

as

it does at the theater. Like

tlre audience of the latter, the moviegoer takes his seat at the beginning of the session. Filmviewing is not seen as acircular entertainment that one rray enter and leave at will. Rather,

it

has its own narrative rules, and these are to be respected. Mernbers of the Japanese audi-

ence rarely leave the theater during the projection and often remain seated credits have been viewed and the lights g0 up. For whatever reason, the

film

until all

the

is watched in

silence, in marked contrast to film-viewing habits elsewhere, but much in keeping with Westem theater- goin g behavior.

The subjects of the early Japanese cinema were equally theatrical-scenes from kabuki classics or sections of

shimpn These two

genres were thought of as separate. Kabuki was

"old

school" (kyuha) and shimpa (which had fint appeared around 1890) was the "new" (shin) "school" (ha). This \atter drama was originally designed as a lypically Meiji-era compromise. It was written for a rapidly modernizing Japanwhich had thrown off feudal rule. The language was colloquial, the topic was largely concerned with the contemporary

22

scene

, and the perfor-

out not through the strictly stylized rnovements of kabuki but through ^cted movement thought closer to life itself. Still, shimpa retained many kabuki accoutemrents, mance was

including males in female roles.

It was this distinction

between old and new school that shaped the forms taken by the

nascent cinema: kabuki-based films became

jidaigeki (more common|y, jiclnimono) ,

a

rubric which now defines all period-filrns; and the shirnpa-based pictures were the beginnings of gmdnigeki, or contenporary films. Kabuki-based movies continued to be constructed of various snippef5-5gsnes abstracted

from popular stories long part of the collective consciousness-but adaptations from the nore dranatic shirlpa provided astronger narrative and thus generated longer fihns. Yet both kyuha and shimpa were constructed, photographed, and presented in much the same way. Not only was the nanator present, but there were also wornen, and the

lyama (male actresses) in place of

film itself was usually cornprised of ftrll-frontal, long-running stagelike

shots.

film version of the kabuki classic Chushingura

(The

Wlren Konishi Ryo shot the first Loyal Forty-Seven Ronin, 1907,

n.s.)-an

extrernely popular subject, with over eighty-five

film versions to date-the camera was fixed at aspot about thirty feet away and, since the filnrwasintendedtobe justlike ap\ay,theviewwasstrictlyfrontal.Thenwasevenacurtain between scenes.

The

film frame

was commonly considered the equivalent of the theatrical proscenium.

Regarding his My Sin (Onoga tsumi, aka One's Own Sin, 190!, n,s.), the first shirnpa scrcen adaptatiou, carnerarnan-director Chiba Kichizo recalled that he erected poles on the beach and strungacurtain between them. The curtain could be raised to reveal the dramataking place. This dramaturgy "indicated the direction earlyJapanese cinema

took it captured

stage

action as apicture, rather than as amoving image."e

Though many films from other countries were still constructed of extended long-shots, early Westem directors were finding new ways to direct the viewer's attention within this frame. They integrated shorter scenes with the camera set closer to delineate the action, and close-ups to call attention

to characters. None of this occurred inJapan, however, because of

I

tlre pervasive theatrical infl uence.

Early Japanese filmmakers clung to the idea of the

film frame

as stage.

0n the stage

itself, audience attention was directed by the dialogue, a convention which continued with benshi-dominated cinema. But as the benshi's voice was divorced from the actor on the screen, it was sometimes difficult to see just whom among those distant flickering figures was

doing the talking. One neans of effectively directing attention was to focus

on aprivileged person: the hero

or heroine. Spectators could follow a story shot at a considerable distance if they had someone to follow about. Stars became necessary, andwere s00ll created.

23

-u

Among the earliest stars was aprovincial actor,Onoe Matsunosuke. He was discovered by

Makino Shozo, a former kabuki-troupe m deserve the

n

ger and,

it was later said, the first person to

title of director in the Western sense of the word. 0n0e, who had met Yokota

Einosuke (head of the company which later became the Nikkatsu motion picture company), began acting

in kyuha films featurin g tachimautari (kabuki-style sword-fighting). Makino,

impressed by 0n0e's ability to handle the physical rigors of his trade, made the actor the star

of Goban Tadanobu (1909, n.s.). 0noe becarne s0 popular that by the time he died in 1926 he had made hundreds of films, many based on kabuki stories, such as lris popr-rlar

Sukwoku (1914, n.s.).

Sukeroku,1914, Makino Shozo, with Onoe Matsunosuke

Despite the competition of the new shimpa product, these kabuki-based kyuha rernained

popular for decades to come: nearly six thousand jidaigeki were made between 1908 and 1945, andtheir descendants still grace the tube. The audience for asword-wielding starwas large.

It is said that during 0n0e's period of greatest fame,

asked to name the greatest man

in

when Japanese schoolboys were

Japan, they always named

hirn second. (The emperor

wffi, of course, first; third was one of the reigning benshi.) Onoe has said that during this period

of early filmrnaking, neither actors nor directors

used a script. Instead, Makino carried the plot

in his head and ca\Ied out the lines for the

actors while they were 0n camera, just like the joruri chanter in bunraku. Onoe also recalled

what hard work it was. He was required to make nine 0r more features a month, which meant that he was working on three separate features at any one time. Sometimes, he said, he was so exhausted thathe mixed up his parts. And, indeed, overworked, he died on the set. Seen today, these Makino-Onoe

films indicate how necessary such acentral figure was to

the audience's understanding. Even in an inferior print (and by any standard

24

ii i: \l

i

, a\l extant

prints are inferior), the star is always plainly visible. So, t00, even when the film is projectedat the wrong speed (nost of 0noe's films were undercranked in order to save on letic

vitaliff is apparent.

film), his ath-

He alone comprised the narrative upou which the benshi commented.

At the same time that Makino's films werc beconing star-based attractiolts, solnething

similar was occurring in the West, though for different reasons. In an effort to create stars (in tlris case, to win respectability and raise ticket prices), both the

Fren ch

film d'art

(Sarah

Bernhardt, among others, like kabuki actor Ichikawa Danjuro before her, having been induced to allow selected stage scenes to be filmed for posterity) and, in Anerica, Adolph Zukor's self-explanatory "Famous Players in Famous Plays" were introduced. These static stage presentations, one scene sedately followittg another, may have brought a better class of people into the theaters

in the West, but Japan did not have to worry about

respectability. Film was by now an artpopular with all classes, n0 matter what their income. Indeed, the Crown Prince was induced to attend an early

film showing andlater the Entperor

Meiji hirnself was sat down and shown one. One of the results of the Western films passing before the

filrn d'art,

as

fl'n1[-r67ith all their

scenes

from famous plays

viewer-was that they prepared audiences for longer films. By 1910, the

well as the Italian epics and some of the longer fuierican movies, set a prece-

dent for length. Longer running tirnes, in turn, required detailed and developed scripts.

ht the West, the energence of scripts led to scenic construction, to early expository intertitles, and to greater visual connllnication.Laler, the intertitles werc more commonly devoted

to dialogue, and these eventually evolved into a screenplay, which attempted to sltow as much as it told. None of this, however,

initially occurred in

Japan. Nor was there any reason

for it to.

Onoe bounced from scene to scene capturing attention, while the consequences of the slender

narrative were

still

assumed by the benshi. Whereas the Western script incorporated more

complex stories plus innovations in shooting and editing, theJapanese benshi had no use for any of this.

Nor need the benshi concern himself with an assumed fidelity to what in the West was

n

becoming known as cinem atic "rcalism." In Europe and Am enc , this child of photography

T

was expected to obey the laws the

film became

of

appearance. And since realisrn was aphotographic virtue,

a document. This did not occu

r inJapan-for

-a

a number of reasons.

REALISM AND REALITY

.fo most Japanese, the Western ideaof "realisrl," particularly in its naturalistic phase, was I something truly new. All early Japanes e dramatic forrns had assumed the necessity of a structure created through mediation. The same was true for Japanese culture in general: the

25

wilderness was natural only after

it had been shaped and presented in apalpable form,

theJapanese garden, or flowers were considered

as

in

living (ikebana) only after having been cut

and arranged for viewing. Life was thus drarnatically lifelike only after having been explained and cornmented upon. Art and entertainment alike were presentational, that is, tlrey rendered aysarticular reality by way of an authoritative voice (be it the noh chorus or the benshi). This approach stood

in marked contrast to the representational style of the

West

in which one assumed the realiW of what was being shown.

of the common style known as realisrn, the style that "that reductive approach to realiff which is considered realis-

Irrdeed, Japan had no tradition Susan Sontag has defined as

tic."r0 Though Hokusai's sparrows are thought realistic in Japarr, this kind of realism is seen u partial when contrasted with the clairls of "cinerratic realism" in the West. Thus, what passes

for realistic in Japan, elsewhere is thought highly stylized. These inherent differences

nay also explain why the Japanese were puzzled over what

Degas and Monet could have

found so special in ordinary Japanese prints. The national inclination toward the presentational did not mean that certain realistic aspects of the moving picture were neglected.

It was rather that they were not insisted upon

and that, when included, they appeffed cornprornised (to Western eyes) by a stagey artificiality. The documentary, with its almost ostentatious lack of presentation and its tacit assump-

tions of representation, became influential

in

Japan much later

than it had in other

countries. Indeed, it was not until the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05 that newsreels of an event showed \arge audiences docurnentary footage, thereby preparing the way for a wider reception of a more representational and less presentational cinema.

Even early newsreels retained an unusual amount of presentation. A tlteater showing such newsreels had Japanese flags, aband, and a benshi. Komada Koyo's wartime offerings

in Tokyo's Asakusa district in 1905 included high claims of authenticity-every foot of film, he said, had been shot right where Japanese blood had sanctified the soil. And,

in truth, solne

of it was. Yoshizawa Shokai had dispatchedacan"rcra crew to capture sone scenes. Shibata Tsunekichi and another early cameruman, Fujiwara Kozaburo, were sent to the front. Authentic material shot by Path6 and the Charles Urban Company was also included.

Still (as was common in the newsreel footage of sone other countries

as

well), there was

much fake footage added. Though this fakery was detected and reports of derision from the audience did surface, the Japanese, as a rule, aclarowledged, even enjoyed, the charm and entertainment value of the falsified newsreels. As has been wisely said: "Originality was never a ptimary value in Japan. "

II

In the West, on the contrary, faked cash

newsreels caused concern.

in on the San Francisco earthquake of

country. This regard for realisn was to lead

26

fui funerican attempt to

1905 was sternly refused distribution

to acinematic style that was almost

in that ostenta-

tiously representational .InJapan, one might say that newsreels were expected to be "fake," that is,

as

presentational as anything else. If early Western newsreels defined, and to an extent

until much laher,

created, narrativefilm in the West, nothing of the sort occurred inJapan

Wlren Japan'sfirst war drama,The ChuUt Blossoms of Japan (Yanato zakura, tt.s.), wA finally filned in 1909, realism was not among its values: Ridge 203 in Port futhur was obviously the studio lot, and firecrackem were

used-kabuki-like-to

create the bursts of sntoke

from fired rifles. The realisrn of newsreels was thus turned into nonrealistic theatricality.

In Japanese film, as on

tl-rc Japanese stage, actuality was one

thing; theatricality

anotlrer . Armed Robber, based on a scene taken frorn a play which

was

in itself is based 0n "a

real-life happening," was using a standard ploy of the topical bunraku and kabr-rki vehicles of such early Edo playwrights as Chikamatsu Monzaemon and Tsuruya Namboku. The actualiry of the event might be aselling point, but theatricality, not fidelity, was the goal. Though a robbery rnay have occurred last month, the scenery, acting style, and lighting would have come from a century before.

Realisrn as a style concerned enrergin g Japanese

with apperances was nevertheless slowly influencing

film. Wartime newsreels were, in part,

responsible

the

for this, as was the

growing importation of Western films. A third reason for change was a new form of theater,

shingeki (literally, "new dtanta"), which was also foreign, consisting as it did of aJapanese version of Western proscenium theater. The Japanese audience was

now ready for sonething besides shimpa melodrama and

0n0e's kabuki-like cavortings. What in ten years had become the "traditional" Japanese fihn was losing its audience. Sato Tadao has said thatatthattime, around 1910, itwas "comrnon knowledge that Japanese films were rubbish compared to foreign films. People who went to Japanese

films were snotty-nosed little kids."rr While the audiences may have included

a

grown-up 0r two, the narrative means of these early films were juvenile, or what the foreign

critic would call primitive. Early Japanese fihn thus contained a paradox: It was a new means of expression, but what it expressed was old. ti

I WESTERN IN FLU ENCES

ft

orp

ared to the perceived staleness

'I':,

of the Japanese fihn, new films from the

West were

Vfreshlless itself. Imported in numbers after IgI5,foreign cinema offered rlew perspectives to the Japanese moviegoer. Initially, in the 1890s, these films were seen

as

educational. When

tlre early Japanese audience watched the waves at Deauville rolling toward them, they were

enjoying their first glimpse of the outside world, a thrilling experience to a people for centuries isolated from the world atlarge. As

might be expected, given the audience, the appeal of these early films was at least

27

-'rf,

partially didactic: the audience went to be educated

as

well

as entertained. Since

rest of ,{sia, lacks entirely the antipathy for being taught that is so cornmon

early

Japan,like the

in the West,

these

films found a ready and enthusiastic following, for whom learning what the French

cavalry looked like and how Fatirna danced were matters of the most lively interest.

}zu

Yasujiro recollects how "the [fapanese] rnovies at that time did nothing more than follow the

plot. . . but when

an fulerican film, Cit,ilizatiort [1916] by Thomas Ince, was showll . .

.

that was when I decided I wanted to be a film director."rl Though he was speaking of a slightly later period , }zu was obviously impressed by a

nar

rative intricacy different from that of the simple, staticJapanese film. When fuirerican movies began appearing fessed,

in greater numbers, ruanyJapanese would have

"film had a magical hold 0u rne." Now films

agreed

with Ozu, who con-

were not only educative, they also

offered a rrew way of looking at the world. After Llniversal Pictures opened a Tokyo branch, among the first films to enterJapan was a rnodest group of hour-long program pictures called Bluebird Photoplays. The series had no

influence 0n filmmaking in the United States, but it certainly left its rnark in Japan. Oue critic remarked that when a Bluebird film was courpared to aJapanese fihn it was like suddenly moving from the early playwrights of the Edo period to the literature of the modern n atu ral i sts (S h

ir

nazaki Toson,

T ay

ana Katai

)

.

These "photoplays" had shots of nAture, detemined young heroines, and a dose of senti-

mentality. Though the settings were mainly rural, much of the story found the young people coping with new urban ways, just like yourlg

folk

in Japan.

In addition, there

was a novel

kind of narrative: scenes were not only shorter but shot from various angles, and the cameru moved in closer. The audience was actually shown what it was expected to

see.

In the face of this fresh approach, the benshi changed their habits. For the Bluebird films, they dropped their didactic ways and turned lyrical. A benshi "script" for the conclusion of a

Bluebird film called Southern Justlce (1917) ends with: "Sta$ strewn across the sky, blossoms

falling like snow on the green eafth. It is Spring-romance is in the South. Spring, ah, Spriug!" Western fihns were warmly welcomed.

In his autobiography, Kurosawa Akira drew up

a

list of over one hundred foreign films he had seen between I9I9 (when he was nine) and 1929. Many were Anerican. At the age of eleven, the future director saw Charlie Chaplin's The

Kd

(1921); at twelve, D. W. Griffith's )rphans of the Storm (1922); and at thirteen,

Chaplin'sA Womnn of Pari,s (192r. He had begun watching serials even earlier. Favorites irrcluded William S. Hart inTlte Tiger

Mnn (1918). Remembering how impressed

a child, Kurosawa wrote: "What remains

he was as

in my heart is that reliable manly spirit and the

smell of male sweat,"'a qualities which he was later to reproduce in his own work. Foreign film was popular not only with the audiences but also with those in the industry itself. The 1919 showing of D. W. Griffith's

28

Intoluance (1916) was asensation, and many of

tlrose who Iater became directors, scripfwriters,

0r cameramen remember attending

and

being impressed by this and other foreign-film showings-impressed, often to the point of

imitation. Sato Tadao has listed some later funerican films which have been "repeatedly imitated": Ernst Lubitsch'sThe Marriage Ci,rcle (1924), F. W. Murnau'sSu,nrise (1927), Frank Borzage's Se?tsnth

Heattm (1927), and Frank Capra's Lafit for a Da1, 0933).'5

Among those many professionals attending showings of new foreign films was Makino Shozo, who had by then discovered there were better ways of making fihns than shouting

directions at Onoe. Indeed, he was the first Japanese director

to reahze the importance of

having a scenario. The first two decades of Japanese used: Makino's

fihl

history had already passed before scenarios were

original The Lo1t577 Forty-Serten Ronin (1912, n.s.) was shot from a mere

outline, a simple list of the forty-five scenes held in the hand of the director. Now this sarne director saw that this was not sufficient. His production philosophy, when he got around to

plrrasing it, was: first, the story; second , a clear picture; third, action. This differs from the director's previous stance, in which getting a picture focused and lit was as important as hav-

ing something to film. The story had not been the first priority. Makino's next version of The Lo1t677

Fortj,-Seuen Ronin (1917, n.s.), by contrast, had aproper script, matching cuts, and

reframing pans, along with other indications of advanced planning. Earlier films had often been a procession of postcardlike scenes, 0r an assemblage of bits

from kabuki or shimpa, their continuity assured not by the fihnmaker's skill but by the audiences' familiarity with the basi c narrative. What story there had been was rigidly formed to

fit

into the requirements of the benshi. Now, however, something more cornplicated was about

to be discovered. This was a more revealing and hence engaging kind of storytelling, an ordering which would nake ernotior-r more palpable. Rather than a simple assemblage of separate scenes, there would be a series of linked

otlrer, fonvarded the story, and since

(in Sontag's words,

reve aled cause

scenes-

each of

which commented on the

and effect. In short, this was finally narration

applicable everywhere) "only that which narrates can tnake us

undemta116l." l6

i'i ..!.-,

SHINCEK/ AND NEW NARRATIVE TACTICS

I

Ll

-r,

ust as the shimpa had made possible the beginnings of a more complic ated kind of cine-

nrattcnarrative, so it was that a newer form of.Japanese drama, shingeki-along with

contemporary Western

fihns-enabled

tl'rcJapanese cinema to further evolve.

Like shirnpa, shingeki, the Japanese version of Western realist theater, was regarded as reformative. The narratives were those of Ibsen, Chekhov, Gorky

,

and 0'Neill, and the

rhetoric was that of the European (particularly Russian) proscenium theater, or what was

2g

understood of it. ffshingeki later became as standardized as shimpa,

on-it

initially-from

1909

had a greatreforming influence.

Looking at the popularity of the new shingeki on the stage, those in the film industry decided that a motion picture with a self-contained story along more realistic lines would win back the former audiences who had been supplanted by "snotty-nosed little kids." One of the first shingeki adaptations indeed proved popular. Resurrection (Kachusha, 1914, n.s.) was Hosoyama Kiyomatsu's story. Itwas

filming of aportion of a shingeki dramatization of the Tolstoy

"realistig"-2.fleast to the extent thatit used "authentic" Russian costumes-

and, though

it

used oyama instead of actresses and stuck to other stagey conventions,

it

nonetheless impressed many moviegoers. Playwright Akimoto Matsuyo described the picture as magnificent, adding that he had

truly felt whatever it was thal, so agitated the heroine

Katsush a, an emotional response presumably not afforded by priorJapanese films.

rrecti on, 1914, Hosoya ma Kiyomatsu, with Tachibana Sadajiro, Sekine Tappatsu Resu

Hosoyama's success encouraged others. Since audiences flocked to both the "foreign"

shingeki as well as Amerrcan and European films, producers were s00n drawing up lists of popular foreign techniques: short scenes, closer shots, a more thorough narrative, and an editing process more complic ated than that of pasting one tableau to the next. A favorite foreign

film of the period, the Germ an Gendarme Mdbiu&

becam e The

Lieu-

tmant's Daughter (Taii n0 musume, I9I7, n.s.) in Inoue Masao's adaptation, which was quite "Western" in its use of flashbacls and close-ups. Large close-ups were also employed in

the director's Poisoned Hubs (Dokuso, 1917, n.s.), but since these shots were of oyama rather than actual female actresses, the producers decided that in the future female impersonators would be best appreciated aI a distance.

In all of these experiments, enlarging the audience was a major concern. The

nascent

Japanese industry was also looking to export its work. Japan had been the only country to

tlrus far successfully resist the Amencan cinematic invasion. (lndia's

30

film industry had not

yet begun, while in France and Italy, production was suffering.) Though foreign influence was everywhere and its products were well regarded, the Japanese industry itself was slowly

expanding. With a

finn home audience that would support a local product if it

were suffi-

ciently updated, the Japanese industry saw no reason why it, in turn, could not push into foreign markets. This was the idea behind the encouragenent of some of the early conpanies to produce "Western-style" films. Such tactics were s0 sllccessftrl that by 1914 the movies had becone a big business in Japan. As early as 1908, the means to insure steady profits had already been sought. Kawaura

Kenichi of Yoshizawa Shokai (provider of the 1904 footage of the Russo-Japanese War and

the first production company to have an in-house "story departrnent") returned

fron

in

190S

afact-fiLrding world tour and proceeded to construct in To$o's Meguro Ward a studio

like Edison had in the Bronx and, behind it, a villa like Georges Mdlids's in Paris, an indication of big-business intentions.

In the same year, Urneya Shokichi decided that exploitation was one of the ways to make money. fui indication of this surfaced when he forrned his M. Path6 Shokai, borrowing both name and reputation without Pathd's knowledge 0r permission. In the appellation, Shokichi also chose

to flagrantly ignore the fact that rival Yokota Einosuke's company, the original

irnporter of Cindmatographe Lumidre, wffi the actual importer of Pathd fihns into Japan. Slrokichi's originality confined itself to the addition of the "M," which he later claimed was

for "distinction. " The director-producer's costurne spectacular The DAu;rt of the Soga Brothers' Hunlin,q

Grounh

(Soga kyodai kariba no akebono, 1908, n.s.) was designed to showcase the attrac-

tiorts of both East and West. The Soga brothers themselves were a staple in kabuki repertoire, and the fihn starred an unprecedented all-girl kabuki troupe, apparentlv put together for the occasion. Added, too, were dialogue titles, attempted speech synchronization 0n discs,

anda

kind of wide-screeu process. To top things off, the film was shown in alarge theater usually used for drama,

with attractive usherettes, a higher admission price, and all the hype that

such a venture usually demands.

f"'t

Though the film appears to have been financially successful, there were technical difficulties as well as the jealous ire of the benshi to contend with. Nso, competition was increasing. There were now four motion picture manufacturers, all trying to turn a profit.

Having heard that similar circumstances of overcrowding had led to the creation of the

Motion Picture Patents Company in the United States-seven companies that formed a ca: tel and monopolized the entire industry-shokichi now approached his Japanese rivals with anattractive offer. The resultwas the creation,

in

1910, of the GreaterJapanFilm Machinery

Manufacturing Company, Limited, though all such rnachinery was actually being imported

from abroad. Yokota became the director of the new caftel, KobayashiKizaburo became the

31

_f: *t---

head of the business department, and Yoshizawa backed out and sold his shares. new company owned three studios, including the former Yokota studio

Nl told,

the

in Kyoto, and seventy

pernanent theaters.

In 1912,having

rnade his profits, Umeya decided to leave as well, and the larye cartel

changed its unwieldy and inaccurate nalne to Nippon Katsudo Shashin Kabushiki Kaisha (Japan Cinematograph Company), which was in turn s00ll shortened to Xikkatsu. The three

srraller studios were sold, andalarge llew studio was built in Mukojirna, 0n the east side of Tokyo. By 1914, the company was producing fourteen fihns a month.

The Mukojima studio initially turned out the expected shirlpa

product-one of the resi-

dent oyanawas Kinugasa Teinosuke, later director of both A Pnge ichipej

r, aka ACrazy

I95r.By

)ut of Orderp (Kurutta

Page/A Page of Madness, 1925) andThe Gate of

1915, the average Nikkatsu

Hell (Jigoku mon,

fihn was rapidly changing: itwas about forty minutes

long and comprised fifteen to thirty caneruset-ups. Tenkatsu (Tennenshoku Katsudo; Natural Color Motion Picture Company), a nonmember

film company, run by Kobayashi Kizaburo,

was rnaking fihns of the sane length with

some fifry to seventy camera set-ups, some of which utilized Charles Urban's Kinemacolor, whose rights Kobayashi had acquired. His were, it was thought, the more

"lroderu" product.

Nikkatsu and Tenkatsu thus largely controlled the creation and exhibition of Japanese motion pictures. In

1917 , they overtook

a\l Japanese screens. By

foreign companies as the maiu source of income for

I)21, Nikkatsu alone owned over half of the six hundred motion

picture theaters in Japan. Despite novelties from Tenkatsu and othen, Nikkatsu continued to control most of the

nar-

ket, For one thing, the theater ownen were satisfied with Nikkatsu's contracts (double bills: one

l+rha fihn, one shirnpa) and, for another, the largerJapanese audience

was not all that certain

that it really liked what it had glimpsed of further cinematic innovations in foreign films.

Though this sarne audience had originally embraced the novelty of movies with even more enthusiasm than that of some other nations, they werc now in phase two of what is perhaps a peculiarly Japanese pattern of behavior: first an indiscriminate acceptance of a new idea, then a period of reacti

on against it, and finally its complete assimilation, whereby the

idea is transformed and tailored to Japanese tastes.

THE CENDAICEKI n t 9l7 , Tenkatsu hired Kaeriyama Norim

I I orr tlre development

asa, a man who was to have a decisive influence

of theJapanese film. In lg13,KaeriyamabeganJapan's

azirrc. Tlrree years later, he wrote The

first fihn mag-

Production and Photography of Mouing Pictnre

Drama, (Katsudo shashingeki no sosaku to satsueiho), abook in which he roundlycriticized

.12

:

the product of that tirne. Since

filrl

was a silent medium, he argued, a narration was neces-

sary in order to make the result comprehensible. Yet, if a script could be designed for a purely

cinematic presentation (that is, without benshi) and titles were inserted only where llecesszry, fihns would be widely understood by everyone.

In his opinion, films that needed off-

screen narration were devoid of any value, nor was the capturing of stage dramas from an

unmoving frontal position what he considered cinema.

In line with his more elevated estirnation of the motion picture, Kaeriyama changed his terminology. Ihtsudo shashin, which rneans "rnoving photographs" (as in the company's

original name), had already taken on the nuance of "the"flickers." T0 counter this antiquated irnage, Kaeriyarna introduced the rnodern term eiga,which is still used today. Itwas contemp orury sounding and could mean (depending r-rpon how

it was read) "descriptive

pictures," "reproduced pictures," "projected pictures," even "atfiaclive pictures." Believing, like Makino Shozo, in the necessity of a script, he wrote that the scenario was the foundation of the motion-picture dranta, and tltat the value of this drama depended on the script. The director would use it to decide the actions of the actors and all other aspects of tlre

film. This made the scenario very different from the text for astage dranta. Kaeriyarna's dissatisfaction with Japanese

film was echoed by Tanizaki Jun'ichiro, al-

ready a well-larown writer, who said, as though

in answer, that not only did he enjoy nothing

more than going to

see Western

films, but that he believed the difference between them and

0troe Matsunosuke's fihns was the difference between the West andJapan.

The Living Corpse,1917 , Tanaka Eizo,

with Yamamoto Kaichi, Kinugasa Teinosuke

33

Tantzalt andKaerryama also believed that not only would a good script produce a good nodern

fihn-a

ence-but that

gendaigeki which could compete with rivals and thus win a laryer audi-

such a product, being self-explanatory, would elirninate the need for benshi.

The idea of winning larger audiences appealed to the producers. Thus, the twenty-four year-old Kaefiyana convinced Tenkatsu that he and his associates-actor Murata Minoru and slringeki dranatist Osanai Kaoru---
competition-h ad aheady profi-

tably allowed Tanaka Eizo to make a "Westem-style" picture, Ihe Liuing Corpse (lkeru slrikabane, 1!17, n.s.), which containedalarger number of shots, some dialogue titles, and realistic costumes. At the same time, reassuringly, there were oyan)a in the cast (Kinugasa played the heroine), the benshi talked through the dialogue titles, and shimpa was imposed over Tolstoy's storyline.

It was awinning combination of elernents: a tried-and-true shimpa

formula plus lashings of novelty from abroad. Kaeriyama's first released

in

film wu

The

Glory of Ltfe (Sei no kagayakr, aka The Glow of Life, n.s.),

1919. It was the story of a country

girl (HanayagtHarumi) who falls in

love

with an

urbatr arrstocrat (Murata Minoru). In a playful rnoment, the girl asks hirn the meaning of life. He lightly responds that it is to do whatever one likes. When he does just that and abandons her, she attempts to drown herself but is saved. The aristocrat reappears, repents, and the films ends with the sober statement "Life Is Effort," sllperimposed upou a shot of the dawn

of a new day. One critic called the

novie shirnpa with irnitation Western titles. With its desertions and

beffayals, it was indeed quite shirnpa-like. Still, there was much that was new . Kaefiyama, like everyone else, had studied the Bluebird Photoplays

with their simple, undemtandable struc-

tures. He had his heroine read Ivan Turgenev, while her little brother imitates Charlie Chaplin.

In addition, the whole picture was tinted in the manner of the fashionable Italian product. Kaeriyam a and his associates added s0

nany new touches that the company became slls-

piciotrs during the shooting. In his defense, Kaeriyarna clanned the pictlrre was something

like an experiment and that he therefore needed room to be creative. Further, he argued,

as

he was actually making the picture for export, he needed to cater to the foreign audience's

appreciation for things like editing, short shots, and close-nps. As final justification, Kaeriyam

a explained that he intended to make a statement with the work, which he de-

scribed as"an ambitious attempt to unravel the meaning of life in four t€els."17 The cornpany accepted the argument that the requirements of an overseas audience were distinct. Then, as now, products made for the foreign market were conceived differently from products made for local consumption. Kaeriyama's

film was thus shown rn atheater special-

izing in foreign pictures, where it experienced a modest success. More importantly, it proved inspirational to other filmmakers. Yarnamoto Kajiro, later himself a film director (and

34

mentor of Kuros awaAkira), saw it when he was a student. The picture's hyperbolic advertisement had caught his eye: "the first filmlike seen aJapanese

film

made inJapan

" Since he had, in fact, never

film, he decided that this would be a double first. Yamamoto was favorably

impressed. He later wrote: "Japanese dialogue, titles of a modern design; close-ups and

nov-

ing carnera work; the actors' faces untouched by elaborute stage make-up; the plain, unaffected presence of a real woman; and the slightly awkward yet straightforward and sincere

acting-this

was a genuine film."r8

The Glory of Life, despite its failure to draw alarye audience, was considered successful

enough that the indr-rstry as a whole, scenting future profit, grew more reform-minded. Even conservative Nikkatsu, which had by then absorbed Tenkatsu, allowed TanakaF,izo to make The

l9,sy6 Collar Shop (Kyoya eri rlise , 1922, n.s.), which, though traditional in content

and structure, contained some innovation. Reassuringly and decidedly traditional was the picture's shimpa story: the proprietor of an old business marries his favorite geisha, only to have his children leave him, while his new wife continues to see a younger lover;

in the end,

the old rnan's shop is destroyed by fire. The film was among the last to use oyama in all the female roles. (Later that year there was a mass walk-out of

all the female

irnpersonators,

frustrated over the fact that the new directors were not using them,)

J--'-

The Kyoya Collar Shop, 1922, Tanaka Eizo, with Azuma Takeo, Miyajima Kenichi, Fujino Hideo, Koizumi Kasuke.

Other traditional elements included a four-part structure that emphasized the seasons

(with titles indicating Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter-somewhat haiku-like seasonal references) and a melodrun'ntic

finale (during the fire, the distraught merchant grabs the

geisha's hair, is next shown carrying a bloody swath of

it, and then

stabs her

in the stomach

35

with a butcher's larife). Shindo Kaneto, later a director hirlself, long remembered the "sinister smile fixed on his [the rnerchant's] face."re

fulong the innovations was the attention paid to set design. Kamehara Yoshiaki, the first real art director in Japanese cinemA, pr'ovided LlnLlsually detailed sets. The entire shop, for exantple,

wffi constructed in the Mukojirna studio, with walls that could be removed

to

accommodate the camera. The assistants (including young Mizoguchi Kenji) were all famil-

iar with the latest Western products. Their knowledge combined with the director's sensibilities resulted

in a cinematic experience apparently traditional and yet conternporary/ enough

to please all audiences.

In the meantime,

some companies had again gone foraging

in the West in order to

return with modern methods and people familiar with Hollyvood know-how. Taikatsu hired

"Tlrornas" Kurihara, then just twenty-five years old, and an actor, part of the entourage of tlre popular matinee idol ,Hayakawa Sessue. With hirn returned "Henry" Kotani and"Jackie"

Abe (later better known as Abe Yutaka), as well as young Tokunaga Bunroku, who had changed his given nane t0 "Frank."

Taguchi Oson, another Japanese who had studied abroad, returned with rnany ideas for wlrat lre called rnodern methods. He introducedasystem whereby allJapanese scripts were to be phonetically transcribed

into the Western alphabet, thus rendering them foreign looking.

Tlre actors were never to be shown the script, nor allowed to develop a character-this was the iob of the director. They were rnerely told to laugh or to cry without being given any hint

of motivation. In addition, what instruction they received was to be indirect. Hertry Kotani, orre of this group, is famous for having attempted to create f,ear by announcing that a lion was preparing to pounce, though there was

nothing about any such anirlal in the script.

Though anecdotes such as these may indicate cultural rnisapprehension, some of the methods matched Japanese examples. Except for the biggest nanes, actors are often treated

in just such au Lursympathetic manner. Some of the finest perforrnances in Japanese cinema were given by the actors working for Ozu Yasujiro, a director who famously used the Taguchi-Kotani approach. When the actress Sugimura Haruko, weary of endless takes, asked wlrat lrer motivation was for playing her role in Tokl,o Storl, to lrave answered:

money-you

(195r,

the director is supposed

are getting paid for it.

Taikatsu went on to rnake a number of rlew films, of which nothing remains but a few stills. One of these filrns, Arncttetn' Club (furachua kurabu, 1920, n.s.), an Auerican-style cornedy written by the newly appointedTanizakiJnn'ichiro and directed by returnee Tltomas

Kurihara, was about a bunch of young enthusiasts trying to stage a kabuki play by the sea-

side furother wu The Lnsci't,iousness of the \liper (Jasei u0 in, aka The Lust of the White Seqrent, 1921, n.s.), a Kurihara concepts were first seeu

36

film,

based on the

tiedaAkinari story, in which KaeriyamA's

in a historical setting. Playing one of the extras was future director

Amateur Club,1920, Thomas Kurihara, with Kamiyama Sango (left)

The Lasciviousness of the Viper, 1921, Thomas Kurihara, with Okada Tokihiko (left), Benizawa Yoko (right)

Uchida Tomu. The sarne story was later used as the basis for Mizoguchi's better known Ugetsu (Ugetsu monogatari, 1953) Despite or because of these innovations, Taikatsu ran into such financial difficulties

that

only a few years later it merged with the Shochiku Cinema Company, a new conceln which lrad been organizedby Shirai Matsujiro and Otani Takejiro. Both of these entrepreneurs had started their careers as peanut vendors (nowadays

it would be the popcorn franchise).

37

Slrochiku, akeady an entertainment entity, had its owr kabuki and shimpa troupes, but both

Inelt were eager to enter the film industry. Shirai had returned from a successful overseas fact-finding trip, and Otani, who had stayed in Japan,watched httolerattce playing to packed houses at ticket prices higher than those of the bestJapaltese dranta.

ffio men saw that the old-style Japanese rlovie was probably on its way out and that sontething new was perhaps coming in. Consequently, the new cinerna anrl of Shochiku The

built its own studio. Looking for a place a bit like Southern Califomia, rtsettled on Kanata in the southern suburbs of Tolryo and adjacent to the Pacific, or at least to Tolqro Bay. Since the company had to

train all of its employees, a Shochiku Cinema Institute

was

irtaugurated, and 0sanai Kaoru, one the founders of shingeki, was put in charge. Osanai had worked

with stage director Max Reinhardt and had introduced the Stanislavsky acting

rnetlrod into Ja;;an. His Jiyu Gekijo (Free Theater), named after the ThdAtre Libre and founded in 1909, lrad staged some critically successful productions but had failed financially, and its founder was now grateful for movie work. Cast complete, Shochiku releasedamanifesto

which read in part: "The main puryose of

this cornpany will be the production of artistic films resembling the latest and rnost flourish-

ing styles of the Occidental cinema;itwill distribute these both at home andabroad; it will introduce the true state of our national life to foreign

countries.

."

r0

Critics corlplained of a perceived Americanization, but such complaints ceased when it became apparent that Japanese cinern a, far from being assimilated, had itself assimilated a

studio system not only very like that of Hollywood, but also prornising to be just

as successful.

fui early Shochiku picture-one of the fewprewarJapanese films thatcan still be was Souls

on the Roal

(Rojo no reikon,

seen-

I)21). Its reconstructing from various prints, fol-

lowirrg World War II, was the work of Ushih araYttyohiko, who not only helped write the script

but also played the comic butler. He later became one of Japan's most popular directors. (furother future director of note, Shirnazu Yasujiro, was listed as lighting director.) The direction of the picture itself is credited to Murata Minoru, though Osanai (who plays the uncornpromising father in the picture and is also billed as executive producer) certainly had a hand

in its making. It was he who sometimes

spoke of this

fihr

as the

first "realist" picture

in Japan. As is often the case

with such ideas, the concept of filrn realism has evolved over time. In

any event, there is also the peculiarity of what various cultures call "realistic." Today, of course, the

film

does not strike the viewer as

"realist," but then few 1921 films, regardless of

origin, would. What strikes the contemporary viewer is the eclecticism of influences on the

film and the emotional power which, despite or because of these, the fihn retains. Souls on the Road was originally viewed as apicture sees

3t

"in the foreign manner," and one

why. It is composed of a number of stories, taken from foreign sources, which are then

-l dr Sou/s on the Boad, 1921 , Murata Minoru, with Minami Komei, Tsutami Takeo.

reconbined in a style sirnilar to that of profitable Intoluance. The main story, two ex-cons on tlre road, was culled from the shingeki adaptation of Maxim Gorky's The Lower Depths; the wastrel son who returns home with wife and child is from a story called "Children of the Streets" by aonce-popular Gerrnan author named Wilhelm Schmidtbaum; and the pastoral

romance between the daughter of the house and a working-class youth owes much to the Bluebird Photoplays. The title that opens and closes the picture is a pious quotation from the Gorky drama: "W€, as human beings, must have pity for those about us. Christ had this quality and we also

must cultivate it. There is a time for us to express

this-this

we must watch

for." There are

other titles as well: 127 of thern in what was originally a ninety-one-minute

film-an

extremely high averugq much more in line with the funerrcan than theJapanese pictures of the time.

The fihn's other influences

from abroad include an enactment of that exotic holiday,

Christrnas; the conscious decision to have the daughter (played by the actress Sawamura

(i

r

Haruko instead of an oyama) dressed to look like, and apparently instructed to act like, Mary Pickford; plus a plethoruof optical effects, including wipes, fades, dissolves, and irises. There are also panoramic shots (the camera swiveling), dolly shots (the

ups, flashbacla, and moments of parallel editing.

In its

c

meru on wheels), close-

use of these innovations, however,

the film's discourse reveals its local accent.

Earlier films had given many indications that Japan's use of Western techniques was going to be different. Japan's fint pan shot, said to have occurred in the previously mentioned The Golden Demon of 1912,wu filmed during the beach scene when the brutal

.39

-U

Kanichi kicks the fragile 0rniya. The director, it is clairled, noticed the peaceful mountain range across the bay and (having an articulated head on his tripod) decided to

film it first,

only then panning the camera to the principles. Ordinarily, pan shots in early Western films were rnore uarrative

in intent: two acting

areas were connected, making

for a tighter and

lltore "realistic" story. In Japanese films, as one rnight expect, the focus was initiallv aesthetic. Thus, in The Golden Dernon, the director called attention to the beautiful mountains simply because they were beautiful. There is also a kind of narrative connection: drarratic

coutrast-the mountains

are peaceful, the kick on the beach is not. The assumption that

character can be defined by sirnilarities or contrasts to the physical surroundings is likewise an oldJapanese narrative technique seen in rnany a scroll and screen.

initially

used to the sane effect as

In all, the pan was uot

it was in the West.

The close-Llp, which had gained a prominent role early on in Western cinema, was also applied differently in Japan.ln the West, the close-up brought the audience neArer to the face

of the protagonist so that moneuts of high emotion could be observed. The theory was that

this created empathy, enabling the viewer t0 "feel" more. Yet the first Japanese close-up (there are several contenders for the honor) was not used in this lnanner at

a\l.It-Resur-

rectiort (1914) being a typical exarnple-merely permitted a closer view of a character who was doing a bit 0f business that would cornplicate appreciation of the anecdote unless closely observed.

Even now, close-ups are not nearly as common in Japanese films as in Western pictures,

and some directors (notably, Mizoguchi) employed a scarcity of close-ups as a part of their rrrattrre styles. Indeed, the Japanese audience was very late

in accepting the assurrptions of

tlre teclrnique. There is some evidence that the close-LUls in Henry Kotani's Islancl Wonten (Slrirna n0 onna,1920, n.s.) actually provoked laughter in Japan.

Irr the same way, the initialJapanese flashback-usually ascribed to a 1909 M. Pathd

filnr called The Cuckoo; A Neru Version (Shin hototogisu, u.s.)-was used not so much to explain as to decorate the storyline. In The Cuckoo, the viewer need not know that the heroine had been previously victimizedby a nan. The flashback is not ernployed to elucidate the present by reference to the past but rather, as inJapanese poetT, to suggest a;sarallel.

Similarly, in Souls on the Road the flashbacks explain nothing at all, nor are they irrterrded to.

In general, the editing in the film insists Llpon an aestheticization of tirne and

space. Each of the several stories stops after

we find

a certarn portion is viewed. When we return to it

it just where it was when last we saw it. There is no elapsed time in this universe, just

as tlrere is none

in traditionalJapanese dranaturgy.

The editing is unusual as well. Those who complained they could not follow the single

simple flashback in The Cuckoo would have been truly confused by Sotils on the RoarJ. Tlrere is, however, n0 record that anyone actually

40

wff, and this fact is sometimes used

to

sllggest that Ushihara, when he put together the single 84-minute print we now have, was to

a degree influenced by all the pictures he had seen between only those by Griffith but also some by Sergei Eisenstein A

as

I92I and 1951, ittcluding not

well.

nore likely explanation for the "erratic" editing pattems in manyJapanese films of this

period is provided by David Bordwell in his discussion of "decorative tendencies." The critic speaks of "flashy transitions" and maintains that the Japanese filmrnaker is more likely to

take the transition as apretext for stylistic embroidery."rr Bordwell's example is the dissolve (one irnage appearing over another):

in the West it

suggests the passing of time, while in

Japan it is simply decoration. Through the dissolve, the filmmaker-intentionally or insists on the theatricalify that remains so much an aim

psf-

in anyJapanese entertaiument.

The editing in Souls on the Road is certainly not put to any of the putative uses 0f "real-

isrn." A particularly "Llnrealistic" use is seen in the final sequence of the film. A title auuounces,

"lf

he [the father] hadn't forgiven them; if he had forgiveu them," and we

see

what would have perhaps happened had things been otheruise. Unlike a similar constructiorr

in tlre double ending of F. W. Murnau's proceeds froru

The Lnst

Luugh (1924), this decorative flourish

nothing inherent in the film itself. It is used for its own innocent sake.

ht Souls on the Rood, as in many other films of this and later periods, one is struck by tlre free use of what in the West would be considered advanced, even avarft-garde techniques. This held true for the ruost conmercial of Japanese films was that the presence of any kind of narrative

as

well. One reason, undoubtedly,

(in the Western sense) was an irnported idea.

fuld while Japanese have always discriminated anong imports as to their usefulness, there are often no other criteria for their use.

Even

in today's media this phenomenoll can be observed. fui FM radio program of

Western music

is likely to contain fuiton von Webem alongside Leroy fuiderson.

The

reasoning is not that one is avant-garde and one is not, or that one is serious and one isn't, but simply that both are Westem. Thus, even routine Japanese program-pictnres of the twenties and thirties contained shots 0r sequences which the West associated with only the rnost advanced art films. Usually, however, such techniques were used solely for effect and played a negligible part

in the structure

of the picture. The combination of traditional (East) and modern (West) forrned the patterns tlrat gave the prewarJapanese film both its traditional base and its nodernistpatina. That such a n-EIartge of influences as those creating Sotils on the Road should have produced a

film still enjoyable

after eighty years indicates something about the Japanese aes-

thetic and its universalify. What one

sees

and retains in Souls on the Road are pffiallels, not

conflicts. This is true not only of the characters and their problems but also of their very position within the cinematic world they inhabit. The interest is in the emotional overtones of a situation, one which creates an overall mood or atmosplrere.

41

J

Creating a sturdy narralive is all well and good, but just as important is the careful con-

struction

of.

a context, a nexus. Love within a family, for example, 0r comradeship among

men-these themes are not to

be shown through the

uncommon moments of high emotion

usual to a carefully plotted story. Rather, they arc to be appreciated within a context of winter landscapes and overcast skies, where "the men and women move as though aimless,

hanhly

outlined, sharply defined, against the somber mountains and the dark forest."22

During the first yean of its history, theJapanese film was thus evolving in its own eclectic manner. But the manner was truly pragmatic-only what worked for the audience was used. The aim was popularity,

film being the commercial business that it was (and still is).

There is a theory that the conventions of the Japanese acting

as

theater-the

women; the presence of that presentational agent, the

appearance of men

benshi-all

somehow seryed

to preserve the 'Japaneseness" 0f this cinema, protecting it from rapacious Hollywood. Such a theory, however, fails to take

into account the fact that achievin gJapaneseness was never

an ambition, and that. any Hollywood "takeover" was a highly

selective and

invitational

affaft.lf anything, it wuJapanese companies that took over the ways of the Califomia studios. It is probably safe to say that Japanhas never assimilated anything that it did not want to.

42

TAISHO DEMOCRACY AND SHOCHIKU

Th, 1923 Kanto Earthquake continued what the Meiji Reformation had begun, the I erosion of the Tokugawa-period foundations Llporr which traditionaIJapan had rested. Though "feudal" elements rernained, the assumptions of the Tokr-rgawa governmeut were hardly useful rn aworld where many of its creations had vanished. Actually, the erosion had been going on for decades-the earthquake merely provided a sense of closure. Upon the death of the

Meiji emperor in I9I2, the rnajor oligarchies which

had effectively ruled the country reluctantly withdrew

fron

positions of direct political leader-

slrip. Though they continued to oppose many progressive ideals, including the idea of parlia-

mentary rule, their influence gradually lessened. The modern, the new, and the foreign thrived in the new Taisho era, posthumously named after the emperor Meiji's third and only

suliving

son, Yoshihito. The Taisho era was a period of lively artistic progress, severe eco-

nonric stress, ard a series of rnilitary crises that eventually cuhninated in the disaster of World War II. Tlre decade is now characterized as the period of "Taisho dem octacy ," a term coined by

post-World War

lI Japanese

historians to imply a contrast with the much less democratic

Meiji period and the plainly repressive Showa era which was to follow. A period of social unrest and major change-particularly in rnedia, education, and cultural matters-Taisho also saw the relaxation of governrnental surveillance and censorship, those Tokugawa tech-

niques adopted by the Meiji rulem. New emphasis on the individual and on addressing social

inequalities meant that the traditional position of women was qllestioned, unions were formed to protect workers, parliamentary procedure was introduced, and big business was encouraged. The cinema was hard hit by the earthquake. Many of the studios and theaten in the capital were destroyed or badly damaged, and the structure of the

film industry was seriously shaken.

Many old concepts had to be abandoned and many new methods and ideas had to be adopted.

43

Oue rnajor change the earthquake hastened rvas the division of production. Jidaigeki pro-

duction was now firmly centered

in

Kyoto, where there were

still studios

standing

,

and

gendaigeki were exclusively rlade in Tokyo. This made sense. Kyoto was thought conservative and old-fashioned; it was also believed to ernbody traditionalJapanese virtues. Tokyo, on the other hand, was seen as modern and new, and attractively Western. Whether anyolte ever

intended a division this cornplete or not, it occurred, and, until the collapse of the genre years later, most jidaigeki continued to be made

fifff

in Kyoto. Even today, historical television

serials are still often shot in the old capital.

Post-earthquake Tokyo took to the movies and, as did Tokyo, so did Japan. Before long, rrew features were being turned out, eventually some seven hundred ayear. By 1928, five

years after the disaster,Japan produced more films annually than any other country, and would continue to do so for another decade, until World War II curtailed production. Movies made noltey. As public entertainment,

films lrad no rivals. Nrnost

every/one

in

Japan, it would seem, went. This audience watched Japanese films, foreign films, and perceived all cinerna, old-fashioned or newfangled, as mass entertainment.

This new post-earthquake cinemA, as Kornatsu Hiroshi has said, "virtually destroyed the long-standing and traditional forrns on the one hand by assirnilating funerican cinem a and ou the other hand through the imitation of avant-garde forms such as German expressionisrn and French impressionisrn."I

Tradition was thus challenged in late-Taisho and early-Showa movies, and no one nore

firmly flung down the gauntlet than did Kido Shiro when he became head of the Karlata Shochiku Studios

in

1924. "There are two ways to view humaniry . . . cheerful and gloomy.

But the latter will not do: we at Shochiku prefer to look at life in

a

warm and hopeful way. To

inspire despair in our viewer would be unforgivable. The bottom line is that the basis of film rlust be salvation." l This represented a new kind of bottorn line. Usually, finances dictate the bottom line, and tlris eventually proved to be true at Shochiku

as

well, but initially, atleut, the company was

atternpting to make a new kind of product. This

it did-though not

always an excessively

cheerful one.

In fact, though Kido gathered around him some of the best directorial talent of the posteartlrqu ake eru, he could not, despite rnany efforts, impose such facile restrictions 0n directors as varied and as talented as Gosho Heinosuke, Shirnazu Yasujiro, Shimizu Hiroshi, Ozu

Yasujiro, and then Naruse Mikio, YoshimuraKozaburo,Oba Hideo, and Kinoshita Keisuke. These directors all went on to make serious

films, and by n0 means did most of their work fit

the ideals of the "Kamatastyle," thatsobriquet under which Kido envisioned his salvationist product. Actually a light and cheerful style was not a Shochiku monopoly. Attractive modern ways

44

of presenting attractive modern experieuces were by now

fairly common. Eveu

the rnore consewative Nikkatsu made a

few nrodern moclan-mlnl ("modern pieces"). Exarnples are found in the films

of Abe Yutaka, a director who trained

in Hollywood under Ernst Lubitsch

and

created such successfttl satirical conte-

Girl Who Touched His Legs (Ahi ni sawatta onna, aka The Wornan

dies as The The Girl Who Touched His Legs,1926, Abe Yutaka, with

0kada Tokihiko, Umemura Yoko

Wlro Touched the Legs , 1925).

Kido might not have been able to fully enforce the ideals he wanted but he was able to preverrt what he did not want: "The shimpa style

. . . failed to portray real people.

Some

inmutable ruoral code of the tirnes was taken as a point of departurc, the character's actiotts were considered to lrove within the confines of the code as though utterly ruled by it.

We

wish to resist blind acceptance of sone banal moral rule, to use a criticism of tuorals as a point of departure to grasp the realiW of human beings."

3

What was being criticized was nothing less than traditional Japan and those attitudes (a repressive kind of pessirnism, ableak spirit of self-sacrifice, etc.) which were

tered

in

sorne corners of the

still being fos-

bright rlew Taisho world. However, the cheerful Kanata sffle

could tum just as sober, as is indicated by the fate of several of its pictures. When Ozu Yasu-

jiro's

I

Wts Born, Bu,t

, ,.

(Urnarete wa

rlita

keredo, 1932) "came out very dark," as Ozu

hintself phrased it, Kido delayed its release by a nurnber of rnonths and remained farnously

r-ulnollified when this uncheerftrl film won the Kinerna Juntpo First Prize that year. Md wlren Oshirna Nagisa made the grave Alight ctncl Fog irt Jclpan (Nihon n0 yorul to kiri, 1950), Kido ordered it yanked out of the theaters three days after its release. Some directors, however,

if they

were cheerful enough, experienced no such difficulties. Ushihara Kiyo-

hiko, one of those on the staff of Sottls on tlte Rorrcl, retumed effort-

lessly optirnistic

in 1927 , from a

year of study with Charlie Chaplin. Suclr conseqLlent LtJb (Jinsei no He and Life, 1929, Ushihara Kiyohiko, with Tanaka Kinuyo, Suzuki Demmei

fihls u

Loue

ai, 1923, n.s.)

oJ'

and

He and Ltfe (Kare to jinsei, 1929,

n.s.) earned him the nickname

45

"set'tchimentaru [sentimental] Ushiharai' atitle considered lnore complimentary than not.

At example would

be Tbe Age of

Emotion (Kangeki jidai , 1928), nineteen minntes of which

still exist, a rnaudlin but cheerful romance, starring the "[ove tearn" of Suzuki Demmei and Tanaka Kinuyo.

Though Kido proclaimed optimistic intentions, he also spoke of "the reality of human beings," and this not always cheerftrl quality found its way into the films he produced. Here

his better directors were with him. They were yoLurg, they were equally sick of the dour shimpa product, and they did not approve of official repressive measures such as the "Lurder-

st00d" rnoral codes the government was beginning to suggest. Having now glimpsed the outside world (even if only through funerican productions), these yourrg directors were n0

"traditioltal" Japan. Since the Shochiku brand of gendaigeki was both pro-modem and pro-Western (that

lorrger satisfied with

these two are not identical

mrains a major theoretical argurrent inJapan),

anyone

exanin-

ing Japanese cinema must look beyond the storylines. One must inquire into the assulnptious of the directors and their associates as well as exanline their conjectures and surmises.

THE NEW CENDAICEKI: SHIMAZU, COSHO, SHll'llzu, OZU, AND NARUSE

fi director who first-and some maintain best-exernplified the aims of the new Kamata t{sffle was ShimAZu Yasujiro. Shirilazuhad worked on Souls ort the Rocr,cl and would b.rorc

the mentor of Gosho Heinosuke, Toyoda Shiro, YoshinlLlra Koz'.tburo, and later,

Kinoshita Keisuke, Nakanlura Noboru, and Kawashima

Yuzo-ail

directors wlto were at one

time or another in their careers associated with shochiku. He made nearly one hundred and fiftv films and had astrong influence 0n those who worked uuder him.

Shimazu's

first

notable

picttrre, Fother (0tosan ,1923, n.s.), wffi a light conedy about

a baseball champiou and a sinple countryr girl. It apparently resernbled fulericau cornedies of the period except

that

it

seerns

to have

relied

more on char actet and mood

than upon plot and slapstick.

It also exposed class differences

in a way unusual for

Japanese fihns.

46

Father, 1923, Shimazu Yasujiro, with Masakuni Hiroshi, Mizutani Yaeko

In the old-school kyuha, the samurai class was assumed to be on top and everyone

else

on the bottom; in the shimpa-based film, the distinction was not so much socialized as gen-

dered-it

was the men who were on top (however insecurely) and the women (however

undeservedly) who were on the bottom.

In the films of

Shirn

azu and those who worked with

him, issues of social class long appareut in Japanese life now became discernible on the screen as well.

Tlre simple country girl in Father struggles with her rural, low-class social standing

as

does tlre lrero of AVillage Teachw (Mura n0 sensei, 1925, n.s.). This interest in "people just

like you and me," one of Kido's original dictates, had the effect of ernphasizing "the lower classes"

in a manner

"thenrselves"

hitherto rare in Japanese fihns. People liked the novelty of seeing on the screen and the result was a geure usually called shomingeki or

shoshimingeki Such fihns

abor-rt

the "little people," which would later turn pathetic or polit-

ical or both, began in these light comedies of Shinrazu and those who worked under him.

)ur Neighbor, Miss Yae, 1934, Shimazu Yasujiro, Yumeko, Takasugi Sanae

Tlre picture by which Shirnazu is best remembered,

)ur

with

Aizome

lVeighbor, \l[iss 17rc (Tonari no

Yae-clran, 1934), shows how the director and his associates portrayed everyday people andat the same tirne satisfied modern expectations.

The two neighboring farnilies featured in the film, though lower middle-class,

have

enough income to be noticeably Westernized (the krds sing "Red River Valley," for instance, and they all go to the movies and

see a Betty Boop

cartoon), but these lives are presented in a

context very different frorn that of, say, Frank Capra's It Happened )ne lVight, the big foreign hit of the saneyear.

In)tr

lVeighbor, Miss Yoe, there is no social subtext as there is in the Caprafilm, where

tlre heroine is an heiress, spoiled and snobbish, and the hero a workaday reporter, poor but

47

honest. fuid certainly, there is no comparable melodramatic plotting. Instead we have an anecdote and,

in the place of an

Japanese llanller. The daughter

assumed social text, we have aesthetic patterning,

(Miss Yae) of one

sister, too, has her eye on the boy, but

it

in

the

farlily fancies the son of the other; Yae's

is Yae who moves

in with the neighboring family to

finish her high-school studies when her own farlily rnoves away. Her last line is: "l'rr not a neighbof arlyn]ore. " Though there is a degree of social comrnentary (one father says to the other: latew howwe talk about our jobs, theywouldn't have much hope for the est is

"lf

the boys

future"), the inter-

in the design of the narrative. The film opens, for example, with a slow dolly shot sltow-

ing two houses with boys playing baseball on the lot in the rniddle. A tuissed ball breaks a window (one family has intruded upoll the other) and the story begins. The opening scelte thus encapsulates the entire plot. Throughout, highly selective realism reveals how a director can rnake things lifelike while retaining control through that very selection.

One of ShirlanJ's assistant directoru was Gosho Heinosuke, who wettt on to enlarge the shomingeki tradition, to deeperl an interest in character, and, at the same time, continue to suggest ways

in which the Western techniques of cinema could accommodate the Japauese

audience.

Though some have said that Shimazu's was the first and only influence 0n Gosho, there were others as well. First, the younger director was au even morc avid student of Western cin-

erna tlran most of his contemporaries. He said he had seen Lubitsclls The \l[arringe Circle (1924) at least twenty times and named

it (along with Chaplin'sA Wontan of Pnris,1923)

the greatest Western influence on his work.

This influence is quite apparent in the earliest of Gosho films extAut,

he

lVeighblr's

Wfe ancl fulhrc (Madarnu to nyobo, 1931). Usually referred to as'JapAu's first talkie," though there were other earlier part-talkies, it remains interesting because of its deft use of sound. The be found

film recounts how a struggling low-class journalist-one of the "little people" to

in such shomingeki as this-is kept front couceutrating by the lazz-band racket

coming from the house next door. Going to complain, he rernaitn to be seduced by the noisy "rnadame" 0f theJapauese title. Nong the way are various lazz selectiorts, all of thern

qr-rite

loud, and anumber of aural jokes-meowing cats, sqr,reakirtg mice, crying children. Like the later Lubitsch, Gosho found away to incorporate sonud as a structural elentent iu

this earlv

film and to coltunent on the "all-talkie"

as he simultaneously established its colt-

ventions. There is even a Lubitsch "toLrch" at the end, where a couple take tlteir baby out for

solne air to the sound-track accolnpaniment 0f "My Blue Heaven" (a great favorite in

48

The Neighbor's Wife and Mtne, 1931,

Gosho Heinosuke,

with

Watanabe

Atsushi, Tanaka Kinuyo

Japan). At the lines "And baby makes three," the happy couple find that they ltave wandered off and left the baby carriage behind.

fuiother iufluence from foreign fihls was an unusllAl number of close-Llps and the relative breviff of separate shots. As early

u

(in contradistinctiott to,

1925, Gosho became larowrt

say, Mizoguchi Kenji, already working at the Nikkatsu Studios) as the director wlto used tlrree shots where others would Llse one. A later filur, Art

hut in

Osaks (Osaka no yado,

1954), is composed of over one thousaud separate shots, and the following year's Grou,ittg

Up (Takekurabe, 1955) contained, in its now-lost integral version, even more. Other contemporaneolls fulerican rarc filrns, such rc Shane

fihls averaged only three hundred to seven hundred shots. Only (195, or Rem' Windou, (1954), had one thousaud.

Gosho was one of the Kamata directors rrost interested

in literature-as differentiated

from popular reading rnatter. As we have seeu, early Japanese

filrl

was nrllch indebted to

drarna. Many of the popular shirnpa dramas had been adapted frotu popular novels. Cortsequently,

filrls

canle more and more to rely upon the same type of source material. Sorne

critics have justifiably rlaintained that the Japanese cinema is singular in its closeness to popular literature. But rlelodrama (which is what most popular literature was and is) lends itself to stock situations and stereofypes. Iu the 1930s, those not satisfied with such limitations turned to arrotlrer kind of reading. In Japan, this resulted in the genre known

rcjun-bungft,u

(pure

literature), books nlore closely resembling real life, considered also as "seriolls" literature. Alnrost all Japanese novels known through translation in the West belong to this gerlre.

in the Japanese film industry who were dissatisfied with stock plots and characters. In striving for sornething more Gosho and those who wrote his scripts were among the many

approaching truth, they also-perhaps without intending to-prepared for a cinema which was rnore representational than presentational.

49

Gosho, however, the fastest cutter on the lot, was also a haiku poet. There is no contradic-

tion in this. Even now, many Japanese (and back then, most Japanese) included in their tttodern (Western-influenced) lives a traditional pastine such as penning these short lyrics. Here is a haiku that Gosho sent to his friend

)zuYasujiro as a seasonal greeting on Jarnary

2,1935,

Hot springs here, and there goes rny first New Year crow. t

His composition is conventionally expert, as it includes a seasonal reference, a definite place, and a

novement-in

New Year: the

this case the felicitous way that first things are awaited on the

first rice, the first hot bath, even the sight of the first crow. Note the Gosho-like

touch of hurnor since, unlike the nightiugale, this cornmon bird is not pleasurably awaited. Gosho's double-aesthetic heritage (Japanese and Westem) naturally affected his cinernatic style, which combined "the haiku and Lubitschian ddcoupage-and how they func-

tion." 5 He sometimes used what we might call a haiku-like construction. One of the best known examples is in 6vsuti?tg up. In one scene the young heroine, destined for a life of prostitution but never fully awarc of it, innocently enters into a conversation with the adults,

who avoid divulging her precise fate. As the scene closes, Gosho cuts to abird in a cage. We have noticed this caged bird before; there was even a bit of business built around it. Now, however, Gosho makes a comment through cinematic rnetaphor. Brevity and lack of emphasis restore to the trite symbol much of its

original freshness and power, just as in a haiku.

During his long career, Gosho made atotal of ninety-nine filrns. These were of various genres: farces,

light cornedies, romantic rnelodramas, family dramas, social dramas. Most

rewardingly, these genres are eclectically rnixed. Just as he cornbined Western techniques

with an often haiku-like construction, so he could infuse cornedy with unexpected emotion. This creative blending 0f gerlres was not thought well of in the West. Sergei Eisenstein once had an opportunity to see Gosho's early Trickl,

Girl (Karakuri musurne, 1!27, n.s.) and

disliked it, saying that it began like a Monty Banks comedy but ended in the deepest despair.

What he objected to was the rnixing of genres. Indeed, over and over, the filrns of Ozu, Naruse Mikio, Toyoda

Shiro-even Kurosawa Akira-have disconcerted the rigid

West by

successfully combining elements assumed to be antithetical The Japanese audience

felt no such compulsion to adhere to strict categorizations. Irr

fact, "Gosho-ism," which became anaccepted critical term often used byJapanese film critics, was defined as a style incorporating sornething that makes you laugh and cry at the sarne time. Chaplin was often mentioned as the single foreign example.

50

There are other similarities between Gosho and Chaplin besides the deliberate mixing 0f

lrunor and;sathos.

Both directors-shirnazuYasuiiro as well-rnake much of the kind of

hurnanism which the shorningeki encouraged and which is perhaps best expressed at the

Inn in }saka

end of .,4 n

when the hero, finally transferred to Tokyo, says: "None of us catt

say he is happy or fortunate, yet things still seem promising . . . we are able to laugh at our

own misfortunes, and as long

a new future." And so

it

as we

goes

can laugh we still have the strength and courage to build

in Gosho's films.

There is a sense of release-the circum-

stances remain the same but the outlook has changed.

In his work we calt clearly

see the

familiar pattern of joining modern methods to traditional assumptions.

Shimizr-r Hiroshi, a contemporary of Gosho's at Shochiku, made nore than oue huttdred and

sixty films in his long career, though many of the earliest worls are now lost. From the first, Slrinrizu seens to have fit the Kanatasffle well. Kido recalls that, even in his melodralnas,

"slrimizu conposed his effects, not in tenns of the facial expressions of the actors, but in terns of the story itself. His composition becarne the expressive rnedia. This was his ltew tnethod."

('

Even melodrarna itself was apparently reformed

in these early Shimizu films. At

Nikkatsu, directors such as Uchida Tomu and Mizoguchi Kenji were at the tirne still staging

shirnpa drarna, relying on stage sets and stage-trained actors. At Shochiku, on the other lrand, directors such as ShirnazuYasujiro and Shimizu were using natural locations and young acton who had never been on the stage.

Slrinrizu's early Undlting Pearl (Fue no shiratarna, I92D, based 0n a melodrama by popular writer Kikuchi Kan, used natural settings, such as harbors and stations, in coujunc-

tion with

sets.

Mr. Thank, You (fuigato-san, 1936), a film about

a bus driver, was shot

in its

entirety on real streets and roads. Such methods affected the style of the films themselves.

It has been suggested that one of

the reasons for Mizoguchi's signature long-held shots was that the actors needed time to generate their performances.

If this is so, perhaps the

shots were often short

in Shimizu films

because the actors could not handle long takes. Kido noticed this when he said: "lnstead of

using facial expressions to draw the drama out, lShimizu] dissolves the actor's movenents

into several fragments, each shot in a short take. This mounting tension of short

shots

becones the propelling force of the story."7 Indeed, acting had little to do with a Shimizu film. Oba Hideo rernembers that when he was assisting Shirnizu, the director rarely,

in any usual

sense of the word, directed his actors.

Ratlrer, he treated thern as props, saying that if they acted, they would overdo it.

ff an actor

51

asked what

kind of f'eeling was rreeded, the directil,e would be to just do the scene without urrv

feelin g,

Such treatnrent of actors wrts alreadv a

tradition-the "Taguchi ntethod,"

1rs

we have

seelt being nruch prztcticed bv directoLs such as 0zu. Though clown at the Nikkatsu studios

Nlizoguclti lvas being equallv difficult r,vith his nrore fzuuous zrctols, his ntotil,ations were clifferettt. He wartted outstunding perfonnances and wcluld go to great lengths to achieve what one critic has called the nrainstav of Xlizoguchi's fihus: a gnutd displav of the

will of

a

wonran who endures her fate irr tears. Howevel indifferent Shirnizu nright htrve seelued to his actors, he was not so with the

filnrs thenrselves. If his tLeatnrent of his actors ll'as untraclitional (nrost Japanese clirectors, thett its ltow, willirtgl)I accept whatevet etttotional interpretation the actor offers), lte lvas nruch nrore traditional in his structuring. His fihns consist of tt series of scenes in lvhich the nzuLative is sinrltlv the'r colunron mutualitv. Each episode conlneuts uporr and ertends the

ston', but there is no heavilv plotted narrative ston'to be told. Rather the content is (in the Japanese nranner) shaped bv the fornt.

ut ilte Hut'blr (N{inato no nihon nlusunre, 1933), the

In./rtltrtttese Girls

stolry is both

attecdotal and ruundane: three high-school girl friends all like the sanre bor'; when one of theru rnarries hinr, the other two go bad and start working in a dunce hall. He, no better tharr

the\', begins to dallv lvith

**;'**xlt*: !H The

filnr opens

as

it

with scenes of an

euds:

ocean

liner leaving a port. This is followed bv a patterned sequence

of

scenes show-

ing two of the girls walk-

ing honre fronr

school,

with the ship in the

dis-

A bo)' ou his

bike

tauce.

Japanese Girls at the Harbor, 1933, Shimizu Hiroshi, Michiko, lnoue Yukiko, Sawa Ranko

with 0ikawa

joins thenr. The next seqlrence is stnrcturally identical, inclucling the sanre pattenr of scenes, but this tinre the boy appeam 0uh'in the girls'couversAtion. At the end of the fihn, it is to this sanre location that the bov and one of the bad girls (now married nrAn and fallen wonran) conre. Again, the patterning is identical. This kind of structuring does indeed render nratter subseruient to the form.

ln one sequence, the spurued girl finds the bov with another wonran. Having f ust takeu his gun, she rrow

52

Lrses

it. The wa-v in which this is shown is fonlalized to an LlnuslrAl degree.

Tlrere are four camefa shots, each progressively closer (from frontal long-shot to frontal close-up). There is a shot of the girl, shot of the glln, shot of the boy and other wonan

(unhurt), and a reverse of the girl in long shot. Later in tlte ntovie, the girl finds the wouau slre aimed at

in her bed (the boy having perhaps just left), and the structure is the

same.

Four short shots of the wolnan in bed, from long shot to close-up, recall in patterned and formalized form the former sequence.

Thongh the film has

seve

ral exaggeratedly Westem elements (art-deco dialogue titles,

clraracters with nalnes such as Dora and Henry, the boy listed

in the credits

as

a "ltalf-

breed"), the style is not at alI Western, though the cutting does perhaps owe something to whatever experimental cinema Shimizu might have seen.

Tlre rnany parallels-the use of objects to contain ernotion (the wife's knitting becomes a motif almost Wagnerian in its permutations), the ellipses (the boy's marriage is uot showtt,

it

is

sirlply assimilated, after the fact), and the use of startling simile (when a person is no

longer needed, he simply vanishes, visibly fading

out)-all

point to something other thau

Western rnodels.

This is equally true of Unch,ing Pearl,the earliest extant Shirnizu film. The appeararrce of the film is so modernist that one wonders if the director had not viewed the Robert MalletStevens decor

for Nlarcel L'Herbier's L'Argent (I}ZD. In the Shimizu film, the cocktail

lounge where two sisters disport themselves is

all frosted

glass and exposed structure; the

dance hall is all spotlights and geometrical furniture. At the same titne, this kind of ntinimalism was not only on display in moderu Japanese coffee shops, it was also present in traditionalJapanese architecture. Though the hero writes

"l Love You" (in English) in the sand

with the tip of his companion's parasol, the elaborate playing with the curues of its opening and closing, employed to flesh out the corlposition and provide continuity, calls to rnind the visual and structural strategies of the traditionalJapanese artist. One is also remiuded

in this and in many of Shirnizu's films of a kind of structure

seeu

in Japanese fiction-Kawabata Yasunari, for example, particularly in his "modernist" phase, around 1930-where the work is filled with ellipses, Lutexpected rnetaphors, and a conclusion which rnerely stops when the pattern is coruplete rather than effecting a conclusion. One might say that Shimizr-r's "new method," where composition becomes the domi-

nant expressive rnedium, can be seen as an assumption about narrative design and as an echo of Japanese literary heritage.

If this is trne, then particularly "Japanese" is an eleven-minute episode in A Star Athlete (Hanagata senshu, 1937), where thirty consecutive dolly moverlents are used: "forward or backward along a country road, with the canera always preceding or following the

str,r-

dents." 0f this sequence, Nlen Stanbrook has also said that "by subtly varying the angles, now dollying forward, now dollying back, now narching at the double or letting the caurera

53

break free to follow, Shimizu here created a seqlrence close to pure cinema in which the matter of the

film is almost subservient to the forn."u lt is also an example of the usage of space

as ancient as

before us.

that of the e-rnaki, the painted handscroll where space is unrolled (unreeled)

It is also during this seqllence that Mo of the marching students colnpare their

situation with that of Gary Cooper in

llloroccl-an

example of Shimizu's fusing of Eastenr

and Western concerns.

Tlre "rnodemist" aspect of the Kantata style found its ftrllest expression in the work of Ozu Yasujiro, who in his thirty-five-year directing career made fifff-four films, some thirty-three of which suruive, though several of these are incorlplete. From the first, Ozu was interested in Westem films. He once proudly said that when he had his Shochiku interuiew he could recall

having seen only three Japanese films. Ozn was thus ideal for Kido's purposes. Though Ozu was originally made merely arr assistant cameran)an and forced to

lug the heavy machine around the set, he was later

apprenticed to Saito Torajiro, known as something of a specialist in Western-style comedy,

Thus, he s00n rnet his Shochiku contemporaries (Shirnizu Hiroshi, Gosho Heinosuke, Naruse Mikio) as well as his future scriptwriter, Noda Kogo, and his future cinematographer,

Shigehara Hideo. All were involved

in forging the new Kanata style, one which was more

progressive than that emerging from Nikkatsu and other studios. Japanese

filmmakers borrowed extensively from native popular literature, from the thea-

ter's reworkings of Western narrative principles, and from foreign (particularly fulerican)

filrns' conventions of style and structure. It was traditions both native and foreign that gave a basic linear unity to earlyJapanese films. New genres also emerged. One of the most engaging of these flourished under the eupho-

rrious designation of ero-g1ff0-??ansensu. None of these three components were new. were characteristic of late Edo literature, especially ero, the erotic. The was solnething often seen

Nl

g,url, or grotesque,

in art or dram a, and ?xansensu--comic exaggeration 0r f.arce-

lrad been aJapanese staple for centuries.

It was this latter characteristic which appealed to the young 0zu. When he was given his clrance, he asked to work not under Ushih araKiyohiko or the other prestigious directom, but

under Okubo Tadamoto, a specialist in nansensu productions who called hirnself a truly vulgar director, a terrn which-with necessary qualifications-could be applied equally to Ozu and later to Kawashima Yuzo, who also worked under Okubo.

Ozu later explained that his choice of Okubo may have been due to his own laziness and Okubo's notorious laxness-Okubo's assistants never had to work very hard. Certainly

54

another reason, however, wffi the cornmonness of 0kubo's naterial and its complete lack of pretensions. The difference between the two directors is that 0kubo created from vulgar material; Ozu, from mundane material.

David Bordwell has discerned three principal tendencies at work Japanese-style cinema narrative

in the creatiott

during the period when Ozu was emerging as a director.

First, the "calligraphic" sfyle, associated with chambara (Japanese sword-fighting), flamboyant,

of

full of fast action, rapid editing,

wx5

and bravuracamera movement, and had as its

chief exponent Ito Daisuke. Second was the "pictorialist" style-derived from shimpa and influenced by Hollywood's Josef von Sternberg-where each shot was a complex composi-

tion with long shots predominating, rn astyle later exernplified by Mizoguchi. Finally, there was tlre "piecem eal" style (one

bit of information per shot). In this style, the average shot

length ranged from three to five seconds, and the narrative, comprised of neat, static shots, was associated with gendaigeki and derived mainly from Lubitsch. No doubt Ozu was drawn

to this style because of Kido's partialiry to it, but also in part because of the style's generic predisposition, including the fact that Okubo used it. Likewise, Ozu responded favorably to the style "because of the possibilities it holds for mixing playfulness and rigor." e Finally, this

resulted

in a clean,

reflected Japanese

transparent structure, something which Ozu admired both because

it

tradition and defined modernism.

One of the reasons

for this was that modernism as an international style was much

indebted to Japan Its continued use, now that

it had become internationally

fashionable,

seerred but natural. The Bauhaus, a school which codified many rnodernist assumptious, sponsored a style which was colnfortable to the people who had created the Katsura Detached Pa\ace, that single structure which influenced the construction of the Bauhaus itself. Ozn hirnself never paid close attention to theory. Nonetheless, he did, from

fihn to fihn,

incorporate anumber of assumptions about structure. Such assumptions may be viewed

as

operating within the larger cultural nexus. One of Japan's structural assumptions has always been that visible structure is permissible. Thus, there are n0 faEades

arclritecture.

In traditional drama, such

in traditional

Japanese

as noh, anecdote takes the place of scenery and a

rt

a plot. Whereas early cinema worldwide revealed its

-'r

structural elements, false fronts were soolt erected to hide these. In Japan, structure long

')*-

modernism insisted upor'l it. Thus Japan's visible

I)

kata-Iike structure takes the place of

remained visible

, and not only because

structural assumptions contributed to the West's definition of modernism, just as Japan's later lack of consistent aesthetic theory contributed to postmodernism. Ozu looked at modernism and identified with what he saw there.

Many other Japanese at the time also related well to modernism. For most, however, modernism merely meant being up-to-date. All periods are "modern," though not all of tlrern so label thernselves. For traditionally-mindedJapanese, modernism was away of work-

55

J_

ing with what they already knew. In the West, modernism questioned temporality, reevaluated

it, opposed it, and thus defined itself against tradition. This was very difficult for Japa-

to comprehend. In anv event, modernism in Japan was not the aI affair it was in the West. It was rnerely one of a plurality of styles, though one

nese, including Ozu, polernic

which somehow reaffirned traditional notions, reinforced earlier rnethods of construction. Modemism as a Western style also shared with traditionalJapan a freedorn frorn accepted realism, a tendency to the formally complex, and a fondness for the elliptical. What is left out of noh and of the typical Ozu narrative call, in this case, be eqr-rated with what is left out in the stories of Gertrude Stein and the novels of Henry Green.

There is also

in Westem modernistic narrative a certain

works show how they are made. Even

tional Westem

fihl,

openness

of structnre.

These

in Ozu's earliest pictures, so influenced by the collven-

there is a like transparency of structure which is Western only

in that

some modernist Western films had inadvertently appropriated Japanese ideas. Despite all the

American paraphernalia, even the early Ozu films show the pellucid structural exposure

which we associate with both the traditional ethos of Japan and modernist foreigu cinema. There are urAny examples of such

visible construction.

In the eleven

nrirrutes that remain of

But . ,

.

I

Grctcltnted,

(Daigaku wa deta keredo,

a cltaracter is introduced in analytical manner: first a foot in a 192D,

door, then the Llpper frarne of the

door, then a hat. ht

A

Struight-

I

But ,

1929, Ozu Yasujiro, Graduated, Minoru, Tanaka Kinuyo

with

Takada

foru'cn'cl Bo.l' (Tokkankozo, 192il, nine rninutes of which are preserued, a series of gags is shown, each one scene

loug, with callse and

effect

plairrly visible. Fighting Friench, Foreigtt Style (Wasei kenka tomodatchi, 192D, fourteen miuutes of wlrich still exist, anuonnces itself as a Japanese version

of an funericarr

filrrr, Fighting Friencls. The Japanese flavor was to be enjoyed more in the

parallel seqllences and the visible

56

But

I Was Born, , 1932, Ozu Yasujiro, Hideo (left), Tokkankozo (right)

with

Sugawara

linkage of like scenes rather than in the exotic buddy-bonding inherertt to the original story. Wlren in Ozu's

I

Was

Born, Bu,t ,

.., the can)erudollies

past bored boys at their school

desls, then cuts to a similar dolly naneuver past the boys' bored fathers at their office desks, the fihn reveals its construction through parallels. Its structurt becomes visible; its cotttent becomes its form and vice vema. At the same time, the origin of this particular type of sequence

was not to be found

in traditional

Clair's A lVous la Liberte (1931), a

examples of Japauese structural exposure but

in

Rend

fihn released ayear before the Ozu filrn in which parallel

dollies connect and contrast bored prisoners in jail and bored factoryworkers olt the job. Ozu forrned his style frorn all sorts of sources. By appropriating and then usirtg or discarding as ltecesSary, Ozn offers something of aparadigm for the way thatJapanese directors ofterr work. There

is a great opeuness about influences. Not only did Ozu learn front

Lubitsch, as did evelyoue else, but often frorn Mack Sennett and from the Hal Roach Grmg comedies. He took from whatever he saw around Tlrus Naruse Mikio's film

Flmkl,,

Wlrk,

Hard (Koshiben garnbare,

rlran, 1931) was also a soluce for 1 Was Born, was released

)ur

him.

But

aka Ode to a Sales-

The Ozu filnt, though made

in

1931,

ayeff later. The two films shared the same nilieu, the Kanatasuburbs, and tlte

sane indications of social inequality. In Narnse, the ernployee's son beats up the boss's solt, and the aggressor's father implores the boy to go and apologize. In Ozu, the sons say they can beat up the boss's sou s0 why does their father have to work for his. The wa.v in which Ozu combined influences created his methods. For example, Kihachi,

tlre lovable no-good hero of a nurnber of pictures-Passing Fanc1, (Dekigokoro, Stor.l,

oJ'

Flocrtirtg Weecb (Ukikusa m0n0 gatan, 1934)

,

Alt Inrt in

I93D, andArt Innocuil Maid (Hakoiri musume,1935, n.s.)-is said tlrat when he was growing up he knerv just

sr-rch a person.

I93r,Tlte

Tokl'o (Tokyo n0 yado,

based 0n a real person. Ozu

Ikeda Tadao, his scriptwriter,

knew the same fellow, so they created the character together.

Kihachi was also 0zu. In his joumal entry for August 8, 1933, the dircctoL

addresses

hirlself:

"Kiha-chan! Remember yollr age. You're old enough to know it's get-

ting harder to play around with [in English] 'sophisticated corredyl' " r0

At the sAme time the character

is

most certainly based 0n Wallace Beery ( 1931)

in King Vidor's The Cbamlt

.

Later, Kihachi was to be

metamorphosed

in like fashion

by

another director, Yamada Yoji, in the popular Tora-san series.

The Story

of Floating Weeds, 1934, Ozu Yasujiro, with

Yakumo Rieko, Sakamoto Takeshi.

57

Kilrachi may serue as an antalgam of the various influences that fonled Ozu's way of doing tlrings. In Passirtg Fancl' orre notices how Wallace Beery's eminently natr-ualistic per-

fornrance has been choreographed and structur alized by Ozu and his actor, Sakarnoto Takeshi. Their Kihachi could be seen as a modernist construction. His personal characteristics are surmised from his behavior: he always scratches hirnself in the same way, he stomps his way out of his trousers irt the same manrler, his typical gestures are typical. The result is

hutnorous, since repetition is one of the techniques that comedialts use, but at the same time, the spectator is allowed to see into the character, just as visible structure allows one to see

irtto a

fihr

or, architecturally speaking, to peer into a building.

Ozu went on to further refine his rneans. He made some emerging techniques, such as

color, his own. Others he paper.

abjured-the wide screen, he said, rerninded him of

a roll of toilet

In general, he minimalized his technique: "While I was rlaking I Wts Born, But

...

,

I decided to never use a dissolve and to end every sceue with a cut. I've never used a dissolve or fade after that. They aren't elements of

filrl grannar

or whatever you want to call it, but

sirnply physical attributes of the carnere."rr He later said that he had fully intended "to filrn the last fade-out of the silent cinelna." rl

Such modernist sentiments created the traditional Ozu style, comprised shots, a station ary can)eta, affangement of characters

of low-angle

in the scene, avoidance of movement,

full-face shots of the speakers, stability of the size of tire shot, linking by means of cutting alone, a prevalence of curtain-shots, performance-based ternpi, and choreographed acting.

In

a completely contemporary setting, using the most modern and mundane of materials,

Ozu was also using the tools of the earliestJapanese cinerla.

Though the same can be said of some other directors, Ozu was much more rigorous. He is also emblematic of Japanese filmmakers of his generation, directors able to avail thernselves freely of both national past and foreign future. Perhaps for this reason,

can even now

find )zu not only

a conseruative

critical opinion

("the rnostJapanese of all directors") but also

a radical rnodernist. Looking more closely at Ozu's stylistic characteristics, we rnight inquire into their origins and nature. Ozu once told his caneraman that it was very difficult to achieve good composi-

tions in aJapanese room, especially in the corners, but that by keeping the catneraposition low, the task was made easier. As for the veto on dolly shots, there were no dollies that could accomrnodate such a low cameruposition. The maiority of Ozu's stylistic means had asingle end in view: the creation of a composi-

tion which satisfied him. This most traditional of airls lre gratified throLlgh the most modernist of methods. Experimenting and refining, watching Western films, absorbing influences everywhere, Ozu was also,

in his owlt way, concerned with a kind of traditionalisn. This is

not only true of his subject matter (throughout his career he only had one serious theme: the

58

dissolution of the traditionalJapanese family) but also of his way of working with it.

many Japanese directors (Mizoguchi, Kurosawa, Ichikawa Kon), wffi a draughtsman. His pictures (usually still lifes, all in that rustic manner typical of the tradi-

}zu, like

tional amateur aesthete, the bunjin) are highly competent. Whether he so regarded thent or not, his sketches, watercolors, and ink drawings are the opposite of modernist-they are deeply traditional. Perlraps the most traditional aspect not only of Ozu's films but also of Japanese cinema

as awhole is its long-lived and still-continuing concern for composition. Dictionaries define composition as the cornbining of distinct parts to create a unified whole , and the tnanner in

which the parts are combined or related. This presentation of a unified view is one of the elements in Japanese

culture-the

garden, ikebana, the

stage-and it is ttot surprising that

an acute compositional consciousness should be part of the visual style of the country.

In Japanese fihn the compositional imperative is so assumed that it is the rarc director who fails to achieve it. (lf he so fails, as in the fihns of Imanura Shohei, it is intentional.) Usually, a concern for abalanced composition, symmetrrcal or asymmetrical, has become an identifying mark of Japanese

fihns-right

If Ozu's compositional interests can

up to the films of, say, Kitano Takeshi , andbeyond.

be seen as traditional, s0 too, can his thoughts on

construction. Critic Nagai Tatsuo once rnentioned that many of Ozu's titles refer to the seasons and asked Ozu wrote maybe three

if that meant he was

interested

in haiku. The director replied that

haiku ayear, although, in truth, his journals

are

filledwith them-one

week 0r s0. He wouldattimes be self-critical, such as with the following

he a

haiku, after which

lre wrote, "What abadpoem."

Spring rain Begins to fall Poor kotatsu.t3

The seasonal reference is certainly there. The fact that the foot-warmer is no longer needed

a)

now that the warm spring rains are fa\IiLrg is, true, abit mawkish. Nonetheless, Ozu himself

I

tlrought haiku of relevance to fihn: "Since renga fiinked classical verse] is similar to film -i-t

editing, I found it a good learning experience."r*

Among the less traditionalof the new gendaigeki directors at Shochiku, and perhaps consequently the last to be promoted, was Naruse Mikio. Naruse eventually made eighty-nine films

(forty-four of which have survived), though he was not allowed to begin directing until 1930.

59

Otte

of the reasons for this relatively late start was Kido Shiro's antipathy. Kido later told

Audie Bock that he had disliked Naruse's "absence of highs and lows," his "rronotone pace," characteristics, he believed, endemic to the director's sryle.rs

Light, cheerful, diverting cornedies that looked on the bright side were not characteristic

of Naruse. The director is famous for having later said that "from the earliest age I have thought that tlte world we live in betrays speak

us-this

thought remains with ne." He used to

of his cltaracters as being caught in this betrayal:

quickly hit the wall."

r(r

11,

"lf

they llove even a little, they

felt the home was simply too tlarrow a;tlace,yet almost all Japa-

nese gendaigeki fihns dealt

with mainly the home, solnething which the director found

major fault. Perhaps he was influenced in this view by his reading of such novelists Slrinrazaki Toson, Tokuda

Shusei-whon

he wor-rld adaptin [Jntamecl (fu'akure,

a as

1957)-

and Hayashi Furniko, a nlunber of whose worls Naruse rrade into movies. Naruse's mature style was probably rnore formed by the books he read rather than (as was with

it

rlost of the other yollug directors at Shochiku) the films he saw. His style, realistic

yet carefully banal and devoted to the ordinary lives of ordinary/ people, was achieved through

sirnplified scripts in which superfluous lines were cut. Location work, which he disliked, was avoided, 26 were elaborate sets (which he called nuisances); his caurerawork was simple, even severe. The scripts themselves were

usually adaptations from serious books, jun-bungaku.

This econorny would later stand Naruse in good stead with his prodLrceffi (when he went to work at Toho, his producers praised him for never exceeding the budget), but the earlier filrns were praised only by 0zu. After seeing NAruse's Pure Loue (Junjo, 1930, n.s.), a filnr Naruse later thought a presage of his rnature style, Ozn said that soneone who could do that

well on only his second film had real directorial strength. Kido had also noticed, with disapproval, this affinily between Naruse and 0zu. As he later

told Naruse, he didn't ueed two Ozns. Iu any event, the director's Shochiku days did not long corttirtue. funong the last of the first groLlp of directors to be taken on, Naruse was the first to leave.

In

1931, fed up, he went to say goodbye to Gosho, the single director, besides Ozu, who

had fought the company 0r'l his behalf. Gosho scolded him, saying he was still young and that he would never succeed by giving up. Narttse did not give up. He went to auother studio .

ht

1934 he joined the Photo-Chemical

Laboratories (PCL) which later, under the leadership of Mori IwAo, became Toho. Originally concenred with developiug and printing, PCL was by now producing filrns as well. Here Naruse fared much better.

In his words: "At Shochiku I was ulloueclto direct; at PCL I

was

uskecl to direct. A significant difference."r- Working considerations were much less structured, producers were much closer to directors, And just one year after Shochiku had seeu the last of Naruse, Kido suffered the embarrassnent of this disnissed director's winning the pres-

tigiorrs KiuemaJumpo first prize with his WtJb, Be Like

60

n Rose (Tsuma yo bara no yoni,

Wife, Be Like Ito Tomoko.

a 80se,1935, Naruse Mikio, with

Chiba Sachiko, Fujiwara Kamatari,

1935). Naruse's film was also one 0f the first Japanese pictures t0 achieve a long-held Japanese

anbition of playing comlnercially (under the title of Kirniko)

ut

the United States.

Tlre picture came from a shimp a dranta named Tu,o Wittes (Futarizurna; a more accllrately descriptive title and one retained for the original release of this adapted the drarna to

film. In it, a daughter

deserted by her father, she must find

film).

Naruse himself

desires lnarriage but, as her mother has been

him to get his consent. The girl's father is supposed to

be disLeputably living with a geisha, but when she locates hirn, she discovers that the exgeisha is uot only supporting him but also sending money to her and her mother. The exgeisha is opposite

in all ways from what the daughter had feared and contrasts starkly with

the cold, selfish, poetry-writing intellectual woman whom her father deserted. Two

wives-

the one supposedly good is in reality bad, the other supposedly bad is actually good. And the father, brought back to give his blessing, returns to the good one, leaving the bad one to rue her fate. Be

It is to the latter that the studio-selected title directs its pointed imperative:

Hey, wife.

like a rose! The daughter, Kimiko, has learned a lesson about life and she, too, becones a

better sort of wife.

The play from which the film was made, the work of Nakano Minoru, was a shinsei shirnpa, or "new drama." The melodrama is toned down and the heroines are much more modern than usual. Kirniko (the daughter) certainly is. She wears the latest Western fashions of. 1935,

walls independently in front of her fiancd rather than respectfully behind, and

is

outspoken with her estranged parents. She has what was then called an "American" person-

ality. Yet she is able to sympathizewith the more traditional elements of Japan: she respects lrer parents and, at the end, defers to her fianc€.

61

Wlren the

film

opened

in

New York

in

1937, one

critic understood it as an example of

nrodern trends in that the heroine is atypical rnodernJapanese girl with astory that unfolds

against a background of the old traditional and the newly Westernized Japan. Unlike Mizoguchi Kenji's Sisters of the Giort (Gion no kyodai, 1936), the film does not contrast these two elements at work

in sociely so much

as

it makes a distinction between the modern

(Kimiko) and two aspects of the traditional (the two mothers). Tradition in its ordinary sense is belittled. Mother's classical poetry is made fun of and uncle's gidayu bunraku singing frightens his pet birds and rnakes Kimiko giggle. Later dur-

ing kabuki, the father falls asleep to the scandalized irritation of his art-loving wife. At the sane tirre, however, tradition in its better sense is seen in the generosify of the ex-geisha, the

sincerity of the traditional father, and Kirniko's gradual awakening to the moral worth around her. Modernity in this film is consequently not a foil to be encountered but a kind of modish decoratiou. fui office boy whistles "My Blue Heaven," which

is-transition-the

very tune

the boyfriend is whistling. Kimiko is a modern funerican-like girl who, initially at any rAte, competes

with her rnan. Nso, she has seen Alerican fihns. This she indicates when they cAn-

rrot get ataxi and she says that she knows how to stop one, that she's seen how it's done irr the movies. She then steps into the street and repeats Clark Gable's thumb-in-the-air gesture

fronr It Hapltenecl

)ne lVight,

a

filrn released inJapan the year before. (She

Claudette Colbert's more successful gambit

does

not repeat

in that film, showing a bit of ieg. This would

lrave been impossible, even in the rnodernizedTokyo of the time.)

Other lessons Naruse learned from funerican films are evidertt itt the plethora of sourtd effects (often used as bridges, as

in the talkies of Ernst Lubitsch) and the constant

use of

background music. Equafly "Anerican" is a super- act:e canera which is always seeking ways to express itself. One of the most singular exarnples is a very high shot frorn over a wis-

teria trellis, by way of an elaborate aerial dolly, which shows the interiors of several rooms, irr succession, of Kirniko's house, but has no other justification. There are also numerous dollies as

in and out which are not used for the emotional emphasis Westerners would expect, but

ornanentation. All of this is decidedly unlike the rnature postwar Naruse. Still, there is a moral concern

present

in all of his better films of that time (the quality which rnade Shochiku-style come-

dies an impossible genre for

hirn) and a talent for simplicity, lending the films their emo-

tion al persuasiveness.

Film critic Iwasaki Akira has said "everyJapanese film shows signs of the director's struggle

with his Japaneseness-his identity, his tradition. Apart from the few directors such

as

KurosawaardYoshimuralKozaburo] who try to avoid 0r g0 beyond this, there are two who are the mostJapanese in both the good andbadsenses: Ozu and NarLlse."rs Though Iwasaki

62

did not stipulate what the bad is, Naruse did when he said: "We've continued living a life of poverty on these small islands . . . our aesthetics reflect this poverty. Plain tastes like green tea over rice are regarded as authenticallyJapanese and since the people are like this, a

film-

maker has to resign himself to the limitations of this way of life. There's no other way to work."19 Nonetheless, though Naruse would not have expressed

it this way, it is only within lirlits

tlrat creative freedom can be found. Further, the Japanese aesthetic has always found this rewarding-nothing but mud and, consequently, perfect pottery; too poor for furniture, and so

ma, a geometry of space. Kurosawahu left an account of how Naruse (whose assistant he once was in 1938)

coped

with temporal poverty: "His method consists of building one very brief shot on top of

another, but when you look at them all spliced together in the final film, they give the impression

of asingle long take. The flow is so magnificent that the splices are invisible. This

flow of short shots that looks calm and ordinary at first glance then reveals itself to be like a deep river

with a quiet surface disguising a fast-raging current underne ath." r0 0kamoto

Kihachi (also a former assistant) tells about Naruse's nakanuki ("cutting out the middle") technique "where an entire [dialogue] scene is shot with only one person's lines, then the

caneraangle is reversed and the other actor's responses are filmed."rr This frugal method of work (to be encountered in the West mainly in fihns with smaller budgets) is, as Okamoto points out, very efficient for the director and his crew but terrible for the actors. Even Ozu,

often cavalier about his actors, usually filmed his dialogue scenes as written, changing the catneraposition for each actor

as the lines were spoken.

Such a technique rnight be likened to the attitude of traditionalJapanese craftsmen: the caryenter observes the grain of the wood, the rnason, the texture of the stone, and both working swiftly and econornically with few tools and much skill. One of the attributes of this attitude is also a tenet of the aesthetic tradition, something

which lwasaki recognized when he said that "Naruse Mikio, in both personal ternperaneut arrd artrstic vision, is totally and purely

monl n0 au,are,

tlre mostJapanese element of Japaneseness."

the essence of Japanese tradition,

12

This much rnisunderstood if venerable quality of mono n0 aware was perhaps first discussed

in the work of Ki no Tsurayuki, a tenth-century theorizer of poetry, andis later men-

tioned fourteen times in

flie Tnle of Genji,

and to be evoked many times since then. There

have also been many attempts at definition. All are agreed that m0n0 n0 aware connotes a

kind of contented resignation, an observance of the way things are and a willingness to go along with them.

It advocates

experiencing the basic nature of existence, savoring the

conrforts of being in harmony with the cycles of the universe , an acceptance of adversity, and

an appreciation of the inevitable.

63

Tlre novelist Kawabata Yasunari has been called the purest exponent of nono n0 aware

in modernJapanese fiction, just ofterr

as Naruse has inJapanese

filur. The director, in fact, worked

with the novelist. Kawabata is listed as "script superuisor" on Repnsl (Meshi, 1951),

though it was based 0n a Hayashi Fumiko novel. Naruse adapted three of Kawabata's works: Ihree Sisters uitlt tl,[aiclen Hecn'ts (Otomegokoro sannin shimai, I93), Dnncirtg Girl (Mailrinre, IgSt), and Sounds of the l'lountain (Yama no 0t0, 1954). All are conternporary,

all are to solre degree moderuist, and all

arel

in their own *ny,

deeply conseruative in

essence-n0n0-r10- aware- esque 0euvres. Perhaps

it is this combination of the contemporary with the conventioual, rnodern frost-

ing on the traditional cake, that appealed to the appetites of the 1935 audience and which won Naruse his coveted KinemaJumpo prize. The additions from the West are apparent, and retentions from the East are there to be discovered.

THE NEW JIDAIGEKI: |TAMl, INACAKI, lTO, AND YAMANAKA SADAO

fluring

lJ

the same period that the gendaigeki was being developed from, among other

things, the shimpa, the new jidaigeki was being fashioned from the old kabuki-based

kfuha. fuid just as the Shochiku contemporary-life films were much indebted to the shingeki, so the impetus for the new period-film was yet another recent theatrical

shinkokugeki,or "new national drana." When the shinkokugeki appearcd

form-the

in I9I7

and fea-

tured a llore literal violence in substitr-rte for the dancelike duels of the (vuha, this, itt turu, created in the jidaigeki a kind of realism new toJapanese period-drarna. One of the first of these new iidaigeki, based

on apopular shinkokugeki play,

The

Purple

Hood; Woodblock Artist (Murasaki zukin: Ukiyoe-shi, 1923, n.s.), wffi important itt determining the future of the genre. The fihn was directed by Makino Shozo, who had by ltow broken with Onoe Matsunosuke and founded Makino Motion Pictures, aud was written by Suzukita Rokuhei, a young shingeki director and playwright whose subsequent scripts wor-rld come to define the period-films of the 1920s. Sr-rzukita's major contribution to the genre was

the application of what he called "realist" principles to period-films:

"l

gave Makino a script

filled with real violence, real combat scenes, thoroughly realistic. He said it would have to be done with real weapons . . . what happiness the

flailing swords."

r'1

I felt. Several of the actors were actually hurt by

Equally inspired by funerican action films and by such swashbuckling

local novelists as NakazaloKarzan and Hasegawashin, the Suzukita scripts, and the subsequent fihns of both the Makinos-Shozo and his son, Masahiro-were s00n popular. It was the apparent, if selective, rcalism that probably appealed to audiences. And realistic tlrese

films appeared, atleast by cornparison with earlier period-films. Ouoe certainly had not

depicted such desperate emotions as are to be found

64

in

these new

hgless-all deternined

jaws and defiantgazes. Perhaps this was because he had come from kabuki while these new heroes were drawn from the illustrations in popular novels. None of the sources of the new

period-film had anything to do with any other kind of literature. It is estimated that sone seventy percent of these films drew their ideas

from sefializations in newspapen and rnagzines.

The placement of the actors (as distinct from their acting) was, however,

still

stage-

oriented. Makino'sTlte Lojt6sl Fort1,-Set,ut Ronirt; A True Accounl (Chukon giretsu: jitsu-

roku chushingura, 1928), a portion of which still exists, indicates the refonns he intended. The acting style was "realistic," that is, the gesticulation was toned down and even the oyama were persuaded to curb their more extreme mannerisns. Stagelike Mo-dimensionality was

often abandoned, and some use was made of depth, particularly dr-uing the various processions, arrivals, and evacuations which stud the story. At the same time, Makino ("the D.

W.

Griffith of Japan") retained the dancelike patterns of the shinkokugeki (referred to

as

"shimpa with swords") with heavily and unrealistically choreographed blocking of action. This combination of "realistic ernotion" and forn alized dueling distinguished the genre

througlr its entire career: orle may compare the period-films of Ito Daisuke , Yantanaka Sadao, and Kurosawa Akira and find them, in this respect, sirnilar. One remembers an earlier

ideal, u,akon

),lsai

("Japanese spirit, Western culture"), a coucept which continued to

ernerge during the Showaera, including this new kind of hero who was very much his own

individual but was restrained by the national group-choreography irnposed upon him. This new hero was played by such popular period-film actors as Tsukigata Ryunosuke, Kataoka Chiezo,Okochi Denjiro, Hayashi Chojiro (later to become even more famous Hasegawa Kazno), and the most popular

of them aIl, Bando Tsurnasaburo.

as

These were

young, streetwise toughs who had about them nothing of the noble warrior as portrayed by Onoe. The sword fights

of the new genre, as choreographed by Bansho Karnmori,

were

lreroic, but the heroism was that of the intrepid fighter of popular fiction: fast and calcr.rlated. Nso, as the director MasurnunYuuzo has stated, from the 1920s 0n, some directors selfconsciously set out to study popular literary techniques, after which they incorporated their

owr findings. He nentions kodnn-with its abbreviated statelnents, curt dialogue , andswift

ri

fonnat which exerted a najor influence 0n the structure of these

T I

shifts of scene

-astorytelling

new jidaigeki. The restrained kodan narrator was not, however, emulated. Instead, the acting consisted of lots of facial gestures plus influences from the

fair and high-minded Williarn

S.

Haft, and the daring and insouciant Douglas Fairbanks. This new sword-fighting samurai was thus an individual, even a nonconformist, a kind of kirnonoed

cowboy-as epitornized

by Mifune Toshiro in one of his later appeannces, in Kuros awaAkira's Yojimbo (1961).

Wlren the young Bando began playing this kind of hero

tn

1924, the popular image of

tlre young rnasterless samurai (ronin) as an intrepid but suffering rebel quickly became established. This Vpe has been identified as the tatel,aku, a tenn taken from kabuki to

65

characterizeidealized sallurai, warriors who are not only victorious in fights but also sagaciotts men, with strong wills and a determination to persevere. This new hero, lrowever, wffi also often dispossessed. Though brave and occasionally victorious, lre had begun to doubt the idealized code of conduct which had created hirn.

In the 1930s, another scriptwriter, Miurura Shirltaro, extended the self-conscions tateyaku cltaracter. His heros were malcontents in an age of repression. Though Mimura favored the Edo period as his setting, his screenplays also reflected the results of the so-called Showa

"Restoration" (1933-t940), that period during which govenlmental repression began to push back Taisho "dern0crac.y."

While the traditional-minded (including those in the govemment) criticized and eventu-

ally censored or banned works featuring the antisocial heros of Mimura and others, figures of this sort obviously spoke to the larger audience. The populariff of the rtew jidaigeki was such that the hero's role grew to encompass not only sarnurai and ronin, but also itinerant garnblers (presumed the early ancestor of the pLesent dayJ,akuzo,Japanese organized gangsters) and the various hoodlums who loitered outside society. The post-World War gerlre, one which coutinues even now on television and

iu the films of Kitano

among othem, has its roots in the jidaigeki of the 1920s and

30s.

Early ronin, those in Makino Shozo'sTlte Lol,al Fort.),-Set,en

Rlrtin

II gang

Takeslri,

(1912), for example,

were bound by ar,vful oaths to their former lords. But the ronin in the films of the later 1920s were loyal to no one. Not only did they lack feudal faith, they seemed to lack any faith at all.

Irrdeed, "nihilistic" was a term applied to

)rochi (1925), written by Sr-rzukita, directed by Futagawa Buntaro, and starriug Bando. In this filrn the ronin-one man against a whole gang of

samurai-lives a misunderstood [ife. To his constant

qLlery as to whether there is

justice in this world, the answer is always no. In fact, titles appear at the beginning and end of the film asserting that "there is no justice, society judges only by appearances, it is a world of lies." This rrray have reflected the view that in turbulent modern Japan, an eqllally rnindless authori tari an gove rnment was again emergi n g.

Tlre multipart The Street of Masterless Sarnurni (Ronin -gai, 1928-29, u.s.), directed by

Makino Masahiro, Shozo's solt, and scripted by Yarn agami Itaro, was about two men who questioned the feudal code.

Itwent so far that, even though it won the KinemaJumpo award

for 1928, it was much cut before release. Nonetheless, it proved of lasting influence on the work of Yamanaka, Kurosawa,Kobayashi, andlater filmmakers. The film was remade (sight unseen, though the ortginal scenario exists) by Kuroki Kazuo

in

1990, and the original

director is listed in the credits as advisor.

fuiotlrer filrn so outspoken that

it ran into

trouble was Ito Daisuke's flIart-Slnshing,

Horse-Piercing Sutord (Zanjinzanba ken, 1929, n.s.). Ayoung sarnLuai is hunting for his fatlrer's murdere

66

t-a

colnmon enough opening to the ordinary historical film. But, unlike

The Street of Masterless Samurai, 1928-29, Makino Masahiro, with Minami Komei

Ma n-Sl a sh i ng,

1929,

H orse-Pi

erci ng Sword,

lto Daisuke, with

Tsukigata Ryunosuke, Amano Jun'ichi

the lypical hero who always battles his way to the top, this samurai meets only reversals. Eventually,

in order to live, he must steal from the farmers, who are just

as

p00r as he

is.

When he learns that the reason for their poverty is the oppression 0f the local government, he

{-)

joins them in their revolt, an actftrrther motivated by his discovery that his father's killer is

:_

the local overlord.

Itami Mansaku further enlarged the role of the period-protagonist. A boyhood friend of Ito Daisuke, he later, along with lnagaki Hiroshi, became assistant to the older director. Itami's first films were for Kataoka Chiezo, who not only owned his own production company, but was an actor as well, capable of projecting the type of hero the new jidaigeki needed. He was heroic without being a superman; he portrayed an ordinary person who huppened to do the

right thing at the right tirne. For him, Itami created a series of ironic and

sometimes satirical historical fihns.

67

Peerless

Patriot (Kokushi muso, aka The Unrivaled Hero, aka A Drearny Patriot, 1932)

was a typical

film with this new hero. In the existing twenty-one minutes,

a decidedly irrever-

ent young swordslnan impersonates his high-bom samllrai fencing teacher. The situation was developed

in a nallner which ridiculed many of the feudal traditions, particularly those

which had survived in modern Japan. That the imposter could not be distinguished frorn the lordlike teacher and bested hirn in a parody finale openly questioned basic feudal precedents.

Itarni furthered his radical humanization of the sanluai in lttkita Akanishi (Akanishi Kakita, 1936). In this adaptation of a Shiga Naoya story, the good-hearted hero joins other like-minded sarnurai to defeat the bad retainers who surround an essentially stupid lord. Itami Juzo, the director's son (who preserved this film and even made an English-titled

print), maintained that the film was a political allegory. The bad retainers represented the militaristic governmeut, and the intellectually challenged lord, the emperor. Good-hearted sanlluai Akanishi cleared the way for those later, postwar heroes who s0 rcsemble him. When Kurosawa's "yojimbo" first appears on the screen, swinging his shor-rlders in that characteris-

tic uranner, he is walking straight out of this tradition.

> I =l

Kakita Akanishi,1936, ltami Mansaku, with Sugiyama Shosaku, Kataoka Chiezo

Along with new dramaturgy and charactenzatton came new cinematic techuiques. They exernplified the iconoclastic intentions of the uew jidaigeki. Itarni wrote (bravely, in wartiure 1940) that "the first thing we learned frorn funerican movies was afast-paced lifesffle . . . the

next, a lively lnauuer and a readiness to take decisive action . . . we learned to take an affftrnative, pluposeftrl, sonetimes even combative attitude toward [ife."r*

In

1928, Itami,

in collaboration with Inagaki Hiroslti, rnade Tenkct Taiheiki (1928) one

of tlre first matntabi ("drifters") movies. The dialogue titles used colloquial speeclt, aud the heroes were contemporary with their audience. It was Inagaki who regarded the jidaigeki as

68

"chommage 0 tsuketn gendnigeki fgendaigeki with a sarrurai topknot]).":s He consequently availedhimself of all the new cinerlatic techniques coming frorn the West as had his rnentor, Ito Daisuke (often called "ldo Daisuki"

["]

Love Pan-Shots"] on the set because of

his predilection for the latest irnported cinernatic sffles). Nonetheless, much of the dramaturgy of the traditional drama was somehow retained in

jidaigeki. This was particularly evident in the sword-fight scenes, choreographed with details showu in sudden close-up: visual compositions which held the eye. Like the traditional prints

upon which they were sometimes based, these compositions dramatized scene and encapsulated story. furd, as in the traditional drana,one scene followed the other, impelled not rtruch by storyline as by aesthetic spectacle. As Donald

Bat (Beni komori, 193D

Kiriharahu noted: iu,

so

say, Tlte Recl

by Tanaka Tsuruhiko, all that flashy tracking, panning, spinning,

canting, and fast cutting "is there for just that reason: flash,"16 This combination-guided narrative and unleashed spectacle-is seen at its most spectacular in the films of Ito Daisuke.InJirokichi, the Rat

Kd (}atsuraeJirokichi

goshi, I93I),

Okochi Denjiro, a Robin Hood-like robber ("a life rich in nothingness" says one of the

titles), has a series of adventures which lead to a colupletely decorative finale. Festival lanterns in one corlpositionally perfect tableau after another stud the sequence, culminating

in, not drarnatic revelation, but aesthetic enjoyrnent.

with regard to the pictoLial is seen in Diarl, of Chuji's nikki, 1927), a film thought entirely lost until part of it (one hour and

A fine example of Ito's prowess Trcn,els (Chuji tabi

thirty-six ntinutes) was discovered in IggL Its gambler-hero (Okochi Denjiro), predecessor

of rnodern ;lakuza-movie heroes, is caught in the perceived opposition between giri and rtirtjo, the traditional conflict between duty to society and duff to oneself, rendered in terrls easily recognized by the audieuce.

Diary of Chuji's Travels, 1927

,lto

Daisuke, with 0kochi Denjiro

69

Much of the film looks like a moderll-specifically Anerican-movie. Yet

it

often

into a decidedly Japanese sensibiliff. The dialogue scelres are in mediurn close-up, tlrere are two shots with a forty-five degree shift of viewpoint, and eyelines follow interna-

segues

tional standards. Yet, in the sequence at the sakd brewery, we follow a downward pan from darkness to patches of sunlight, beams, ropes, and A

finally to the men manning the works.

written title appears in this initial darkness and contiuues all the way through the

pan-

in effect tuming the screen into a calligraphy surface, a two-dimensional page. The following sequence,

in the

sakd brewery yard, isJapanese aesthetic bravura.

The area

is littered with enormous erlpty barrels, some on their sides, and so the scene is filled with circles. Shot after shot emphasizes ceaselessly the resulting circular cornpositions. A girl waltders in circles; children play circular games: the desigu has become the story. fuld during the

remainder of the film, sceues return to the compositions of this sequence, reminding us of it. The heroine goes to sit in the circle of a big, empty vat; later, children fonn a dancing circle around the distraught samluai hero. Such appareut design-as-narrative reminds one of traditional printmakers, particularly Hokusai, and brings to mind the printmaker's insistence that visual schernes can take the place of plot. We can readily understand the role that traditional composition plays in Japanese cirterna. At the same

time, decorating this pictorial balance are details of a quotidian

realisnt. One of Ito's characters is shown realistically brushing his teeth, realistically spitting. After all, the director had originally been a scripter for 0sanai Kaoru, one of the first "rcalistic"

shingeki authors. The joining of concern for aesthetic design and realistic ("undesigned") acting

in Ito's

film is evident in the stylization of the sword fights which ornarnent the storyline. These

are

striking combinations of rlovements, both those of the actors and those of the carrera. Long, raciug dollies, flashpans all over the place, close-ups of the various deaths, and lots of shinkokugeki extras scampering abor-rt. The last of these fights concludes with a slow marclr through the forest, the survivors bearing the fatallvwounded Chuji through the (blue-tinted)

night, the water glistening, the leaves softly rnoving. This procession is far more beautiful than it need be and it is beautiful for its own sake: an aesthetic diqllay which enhances the charm and pathetic vulnerabilit,v of our dying hero. Set

in contrast to this is the finale

sequeuce,

in which the hero in his hidden fortress

holds a long dialogue through which the rnysteries of the plot are urlraveled (a conclusion

typical of this genre), while elsewhere the authorities search for him. After the open-air excitement of the fight, and the nocturual beauf,v of the journey, the close-ups are now tight. A gun is produced to ward off the attackers who have forced opeu the door; we

tunr and look

at the dying hero, his breath visible in the cold. All the exhilarating cltoreography has brought him to this, a close-up which chronicles his last mornent. He sililes

70

acceptingly-

this is what the feudal world has done to hirn and he (a modern man in Edo times) smiles. The End.

Perhaps the finest of the directors of the new jidaigeki was YatnanakaSadao, though, dying

at twenty-nine, he made the fewest films. He cornpleted twenty-three pictures in seven years, only tlrree of which have been preserued.Yananaka's ambition was to further modernize the period picture. Such modernizationwas the stated rnanifesto of a group of eight yolurg Japanese filmrlakers who called themselves the Narutaki-gumi lNarutaki gang], after the area

in

Kyoto where they lived and where they

jointly wrote under the collective pseudonym of

Kimpachi Kaj twara.

Yananaka, who worked with the Nikkatsu studios, was not interested in a nihilistic hero

nor in a savior of the conmon nau. Rather, he wanted "t0 shoot a jidaigeki like gendaigeki,"

rT

a

the kind of picture that Inagaki called contemporary drama with a topknot.

The differences belween Yantanakaand the more representative Itauri can be seen comparison of their separate versions of the same story.

hr

1935, they both rnade a

in

a

film

abotrt Kunisada Chuji. Itarni's was Clttqi Xlakes u IVumeJbr Hirnself (Chuji uridasu,1935, n.s.) and Yamanaka's was simply Chtqi

Ktnisnch (Kunisada Chujt,

1935, n.s.). The former

picture was oriented toward social criticism and dealt only with the young Chuji after he had abarrdoned famring because of oppressive taxes and a despotic government. That a farmer

lrad tumed into a gambler was the concem of the picture. Yarnanaka, 0n the other hand, was interested only in character. His Chuji, under an obligation to a man who hid him from

tlre authorities, must

kill to pay back his moral debt. This rloral dilemrna

was used to create

an atrlosphere. Yamanaka was not specifically concemed with social criticism but with emotional problems and the way in which they reflect character.

Humanity and Paper Balloons, 1937, Yamanaka Sadao, with Suketakaya Sukezo, Kawarazaki Chojuro, Nakamura Gan'emon.

71

Yamanaka's finest film was his last, Humani4, nnt, Paper Balloorzs (Ninjo kamifttsen, 1937). In the opening seqllence, a former samurai has committed suicide. His neighbon talk abor,rt the death and one says:

"But he hr,urg himself, like a rnerchant. Where was the man's

spirit of bushido? Why didn't he disembowel himself like a real samluai?" To which another replies: "Because he no longer had a

sword-he sold it the other

day for rice." This is the

fanriliar death-theme opening, so typical of the conventional period-drarna, with its reference to bushido, "way of the

sallurai." But there is an enormous difference. In the corlven-

tional product, the hero would have corne to a glorious end. Not so, however, in tltis critical, contemplative, and contemporary film. The sword, which supposedly syrnbolizes asamurai's life, has been sold so that the samurai, ironically enor-rgh, might live. Sato Tadao has said that this

film is "a consistent

endeavor to shatter old stereotvpes."rs

The characters speak modern Japanese instead of the thees and thous of sword-fight melodramas; the samurai behavior is no longer ritually stylized; there are no conventional generalizations, and those that do appear arc used for ironic purposes. The result is a freshness, a freedom, in which serious problems are treated lightly.

In tlre first of Yamanaka's surviving filrls,

The

Milliln Rlts ps1 (Tange sazen yowa:

lryakuman ryo no tsubo ,1935), the hero is a charnbara (sword-fighting) character

as famous

as Kunisada Chuji. Tange Sazen is rneant to be a superhero despite his missing eye and lopped-off arrn. Here, as played by Okochi Denjiro, however, he is a shambling swordsrnan, slow to think things through and incorrigibly lazy.

Yamanaka's hero does not realize lust where the priceless pot is, thouglt this has been obvious to the spectator since the beginning of the

film, and his atternpts to find it are conse-

quently amusing. Like Kurosawa's Sanjuro (Tsubaki Sanjuro, 1962), a picture iu many ways indebted to this Yamanaka

film, he is limited

as

well as skillful, and therefore com-

pletely human. Such was not Nikkatsu's original intention,Tlte been a

RJ,o

Potwas to have

fihn by Ito Daisuke, who would have created a much morc serious and heroic picture

had he not left the company to go to Dai

Ichi

Million

*''t

Eig a. Yantanaka was a very different

director frorn Ito.

The second of Yamanaka's suliving

filrns is the Nikkatsu feature,

Soshu,n

Kochil,nnta (Kochiy an)a Soshun, 1936) Written by Mitsurnura Shintaro,

it

.

was

originally conceived as a period-rnelodrama, after a kabuki play by Kawatake Mokuami. In the rewriting and directing, Yatnanaka changed the undenuorld thugs

72

Million Ryo Money Pot, 1935, Yamanaka Sadao, with 0kochi Denjiro (right)

into warm-hearted, good-natured people. He did the same thing to Mitsunura's kabukibased script for

Humaniff and Paper Balloons. The original version has intrepid villains

fighting each other, but in the finished fihn there is little of such action: the people arc quite ordinary

, rncapable of such heroic

resolve.

Anong the reasons Yarn anakaso humanized his

scripts at the very time when there was a governmental call for heroics is that he valued

ninjo rather than giri, personal rather than institutionalized feelings. Irr Yananaka's last scenario, Sono Zen1,6 (I93D, which he did not live to direct, ninjo becomes something like bravery. A family running a Kyoto inn during the Meiji "revolution"

is caught in the midst of the Shinsengurni uproar. The Shinsenguni, a pro-government army usually portrayed as a benevolent band of Boy Scouts, is here depicted as something approaching the Red Guard. \Yhen one considers the date of the work, one realizes what Yamanaka is doing. The wonder is that he could have gotten away with

it-implicitly

com-

paring a violent and destructive Shinsengllmi with a violent and destructive contemporary Japanese army. Maybe he did not get

awary

with it after all. He was drafted shortly after.

Yatnanaka had much in comrnon with )zu, one of his closest friends. Both were what we

would now call liberals, both inculcated unpopular truths, and both used what we now recognize as minimalist techniques. They stripped sets of

all but essentials; they lirnited

gestures; they expressed ideas indirectly through jokes, asides, and short, suggestive conversations. Like

0m, the younger director began early on gathering about him actors

witlr whom he could work. Though Yananaka used such stars as fu'ashi Kanjuro and 0kochi Denjiro, he also cultivated his owr grollp. In his later films, he used members of the Zensen-

za,the Progressive Theater, in addition to such new actors as the nowfamous HaraSetsuko, who appears in Soshttn Kochil,cunn. Tlre actiug in both Soshun Kochil,a,mo and in

Humaritl, ancl Paper

Bctlloorzs is note-

worthy. There is an ensemble quality which is rare on the Japanese screell and was only dtrplicated in such perfect form in Kurosawa's later fihns, such

u

The Louter Depths (Don-

zoko, 1957). In Yamanaka's fihns, there is also a reliance Lrpon performance which is rare in Japartese fihns

of the 1930s. For example, in Soshun Kochil,atna, the entire sequence in

wlrich two of the minor characters attend an auction consists of a medium shot of the two aloue. We never see the rest of the crowd, and we have no idea what they are bidding for, but the ensemble acting, one actor playing off the other, allows us to follow the action with interest and amusement.

Equally ntinimal arc the interiors, often filrned from slightlv below (just as Ozu's films were being shot), showirrg lirnited period-detail as well as ceilings, Story structure is also kept to what is necessary, and only that. Series of scenes (younger brother

in a fight, elder sister irr

trouble, complications over afake sword) are kept separate, with manypulposeful ellipses in the story.

In one such

scene, the younger brother takes his knife and creeps

into the house of

73

one 0f the bad men. The carnera stays outside the closed shoji door. We hear voices and see shadows against the paper panes. There is a glimpse of the larife silhouetted. The

light

is

suddenly extinguished. We hear an exclanation. That is end of the sequence. We are never directly told the outcome (though we learn it from the context of the rest of the

film), nor

what it might mean. Plot in its causal sense is missing, but all the story strands are forcibly pulled together in

the action-filled finale dr-rring which repressed anger erupts and the full panoply of chambaraswordplay is displayed. The whole town, all those sets we have been obliquely viewing,

is

rlow used as the men battle up and down the narrow alleys. Though the pace is very fast, the

editing never loses us. From a narrowly frarned alley we are turned forty-five degrees to a bridge crossing a ditch, a perspective that affords a view of three different fights (on three different bridges) going on in town. In the end, the rnain ruffian dies a samLlrai's death

as

he allows the unhappy youl'rger brother to escape.

Action leads to resolution, though that is not its only plupose in the film. This violence

(like so rnuch Japanese blood-letting) is an aesthetic spectacle. The patterns of disorder are composed into corrpositions which

filter the excitement and render beauty frorl chaos. By

simplifying action, reducing it to its individual elernents, excitement may not be enhanced, but appreciation

is.

We recognize this forced

simplicify in the concluding night sequences. This is expression-

ism (of which nore will be said later), the nominally Gerrnan style for indicating a single frame of rnind thror-rgh everything the artist shols. By the 1930s, the sffle had been completely Japanified. Expressionisll n0 longer contained any derange d Doctor Caligari connotatious and was used, instead, as one rrore element of a complete presentation-the rnind of the viewer rnade visible. There are nauy other Western influences in the work of YarnanAka, particularly in

storyr

development. Hasumi Shigehiko has discovered elernents from an fulerican comedy LaclJ,

and Gent (1932) by Stephen

Roberts

der's Pension fulintosu (1934)

in

The

in the final

fulillion

shots of

RJ,o

Pot, and sections of Jacques

Hurnnnitl' ancl Paper Bctlloons.

Fe.v-

Yet

there is also ntuch that indicates earlier Japanese rnodels. For example, Yarnanaka uses a

narration technique, taken from both kodan and the balladlike ncmiu,abt,tsbi, where the authoritative voice, at first anonymous, is later revealed as a character in a subsequent segtnent. The first scene of Tlte \L[illion

RJ,o

Pot is a castle, whole and in some detail, which we

exanrine as avoice begins the tale. When the director finally

cr,rts

inside the castle, the voice

is revealed as that of a retainer telling the daimyo the secret of the pot. At the sane time sorne of the dialogue might have come out of Lubitsch. Bride turns to

gr00n and says: "That old pot is going to look pretty strange to our wedding guests,"

a

remark which sets the desirable container 0n its adventures, just as firmly as the loss of the

74

lottery-ticket-carrying coatsends that garnent on its journeys in Rend Clair's Le Million, a

I93t film that was enormously popular in Japan. Like the Clair film, this Yarn anakapiece also conceived as an operetta. Therearefestival dances and

is

songs-'Just apinwheel turning

in the wind" sings the entertainer heroine, presunably of herself. There is also much ridicule of the foolish paraphe rnalia of the old-fashioned kfuha plot,

often concemed with military secrets. One such secret is hidden in a pot, hence its apparent value. The samurai searching for the important container says that all the fuss "makes it sound like a vendetta," a line repeated twice in the fihn, lest differences from ordinary period fihns not be noted by the viewer.

fuid since the ordinary period picture is about decision and intrepid action, we have Yantanaka's hero absolutely reftrsing to do something and

in the next

scene doing

it. This

adamant refusal-followed by an inexplicable revemal indicating something less than a resolutely courageous

decision-is

used on three different occasions

in the fihn, attesting to its

satirical usefulness. The film is, in effect, a loving parody of the charnbara.That Kurosawa learned

nuch from this film is evident in

TIte

Hidden Fortress (Kakuishi toride n0 san

akunin, 1958),wheretheadventuresof thegoldbarsparallel thoseof themissingpot. Technically, Yamanaka melded native and foreign influences into a most persuasive style.

In speaking about his technique he said that once he found where to put his camera,

his problerl was solved. "As regards this positiorr," he added, Pudovkitt taught." re (What Pudovkin taught was editing . . . the foundation of fihn art.")

atively little, at least

r0

"l do the reverse of what

that montage was "the highest form of

Yamanaka,like mostJapanese directom, edited rel-

in comparison with the Russians. Editing usually simply involves

ddcotrpage, nothing like what Pudovkiu

rlearlt by rlontage. Yan.nrnka's concept of

space

was different, hence the prime irnportance of the camera position, his vantage point.

Irt Humattitj, ancl Pnper Bctlloonr, Yamanaka presents a contrast of nvo areas of space-the only

ones shown. One is the world inside the gates of a tenernent quarter, the

other is the world outside thern. The difference between these worlds, the dernonstration of

tlreir separateness, is emph uized in both the opening and closing sequences. In the first, the

In the

gates are closed and the residents confined while the authorities investigate asuicide.

last, the gates Are again closed, this time to check the deaths of the hero and his wife. This

reticulation of

space

network of scenes describing a specific

arca-rs fitting in

-a tlran cinematic terms. The film is based on lhtmiJ,ui Shirtzo, a Mokuarni kabuki

other

drama

that, like most in its geltre, is geornetrical in its use of space.

The concem for the concepts of inside and outside is also a

very/ Japanese

one. t-ichi

(inside) and,soto (outside) are considered much rnore defining, and lirniting, than they are

in tlre

West. There is also aJapanese assumption

that the fonner is safe and the latter

is

not. The assumption therefore fittingly delineates a story where the outside is a repressive

7t

governmental

are distinguished

by its lack of ninjo, the quality of human feeling so touch-

ingly depicted inside the tenement, the closed quarter.

In the second

sequence

of the film

-a

lane outside the tenernent-we find that the

carnerais placed level with the human eye and that all shots are economically edited alonga single axis. In this, Yamanaka was certainly influenced by Ozu. Though there are uides dur-

ing tlre length of this sequence (one of thern is to introduce Unno, the masterless-s amurai lrero of the

film), in the main the camenplacement of each

the alley varies not at

all-the angle

scene

during the progress along

coinciding with the axis.

This way of working is not often seen in funerican or European films of the period because these scenes could be said t0 "not match," also because their sequence violates one

of the assumptions of international cinema style, namely, that a film progresses by opposing

shots. Shots which are compositionally sirnilar are thought

to

confuse, though this

Yantanaka sequence is proof that this is not necessarily so. The theory about opposing shots seems to be based upon a Western assumption that narrative can proceed only

flict and confrontation, compositionally

as well

as

through con-

otheruise. The idea of anarratleproceed-

ing through harmony and similarity, not often encoLlntered in Western cinema, is seen again and again in Japanese movies. Wlrat this sequence does provide, and this would seem to be Yantanaka's concem, is a

literal depiction of the alley. 0nce we have been led so carefully along it, we become thoroughly familiar with it, and we believe in it. One is reminded of the old Japanese studio rule

that in the initial seven cuts the whole house, or main location, rnust be established. Such ritualized rules werc comrnonly disregarded when the exigencies of production took over, but

itt

some pictures, such as those of Yamanaka, something

like the old rules prevailed, and

overall concepts as to how space was to be depicted remained.

In showing us the tenernent alley, the director moves along its length, shot after shot. A precise rendering 0f the street is given, abelievable accounting of its space, alogical intro-

duction of the characters, and the setting up of half of the spatial rnetaphor. This is the closed and crowded alley itself which, though invaded by officials from time to time, is really the safer part of the world.

When the outside world (the towrr outside the tenement district) is deline ated, we are given no such spatial grounding. We do not larow the location of the pawnbroker's house in relation to our alley, nor the location of the bridge where one of the main characters will be

killed. The temple gate, the fairground, all those "outside" locAtions are separate, distinct, cut off from each other. They lack the continuity of the tenenent, which we were showrr whole and complete. Consequently,

it is the tenement which

tlre outside which is dangerous, or alien. "spatially, Yam

feels safe, like home, and

anaka-having

it

is

set up this opposi-

tion of spaces, having fully reticulated one and left the other carefully and threateningly

76

un reticu

I

ated-h

as cre ated

for

hi mse

lf a bipolar structur€. "'l I

Among these new iidaigeki, these "gendaigeki with toplarots," it was commonly thought

tlrat Inagaki Hiroshi's worls were sentimental but lyrical,that Itani Manuaku's were intellectual but ironic, and that Yantanaka's, with their minimal elegance and beautifully flow-

ing rhythms, were tn aclass all by therlselves-the highest. It is also conceded that with his early death (sent to the

front as a common private, he died of dysentrry) Japanese cinerna

lost one of its finest directors.

NIKKATSU AND rHE SHTMPA: |I|TOCUCHl KENJI

Jhough

I

the lcyuha had been effectively transforrned into sonething more complicated,

shimpa-based fihns continued (and indeed

contemp orary television)

still continue today in the daytime serials of

in their established pattern. Nevertheless, some changes were tak-

ing place. Nikkatsu, home of the shimpa-film, allowed Suzuki Kensaku to make a more involved

kind of dram a rn Human

Sffirnry

(Ningen ku, aka Human fuiguish , 1923, n.s.), a multi-

stranded story, with nocturnal photography, dialogue titles, faster editing, and a kind of realisrn: since the

film was about the hungry poor, Yamamoto Kaichi, the leading actor, was not

permitted to eat before and during his performance.

Murata Minoru, who had directed Souls 0?t the Road,, left Shochiku and went to Nikkatsu, where,

in

several "rrew style" Russo-Japanese

1924, he made Seisakub Wtfe (Seisaku no

fihls. In it

tsuna, n.s.), the first of

a yoLlng wife, unable to tolerate her husband's retlun to the

front, deliberately blinds hirn. After prison she returns to her sightless mate,

begs lris forgiveness, and drowns herself. When Seisaku learns this, he forgives her, then

jumps in after her. This was all very shirnpa-like, but there were differences. For one thing, the unhappy wife was played not by aman but by one of the firstJapanese actresses, Urabe Kumeko,

an ama-

teur shortly to become astar. Here, too, was a heroine who was active and forceful , rf tn a subversive manner. Nso, since the story is that

of asoldier about to go to the front to fulfill

his sacred duff to the divine enperor, the picture would become, in the eyes of some critics, one of the first antiwar films. To create this rnovie, Murata used what he called "symbolic photographicisln," a realism

in wlrich all the characters were lifelike, yet their actions had symbolic, ahnost allegorical meanings. In her final sequence, for example, Seisaku's wife is shown, or rather displayed, bound in

fetters-both a real

character and an abstract symbol. That this particular irnage

had been borrowed from Karl Heinz Martin's fihn Von Morgens bis Mitternacht (1920), and would again be borrowed for the final scene of Kinu gasa Teinosuke's Crossroads

77

(Jnjiro, 1928), did not affect its usefulness. Whether or not nuch of the allegorical

message

was appreciable on the screeu, the intentions were progressive. Masurrura Yasuzo has said

that cinematic psychological realisrn in Japanese cinema had its origins in this Murata filur, as

well as iu TanakaEizo's The $,01'a Collnr Shop, adding that "it strikes me as nore than

coincidence that the main characters in these realistic films were wolnen.".il

0tre of the results of Seisaku's Wife was more real females playing worrerl on the screen. The oyama ltad by now all but disappeared, and actresses were becorning poplrlar. Among these were Umemura Yoko, Sawamura Haruko (who had appeared

attd-most popular of all-Kurishima Sumiko,

in

Souls

on the RouA

whose photographs were best-sellers.

Perhaps consequently, nore womeu were going to the movies, and this meant a new audience

to be satisfied. Shortly, a separate genre evolved, one which was loosely called the "wolrelt's picture," perhaps to differentiate it from meu's pictures, the jidaigeki.

Anong the new directors enlisted for the newproduct was Mizoguchi Kenji, who has said that "when I was working for Nikkatsu, the company already had Murata Miuoru naking films featuring heroes, so for balance they rnade me do films featuring heroines. Nso, I'nr very quarrelsome, and so when very well slug

an acffess."

I work there is always the possibiliry of a fight, but I can't

i.i

Mizoguchi rnade over eighty-five films frorn his first in 1922 to the yeff of his death in 1957

. So many arc about women that this is often seen as the director's preferred subject

rtratter. Indeed, the Japanese caII Mizoguchi

a "feminist," though in

Japanese the term

means not one who believes in wornen's rights but rnerely one who likes and coucems himself with

womeu-by

extension, a womanizer rnight be called a feminist in Japan.

There are other reasons, of course, for Mizoguchi's rnaking the kinds of film he did. One was studio practice. Shochiku's Kanatastudio was emphasizing a shot-by-shot construction,

and it was frorn this that Ozn, for exarnple, derived his sfyle. Nikkatsu, 0n the other hand, was using a sequence-by-sequence approach. Yoda Yoshikata,Iater Mizoguchi's major sce-

narist, remembered that Murata had him analyzing sequences in foreign films and then considering them "as basic elements in the construction of a scen ario . .

. Every director was

expected to more or less construct ascenario in this fashion, including Mizoguchi."s*

Though this director"s choice was for the sequence, not the shot, he made a number of early

fihls (all of them

now vanished) which seem to call for a method perhaps more

dynarnic than that for which he is now famous. Tokj,s UIarch (Tolryo koshinlryoku, 1929,

n.s.), for example, wffi a keiko-eiga, what would later be called a tendency (leftist) fihn.

it proved a box-office success, prompting the The result wu fu[etropolitan Sympfusn! (Tokai

Written by popular novelist Kikuchi Kan, company to order more of the same. kokyokyoku, 192D, a "people's

film" of which five minutes or s0 still exists. The script was

not by a popular author but by several "proletarian" writers, something the company did not

7u

lcrow, or else it might not have allowed its production. Nikkatsu wartted a fashionably liberal picture, not leftist propaganda.

lletropolitan Sl,m7horl-l'was shot on location in Tolcyo's L'ukagawa

area, where, as

Mizoguchi later remembered, it was so dangerous that cast and crew alike srueared their faces with

dirt and dressed like laborers. He himself went around hiding the camera nnder

his coat. The danger, it should be added, was not from the proletariat but from the police, already looking for dissidents. Later Mizoguchi made

And Iet The.rGo 0rr (Shikamo karera

wa vuku,1931, u.s.), shot iu Tamanoi, nnother tough place. Not only did the police again investigate, but the crew was threatened by gangsters as well. This was uot the fiLst and certainly not the last iustance of gang activity in Japanese filnr production. Popular though these fihns were, Nlizoguchi did not believe them to be successful. He was interested

in the "rlew realism" but, at the same tirne, this style was rlever one he made his

own. Mmumura has said that Mizoguchi simplv "couldn't adapt to the realism of 0sanai Kaoru and MurataMinoru," and gives ztn interesting reason: "because it was too contaminated witlr Westemization." ]; So, though Mizoguchi made many different sorts of

fihr, it

is his seqllenced "wornau's

pictures" which distinguish him. The first of these of which a priut still exists is The Wrtter l'lct31ician (Taki uo shiraito, aka Taki of the WaterfallZtXlhite Threads of the Waterfall/Cas-

,193r. Scripted rnainly by Tateoka Kennosuke and based 0u au Izumi Kyoka shinpa play, the film is fraught with coincidence aud melodrarna illustrating the

cading White Threads

burden of the wolnan's

plight-her

silent suffering at the hands of meu. Taki, an enter-

taiuer, falls in love with a young man whose education she pays for. Unfortunately, the money has been borrowed from a loan shark who eventually becomes so inportunate that she has no recourse but to

kill hirn.

The presiding judge at the trial turns out to be the youug

man whom Taki has educated. He upholds the law of the land and condemns her to death. Taki eludes this fate by biting off her tongue; he, iu renorse, cornmits suicide.

The Water Magician, 1933, Mizoguchi Kenji, with lrie Takako, 0kada Tokihiko.

79

Redeerning such shirnpa-like excesses is the physical beauty of the

asymmetrically balanced seqr-rences-each of which increases

filnt's images. The

ollr understanding of the

characters-carry along with them the subtext of their own aestheticism. The bridge where the lovers meet is used to comment upon their relationship: they meet there, she wanders alone there, he kills hirnself there. During the seduction scene, the camera writhes almost

as

much as does Taki. Later, in prison, jail bars castperfectlyplaced shadows across Taki's face. Mizogr-rchi,

initially apainter himself, wffi, like mostJapanese directors, tnuch concented

with the beaufy of his

scenes and

interests, he was also drawn

the aesthetics of his sequencing. Because of his pictorial

to aview which focused on the big picture, rather than its sub-

ject. He disliked subtitles because they interrupted the sequential flow, aud coltsequently rather preferred the benshi. The director himself has said, "When I was finally able to learn how to sltow life as I see it,

it was also from about that time that I developed a technique of shooting an entire sequence

in a single cut, the car\erualways remaining at acefiaindistance from the action."16 This technique is indeed paramount to the Mizoguchi style. Yoda Yoshikata, who scripted a number of Mizoguchi's later films, said: "The deepest beauty must be recorded with a long, continued shot . . . I take this single-shot technique into account in all my scripts."

rT

The effect of this technique has often been comrnented upon, but its strength has been perhaps best described by Shinoda Masahiro, when he contpares the long shots of Mizoguchi

with the short shots of Ito Daisuke and

stresses

"the trernendous increase in emotional

irnpact which [Mizoguchi] gained by exchanging the manipulations of short multiple shots

for tlre objectiviff of the long single shot."i8 One such sequence in The Water X[agician opens with the autumn slry, the camera moving to a tree, panning down with the leaves as

they fall, watching them. The camera then moves to theater posters being taken down, on past this scene to inside

a theater, where it records the actors packing, glides past,

and,

finally, stops-all this in one shot-only to catch one of the characters saying what we have akeady seelt, that this is the end, that the season is over. Sato has remarked upon the close relationship between Mizoguchi's style andtraditional

perforrning arts. "His characteristic 'one scene equals one cut' technique, for example, is like tlre mus ical accompaniment in tradition al dance, in bunraku puppet theater, in noh Sato also draws attention to the moments called gestures

.

.

" 3e

kimaru in classical dance, that is, poses or

which ernphasize the beauty of shape. Mizoguclti's cutting, Sato continues, empha-

sizes this.

Motion is sequential, "changing frorn one exquisite shape to another. Short shots

cannot capture this subtle flow, which can be caught only by complex camera movements such as panning or craning."{0 The director's long shots are thus seldom static, though they are often of a singular duration. The aesthetic structure of any single scene is the result of a balance

80

within an asymmetrical composition.

Sato cites

in a later film,

The Life

of )haru (Saikaku ichidai onua, aka The Life of

a

Worrran by Saikaku, 1952), a coucluding kimaru-like morrellt, a long shot showing the place of execution, and the hero (Mifune Toshiro), bound. After his last words ("May there

conle a time when love is not a crime."), the canera palls swiftly up to the executioner's sword. "The nloverreut is comparable to a stroke the point where the rnoviug brush stops . . .

in calligraphy, when plessure is applied at

In the next iustartt tlte sword flashes dowu with-

out a sound, but the camera renrains immobile, staring ont irtto space. Unwaveringly, the kinraru movement has been resolved."*l This stvle can lead to a static, superficial kind of beaul,v-Sato heLe mentious such late

filnrs ashcll'tllusnsllzo (Musashino Fujiu, IgSt) and lliss 0,1'u (Oyu-sanra, 195l)-and N,lizoguchi was indeed often criticized for just this. Also, refined though the director"s tech-

nique

wa^s,

critics felt that it was not progressive, that

it looked back to the fonnalized

aes-

thetics of the classical theater and that his slow tempo indicated old-fashioned sentiments, things that a modenr Japanese should regard with anrbivalence. One

critic has derided the director's well-knowu autiquariau tastes and found his

coutemplation of old porcelains

A strauge

devotion to meaningless trivia. Another critic has

called Mizoguchi's use of long shots a rather rudinrentary techniqr,re, one which is ntost comuron iu conutries producing secoud- and third-rate films. Yet another critic has goue

fiuther, calling Mizoguchi so old-fashioned, his views 0u aesthetics so prentodenr, that irr mAnv wa,vs his pictures are just like "primitive" Japauese films.

Mizoguchi himself was aware of these aspects and began to turn away from such obviorrslv pictorial stmctnres as that of Tbe Wrter Alnl4ician.

In later filnrs, snch as }saka Eleg,

(Narriwa ereji,1936) and Sisters oJ'tbe Giorl (1935), he began to reflect the very cultural

dichotoml, 15^, urade this kind of criticism possible: the pull of the traditional and the equally strong impetus toward things new.

7,'ilUl

tfi

}saka Elegy, 1936, Mizoguchi Kenji, with Eitaro, Yamada lsuzu, Hara Kensaku

Shindo Sisters

of the Gion, 1936, Mizoguchi Kenji, with

Umemura Yoko, Yamada lsuzu

Many Japanese

of Mizoguchi's generation were necessarily of two ninds-mutually

irtcotnpatible to the West-about their world. Just as there was a presurned gulf between Japanese

kirnono and Western dress, between a native fish diet and the meat victuals received

from abroad, between jidaigeki on one hand and gendaigeki on the other, s0 there was a perceived antagonism between these two different images that Japan had of itself.

This divide had been reflected in muchJapanese aft and in filrn, too, it became a major concern. Emotionally, the present was a sirlple and understandable continuation of the past;

at the same time, the contrast between old and new was s0 problem atical that it led to complications. This became a major Mizoguchi therne.

The director has said that he didn't begin portraying Japan realistically until }sakct

Eleg' and Sisters of the Gion, and both filrns clearly indicate Mizoguchi's accomnodations to a selective realism. In the first pictnre, a dilemma is presented on its own

realistically-and the audience judges the situation for itself,

A

[s1ms-that

is,

young telephone operator

(a modenl occupation) is ruined because of an innocent desire for money. Her boss takes advantage of her and her family stands helplessly

by-a

traditional element presented in a

lifelike nanner. Realism was apparently an aim. After making Yoda Yoshitaka rewrite the scenario ten tirnes, Mizoguchi was still dissatisfied because he said it failed to portray people so real that the audience could srnell their body odor. h-t Sisters

sesses

of the Gion, the heroines are traditional Kyoto geisha sisters. The elder pos-

all the virtues of the legendary Gion entertainer, while the yollnger is modern

and

inclined to ignore the traditions of her profession, and Japanese traditional society in general. Despite the geisha code which authorizes only one patron per wealthy enough to afford

her-the

yoLlnger geisha jumps from

woman-a

rnan who is

rran to tnan in

search of

ready cash. She also decides that the elder sister needs a new patron as well, since the first

one has lost

all of lris noney. The contrast

between

tradition and tuodernity is entbodied

evelt in the casting: the elder being played by u now established traditional star, Umemura Yoko, and her younger counterpart, by newcomer Yamada Isuzu. One of the younger geisha's rejected suitors jealously pushes her

frout a tnoviug auto-

mobile, but even when she lies in the hospital, unable to interfere with her sister's life arty longer, the elder is still too encumbered by tradition, too mr-rch the geisha to rejoin her now irnpoverished lover. She ever,

will

always be afraid of going against custom. The youltger, how-

with every chance of recovery, will take up where she left off,

The director went to great pains to create the uniform background against which these extrernes are viewed. The opening sequence is an exarnple. Shinoda Masahiro has givett a

description of it: "The Furusawa household, the possessions of a bankrupt textile merchant are being auctioned. The carnera begins

with a medium shot of the fast-talking auctioueer

behind a podiurn, then slowly pulls back. 0n the sound track the dialogue of auctioneer and

u2

bidders. As the bidding continues, the cameruslowly reveals that the store had been a large one. Then, as the auctioneer enters the

final bid in his ledger, the catneraslowly rnoves into

the livirlg quarters in the back of the house. As the off-screen bidding resumes, the camera discovers three forlorn people seated

in a r00rn stripped of all but the barest ftunishings: the

owner Furusawa, his wife Ornie, and his elderly manager Sadakichi, wlto says: 'Depressing,

isn't it, watching them sell the things we've lived with our whole life. Almost like they're slicing us up and selling us off.': " The

'1)

fihn ends with the celebrated hospital sequence. The canerudollies along a corridor

and then pauses for a very long tiure on the other side of a screen, behind which are the sis-

[g$-2

period of stasis in which the director seems to ask us to reflect on what we have

seen.

Only then does the camera move to the protagonists. Eventually, it slowly tracls toward the yoLrnger sister, to end with a close-up that Donald Kirihara has called "a visual as well as a

didactic climax. " *'j Mizoguchi used the close-up, when he used it at al[, in a manner all his own. For example, at the end of The Dou,nfnll of

}sen (0rizuru

Osen, I93;:) there is a

full close-up show-

irrg tlre heroine deranged in a railwav station. But this shot is not for easy identification with 0sen.

It is for us, like her, to ignore the crowds, t0 more readily understand rather than

to

experience her situation. Likewise, the close-up of the younger Gion sister, Omocha, is for us

to regard and contemplate her own final question: "Why are there such things as geish a in this world?"

If Mizoguchi's sentirnents occasionally, and almost by default, go to the elder sister, his ending questions these. The problerl suggested by the filrn adrnits no easy answer and, by implication, goes far beyond the narrow world of the geisha, to the shifting pendulum of Japanese society itself.

Tlre problem of choice is one which anirnates rnany films and mu ch Japanese modern literature. In noh, the choice has already been rnade before the play begins, and if the choice is made for personal indulgence over social duty, one may be certain that ghostly revenge is

not far behind. In kabuki, the choice itself constitr-rtes the plot: will the lovers neglect duty because they love each other? Can the hero bear to decapitate his own son, as duty plainly deruands, s0 that his lord's child may be saved? Even lyric poetry reflects the therne of choice. The elegiac qualiry of rnuch Japanese traditional veme is occasioned by the poet's regrets that he followed the path of personal inclination, or that he did not. In Japanese films, often the

choice between the old and the new, the traditional and the modern, becomes the theme itself. In world cinema

as

well. All directors find themselves facing the force of the traditional.

Producers are often conservative, s0 are

audieuces-the director is in the position of having

to rnodenize his traditions or traditionalize his rnodernitv. Nonetheless, timely though

it was, Skters of the Gion was not a ftnancial

success. The

8.1

director has said: "Though it didn't take long to finish, certainly less than a month, Daiichi [where Mizoguchi continued to make fihns after leaving Nikkatsu] went bankrupt because of

it. Actually, it was Shochiku [the distributor] that gave us a raw deal by refusing to show a good

film like this in a first-class theater."** hr any event, Daiichi Eiga broke up in 1937, and

Mizoguchi moved to Shinko Kinema, originally aysaftof Shochiku. Here he began rnakir-rg a different kind of film, starting with Tlte Storlt 0f the Last Chrl,santhernum (Zangiku mouogatafi,

193il.

EXPRESSIONISM, KINUCASA TEINOSUKE, AND THE LEFTIST FILM

[ fl izoguchi's concern for a realism so extrerne that he could smell the characters' body M odor represents one end of the realistic spectrum. At the other end are the stereolypes of early

fihn, the clichds and patterns of shimpa-based melodrama.

Yet, what the Japanese

mean by realism is not what is usually meant elsewhere, According to Erich Auerbach, the Western definition of realism is "t0 represent phenomena and palpable As

in

a

fully externalizedform, visible

in all their parts, and completely fixed in their spatial and temporal relations."*5

previously suggested, however, realism as a style is always

partial-one

chooses from life

to make that sinulacrlun which is film. The degree is marked by the openness with which the choice is dirylayed. The United

States-a land where realism

was thought a virtue and

where reality itself was not only defined but endorsed-produced films the realism of which was assumed, as thor-rgh there were no other stylistic possibilities.

According to Ar-rerbach, in realism nothing was to remain hidden or unexpressed, nothing was left fragmentary or half-illurninated, never a lacuna, never a glimpse of unplunbed depths,

all events in the foreground. Though even Anerican films were rarely this realistic,

their makers often assumed that they were. However, other countries-France, Germauy,

Japan-gave early evidence of the possibiliff of film styles reflecting different concepts of realiry.

Cinematic irnpressionisn, for exarnple, offered another kind of realism (as in the films of Jean Renoir and other French directors) where, following the exarnple of the irnpressionist painters

, away of seeing more natural to the

eye was

approxirlated. Things were painted

as

tlrey "looked," not as convention suggested, That Japan did not avail itself of the impressionist style might be because there were no close ties between it and France (nothing approach-

ing those between Japan and Germany), and because rrany impressionist films (those of Dimitri Kirsanoff andJean Vigo, for example) were not locally shown until much later. 0n the other hand, expressionism played an important role in earlyJapanese traces can be found even now. Historically associated

81

cinern a, and

with Gerrlan literature and graphics,

expressionism was a style in which the

writer-or'painter,

composer,

filmmaker-sought

to avoid the representation of external reality and, instead, to project a highly personal vision of the world.

In drama, this style was seeu as areaction against naturalism and, consequently, a uulnber of plays imported into shingeki were expressionist: those of August Strindberg, Franz Wedekind, Ernst Toler. The

film

Von Morgens bis X{itternacht, s0 popular in Japan, was

originally an expressionist play by Georg Kaiser. It was also thought

fitting that expressionist

plays imported into this far archipelago should be performed in what was understood to be an expressionist style, one which it was discovered, rneshed so satisfyingly with the Japanese assumption of presentation as adominant mode. A

further reason for the preponderance of expressionisn in Japan was that there had long

been a definite,

if

undefined, disinclination toward naturalisrn-th at varrefy of realism

wlrich expressionism was definitely not. Though some Japanese authors, such

u

Tayana

Katai and Nagai Kafu theoretically emulated Ernile Zola and the other early "natLrralists," wlren tlrese methods were put to use in the first-person shishosetsu novels they became projections of avision of the world so personal that it colored whatever the author looked at. It was in itself a kind of home-made expressionism. Hence, though ready lrome

it

was considered avant-garde

in mainstream art iu

ence, expressionism h,la Doctor

in other cultures, expressiouism found

Caligari offered a new and novel formula. In addition, and

rnost importantly, expressionism did not pretend to be representation,

[i6"-i[was

a

Ja;san. fuid, as forrrulahad long beett aJal:arrese prefer-

it was not

"realis-

pure presentation, and this was something theJapanese knew all about,

Finally, this imported expressionism contained an urban prejudice which made it seeur,

in the

eyes of the Japanese,

truly modern. The works of early expressionism in Europe were

"typically, situated on the edge of the specifically modem context, the megalopolis of indus-

trial capitalism . . . Beneath a rigid asphalt crust, man-made and controlled by the authoritarian father-figllre, chaotic forces, urlgovernable by rnan, are destructively active."a(' The typical expressionist product made criticism of the social status quo both irnpossible

to avoid and easier to voice. Social criticism was traditionally expressed in what Carl Znckmayer called the major expressionist therne, the revolt of soll against father, atheme implied

in rnany Taisho-era films, Souls on the Roncl anong them. Challenging authorily

was

implicitly a political act, and it is for this reason that Japanese expressionisrn could so easily and qr-rickly tum leftist. Ambitions were similar in both expressionistic and leftist literature. Plays and films often presented the negative effects of authority. Mizoguchi Kenji's first picture, Blood

und Spit'it

(Chi to rei, 1923, n.s.), about the masses downtrodden by authoritarian capitalism, was said to lrave been noticeably expressionist. So was Murata Minoru's Eikichi,

Chaffiur

85

(Unterrshu Eikicl-i, 1924, n.s.), with an added touch of class consciousness. Social criticism

fotrnd anatutal discourse in expressionism. Tlte work of Uchida Totuu, a director originally much influenced by expressiouisrn, indicates tlris.

Frorr his expressionist social satire, A Lit,ing PtQpet (lkeru ningyo, 1929, n.s.),

Uchida went on to refirte this stvle (threatening capitalist city, sinister goings on) into its close relative, what we now know as fihr noir, in Police (Keisatsukan, 1933, n.s.). He also engaged in social criticism in his naturalistic-seemingEnrth (Tsuchi) of 1939. This film, a ftrll

print of which was discovered in the Russian archives in 1999, recounts the plight of a pool' famer under the capitalist heel. The therne is taken Llp again in many of Uchida's later pictures, such as the Hunga' Strnitt (Kiga kailqro, Expressiottism as astyle is seen

pictures by Kinu

195), wherc the whole of social justice

is questioned.

in its ftrllest and most extremeJapanese form in two early

gas Teinosuke, the former oyama turned academic director, who later

becatne famous for the Kikuchi Kan-scripted The Gate of

Hell (Jigoku rnon, 195r.

Between

1920 and 1965, Kinugasa made over one hundred and ten pictures of varying quality. Nuntber thirty-five in his prolific outpnt, however, wffi utterly unlike anything before or after.

)rtt of Order' (akaA Page of Madness/A Crary Page), the negative of which in Iglt Made to be shown in a comtnercial theater (though one usually

Tlris was.4 Page was discovered

reserued for foreign

films), it is-arnong other things-an illustration of how styles consid-

ered advanced or difficult in the West were readily accepted into the Japanese mainstrealn.

A Page )ut of )rder, 1926, Kinugasa Teinosuke, with lnoue Masao (right)

Expressionism was regarded as the latest entertainment import

fron

the West, and that in

itself made it welcome. Nso, it was from Germany, a collntry from which Japan had adopted

a number of products, such as an army based on the Prussian rnodel. Early expressionist

in Japan. Tanizaki Jun'ichiro very much liked the Paul Der Student u07t Prag (1913) and Der Golern (1920), and Kinugasahad

Gernran films proved popular Wegener films

86

seen a g00d

nalty

fihn"-which

as

well, inch-rding F.W.Murnau's Det'Letzte X[cutn (1924)-ltis "ideal

he viewed five times.

Much of the artistic ferment of the Taisho mid-1920s was occasioned by literature attd

filrls from abroad. Miyoshi

Masao has spoken of the wholesale iuterest

iu "bits and dollops

of Paul Morand, fuidreyev, Croce, Bergson, Futurism, Cubism, Expressiottisnt,

Dadaisur,

Syrnbolism, Structuralism, Realisrn, Strindberg, Swinburtte, Haupttlaun, Ronain Rollaud, Schnitzler, Lord Dunsany, Wilde, Lady Gregory, Aud a lot else."

*7

By I)25, the two rnajor literary schools in Japan were the proletarian-literature rnovement and the expressionist-like Shinkankakr-rha, 0r "Neo-Perceptionist School," a group wlriclr included Kawabata Yasunari, now in his experiutental phase, and Yokomitslt Riichi, whose The Surt's

finislred

in

Clrlno (Nichirin, I92)

1923, this

had already been filmed by Kinu gasa.Though

film's release was held up by the Ministry of the Iuterior. The story of

an aristocratic woutau who rluls off with the farnily chauffer-rr was thought to cotttain veiled

farrily.

references to the imperial

Kawabata had early pointed out that German expressionism, as opposed to the realistic

naturalist view, was the best vehicle for perceiving the prirlacy of subjectivity. He cotnpared the new German style to old Asian-style Buddhism,

which-as in Zen-had amottg

its aitus

the breaking down of subject and object. The subjective view of expressiouisur wffi, he thought,

rluch like the prelirninary

stages of this breakdown. Kinugasa agreed, so did Yokornitsu, aud

it was decided that they would attempt a self-consciously exprcssionist independent film.

0riginally, Kinugasa wauted the film to be about an amusement park, Iike Caliguri, filnr lre had not

seen but

a

which Kawabatahad. Later, scouting for ideas, he weutto atuetttal

hospital and discovered his subject. This location appealed to the other two Neo-Perception-

ists-after all, Caligari had

also taken place

in a rnental hospital, and the hallucinations of

someone institutionalized would be an ideal vehicle for expressionist treattuent. Apparentlv

the entire group wrote the script, and Yokoruitsu named it. Kawabata subseqr-rently wrote a short story abor-rt the filming called "Warawan Otoko" (trAuslated as "Tlte Unsmiling Otte") and eventually included the script in his conplete worls.

A Page

At

ol')rcler is about a lnau who abandons his wife, causing her to drowtt her

baby and go insane, or else to go insane and drown her baby. The older daughter holds her

father responsible and he, feeling guilty, attempts to make amends by getting a job in the asylurn where his wife is incarcerated. His memories and hallucinations occlrpy hirn as they

do his unfortunate spouse. In the end, his surviving daughter's marriage having happily affanged, he stays 0n-u0w as rnuch apartof the asylum

as his

wife

beerr

is.

Such a story would have equally suited the demands of shirnpa, but the scriptwriters pLlrposely scrarnbled time and space.

hr addition, Kinugasa complicated any

easy reading by

leaving out all the dialogue titles that Kawabata had provided and by cutting any scenes that

87

could fonvard a recogltizable plot. He also urged the inclusion of logically irrelevant but etttotionally evocative scenes-a broken rice bowl, a rain-soaked cat-and interrupted the narrative so oftett that the audience had to bring its own subjectivity to assist in any interpretation.

funong the opening scenes is the following seqllence:

T3

The rain falls outside. Flashes of lightning

appeaL-

in the

sky, one superimposecl

ou the other.

A

A dancing girl.

$

The sor:nd of

I6

The dancing girl, exhausted from dancing, suddenly collapses 0n the floor. Her

ataiko drum artd other rnr,rsical instrurlents is heard in the rain.

feet are bleeding. 17

Musical instrunents are heard in the rain.

18

The dancing girl on the floor listens inteutly. Then she gets up and starts dancing agal-n.

19

Blood stains here and there 0n the floor.

*s

This is a translation of the Kawabata script rather than a reconstruction of the actual filr1, but its "expressionism" is obvious. It is the attthor's intent that the dancer shonld "heAr" music during a rainstorm in a silent

film

(by double-printing the musical instruments gver

her itttage), that her intpressiotts should be oLlrs, and our experience of the asylurn be hers. Kinugasa also seeks to ittcrease this visual irnpact. He turns this seveu-part scene into a sequence made up of over fifry cuts.

A Page

}ut of )rcler

was photographed by Sugiyan)a Kohei, the cameraman who also

wetrt otr to witt Kinllgasa his various prizes for Tbe Gate of Hell. Visually, it owes much to the

Gernlan expressiouist product: nighttime lighting, lots of reflections, rain-soaked sets, shadows, and r,rrban nenace.

}ut

In place of the steady, sober pace of the Germau expressionist films, however , A Page

of )rder ts a mosaic of srnall sceltes, the pattern of which must be inferred by the viewer. There is ettottgh of a plot line to assist tlte benshi (who mlrst have been otherwise baffled by the film), but its ternpo is oftelt as fast as possible, making one wonder if Kinugasa had also seetr fihns by

lot

Dimitri Kirsanov or Sergei Eisenstein. But Kirsanov's Xlenilntontctnt

(1924) was ltever shown in pre-World War II Japan, and Kinr-rgasa saw neither Eisenstein's Strike (1924) nor his Poternkin There is also no

.8,9

(192) until

he went to Russia several years later.

Ja;sanese precedent for such fast cutting. fuld fast

it is. Though it

lasts

under an lrour, the film usually exhausts its audiences. Yet, it is certainly part of the expressionist ethos to give all angles of an object and to include in the subjective experience of the

film everything about the space and tirne it encompasses. Expressionist film is not so tnuch about anecdote as it is about being inside the anecdote. The writers chose to enter the story at a rypically odd angle, since the insane dancer is

neither the wife rr0r celttral to the story. More important than story, however, is atmos-

phere-something Japanese audiences early detected-in this case, the subjective experieltce of the asylurn itself. This mealts that the narrative, what there is of it, is reassuringly atrnospheric and at the same tirne takes 0n a near allegorical importance. This is all there but this is enough because this is what the world As Iwasaki Akira said

in his review

of

A Pnge

)ut

of )rdel': "Directots like KinLlgasa rvho

can lnake use of the camera freely, independently, and effectively are not so Japan. They are rare even

is,

is.

in other countries. The carnera

becoutes almost

comllon in

an orgattism

which grasps the object naturally and perfectly. The operation is not sirrply a mecltauical one. Hence they [Kinugas a and Sugiyarna] succeed in producing an origiual creative work."*e Wh€n the picture opened, the press was attentive and respectftrl. Though not enough money was luade to finance a second experimental

film

(one of Kinugasa's stated antbi-

tions), it was still thought of as acommercial filrn , tf a rather advauced otte. The

film was thus financially successful enough to attract the attention of Shochiku.

Nways interested in novelty, the compauy agreed to distribute Kinugasa's next picture. The director later remenbered that "during this period there was a clamor arrong a sectiott of moviegoers to take away the swords from the chambar"a

film: in other words, to remove the

fighting sceltes from samLlrai films in order to elevate the artistic quality of Japanese cinema. Accordingly, our next film was a conscions attempt to exclude a historical plot with its color-

ful incidents and to include a sirlple story describing the affectiort sister, p00r, living in an obscure comer of the city."

between a brother attd

str

Crossroach (Jujiro, aka Shadows of tlre Yoshiwara, 1928) is a more comner-

cial filnr than A Page Its expressionism

'as

Ai

of )rder.

well as the pace are

considerably toned down.

At the

sarlre

time, Crossrocu* illustrates how an imported style can corre to be nationalized.

Tlre filrn's expressionist intentious are conveyed mainly

in the sets-hlrge, cav-

ernous UFA-lype settings, which recreate

Japan's feudal era with lots

of

night

Crossroads, 1928, Kinugasa Teinosuke, with Chihaya Akiko, Bando Junosuke

8g

shots, shadows, sntoke, and steam. The wounded and thirsty hero crawls from his bedding

only to find hintself in a Fritz Lang-like space with enomous half-buried casks full of water. Yet, whert lte tries to

drink, the water boils. Pain becomes steam. The hero is particularly

cltarttbara-like and strikes a variety of poses. This is in contradistinction to the actiug iu

A Puge

Ai of )rcler, where the actor playing the renlorseful

husband (well-known lead,

Ittoue Masao) gives an intensely realistic performance. Overall, the acting in this film is more 'Japanese" than it was in KinugasA's earlier picture.

Ott a deeper level, the linkage between scenes in Crossrouch is often, in the Japanese manner, neither logical uor callsal, but emotional. A woman is concerned with her brother's safety, so the scene cuts directll, to the two of them

in their childhood, which establishes her

memories and her concerns. A cut is detemrined not by the convolutions of the storyr, but by

the visuals of the scene-the round shape of a sedge hat suggests the round shape of a teacup.

Foreign viewers seeing this picture, which was anong the first Japanese films shown irr Europe, appreciatively noted its "realisrr," for example, how the character's breath was visible in some sequences. Snch realism was not, however, among the aims of the picture.

Actually, this particular effect was uniutended-the studio was unheated and

it

wAS

winter. The differerrce between these two KinLlgasa mettt of their respective cats. htA

Pu54e

fihrs is most easily exemplified

b,v

the treat-

)ut of )rcler', the wet cat is just there, and nothing

much is rnade of it. Consequeutly, its misery intensifies the horror of the asylnm. The cat in Crossrouch, ou the other haud, is oue of the actors. Its role is to creep up to the hero, attracted by the wounds, and lick the blood.

Films which expressiouistically showed the menace of city life and the prevalence of iusane asylurns were, intentionally or otheruise, criticizing society itself, finding fault with the status

quo. Since fault is inevitably found with the status qLlo, such criticism merelv expresses the

equally inevitable popular aspirations of certain elemeuts in society, and this offends the authorities. Perhaps this is even nore evident in Japan, where historically the status quo has been less regularly challenged.

Literature, drama, andfihn in the "dernocratic" Taisho-Showa 1920s tended to criticize.

The keiko-eiga, 0r "tendency"

films-films which tended

toward leftist sympathies but

avoided overt political commitrnent-eventually became numerous enough

to fonn

a

geure. Usually these filrns took a stance against some repressive govemment-backed political

action. As the authorities looked more and more closely at the liberties taken during the

90

decade of the 1!20s, increasing efforts were rnade to curb this license, resLllting freqr-rently in ever more overt expressiorts of criticism.

Many directors contributed

to the keiko-eiga

Marrsakn, And Tasaka Tomotaka, whose Look,

n.s.)-a

at

genre, inclLrding Mizoguchi, Itarui

This Xlother (Kono haha wo tuiyo, 1930,

look at a proletarian mother sacrificed to societ,v's cruel hypocrisy-was one of the

nrost popnlar. Uchida's expressionist .zl Lit,irtg Puppet-written by popular proletariart

writer Kataoka Teppei (who also wrote the script for Mizoguchi's lleh'opolitan

ltltorrl')-yx5

a keiko-eiga zu well. Its protagonist is a man who begins to

51,177-

fight agairtst the

capitalist system but ends up playiug into its hands. Later the genre included films frotn such

norrrinally conseruative directors as Shiurazll Yzuujiro, his LiJbline ABC (Seikatsllsen ei-bishi, 1931, u.s.), about striking workers, being an exatuple. The most popular of these keiko-eiga was a fihl which becarre something of a sensatiort arrd thus attracted the direct attention of the government. This was Whctt

llucle Her Do It?

(Nani ga kanojo wo so sasetaka, 1930), the work of Suzuki Shigekiclti, based on a novel by a well-larowu proletariau writer, Fujirnori Seikichi.

Iu it, a poverty-stricken

woman turus

arsouist. What made her do it was the tuiseries of capitalism,

The

fihl

was found s0 persLlzuive that there were (claimed the press) local riots. It

became the highest-grossing picture in Japanese silent-film history. With it, the governmertt began taking

211'l

evelt stronger interest in the industry,, particularly whert it becante apparertt

that the film was scheduled to run in the Soviet Union.

In

1994, a partial print

of this picture was discovered

in the Goskino fihr ar-

chives

a

in Moscow, and thus

r'rew generatiou could

nally

see

fi-

this notorious film.

Wbul llucle Her Do

It'/ is a

melodrama in which noth-

ing good is allowed to happen to the downtrodden, and

anything bad that can happeu to the heroine does. At the same time,

it

What Made Her Do lt?,1930, Suzuki Shigekichi, with Hamada Kaku, Takatsu Keiko

surprises.

Though a melodramatic potboiler, from the Westem point of view, it is also extraordinarily

film literate. If a narrative this well designed had appeared in Europe, the fihn would ltave become fanrous

zls, say, E. A.

as

Dupont's Varietd (1926), a melodrama which it somewhat reserlbles.

91

Whett, for example, the hungry heroine is being fed, the meal is encompassed series of dissolves, and the

in an unusual

articulation of space around the hearth is a piece of experimental

geornetry resembling the worls of Man Ray, except that it is insteadaproduct of theJapanese

mainstrearn of 1930. Such was the acceptance of the latest in film techniques; such was the ignorance of their original puryoses.

It was not the aesthetics of the film that roused the government, of course, but its critical lnessage. The 1920s had been a period not only of "license" and relative freedorl but also of

economic setbacks and widespread poverty. Many Japanese were dissatisfied and made this krrown. The authorities were quite prepared to act against such dissidence. Director Suzuki, feeling threatened, retreated to safer ground and three years later was making patriotic documentaries for both the Japanese

arny and navy. Nonetheless, the suspicions of the govenl-

ment, never actually dormant, were now rekindled. From the age of the Tokugawa shogunate through the Meiji and Taisho governments, an oppressive governing body had been the rule rather than the exception. One might charitably

call the system paternal but, in fact, it plainly sought to exert control to a degree Llncomllon

irt other countries. The frivolities of the 1920s did not much coucem it, but the growing dissidence of the 1930s did. Movies had long been under a kind of semiofficial control. Early on, Victorin Jasset's very

popular Zigomar (1911), about a sllccessful robber, was singled out for investigation and certsorship. Eventually,

it and its variousJapanese emlllations were banned. By 1917, a filrn-

control regulation law was 0l'r the bools, and

in

1925 its stringencies were tightened.

Oshirla

Nagisa later noted that at first there was only postproduction control, followed by a loose sys-

tenr of general control; then,

tn

1939, "total control."

5r

This 1939 law, rnodeled after the

Nazi Spitzenorganisation der Filrnwirtschaft, was a result of the militaristic and nationalistic

political clirnate, which had grown much stronger after the 1937 invasion of China byJapan, and the need to control opinion.

Consequently governlrent superuision became more frequent and more severe. Censors deprived the script for Ozu's College Is a Firte Plctce (Daigaku yoi toko, 1936) of a seemingly

innocent bit of comedy, when two students try to avoid their military training class. Once the teacher calls the class to order, what was to have followed was a parody of

military training,

at the end of which the two rebellious students were to be upbraided in the overblown, rhetor-

ical style of General fu'aki.

Latet, scissoring becanle eveu more frequent. Naruse Mikio's Trm,elirtg Actors (Tabi yakusha, 1940), about fellowworkem (who between them played the front and back half of a horse) had a whole section cut, apparently for reasons of excessive levity. A drinking scene irr Yanramoto Kajiro's Horses (Urna,

l94I)

was cut because it was thought to encourage alco-

hol consumption on the job. Yamarnoto's pupil, Kurosawa Akira, had a love scene taken out

92

of lris debut picture, Siurnhiro 5'ttgrtfut 0943), und Kinoshita Keisuke, Kurosawa's contenrltorarv, alnrost lost the final sequence of.Anrlt' (Rikugun ,1944).

Army,1944, Kinoshita Keisuke, with Tanaka Kinuyo

InArttt.)', a clistmught nrother (Tanaklr Kirtn'o) runs alongsicle the train which is tuking Itet't,oung son lnvay t0 the front. She is so pluinlv upset llv this event thut the censols denrancled that

it be cut; nrothers were sllpposed to be snriling proudlv

as sons were sent off

to battle, the kincl of scene which occurred with sonre frequeno' in other pictures. Kinoshitlr's

it could be zugued that the nrother's

seqllence was savecl because

stress

wrn caused br,the

conflict beMeen her knowing r,vhat was socizrlli'correct (sending the bov off) and her owlt selfish and possessive uature

in loving hinr (the old dranratic kabuki stanclbr'-giri

versus

ninjo). N1ani'otheL filnrs, thciugh, wete hacked LU),0r else bannecl conrpletelv. Kurosuwa's ou the popular Tonrita Tsuneo novel, and bafflingli,called an insult "Artglo-futtericltrt," toJapltn as well as wlts savecl onh'bv a tinrelv renrark br'02u, who lvlts Sirtttsltiro Sttgrttrt,

ba^sed

on the corurnittee and

wrLs a

nuur whose opinion calriecl sonre weight. He said he knew lroth-

ing about Anglo-fuuericunisnr but thut he thought this was e \,€['fine filnr. F'oreign nrovies as well, particulaLlv those dealing i,vith the nrilitan,, were sinrilaLh, cellsored. Lewis Nlilestone's,4// Quiel

ut lhe lV'eslenr Frottt (1930)

suffered near'[r' three hun-

dred cuts, zuuounting to about twentv peLcent of the screening tinre. ful'thirrg showing wut as

it was hacl to go. This included scenes of those dead in b:rttle,

killed, and the clinractic sequence where

sceltes where ntell were

Lei,v Avres bavonets a French

soldier ancl is stunned

at what he has done. Other r,var filnrs were conrpletelv excluded. When a print of RettoiL's

Jezur

Lu Gruttrle lllustott (1937) arrived inJapan, it was confiscated ancl sent buck horne

Naturalh', tl're govenmrent also looked after public nroruls and the possible thLeat to thenr bv foreign products. Kisses were routineh, renroved, with the result that foreign actors ancl actresses approachecl each other tenderlv

onlv to Lecoil with inappropriate suddenltess. And

e.j

there were

lrany other

reasons as well for cutting the foreign product. The Mongol prince

was trot left hanging by his queue

in Raoul Walsh's Tbe Tbtef

o.f

Bagdncl (1924) because he

wffi, after alI, aprittce. Rend Clair's Le Derctier lltilliarchire (1934) was ordered deprived of all scenes that seerned to profalte a royal farnily. There remained for a time several genres where protest could covertly continue. One of these was the jun-bungaku

film, film

adapted

from the better class of fiction. Companies

usually accepted the proffered script because directors were at least showing serious inteutiotts to work with pretested material that had already found something of an established audieuce. This could also hold off the censors, the argLurent being that since the work was

already lcrowu, the film was not responsible for the ideology contained.

ht addition,

there

was ample precedence for the genre. Japanese cinerna, perhaps more than any other, is close

to all forrns of literature.

Tlre resulting films were called brnryei-eiga, "literary fihus." In the early 1930s, the genre appeared frequently: Gosho's adaptation of Kawabata's DAttcirtg Girl

frorn lzu (lzu

tto odoriko, 1933); ShimazuYtsujiro's )koto and Sastfte (Shunkinsho: Okoto to Sasuke, 1935), based 0n a Tanizaki novel; Gosho's Et,erJ,thirtg Tltat Lit,es (lkitoshi ikeru ll0l-10, 1934), based

on a Yantamoto Yuzo uovel. Later, Yoshimura Kozaburo adapted Kishida

Kunio's Warm Ctrrertt (Danryu,I93D, and newcolner Shibuya Minoru calne to popular attentiou with lVlother artd Child (Haha to ko, 1938), based on a YadaTsuneko novel. A director who gave the

literary-film movenent much of its vitaliff was Toyoda Shiro. His

Yowtg People (Wakai hito, 1937), based 0n a novel by Ishizaka Yojiro, proved popular, aud he wettt ott to make

nany other distinguished adaplations, among them Crl,bab1, Appren-

tice (Nakimushi kozo, 1938), based 0n afamous novel byHayashi Fumiko, and lVightingale (Uguisu, 1938), after an Ito Einosuke work.

Though bungei-eigawere generally protected frorl the censors, some ran into trouble. Uclrida Tomu's Earth (193D was based on a serious novel by Nagatsuka Takashi, but the message was too

keiko-eiga-like for the

conseruative censors. Nikkatsu

did not

like the idea. The book was highbrow realisur which criticized the existing order. Furthermore, as the story took place over four seasous and was aII

location work,

it wor-rld be costly to

nake. In addition, there was the feeling that the government wor-rld not take too

kindly to a film which shows a p00r widow forced into poverty by the system.

94

Earth, 1939, Uchida Tomu, with Kosugi lsamu, Miake Bontaro

Nevertheless, despite this opposition, Uchida and his devoted staff and cast went ahead

and made the picture. Facilities, money, and film from other productions were slipped to the

Earth production unit. The studio heads, r'lever too close to what was going ott under tlten, did not notice this activily until the picture was alrnost complete. Presented with the finished

film, Nikkatsu was Anuoyed but finally agreed to release it

as a gesture of good

will toward its

obviously devoted employees. To the compauy's embztrrassrneut, tlte picture won tlte utairt KirremaJumpo pfize that year and consequently (since no costs had ever been credited to the

unit) eamed an unprecedeuted returrt ort the irtvestruertt. Though the government indeed disliked the Uchida film, the geueral public utade it a success. The reason, said oue

eiga were more

critic, was that audiences were weary of rnelodrarna. Bungei-

faithful to real life, and by using them, filmmakers could move closer to the

lives of ordinary people and achieve lnore realistic portrayals. Borrowing from literature thus moved theJapanese

film closer to what the West would recognize

as

realism.

furother geltre which could register protest was films about children. As Iranian cinema

wm to later discover, A repressive governmeut often does not notice implicit criticisrn if it is offered, as it were, by kids. F'urther, evelt watchful censorship is apt to see such fihns as inno-

cent, just like the youug actors appearing in them. Such films were rarely censored, and all were notably realistic.

Typical of these films was Tasaka Tomotaka's A Pebble bl, tlte Wa1sicle (Robo no ishi, 1938), scripted by Ikeda Takao, who had earlier worked on Ozu's variolls "children's" pictures. Here the trials of the little boy hero are directly caused by brutal authority: a drunken, abrtsive fatlter; x s1r51gtt that apprentices ygultgsters to adult trades; a ggventttleut completely

tuncltriug. The pictnre was enormonsly popular, and the censor's scissor's llever touched it. Toyoda's Cr1,bub1, Apprentice was another example of this strategy, as wAS Shibuya's lllotber

film in which a young girl sees a repressive farnily-an authoritarian father and his mistress.

curcl Chilcl, a

society through her disrupted

A Pebble by the Wayside,1938, Tasaka Tomotaka, with Kosugi lsamu, Katayama Akihiko

95

None of these films were overtlv sentimental, perhaps because the child's poiut of view was preserued, and children-rarel,v sentimental about thernselves-are often pragmati-

callv realistic. This was certainl,v true of several such pictnres made

b,v

Shimizu Hiroshi in a

snccessftrl attempt to escape having to make govemment-spousored films. His

Cltildrett itt

the Whtcl (Kaze no naka no kodomo, 1937) and Four Seoszrts oJ' Children (Kodollo u0

shiki, I93D iguore the adult world until it collides head-on with the kids themselves. It tlrerr that, just like the two little bovs iu Ozu's I Ws Blr'n,

But

. . . , thev

is

compare themselves

with grown-ups, onlv to find their elders wanting,

Four Seasons of Chrldren, 1939, Shimizu Hiroshr

CRITICISM AND CRACKDOWN: WORLD WAR ll

/\ttenrpts to make individualistic films waued

F\

as the 1930s drew to a close. The govenr-

ment hacl deciclecl Llporr a collrse which was to preclucle the freeclotu of such persoual solle time. As one high-ranking govenluent official put it: "Films are our

expression for

bullets and there is not a foot of film to give to the private sector."

It was, after all, wartinre. Japan's conflict with China was uot unsought, and a pretext for irrvasion had occurred tn1937. Three years later the entire archipelago was being mobilized,

and by

I94I the couutryr was ert war with, aluoltg others, the United

needed to mobilize everything

States. The

govenlnent

it had, including films.

The problem was that the profit-oriented filnr industry was not initially prepared for wartime sacrifices. Its fihns were making ruouey just as they were zurd, besides, tltere was a shortage of executive personnel. Kido of Shochiku, for example, was out helping orgattize

filnr activities in occupied lands. Others were making pictures in Chiua and Korea. There

was

little leadership and n0 one at all to direct a change in production policies. By 1941, the industry had run into real trouble with the militan'because of its failure to

96

produce a sufficient number of national-policy films. Though sone companies made token

efforts-Mizoguchi

Kenj

i's The Loy617 Fortl,-5suen Ronirt, f.or exatuple, wffi a fihr which

indeed stressed the rnilitary's conception of

bushido-it

was officially decided that the indus-

try had to be entirely reorganized.

The ten major film conpanies then operating (Nikkatsu, Shochiku, Toho [ex-PCL], Slrinko, Daito, Tokyo Hassei, Nan-0, Takaruzuka, Otaguro, and Koa) were told that they had

to fornr thernselves into two companies, and that each company was to make two films a month. Raw film stock would not be avallable unless the studios rnade the kind of pictures the state required. Nagata Masaichi, earlier at Nikkatsu and later a major player in the postwar

filrn indus-

try, maintained that this plan was really designed by Kido to consolidate his personal power

and Shochiku's strength. It was certainly true that under this plan Nagata's own Shinko Kyoto studios would have been closed and he himself would have been out of a job. Consequently, he countered with a new proposal: rnake three companies instead of two. The

government was pleased. A new third company, composed of firms with weak nanagernent, would have little power to oppose government policy. So, Shochiku and Koa composed one company; Toho, Otaguro, Tokyo Hassei, Nan-0, and

Takarazuka rnade up a second; and the third cornprised Nikkatsu, Daito, and Nagata's own Slrinko. This pleased everyone except Nikkatsu, which owned alarge chain of theaters and would now have to show non-Nikkatsu fihns in them. Nikkatsu prcsident Hori Kyusaku tried to defend his cornpany and thus earned the displeasure of the higher powers. When joining tirne cane, Nikkatsu found itself puryosely undervalued, while Nagata's Shinko was padded

to the extent that it became dorninant in the combine. Shortly the conpany took a new

nane-Dai-Nihon Eiga, 0r,

as it was soon called, Daiei. Nagata as mAuaging director wffi,

of course, appointed as the new president. The govemment, having orchestrated a major upheaval in the film industry, could now order the kind of filrn it desired. A probleln

renained. Japan had uever developed a war geun. The occasional newsreels of

thirfy years before had done little other than celebrate the glory of victory. Now that a war-

fihn genre was contemplated, it was felt that ernphasis should be placed upon the sacrifice

ii I

dernanded and the discipline required. War was to be fully supported.

-l:.'

Construct arealistic film about war; but

so far there had not been any. Shochiku's big

production of 1925 had been Fntherland (Sokoku), which featured three thousand extras and four airylatres; Ushihara Kiyohiko's The Army Aduances (Shingun, 1930), a romantic Slrochiku cornedy, had cornbined whole sections of King Vidor's Tbe Big Parade (1925) and

William Wellmen's Wirtgs (1927), and featured the top box-office duo, Tanaka Kinuyo and Suzuki Dernmei, but offered nothing that would raise national consciousness. Others were even less bellicose.

97

(

The existing genre of war-related films would not do if the audience was to believe what saw. A compromise was suggested by the

kulttu'-filtn, a recently irnported German

it

genre

which allowed for grea.ter nanipulation than did the assumptions of the British or Anerican documentary. A cornbinatiou of kultur-film "realisrn," nlainstream feature narrative, and less apparent propaganda ought,

war

it was thought, to be a proper recipe for an

acceptable

filrl.

Japan's initial wartime fihns seemed to Westeru eyes to lack propaganda. The first and best of these

(from the viewpoint of aesthetics, if not that of the war effort) was Tasaka's Fit,e

Scouts (Gonin no sekkohei, 1938). A corrpany commauder calls on five llten. Thev are to

reconnoiter, but on their way they are attacked. 0nly four of thenr return. While ltis cotttpanions lloLlnt, the fifth straggles back. Soon after comes the order to rlove out for a general attack, The men know that this tinre there

will

be no returnitrg.

Five Scouts, 1938, Tasaka Tomotaka,

with Kosugi lsamu

0nly at the film's end conles something the

West

might recognize

as

propagandistic. The

field comnlauder quietly speaks to his soldiers: "The battaliort is now about to move out into action. There is nothing I can say to you at this time since I know each of you has prepared

himself . . . From now on I want you to entrust yollr lives to ne as yoLl would to your own fathers. Let us all join together in the glorious death of the warrior ltero. Tenno Heika Bart-

zcti flong live the enperor!]." Yet despite this closing address, from the Western point of view, the

film's attention to detail, its refusal to generalize, and its lack of nrelodramatics did

not make very/ good wartime propaganda. It is also without the fervent nationalism tltett being pushed by the govenuneut, and lacked the warrior heroistu of the ordinary perioddrama. The soldiers seem without auy sense of

mission-divine or otheruise. The eueruy

is

never seeu; all that the scouts experiel'lce is the terrifying effect of enerny fire.

When not being shot at, the soldiers' lives are made up of just what they would be otherwise: searching for flowers they knew at horne, trying to find sotnething that could be used zn

98

zr

tatalni nrat, waiting for the nrail, boreclonr. 'l'he nren, of course, rea,hze their clanger, but

this danger is not objectified. It nright be arguecl that in a Japanese wartinre propaganda filnr, enelnv objectification was nof necesselr. Irr a nation where obligation, r'ltther tharr

f'eel-

ing or reilson, ltow defined the social order', it was not crtrcial to dranratize, icleutif\', 0L present a rationule for war. It was necessan'onh'to show people what wrn required of thenr. In

alrv case, the 0ffice of I'ropaglurcla took no exception to F.tt'e Sicottts; rather, it encounrgecl the pLocluction of others like it

Critic Hztzunri Tsuneo has argued tlurt the ubiquitv of newsreels, rr0 nrzttter how edited, accustonred the public to "clocunrentarv realisnr," and thut this

in tuln nrolded

poltular'

taste. Literature tunred to the "reportltge" r.rovel, il,hile illustrative urt becanre photognqthic.

It was but uatural, Hazunri relnonecl, that fihn now People had to be shown things

u^s

hzrcl

to accon]nrodate realisnr as well.

thev nr0r'e or less reallv were. Tasaka, along with the 0ffice

of l'rop:rgancllr, however', hrtd to find, as he phnrsed it, a wav to lchieve son]e clegree of independence fronr the uuthoritv

of the docunrentan'. He thoLrght Fit'e

Trtsakrr followed this success with createcl u nroclel for

nlul,

illttd uttrl Slokllers

did this ivell.

other earlv wartinre fihns.

One of the luore interesting of these variations T'he Slot'.)'0t"1Ltttk

Sicotrls

(Tsuchi to heitai, 1939), a woLk that

oll the thenre was Yoshinrura Kozaburo's

Cottttttrtttrler Arishi.,ttnti (Nishizunri senshecho-den, 1910),lvritten bv

Kikuchi Kan, who, lvith the chunging tinres, \\/us now obviouslv regLetting his eaLlieL keikoeiga afliliations. I'he filnr's heLo is shown going ubout winning the waL br'' being friendlv lvith enemv civiliarrs ancl fratenrizing r,vith his or,vn nren. \'oshinrllra latel explainecl: "l really didn't'want to nrake the filnr into sonre rousing war-support piece. Iwantecl sonre kind of battlefield Good lluddies Club, sonrething in the nrocle ol a ti'pical Shochiku honre melodrart-tzt,

and featuring Nishizunri

zts

a faillv orclinerl' chltracter'.";l To do so, however', he

r,vould have lurd to trash a script wlrich alreadi'had a nlessage ol Lacial superioritv over the

The Story of Tank Commander NishizumL 1940, Yoshimura Kozaburo, with Uehara Ken

99

Chinese

built into it. Shimizu Hiroshi, by now thoroughly adroit and to whom the script was

originally handed, might have pulled that off, but he said it was time to give the younger directors a chance, and went back to

rlaking films about children.

The Storj, o.f Tank Commander based upon the life of

Nishizumi wu lypical of the new war product. It

was

an actual soldier, a nan who had received one of the Japanese govern-

nrent's highest posthumous honors, being designated a gunshin, or "military god." And, indeed, the young officer is godlike

in his militaryr devotion to both his country and his men.

Still, by international standards, the propag nda level is low. Such quasi-humanistic expression, for a time, was encouraged because it did not violate the rules laid down by the Home Ministry. According to these, oue ollght not to make light of

nrilitary mattem, but one also ought not to exaggerate the horror in scenes dealing with war. One should avoid scenes of close fighting and do nothing to lower the

tlorale or destroy the

fighting spirit of the conscripted men, which was indeed something which rnight occur if the

full horror of war was revealed. funong the other stipulations, later enforced by the 0ffice of Public Inforntation (created by the Cabinet

in

1940), was that filrns should display the beauff of the peculiarly indige-

nous family system, show the spirit of complete sacrifice of the nation at large, and reflect "the Japanese national philosophy. "

This meant, of course, that a national philosophy had to be invented before it could be displayed. At this the Japanese had had sorne experience. A since the Meiji Restoration

it

necess

in

similar goal had been pursued

1858. With the ending of Japar]'s isolationist policy,Japan felt

ary to define what it was that made the Japanese people and their life

Tlrere is an entire literature 0n the country which does nothing else.

rltt,

so Japanese.

It is callednihonjin-

which rnight be translated as "studies on beingJapanese." The vast rnajority of these

studies are more prescriptive than descriptive, and many seek to defend as rnuch as to define.

Their partiality is now so notorious that the better bools on Japan show no ambition to be considered nihonj in-ron.

After 1935, however , real efforts were made to express a national essence. The military-led governnent needed to define "Japaneseness" since its expansionist policies (first in China and Manchuria, eventually

in the entire East Pacific)

depended upon the durability 0f the

imperialJapanese aura. This led to a state-sanctioned ideology of Japanese identity and the necessary resulting mystique. The search

for this amalgan

of, characteristics

had been going

on for some time. It had continued beneath the liberality of the prewar period and lurked under modernism. Now, however, with war as both reason and excuse, there was new need for an agreed-upon'Japaneseness."

Little remained untouched during this new period of Japanification, and Japanese film was n0 exception, particul arly as

100

it

was now notorious for importing not only new

techniques, fads, and fashions but also new attitudes and ideas. It was Japanese film which had crcated the questionable shoningeki, the suspiciously critical jidaigeki, andthe dissident keiko-ei ga, and it was ltow irnportingadubious "rcalisrn,"

Filn, in particular,

needed to be

de-foreignized.

The govenlment, with its home ministries and offices of censorship, called for a cleauup, one which, as they might have phrased it, would return the cinema to the people. The result was the fostering of a style which restored to Japanese

fihr

many of its original most "Japa-

nese" eleuents.

The first order of business, since Japanese film style had moved toward Westeru realisur, was to correct this. Repressive regirnes do not favor realistic films.

It is said that a 1949

Egyptian film-censorship law equated realism with social subversion. The Japanese govern-

ment (deryite earlier approval) now thought along these lines. It had in hand an altemative. the new goverllnentally approved style, which adapted the language of classical Westeru ciu-

ema to accornmodate a presumed classicalJapanese design. Darrell tlre resulting product:

"ln technique

as

well

as subject

Williau

Davis describes

matter . . . the films enact a canoniza-

tion of history, an elnphasis on indigenous art forms and design, and a corresponding technical repertoire of long takes and long shots, very slow canera movetttettts, and a

highly cerelllouial manner of blocking, acting and set design." The wartitne style set out "t0 trausformJapanese traditions from a culturallegacy into a sacrament."

5i

fuirong Davis's examples of culture as sacrament is Story of the Last Chrl,santhemum (ZangikLr m0n0gatan, 193D, aMtzoguchi Kenji

film about a Meiji-period kabuki family,

wlrich Davis calls "a sactamental depiction" 0f the Japanese farnily-system. It functious as "an admonition to the Japanese people to return to their rightftrl place in the imperial lineage . . . the pllrer, straighter lines of the ancien rrigime," the picture itself becoming

"a stfal]ge, wonderful amalgarn of rnoral tract and aesthetic rigor."

5*

Story of the Last Chrysanthemum, 1939, Mizoguchi Kenji, with Kawarazaki Gonjuro, Umemura Yoko, Hanayagi Shotaro, Kawanami Ryotaro

101

funong the other films Davis lists as defining this monumental style arc Kumagai Hisatora'sIhe Abe Clan (Abe ichizoku, 1938), Kinugasa Teinosuke's The Battle of fuuta-

nakajima

(Kawan akaiima gassen,

I94I), Makino Masahiro's Shogun lemitsu and His

Mentor Hikozaemln (Hasegawa to Roppa no Iemitsu to Hrkoza, I94I), and-since the line continues-Kinugasa's Ihe Gate of Hell (195il, Kurosawa's lhtgemusha (1980) and Ran (1985), Teshigaltaru Hiroshi's Rik1,u (1989) and, of course, Mizoguchi's The Loy6l Forty-Satm Ronin (Genroku chushin gura, 194112). Tiris last named picture is yet another version of the celebrated rlorality tale frorn bun-

raku and kabuki, in this instance taken from the 1937 governmentally "approved" version

by Mayana redr-rced

Seika. Here action is

to static reenactment, and

the hierarchical quality of

Japanese

court life is presented, by inference,

as a contemp orary possibility. The framing and camera movement, the distant scenes, and the long self-consciously revert

of

to the

takes

means

early Japanese cinema-some-

thing from which, despite his occa-

sional close-ups and fast cutting, Mizoguchi was never far. The

film also reflects,

The Loyal Forty-Seven Ronin, 1941-42, Mizoguchi Kenji, with lchikawa Utaemon, Nakamura Gan'emon.

perhaps not

so intentionally, the sparse techniques of the early Japarrese fihn. Some scenes version would not have been out of place

in this

late

in the very first one. The difference is, of course,

thatlrere the slowness, the severity, and the use of classical aeslhetics are all conscious and

intentional, auned aI creating an official and canonicalJapaneseness for nationalist

ends.

0r at least so it appean. After World War

II, when nationalistic

excesses were being called

to account, Mizoguchi

implied that. in actuality he was escaping into history $tory of the Last Chrysanthemum is about a Meiji theatrical family,Ihe Loyal Forty-$sLtm Ronin is about mid-Edo-period court

life) in order to avoid the demands of the troubled present. As the

war progressed, however, it became apparent that neither movies which grandly

asserted Japaneseness

nor those which showed the joys of soldierly comradeship

were

enough. What was needed was something akin to what the West recognized as wartime propaganda. The solution was the so-calle d kokusaku-eiga ("national-policy

film").

Among the most representative national-policy films were those ofYamamoto Kajiro, an actor, scenarist, and director who had begun

102

his carcer under Murata Minoru. The War at

from Hauaii

Sea

to

Malal,a (Hawan-mare oki kaisen, 1942) was sponsored to commemo-

rate the first year of the "Greater East Asian War," to dramatrze "the Navy Spirit as culni-

nated atPearl Harbor." To this film Yamamoto brought documentary techniques, already used

in his Horses (Uma, I94I), plus the resoLuces of his studio.

bor was constructed on the Toho

lot,

A huge rnodel of Pearl Har-

and exact scale models of warships were floated here

and there. The results were so effective that, after the war, Occupation authorities mistook some of the studio shots in TIte War at Sea for the real thing.

The War at Sea from Hawaii to Malaya, 1942, Yamamoto Kajiro, with Fujita Susumu, Kiyokawa

Horses, 1941, Yamamoto Kajiro, with Takamine Hideko

Soji

Yamamoto, now remembered chiefly as Kurosawa's mentor, was perhaps typical

of. those

directors who made unquestioning wartime propag ndafihns. Though aliberal person, he joined mostJapanese in finding that the war, particularly after the Pearl Harbor attack,filled

hirn with a mixture of euphori a and apprehension. In his memoirs he is honest enough to record what he felt that December morning

pleasure at everything becomin

in I94I: "Upon hearing

the news I felt a subtle

g clear at lut. . . the ten yeam leading up to this morning

had been filled with uncertainty. Now something was certain."

55

With its cornbination of apparent probity and absolute propaganda, 7he War at pleased everyone:

Sea

it recuperated at once the entirety of its enormous investment, the govern-

{)

I

ment was happy, and Toho was jubilant. It is interesting, however, that the monumental style played no part

in this success. The picture is completely realistic, fast, and intimate.

It is, rnf.act,much like anfunericanwartime film. Itwas also partial.

Sato Tadao,who later

wrote a scathi ng analysis of it, says that its tacit claim to being an accurate portrayal

of.

recruit life was an absolute lie, since nowhere does the fihn show the brutaliry which wls a daily, very real ingredient in the lives of these young men. Such an anomaly escaped notice as

in

1942 artd, in any event, the

film was clearly intended

celebratory.0therpictureswhich tried to tell more of the truth farcdlesswell. One of these

103

-"r":

was Kantei Fumio's documentary Fighting Soldier (Tatakau heitai, aka Soldiers at the

Front, I93D. It was so honest, so open in its depiction of the soldiers' routine and boredonr that critics said it should have been named "Exhausted Soldiers" (Txtkctreta heitni), and the government banned it.

That the government ban came as sllch a surprise to Kamei indicates the narrow terrain that the fihn industry was rcquired to traverse. According to the original plan, the picture was sllpposed to have been a grand war spectacular, sponsored as it was by the Public htforma-

tion Section of the arny. However, after looking at the actual war, Kamei remenbered: "We threw out our spectacular plan to show groLlps of 'fighting soldiers,' and began to depict . .

.

the honest life of the soldiers which ftrlly showed the rnost beautiful humanity with a plrre and simple consciousnesg."

5(r

Kamei's aims were ostensibly those of Tasaka andYoshimura, yet his efforts were met

with protests. The Metropolitan Police Board's chief, head of the so-called thought police, is reported to have shouted: "These aren't fighting soldiers, they'r'e broken soldiers!" The difference

in reception had much to do with the difference in orientation among these directors.

Tuaka and Yoshimura carne from comnercial film and could rnake use of accepted realist couventions. Kamei was a docurnentarist and could not. He says in his autobiography:

not have any inteution of making an antiwar film . .

"l

did

. My greatest concem was to thor-

oughly describe the pain of the land and the sadness of all the people, including soldiers, fArmers, and all living things . .

. Horses,

even plants suffered

during the war."5r

For his efforts, Kamei was eventually imprisoned, one of the few filmmakers to suffer incarceration. Since he was also to suffer severe ceusorship under the Suprene Commander of the Nlied Powers (SCAP) censol's after the war was over and the Nlied 0ccupation Forces became the authoritv, many have pointed out that the real reasou behind such treatment was that Karnei was an Lulrepentant Marxist, something frowned upon by both the wartime Japanese and the funerican Occupation censors.

Laws supporting censorship were viewed

in different ways by differeut critics. While most

echoed the words of one of them, that "the law intends to Llrge the qualitative improverlent

of the motion pictlue," the outspoken Iwasaki Akira, for years Japan's onh' independent critic, said of the sane law that "it strikes out the creativity and spontaneity of film authors; limits the thernes and contents; and atrophies, even kills, the fihr itself."58 Iwasaki was taken into custody for this offense among others (he was also accused of being Marxist), wffi prosecuted, jailed, and beaten to the extent that he carried facial scars to his death.

Escaping govemmental dernands was something that few

in the film industry

could

manage, Some, of course, directly joined the military. One such was Kikuchi Kan, a very

powerful literary figure, who also wrote scripts aud was editor-in-chief of the influential publicatiott lVippott Eigct. He supported the "spiritual Mobilization" (Sei.rhirt Sod,oiz) the

104

government spoke of and said that it was necessary to

turn

away

from the artistic darlaress

and negativity one associates with realist-tinged worls.

Clearly one of Kikuchi's targets was realistic films such as Uchida Tomu's Earth, a pic-

ture lre particularly disliked. He also included Shochiku shomingeki fihns, even Horses,, a picture which the army had originally adrnired. With a determined administration and spokesrnen like Kikuchi, governmental demands became more and more difficult for direc-

tors to withstand. A kind of passive resistance was the most they could hope for. Shimizn Hiroshi was forced to make a documentary about the capital of Japan-occupied Korea, Seoul (Keijo, 1940). Though itwas sllpposed to illustrate "Korean Unification with the Hornelaud,"

it did nothing of the sort. Shimizu contributed twenty minutes of pan shots showing little except howJapanified the city had now become.

fuuottg the few directors wlto retained any integrily was Ozu. He was twice inducted into tlte army, the second time explicitly to rnake films, and on both occasions he managed to do

notlring at aIL It is true that under pressure he sketched out an overseas wartirue comedy,

Fcn'fr'lnt the Lmd of )rtr Purents (Haruka nari fubo no kuni)-something like "Kihachi Goes t0

War"-but

it was uever submitted to preproduction censorship and wffi, perhzrps at

the director's instigation, abAndoned.

Though both of Ozu's cornpleted wartirne films, The Brothers nncl

Fumill'

(Toda-ke no kyodai,

Sister,s

of the Todu

I94I) and There Wrc a Futher (Chichi ariki,

1942), were

wamlv praised by critics and the govemrnent, there is nothing of the national-policy film about either. Indeed, the only

wartime concession

is

that

the Toda family decides

to

move to Manchuria-some-

thing which llatly

Japanese

fanrilies were then actuallv considering.

Mizoguchi was less adroit. However unwillingly, he did rttake a number of nationalpolicy films. The best, as film,

There Was a Father, 1942, Ozu Yasujiro, with Ryu Chishu, Tsuda

was Tlte Lol,ul Fort1,-Seren

Haruhiko

Rottitt, And the worst were very bad indeed. Other directors, less accolulrodating, were less fortunate. Gosho Heiuosuke's IVeu,

the

Rontl (Shindo , 1936) had nearl.v a fifth of its length cut because it showed the decay of

farlily

systent. Though Kinoshita Keisuke had rranaged to make a satirical comedy out

of lris debut fihu, The Blossoming Port (Hanasaku minato, 1943), he wffi,

as we have seeu,

105

lreavily criticizedforArffiJ,, the final scene being called deplorable and an unnecessary stain 0n an otherwise fine filrn. The censors kept their Kurosawa everyone

lkta,

eyes

on Kinoshita until the war was lost.

too, had difficulties. Though he nade his national-policy films like

else-The fulost Beauttful (lchiban utsukushiku, 1944) and Sanshiro Sugata,

Pnrt Tuto (Zoku Sugata Sanshiro, 1945)-he also ran into trouble with his new version of tlre kabuki play,

Ihr{incho, which he calledThey

Who Step

on the Tiger's Tail (Tora n0

0

wo furnu otoko-tachi, aka The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail, 1945). The idea sor-rnded good 0n paper'. agreat, stately, slowJapanese classic, done under the most limited of rneans.

It would have only one and sorne locations

set, one calnera,

in the

forest uext to

the studio. Kurosawa's script, however, though true to the letter of the play, incltrded a new characte

r-a

porter, played

by the cornedian Enomoto Kenichi, bet-

ter larown as Enoken, whose thoroughly modern concems completely altered the rneaning of the drama. Even Ti,ger's

while

7'he1' Who Step

ltt the

Tail was in production, the

sors were getting rcady to ban

cen-

They Who Step on the Tiger's Tail, 1945, Kurosawa Akira' with Enomoto Kenichi' 0kochi Denjiro

it, but since

its production terminated more or less with the war itself, there was not much they could do. Nonetheless, by leaving

it

off.

a list of fihns sent to the new censorship office of the Allied

0ccupation, the censors made certain it was not released. Later, reviewed by the American censors, this

fihn which the

Japanese censors had

found too dernocratic, too Americau, was

discovered by the Americans to be too feudal, too Japanese. This instance of double censorial blindness meant that the As tlre

film was not

released

until

after the funericans left

in I9SZ.

war continued andJapanese losses began to be apparent, the national-policy prod-

uct turned more and more crude until its hate-the-enemy films became just as prirnitive

as

their equivalent everywhere else. All villains were now Western (rnostly Japanese actors in sunglasses and noustaches), spies were everywhere, mothers were eternally brave, soldiers died happily, and everyone cried. Nonetheless, Japan lost the war, an unimaginable calamity

for the country. All major

cities with the exception of Kyoto, Nara, and Kan azawa were destroyed; hundreds of thousands of civilians were killed in fire-bomb raids; the atomic bomb was dropped not once but

twice, and Hiroshima and Nagasaki along with most of their inhabitants were obliterated. The defeat was total. Still the populace had been schooled in enduring the unendurable, and there was now an opportunity to demonstrate this ability.

106

THE OCCUPATION OF JAPAN

A

fter the def'eat of World War

A

II, movies

were arnong the few fortus of entertainment left

to a hungry yet hopeful population. Since Japan was now uuder Allied 0ccupation,

most aspects of its wartime civilization were under scrutinv, and this included the ciuema.

kind of Japanese film. \f ithin four months of Japan's sut'render to the Allied Powers, in Augnst 1945, the filur

Viewers were therefore seeing a uew

larv

of

1939 wAS revoked, aud

in its place were new forntulatious issued by General Douglas

N{acfuthnr himself, the Supreme Cormreurder of the United States-led Occupation. SCAP aunouu ced a

list of prohibited subjects: anything infused with militarisrn, revenge,

rrationalisrr, or antiforeign sentinent; distortiort of history; approval of religious 0r racial discrimination; partiality toward 0r approval of feudal loyalty; excessively light treatment of human life; direct or indirect approval of suicide; approval of the oppression 0r degradation of wives; admiration of crueltv or unjust violence; antidemocratic opinion; exploitation of children; and opposition to the Potsdam Declaration 0r any

SCAP order.

Along with the taboos came a list of subjects to be favored. Filmnakers were to show all Japanese of every walk of life endeavoring to construct apeaceful nation; soldiers and repa-

triates being rehabilitated

in civilian life; those in industry and farming in the

process of

resolving the problems of postwar life; labor unions being peaceftrlly organized; the hitherto bureaucrattc governnent casting off and adopting true governmental responsibility; the free discussion of goverument problems taking place; every human being and every class of society being respected;

individual rights being upheld; and historical personages, too, struggling

for government representation of the people and for freedorn. Judicious prohibitions were balanced by utopian stipulations, and a special office was ordained, the Civil Information and Education Section (CI&E), amorlg whose duties was the

examination of new screenplays and the review of finished products. As for wartime and prewar films, such prints and negatives as were extant were reviewed and sentenced.

107

A total of over five hundred movie titles was compiled, and about half of these were burned. It was announced that these were sirnply extra copies, that original prints and negatives had been placed

in storage by the Eighth tumy before being turned over to the Signal

Corps, and that eventually these would be transferred to the Library of Congress. In fact, no one knows just what was destroyed in the 1946 bonfire. Original prints and negatives were probably consumed along with the "extra copies." Title lists were not kept , andsome companies

(Toho and Daiei) had aheady destroyed what they thought might be incriminating. (One

film, however, wffi

saved. A single

print of Yamamoto Kajiro's The War at

Sea

from Hauaii

to Malal,a was secretly buried at the Toho studios and later resuscitated.) The Occupation ended in1952, and by 1967, all of the still extant prints and negatives had been returned to Japanby the Library of Congress. The collection now reposes at the National Film Center. After the bonfire, it was then the turn of those who had made these films to be punished. TheJapanese government, under pressure from SCAP, requested the NI-Japan Motion Picture Enrployees Union to draw up a list of "war criminals"

within the industry. There were three

kinds, labeled A, B, and C. The first category included those to be "permanently" removed. Besides governmental officials concerned

with films, this category included Kido Shiro of

Shochiku; 0sawa Yoshio, former head of Toho; Hori Kyusaku, head of Nikkatsu; and both

Kikuclri Kan and NagataMuaichi, of Daiei, among the twenty-three individuals listed in this category. Class B was devoted to those presumably less criminal, and included Kawakita Nagamasa, head

of Towa; Mori Iwao, production head of Toho; the director Kumagai in all. Class B "crimittals" were to be removed from

Hisatora; andothers, totaling ten

the

industry for afixed period of time. Those who stood accused of class C crimes were ordered to perforrn "self-examinations" 0f their past actions. Included in this category were Yamamoto Kajiro and Yoshimura Kozaburo

as

well as anumber of othen.

The crirne, of course, was that aII had made wartime films. Kawakita, for example, had been head of the China Motion Picture Company and had worked with Germany

in

1937 on

an il!-f.ated Germ an-Japanese production. The picture was to have been codirected by knold Fanck and Itami Mansaku, but differences s00n developed and eventually trvo films evolved.

In Die Tdchter der

Samurai (1937), the heroine nearly expires

in a volcano, while in

The Neut

Earth (Atarashiki tsuchi,1937) she

off to the new lands-Manchu

goes

ria-

recently conquered by her countrymen.

What the two versions had in common was their actress, Hatasetsuko.

108

The New Earth,l 937, ltami Mansaku,

with Hara Setsuko.

Such collaboration was now deemed a crirne, though by the same reasoning, had Japan

won the war and the United States lost, John Ford, Frank Capra, and John Huston would also have been "war crirninals."

In any event, howevel, none of the "cfiminals" was hanged and

a number were soon sprung. Anong those listed in class A, charges against Hori, Kikuchi, and Otani were dropped. Though Kido,Osawa, and Nagatawerestill arnong the "crirninals," the latter two were "rehabilitated" early

in

1948.

For whatever reason, Kido was not granted clemency, and it was comrnonly said that his

rancor at being labeled a "war criminal" stemrned at least in part from the fact that he was consequently kept out of the industry while his rival, Nagata, was fully reinstated and busy

witlr big ideas.Later, in his autobiography, Kido was still furious about tl-rcaffair, though his motivation was uow political. If he was to be banished by the order of someone as insignificant as Iwasaki Akira (who headed the committee to nane war criminals), then it was indeed a glorious thing to have been banished.

Criminals having been taken carc of in the brave, uew democratic world that the United States was coltstructing,

it still remained necessary to root out "feudalism," a rnore difficult

task. For exarnple, there was the issue of Mount Fuji. This venerable volcano had been used

by the wartirne government as a sacred, mystic aI intage, one strongly associated with the birth of the nation and hence the ruling imperial house. Fujiwas plainlyfeudal. Consequently, when Makino Masahiro wanted to depict Mount

Fuji

irt

A Fashiortnble

Wanderer (lkina furaibo, 1945), he was told that he couldn't. Since his story was about

cr-rl-

tivation on the mountain's slopes, Makino claimed that it was not a symbol of nationalisrn but of the people themselves. CI&E refused. Irritated, Makino said that in that case they ought to have bonbed Fuji instead of Hiroshirna and Nagasaki. Eventually the Americans admitted that rnaybe he was right about Fuji but told him that he still could not put it in the filrn.

The new censoffi werc faced with many similar cultural obstacles 0n screen. Bowing posed another problem for the authorities. It obviously displayed feudal tendencies yet, at the

same tirne,

it was an ingrained and omnipresent custom of salutation in Japan. It could

scarcely be banned but it could be countered. Kissing, for example, was also a salutation And,

further, one which implied asort of equaliry-. When this decision became known, there was some rivalry among filmrnakers as to who

would make the first film with arcal kiss in it. It was typical of the new political adroitness

tlrat tlre first was by the same man who had earlier made the bellicose Songs of Allied Destruction (Gekimetsu no uta, 194), Shochiku's Sasaki Yasushi. He recorded the "first kiss scene" for his TuuttJ,-Year-0ld Youth (Hatachi no seishun

, 1945); however, he was

obliged to share the honor with Daiei's Chiba Yasuki, whose Ceftain Mght's Kss (fuu yo u0 seppun, 1945) opened the very next day. Orre of the morc curious aspects of the CI&E was its

highly selective apryoach to wartime

109

facts. The script for 0zu's Lcrte Spring (Banshun, 1949), for exarnple, had two lines changed

quite arbitrarily. The line describing the daughter's health as bad "due to being conscripted by the navy during the war" was amended "due to forced work during the war." The other

line ordered changed is that of the father, who says that Tolq'o is "s0 dusff." Originallv he said the city was filled with bombed-out sites.

I

Not only was funerican damage to Japan to be rninimized, there was also a standing order that members of the Occupation werc not to be shown 0n film. When Shirlizu Hiroshi was rnak-

ingChildren of the Beehite (Hachi no su no kodomotachi, 1948) and had to shoot on location at railwav stations, where many of the horneless loitered, he had to reframe constantly to avoid including the GIs gathered there. Yamamoto Satsuo, rnakingWar rtnd Pence (Senso to lreiwa

, aka Between War and Peace, 1947) in downtown

Tolcyo, was told to avoid not only

GIs but also jeeps, English-language signs, and burned-out areas. Even the as Ozn was to discover,

wffi not allowed in scripts.

screen did not merely offer a uew,

As

tenl "bumed-oLlt,"

"The 'occupied' John Dower has noted:

irnaginedworld, It also made things disappear."l

Despite such vagaries most Japanese filmmakers thought that things were much better

under the Occupation Forces than they had been under their owu military fuld many would have agreed with Kurosawa when he said of the U.S. fu'my censors: "Not a single one arnong

them treated us as criminals, the way the Japanese censors had . . age that had no respect for creation,

.

Having lived through an

I recognized for the first time that freedom of creation

could exist. " 'l For all the improvemeut, the postwar

film industry

was not without its problems.

It

was

almost impossible to make jidaigeki. While Meiji-period settings were perhaps perrnissible,

anything before that wffi, by definition, fer-rdal, and hence suspect. This meant that rluch Japarrese Set,en

drama (sorne bunraku, some kabuki, most kodan) was banned. The Lo-l,al Forfi,-

Ronin could not even

be staged,

much

less

filmed.

There were ways around the difficulry. Mizoguchi Kenji, for example, wanted to rnake a

movie about the Edo-period woodblock-print master, Utamaro. Though originally discouraged, he did not despair. He hirnself called

on the Occupation authorities, giving them

cogent reasons for his naking the film. The cornrnorl man, he averred, loved Uta-

maro-he

was

a great cultural

object. A

mollified CI&E, given a reason to gave

hin

agree,

permission, and the result was

Lltcunaro ctrtd Hk Fit,e Wornere (Utamaro w0 megLlru gonin n0 onna, akaFive Women

around ljtamar o, 1946)

110

.

Utamaro and His Five Wlmen, 1946, Mizoguchi Kenji, with lizuka Toshiko, Bando Minosuke

0n the other hand, if making jidaigeki had beconre more difficult, ruaking gendaigeki had now become rnuch easier than before and during the war, Here was a gerlre-films about couternporary/

life-in

which the Occupation authorities were interested. These could

include instructious for the future

fui early Keisuke's

as

well

eu

recrirrinations for the past.

success was Kinoshita

fllorning for the }sone

Fcnnilt' (Osone-ke no ffia,

1945),

about a family during the war. Written by Hisaita Eiiiro, who had been active

in the prewzlr proletar-

ian literary movemeut, the film depicts a militarist uncle involved

in shady deals. The uucle's dubious activities Are detected by the mother of the farrilr,, prompting heL

to nrake a long speech con-

Morning for the )sone Family, 1946, Kinoshita Keisuke, with Miura Mitsuko, Sugimura Haruko, 0saka Shiro, Tokudaiji Shin, Tanaka Haruo

detrttittg nrilitary evils. With the comiug of peace, the farnil.n" is brought together again. The allegorical "rrorning" of the title refers to this new life occasioned by the end of the war. The

film concludes with the family

celebrating, a sequence whose final shot is that of the snn rising as if to hail the coming of democracy.

CI&E, which had insisted upon that final shot despite KinoshitA's resistance, was pleased b,v

the

film

eu

itwas by Kurosawa'slVl Regretsfor 0m'Ibuth (Vagaseishun ni kui nashi,

1945). Here the subject was acadernic freedom: a democratic-minded teacher is silenced by the military, and one of his students is arrested as a spy. The teacher's daughter (Hara Setsuko in au untypical role), who is married to the student, endures greathardships. After his death she works with his peasant parents. fuid, once the war is over, she stays

sn-fhrough

suffering she has becorne areal individual, she has no regrets for her youth.

No Regrets for }ur Youth, 1946, Kurosawa Akira, with Hara Setsuko, Fujita Susumu

111

The scenario, another by Hisaita Eijiro, went through a number of transforrlations, uolte of which Kurosawa wanted and all of them dictated by Toho's

owl

Scenario Review Board, a

leftist organization formed between the two Toho labor strikes, a tiure when the number of Communist Party urenbers lrad much increased. Nonetheless, the fihn showed what Kuro-

it to show.

sawa wanted

be reborn. I still believe

"l believed then that it was necessary it. I depicted

a

to respect the 'self' forJapan to

wonan who maintained such a sense of 'self.' Those

who criticizedwould have approved if the protagonist of the film had been a rnan."* fuiother fihn which looked seriously at the new freedorrs was YoshirnuraKozaburo's

at

Ball

the Anjo House (fuljo-ke n0 butokai , 1947). Written by Shindo Kaneto, and rnuch

indebted to fuiton Chekhov's I'he Cherry

)rchnrd, it

was about an aristocratic family who,

lravirrg lost both peer status and fortune in the postwat era, are forced to close down the fam-

ily mansion. 0n the last night together, a party is held by both farnily artd seruants-the occasion seruing as a reflection of their thoughts and reactions conceming the family's prosperous military past and its penniless but hopeful future. Toward the parfv's end, the father is

about to end

it all, but his daughter (Hara

Setsuko) takes away the gun, puts 0n a phono-

graph record, and leads him in a dance. This, she says, is the way to start a new life.

Ball at the Anjo House,

1947,

Yoshimura Kozaburo, with Aizome Yumeko, Mori Masayuki, Takizawa Osamu, Hara Setsuko

There were many other postwar pictures which looked forvard to a bright future. While

occasionally casting a backward glance at the darker past, most of their creators earnestly,

if

sometimes naively, aspired to a future of peace, prosperity, aud equaliq'. fuirong these were luew directors

from within the ranks of the industry itself who were able to profit froru

the postwar changes which had so shaken the industry's organization. Producers turned to directing,

as

did scriptwriters, photograplters, and even actors.

No rnatter where this ltow directorial talent came from,

in postwar Japan all

directors

were confronted with a stylistic problem. Until August 1945, Japanese directors had been

112

required to make uational-policy films, ones which favored Japaneseness. In the period after August 1945,Japanese directors were reqr,rired to nake films which were specificallyfulerican. There were also, naturally, continuations. Imai Tadashi, who had been forced to make such natioual-policy films

u

The

lVurnnzu XIilitnrl' Acade,z.t' (Nuntazu heigakko, 1939,

rr.s.) andThe Suicide Troops of the Watchtotrer (Boro no kesshitai, 1943, n.s.), could uow revive the concerns of the prewar keiko-eigaand,

in so doing, define the new social film. Irr

1946, he directedAn Enern)'of the People (Minshu no teki), apicture which had nothing in

comlnon with lbsen save its title, being about "the wartime oppression of the masses by the capitalists, and labor's heroic opposition to capitalism, militarisrn, and imperialisrn," to quote from the original pr6cis of the picture.

hnai later remembered that since "no oue had the guts to rnake a film critical of the ernperor, [we] made filrns that fitted into permitted categories. The organtzatron of unions was one of the rnajor recornmeudations of the CI&E, so

were delivered

in

I had guidelines."

The guidelines

the form 0f "several officers [who] . . . nade a few long speeches. They

tltreatetted us, saying

if we didn't

cooperate fwithin the pennitted territories] they would

iruntediately shut down the place. We cooperated."

5

Written by leftist authom Yasurni Toshio and Yam agataYusaku, Art Enemy was about corrupt capitalists who

s1' 76e

People

in collusion with the rnilitary ntake euonnous profits by

exploiting the workers. It easily passed the Occupation censors. Not only was

it anti-big-

busittess/government cornbines, it was also critical of the emperor system. Though huai later said that he did not waut to rnake an ideologi ca| diatribe, the filrn could also be seen as anti-

capitalist. It was a postwar

keiko-eiga-a

genre about which the postwar funerican authori-

ties would eventually have as rnany second thoughts as had the wartime Japanese.

fuiother picture with an appareut political orientation was Toho's War and Peace (Senso to lreiwa,1947), directed by Yarnarloto Satsno and Kamei Funio. Though based on the Grif-

fith film Enoch Arclen

the heLo

(1911),

wAS now politically

committed to the left. Thought dead by his farnily, he returns

from China, where he had leamed the evils of Japanese rnilitarism. Approved though the script had been, the picture was eventuallv ceusored and about

half an hour removed before it was released. The reasolls were various, but one of thern certainly

War and Peace,1947 , Yamamoto Satsuo

113

weu

tltat Katuei was ittvolved. Karuei had been heavilv criticized, as will be remenrbered, for

I'is Figltlirtg Solclier, a

fihl

deenred too sympathetic to China eurd,

glorifl,Japanese aggression. The

filnl

in anv event, failing

to

was banned and the director jailed. Yet here was this

IuAn agaiu, once lnore saying that the Chinese treated theirJapanese POWs well, and teaching collective peace and prosperif,v.

At the beginning of the 0ccupation, an,vthing that Kamei had warrted to make would Itave beett welcotued by the authorities, so plainlv was he a mArtvr to feudalism. When he

announced plans for A Jupurrcse hugecll, (Nihon no higeki)

in

1946, to be produced bv

Iwasaki Akira, he received readv permission. A docunrentary highlv critical of the intperial s1'stettt (a shot of the emperor held the comnrentary:

"This is the lnAn who should be pun-

ished"), it was also unfriendly to czrpitalism. The film spared no one: the eruperor, the militarists, the politicians, the financial nroguls. Nso, a Nilarxist historical anal,vsis underlay the

fihn's focus ou the ecouomic factors behind theJapauese leaders' uow uotorions exploitatiolr of domestic labor and their plainly expansionist policf in Asia.

The filnt's underl.ving political currents were, of course, uothiug new in OccupiedJapan,

but Kamei did not stop there. Rather, he went on to name nalnes and to denounce the "wAr crituiuals," sorre of whorn had not been apprehended, or even suspected, and this at a tinre wheu there were indicatious tltat the Occupation was not long going to continue iu the liberal wa,v it had begun. Katnei wru uot a tuentber of the Comumuist Partv, but he had studied

in Russia, adntired

Eisenstein and Pudovkiu, involved himself with leftist collceflls, zuld was friends with

ltlally

party metrtbers. Other directors had similar interests, but thev did not make films attacking capitalistn and openlv labeling men who, though former militarists, were now friends of the Occupation. There was also the growing suspicion

in Washington that nranv of the 0ccupation poli-

cies were leftist (as, indeed, they were) and

that "Comtuuuists had infected" alt operation

which had begun by inculcating derlocracy inJapan.By I)47 itwas also becontiug apparent that cotl. ullnist Russia and the democratic United States were beginning to sqllere otf in what would become the Cold War, a scenario in which Japan now had to pla)' the role of "b'astion of freedom."

Tlrough A Jclpcnrese Tragedl, was actually released, a second revielv found that should ltave been

banned-and

so

mitted to the CI&E within the week. What seerns to have happened Shigeru had corttplained about the

it really

it wzu. Nl negatives and prints were ordered to be sub-

fihr

wa^s

that Premier Yoshida

and asked General Charles Willoughby to convey to

Gerteral Macfuthur, SCAP hinself, lris request that something be doue abor-rt it. Something was.

The fulerican report on the

film said the banniug was in the interests of public order

because "its radical treatment of the emperor" might "well provoke riots and distrlrbaltces."

114

This fear was coltgruent with Macfulhur's decision that the irnperial institutiou should be protected. After all, uot only had the emperor supported the Occupatiou, but abolition of the

imperial systern could threaten the uatiou's stability. Thus, the single nost feudal object of all, the imperial systern, remained urtpurged. So sudden was the change of direction, rlembers of the Occupation itself found thernselves being purged by Washington and the new House of Un-Anerican Activities Corlmittee.

Senator Joseph McCarthy, who was becoming iuterested, discovered that the Japanese

film

indr-rstry was a nest of Communists. There were certainly a rluulber of party-rnernber insid-

ers-lmai, for example-yet

their presence could be explained bv an Occupation policy

which, up until then, had upheld liberal aims. The new policy caught the industry's most active pla,vers uuawAres. Such aims could now be construed as leftist. Hirauo Kyoko notes

this irr her discnssion of this period. The suppression of ,q Jultmrcse Trrryecll', she

sAVS,

"reslllted from an intrinsic contradiction within occnpied Japan: the funericans decided to rule the country by meaus of the existing Japanese govenrmental and bureaucratic systenr rather thau destroying it, as they did in occupied Gerntauy. The ruost vocalJapanese critics of the ernperor were Comrrunists, and the fulericaus thus equated anti-eurperor feelings . .

with Comrlunisrn, in rlany

cases

without justification."

.

('

This change of direction taken by the 0ccupation was to have rrany results. While some of the improvernents, such as land reform, were implemented, others (the intended destruc-

tiorr of big-business zaibutsel combiues, for example) were not. Though the United States had tar-rghtJapan all about labor strikes, Toho's third major strike,

in

1948, was settled by a

sltow of 0ccupied force. As the [Veu' lbrk Tirnes nported the event: "Conmunist-led sit-dowl

strikers agreed today to leave the ground of Toho movie studios after United States tauks aud

troops were called out

in the first serious labor demonstration since General

Douglas

Macfuthur banned strikes." I Talk of individualiry and democracy becarne less common, tlrouglr the attractions of capitalism werc rendered no less inviting. Directors and screenwriters were thus, as the Occupation deepened, no longer s0 interested

in

subjects

which advertised the rosy future and their country's changed ways. The

Japanese n0 longer needed to regard themselves as model citizens of the future. It was ltow possible to return to being "Japanese" in the traditional sense.

POSTWAR DEVELOPM ENTS

fhough

I

the Occupation of Japan was not officially terrninated until the spring of

having lasted alrnost seven years, a period nearly twice as long

as

1952-

American involvernent

in World War Il-Japanese fihnrnakers had already begun to occupy themselves with again defirring who they were. To do so, they wished to avoid, 0n one hand, the rhetoric

aI and

115

lurouLunentalJapaneseness imposed by' the wartime govenrueut Aud, ou the other, the facile

copying of funericau progrant-pictures as required b),the late 0ccupation. Thus began

a

period in which fihns reflected the harsher realities of postwar life. The same transfornration

wAS

occnrring in auother defeated countn,, ItAlv, lvhere in the

ttel-reolisnto fihns of Roberto Rossellini and Vittorio De Sica audiences were recognizing thenrselves 0n the screen: an inrage accepted because it wru true. In Japan, for the first time, a

nrajoril,v audience was now accepting aud encouragiug films which showed themselves as thev

tmlv were, rather

than zu thev were told to be or as the1, wished to be.

One of the results was indeed

tr

new kind of realisnr. This sh'le, as Erich

Auerbach renrinds us, is always for its own sake. furvthing moral or religious

0r psychological

lessens

it,

because

Drunken Angel,194B, Kurosawa Akira, with Mifune Toshiro, Shimura Takashi

reality is onlv that which can be made

real to the seuses. Postwar

Japanese

filnr became realisticallv detailed and nuanced, looking nrore like lif'e itself. The bombed-out set for Kurosirwzl Akira's Drurften furyel (Yoidore ternhi,

lg4S)-ecouonlically

reused from Ya-

mrtrrroto Kajiro's IVeu' Age of' Fools (Shirr baka jidai

,,

1947)-looked pre-

ciselv like nranv of Tokvo's bombed-

out sections; the dark, miued 0saka streets

of Nlizoguchi's Wlmen

Women of the Ntght, 1948, Mizoguchi Kenji, with Urabe Kumeko, Tanaka Kinuyo

oJ' the

tVi,(tl (Yom lto oltuu-tachi, 1948) were

to those

sllrroLurding the

theaters where the

filnr was initiallv

identical

seen; the nrakeshift honres and squalid

roonls of Ozu Yasnjiro's Recorul ol'rt 'l'en em et

t Gentlem ol t (Nagal,a shirt-

slri-roku

. 1947) looked just like those

in which the nrajoritl' 0f nroviegoers lived

116

Becord of a Tenement Gentleman, 194J ,Ozu Yasujiro, with lida Choko, Kawamura Reikichi

In a sense, all .frqxurese cinenur lrecanre, for a serrs0n, shonringeki, All lilnrs lvere about the "little people" because, for the tinre being, even'olre was "little," p00r, just scrutping lti'. As Atthur Nolletti renrincls Lls, "'fhe shonrirrgeki wus rtctuallv a broacl, all-inclusive geure . . . as such it lvas able to acconrnroclltte lur olten lvide zurd dispaLate range of nrateriltl iurd nroocls, ruu0ng tltertt flrce, light conreclr', lvricisnr, socilrl criticisnr, encl nreloclrunr[. . . The genre erhibitecl renltrkable l'ltLietv in strtrctule, thenuttic enrphasis, and, nrost of all, sh'le." s Anrid this vurieh', the poshvar uuclience wirs hrqrpv looking at what it thought lvus itself.

I'he nror'ie u'hich is said to hul,e luunched the shonringeki Lel ivul is Nuruse llikio's lleltrtsl (Ileshi, l95l). Basecl orl Hltt'ashi Ftrntiko's last ltttcl ttttfirtished ttotel, lrttil writtert bv Icle Toshiro ancl Tlumku Sunrie,

it is

ltbout tr poor white-collur worker'-the Itventge .|ltpanese "sltllur ttli111"-i11161 his ivif'e The couple decicles to blelrk up beclurse ther canltot

nlrke

1i

go ol

it. In

the encl, tltev teltlize thev lu'e not ltlone

in their'plight, thut there ure lnunv othels just like theru.

,-l .fttltrn tese 71'rt,gerl.l' ( Nihcln n0

higeki, 1953), ivritten und directed

bv

Bepast,1951, Naruse Mikio, with Hara Setsuko, Uehara Ken

Kinoshitrt Keisuke (no lelution to Kunrei's urrfortunirte docunrentlul ol the siune niune), \\,irs

tnotliel

lihl

rvhich

told ubout the difficulties of the little people.

It

begun with pristlvltr news-

leels (the enrperor', IIav Dru' rrots, dislusters, cLinres),

then a title ("Life isn't

elNt"'), tollor,r'erl bv lurother ("All over .|rtprur theLe is dlukness"

), arxl a cut to

the nutin title The tnrgedv is personi-

lied br'tr ntother ivho ntakes sacrifice ftlr heL chilclren,0nli'to

ever\'

hlrve

AJapaneseTragedy, 1953, Kirroshita Keisuke

tltenr reject her.

Though erperirttentrtl in foLnt (clocunrentruv footage, newspalter clips, flashbacks), the picture wtts seelt its rur ltccuLltte reflection of societv at large. It

r,vlts also seelt trs

the I'aLious subgenres now uppeaLing. If llepusl wus saicl to be allloltg the lirst

fitting into

fihls

about

wit'es (/stttttrt-nt0tt0),,1 .frtft(tttesa Ti'tt,qerl.l'\\ras seen lrs one of the e:rrlieL postwar fihtrs aborrt rnothers (ltrtltu -n t ot t o),

All these iilnrs ntake use of "Anrerican" clevices: fust cutting, big close-ups, exptessive H7

camera llovelnents. At the same tirne there was au avoidance of anything hitherto officially

identified as 'Japanese." The lnonlulental style had been swept away: all was now lnovetttettt, lightness, novelty. In a *2y, it was Taisho all over

again-new

ways of showing, new

ways of viewing, and, instead of Lubitsch, there were ltew, realistic, American directors: John Ford, Williarn Wyler. Gosho Heinosuke, whose stvle had always been eclectic, handled this latest accent with great skill and created perhaps the most popular of the ltew shomingeki

in Were Chirnrtq,s

Are Seen (Entotsu no mieru basho , aka Three ChirnneysArorn Where Chimneys Are Seen, 195il. Written by Oguni Hideo (the "hrunanist" 0n the Kurosawa Akira writing team) after a Shiina Rinzo novel, the script was pLlryosely episodic in structure. Though centering around the attecdote of an nnwelcorne baby, the

film

cor-rld

be seen as a "conedy,"

a

"ronrance," 0r a"ftagedy," Gosho's gift

for blending

geures was never more

apparent, and each event related to the central philosophy of the film.

Irr Where Chimnel,s Are

Seen, the

factory chimneys under which the residents of an industrial subr-rrb of Tokyo

live become symbolic of an

attitude

toward life, one which had long been

Where Chrmneys Are Seen, 1953, Gosho Heinosuke,

with Tanaka Kinuyo, Uehara

Ken.

identified with Gosho himself. The protagonist looks at the chimneys, positioned so that from different directions they ne\€r appeff the sarne, and says that life is as each person can be sweet or it can be

sees

it: "lt

bitter-whichever you are,"

Thotrgh the postwarJaparrese audience found the new films realistic,Jaysan, as we have seen, was never enthusiastic abor,rt mimesis. Indeed, this

particular Gosho film has itself been

found typical of the ambiguify generally characteristic of the Japanese approach to a "slice of life." Raw "reality" is always tempered, and

it is a rare Japanese fihn

which attempts anything more.

Irttai Tadashi's Artcl I'et We Lit,e (Dokkoi ikiteru, 1951), Japan's first independently produced film-rnade outside the

najor studios by the newly

formed Kindai

Eiga-was

one such rure

film. The film's ir-rspiration was De Sica's

IIu

And Yet We 1ive,1951, lmai Tadashi. The Ueno Station sequence

The Bicl,cle Tltief

railway placed

(194D. Imai shot on the streets of Tokyo, arolurd the ntajor dowutowrt

tenlinal of

Lleno. His camera was often hidden, and the cltaracters were sometinres

iu real situations. At the

same time, the actors inclnded stars, merubers of the Zen-

shin-za, aud a famor-rs left-wing drama troupe; Iurai eveu engaged a production designer. Japan's documentary-like realism was always tempered. Similarly, Kurosawa had Matsuyama So design

Sh'rq), Do{4

(Nora inn, 194D, though it too wru shot

nainly on the streets of

dowutown Tokvo. Like Iurai, he did this to create a realism independent of reality. To be sllre, all film directors, regardless of nationality, temper their realism, but a ulur-

ber (the postwar Italians, for exarnple) also make realistic fidelity zur aiur. Irr Japan, the goal was elsewhere. Even though realism as a sffle became nruch lulore realistic, postwar

filnr was still

thought of as a presented experience, one which was controlled and did not

simplv represerlt whatever occurred iu

front of the calnera. Perhaps

because

realisn cau be felt but not interpreted,

Stray D09,1949, Kurosawa Akira, with Mifune Toshiro

Japanese directors made few naturalistic experiments, seeking rather for the rneaus to inftrse further rneauing into realisrtr.

OZU AND NARUSE in

which Th. postwar films of Ozu Yasujiro and Naruse Mikio are exarnples of the ways "realism" I iuflnences both traditional and modern were blended and the nleans by which retained its Japanese accent. Early on Ozu had both consolidated his influences and mini-

rralized his rneans. Now, after World War II, these two characteristics becarne further refined. Unlike many foreign directors, but not unlike a number of Japanese, Ozn usually worked

with the same crew and often the same cast: his cowriter Noda Kogo, his cameranau Atsuta Yuharu, art director Hamada Tasuo, and editor Harlamura Yoshiyasu. This staff stayed togetlrer for nearly fifteen 1948) to Art Atthtrnrt

years-from A Hen in the Wncl (Kaze no naka n0 rreudori,

Afternlln (Sanuna

no aji, 1962). In addition, his actors were often

the satue: Hara Setsuko, Ryu Chishu, Tanaka Kinnyo, Sugimura Haruko, t0

nane

a few.

Likewise, 0zll's methods remained the saure. The scripting, for example, was alnost

invariably begun by inventing the dialogue (it was sornetimes only later that the writers assigrred the speakers and the setting), and it was often a typical phrase that was the genesis

119

of a film. Though this wav of workiltg was not consistent, it does suggest an assumed cast of characters to whom such typical phrases were likely.

This was the Japanese family, and this initial core dialogue led to further situations and often developed into anecdotes-but not, Ozu maintained, a plot. "Pictnres with obvious plots bore

rle. Naturally,

a

filrn tnust ltave sorre kind of structure 0r else it is not

feel that a picture is no good

if it has too mnch dranta."') Later,

a

film, but I

Ozu would be farlous for

saying that plot nsed people, and to nse people was to misuse them.

We can only infer

that it was his

characters' singular likeness to complicated

life that attracted him to thenr

and that he had no use for the simpli-

fied characters s0 often demanded by plotted drana. Certainly the situations

in which Ozu's characters were placed rnade no such denands. In Lnte Sprhry

(Banshun, 194D, the interest is in the

Late Spring, 1949,02u Yasujiro, with Ryu Chishu, Sugimura Haruko, Hara Setsuko

muted relations between father and dauglrter; in Lute

Autunur (Akibiyori,

1950), the relationship

is duplicated

beMeen mother aud daughter; and in

Art Aututtnt AJiertrcln, the focus

is

again upou father and daughter. ht Tokl,o Storl' (Tok,vo rroltogatari,

195il,

Ozu and Noda examine the relations between the generations, a theme which resurfaces

in Equinol Flou,er (Higan-

Late Autumn, 1960, Ozu Yasujiro, with Hara Setsuko, Tsukasa Yoko

banA, 1958). Ozn was aware of this narrowness of

focus (or,

if

one prefers, this depth).

0f

Att Autrtmtt Aftet'nlzn, he said: "This

film, as usllAl, is about a lltalt with daughter s00n always said

I

besides tofu.:'' r0

dou't make

120

anything

flg later, Llpon another

occasion, elaborated:

shop-so

a

to be married. I've

"l'm like a toftr

even when making a brand

An Autumn Afternoon, 1962, Ozu Yasujiro, Nakamura Nobuo, Kita Ryuji, Ryu Chishu

new fihn,

I

can't suddenlv change to

something cornpletely different.

It

has

to be something like maybe fried tofu

or stuffed tofu, but certainly not pork ctttlets." ll

Ozu and Noda would render their anecdotes even nlore laconic.

It some-

times seenls that the Ozu picture

le'aves

ont r]rore than it includes. One critic stated that Ozu wzrs

I

director for

Tokyo 5t0ry,1953, Ozu Yasujiro, with Yamamura So, Hara Setsuko, Sugimura Haruko, Kagawa Kyoko, Higashiyama Chieko

whom "rurintentional information was nnwanted noise.

" Ltte

Sprhtg

leaves

out the eutire finale, the wedding cerenrorry; Att

Autunttt AJiernoolz

cr-rts or,rt

both the arranged meetings and

the

courtship, as well as the wedding. hr these

films we know the daughter

left onlv because the following

has

sceues

finds tlre father aloue . In Lute Sprhry,

Equinox Flower,195B, Ozu Yasujiro, with Tanaka Kinuyo,

the father returns home, sits down, and,

Saburi Shin

rtot permitting himself even a

sigh,

begins to peel a piece of fruit. We watch his face, we look at his hands, and we feel his solitude. The ensuiug

final scelle, waves breaking 0u A nearbv beach,

suggests

that this solitude

is peLrnanent. The reasons for lezwing ont that great plot-closLlre, the weddiug, becomes appareut. Ozu wishes us to consider sorrething more

truthful-we

Are rarely together, we

are LlsuAlly alone.

The ellipses of 0zr-r fihns always have this puryose. At the conclusiou of Enrll' Sutrtnter (Bakushu, 1951), we are not shown the wedding but there is a nuptial reference, and the suggestion is made that one snch

ceremony is

rluch like another.

As the

anecdote fades away we feel what Ozu

intended when he said that portra.v the cycle of life interested

"l tried to

lrinnel. I wznn't

in action fbr its own sake . . ." r'l

Such traditioual arnbitious alwavs

worked well

with Ozn's

modernist

Early Summer, 1951 0zu Yasujiro, with Miyake Kuniko, Nihonyanagi Kan, Hara Setsuko

121

structure, perhaps because both were so obviousl,v a part of the colurtrr's identification. Speaking 0f

Equirtol Flou'er and the conflict anrong generatious,Ozu said that todar''s

yollng people will become just like their parents. "The\''ll instinctivelv behave the sanre wav. Feudalism hasn't really disappeared fronr theJapanese heart." rj fuuortg the ways that 0zr-r accomplished the creation of such a highl,v cohesive body of work was that he was able to coutrol the way the film looked. During his career Ozu worked

with two camerAmen only, Shigehara Hideo and Atsuta Yuharu. He worked with Shigehara frortt the start,

in

1928, up

until the cinematographer's retirement, in 1938 Atsuta had been

Slrigelrara's apprentice and was alreadv his assistant on Dreunts

vunre, I92B). Thus, the Ozu "look" they had

cLeated

0f Iouth

(Wakodo n0

could be contiuued. Later Ozu would

speak with appreciation of Nlivagawa Kazuo and his work on

Floulitrg

Weerl,s

(Ukikusa, AkA

Drifting Weeds, 1959), during the course of whose filnring he apparerttll' taught the director all about color photograph.v. But camerAmeu have to have something to photograph, and this is usuall.v the actor. Yet, as has been rrentioned, Ozu wAS

not actor-friendly. 0f his later filnrs he once said:

"YoLl

wou't find any particularlv new techniques except for the elinriuatiou of acting. When laughs and tears are as inflated as the,v are in most films toda1,, trained rnonkevs would be perfectly adequate as actors. Actually moments of joy zurd sorrow are times wherr we keep ollr emotion most to ourselves. I minirnize the acting in my

fihls

because life is like this."r*

From the actor's perspective, there are manv horror stories, one of the least harrowing of

which is that of Ryu Chishu, so often the archetypal Ozu father. "Or'rce I followed Ozu's precise instructions nrore than twenq, fimes, but each

tirle I wertt

before the cantera, I failed to

convey the proper feeling and s0 we finally gave Llp." r'

Everything was rigidly controlled. Shinoda Masahiro remembers that wlten lte was an assistarrt director 0n the set of Tokl'o

down an extra cushiou

Tu'iligltl (Tokvo boshokt\ 1957), Ozu told him to pnt

in a scene thev were filming. The voung assistant

was pllzzled: no

other character would be entering to sit

0u it, and it ruiued the

continuif,v.

When he asked its function, Ozu told

him to look through the

viewfinder

and see if he saw anvthing different. He

didn't. Ozn theu said that something was obstructing the composition.

"'lt's

that black border on the tatanri mats that ruins it,' explained Ozu. The cush-

ion was produced aud the covefed."l('

122

borders

Tokyo Twilight, 1957, Ozu Yasujiro, with Hara Setsuko, Arima lneko

0zu's seuse of composition remained paramouut throughout his career. extreme that

it

It

was

s0

led some critics to press charges of formalisn during a time when suclr

charges held unfavorable implications.

In actnaliry, Ozu's modemist-inspired forrnalism

was

intriusic to a system of aesthetics which depended rnuch upon the traditional view. The traditional view is the view in repose, commanding a limited field but comrranding

it entirelv. It is the attitude for watching, for listening, even for learning. Some have consequently compared this position with that of the haiku poet, the tea rlaster, eveu the priest. Ozu would perhaps have

srliled at

these comparisons, but

it could be said that such a view

is

inextricable from Buddhist precepts. This vantage point puts the world at a distance and leaves the spectator uninvolved, a recorder of irlpressions which he may register but which do not necessarily involve him.

Emptv roouts, uninhabited landscapes, objects (rocks, trees, beer bottles, tea kettles), textures (shadows 0n paper-paneledshoji, the grain of

tatami)-all

play a large part in Ozu's

later filttts, and a studied simpliciff of view is matched by a like simplicif,v of construction. The seqlleuce is neeu invariable: usnally a r00m

in a home

is showr, someone entem, the

artecdotal point is made in conversation, someone leaves, tlre room is shown empty. These sequeuces are arranged

in an order which is lypically punctuated by shots on the way to the

new location. These, as it were, move us there, sometiures accornpanied b,l abridge of music,

sortretirles not.

Formalistic as such a procedure might seem, it is never rigidlv presented. For example, tlre operring sequence of Late Sprin,q-three shots of Kita Kamakura Station, a temple roof,

Enkaku-ji temple as seen from the station, then a shot of Noriko at aformal tea ceretllouy. Noriko's aunt appears with a;sair of trousers she wants Noriko to mend. In particular, she would like her to "reinforce the seat." The higher aspirations of spatial geometry and the tea ceremony are pllrposely contrasted with such mundane efforts as reinforcing the trousers' seat. The structure is

highly fonlalized but the presentatiou is decidedly informal.

Besides such spatial

forrnality, another influence 0n Ozn's presentation of selected realiry

was the shishosetsu, the autobiographical novel, particularly the work of Shiga Naoya, the sole

autlror Ozu revered and whom, in his journals, he reverently refers to as Master (sutsei), a term the director othenvise abhorred and forbade in reference to lrimself. It has been pointed out by critic Imanura Taihei, arnong othen, that both Shiga and Ozu share what he called a tvpicalJapanese attitude. The obseruer simply tries to recall details of a phenomelton instead of analytically reconstructing it. While Western plot stresses occurrence, causality, and responsibility, Japan's traditional

narrative means, the sttii, ernphasizes sequential flow, connection, association. The presumedJapaneseness of 0zu's

approach-his emplrasis upon effect rather than cause, upotl

etnotion rather than intellect-coupled with his abiliff to metamoryhose Japanese aesthetics

12.7

into terms and images visible on Japanese of

film-is

what makes hirn, as is so often said, "the most

all directors."

Ozu's postwar 'Japaueseness" was, from Shochiku's point of view, precisely the reason the director was given such freedom: he was allowed to make any

film he wanted, and his

films' often large production costs were unquestionabl.v accepted. Not only did Ozu's films do fairly well at the box office, they werc Also, somehow, 'JApAnese" in the sense that Kido Shiro uuderstood it.

Such traditionalisru, however, is not to be seen as opposed to the director's modernisrl.

0zu's career tollowed a pattern which has long beeu noticeable in the lives of ntauy Japaltese: a period of early exploration among things Westertt, followed by a slow and gradual

retunt to things lnore purelyJapAnese. There is another pattern lris career paralleled, tltis otte

still more universal. When yolluger, one is more radically individualistic; older, oue oftett becomes lnore coltseruative, and individual stvle rnerges

with what is lnore cotltuonly

accepted.

These very patterus are

in turn celebrated in Ozu films. Draruatic tension is obtained by

the confroutatiolts alloug various individuals who are in different sections of the pattent: a father who has "returned," for example, stands in contraposition to "wAy out." This is the pattern of Equirto.v Flou,er, and

zt

daughter wlto is on her

it is this fihn,

as already mentioned,

which Ozn saw as a demonstration of the surival of the traditional.

In the later fihrs there is uever rluch doubt as to where in the overlapping pattenls Ozn's syrnpathies lie. For this reAson there wAS A period after the director"s death wlteu the young

disliked his work, calling it old-fashioned, reactionary. This attitude is also reflected in the writings of those Westenr critics who find the late filrns merely torrlalistic acadeuric exercises. htdeed, Ozu would appear reactionary, since he so continuallv celebrated those very qual-

in revolt: the traditional virtues of their countn'. Nso.

zts

he himself moved up the social ladder, from the "little people" t0 the upper bourgeoisie,

so

ities against which youngJapan was

did his characters. The fathers of

Pnssirts4

Fancl'(Dekigokoro, I93T andAn Aututnrt After-

n00n dirylay vast social differences, and this, to a certain mentality, is difficult to forgive. Tlrat these traditiornlJapanese virtues are rlainly theoretical irt everyday Japan iu no way lessens the cLiticism, nor does

it underrnine

Ozll's position. Restraiut, simplicity, and

near-Buddhist serenity are qualities which still remain as ideals in the coutttryr, and 0zu's insistence Llpon them as well as the public feeling for or against tltertt ntake tltese

ernpty hypotheses.

0r did. Now that

llore tltau

the Japarlese have reached the point wltere they have

ceased to be so acutely aware of the distinction between what is Japanese and what is foreigtt,

the entire argulnent becolnes academic. Nonetheless, irt accounting for what occurred, one must consider forces no longer vital. While it is true thatJapanese tradition has ceased to be an issue, its role in helping forrn

124

Jaysan is

unequivocal.

Interestingly, following the traditional sunnise results in a shared intimacy. Once we join tlre family in Tokys Stor1,, we do not want the these people whom we have come

perceivedfactthat all of

film to end because we would have to leave

to understand. Ozu's assumptions are based upon the

Lls are together

in this big mess called life.

funong the many affecting and telling exchanges in this film is the one in which the old couple, on their way back home from their disappointing Tokyo trip, sum up their lives.

Tomi:

Koichi's changed too. He used to be such a nice boy.

Shukichi; Children don't live up to their

parents' expectations. (They both smile.)

But, if you're greedy then there's no end to it. Let's think that they are better than most.

Tomi;

They arc certainly better than avenge. We are fortunate.

Shukichi;

Yes,

fortunate. We should consider ourselves luclry.'7

We are lucky because we can

still compare ourselves to others in ollr group and find that

are not wanting. This is a traditional assumption and one which Ozu maintained end.

we

until the

0n his deathbed and still capable of irony, the director is reported to have said during

a

visit by his producer: "Well, Mr. Kido, it lools like home-dranta to the end."

Ozu's \ater traditional assumptions can be more clearly understood when compared with tlrose of a less traditionally-minded director. Sato Tadao has compared Naruse's assumptions

with those of Ozu. "Naruse assunes the free attitude of observing his characters as strangers, lrinrself as an outsider, while Ozu assumes the lirnited attitude of meeting his [characters]

as

both an acquaintance and a host. This is why the range of Ozu's observations is so remarkably narrow."r8 Naruse certainly meditates upon traditional problens, but these are not just the accepting reflection of Ozu. Naruse seems to imply, in most of his films, that his chaLac-

ten are right to fight against tradition, to atternpt to escape, even when they cannot.

It is true that the traditionalJapanese outlook is limiting, for better or for worse, and that the majority of Japanese film directors considering these values (and almost everyJapanese director had to, so much were they apafiof.Japanese life) agreed that this limitation was for the worse, though the disrnissal of tradition is not always as abrupt as

in that of a Kurosawa

or an Imai.

In a Naruse film, the family is usually held together by bonds so strong that no single member can break them. "My filrns deal exclusively with the horne. So do most Japanese

filrns. It is in this fact that we find antajor fault of Japanese pictures-the home is simply

125

too ttarrow a place in which to set eventhing . . . I've been fihning smallJapanese roonts for so long that wide screen doestt't end up being an.vthing especially different." r')

If a farnily'

tuetuber does lltallage to break free fronr this domestic prison-as does the heroine of Urtumerl (fu'akure, 1957)-she (or he) will rcurain outside the system and be more or less free. This is unlike An Ozu filnt, wltere the dissolving of fanrilial bonds (the director's pererurial theme) is seen as a distinct loss. The cot4lles

itt

Naruse's Relust, Husbuncl

(l'trfu, 195r, and

W?fe

unrl

Wfe

(Tsunra, 1953) are

locked up together, as aLe the siblings in

)lcler Brother, I oturyer

Sister'

(Ari inroto,

aka Frbre et Soeur , 1953.) The older geisha

in

kte Clnl,srntlrcntunN (Bangiku ,1954)

attempts to break free and rennite with arr

old lover only to face disappointment. The geisha rn Flou,rir.g (NagarerLl, 1956)

Are

Wife,1953, Naruse Mikio, with Takamine Mieko

already at the end of their ecoltolnic free-

donr, though they don't Nzlruse,

1,et

know it. For

traditional life is a dail,v round of

fixed crntoms. Even the w'avs of expressing

ernotiou are formalized. Thus the slightest personal emotioual reaction has major and often unfortunate consequences.

So, too, in lllother (Okasan ,, 1952), which Naruse called his "happiest" fihr, the mother, unable to support her faruily

now that her husband is dead, has onlv

Flowing,1956, Naruse Mikio, with Yamada lsuzu, Kurishima Sumiko

the alternative of sending off her voungest

daughter to relatives who cau ztfford her.

r1

For the daughter this lna,v lneall freedom,

Li- {

but for the mother it means loss. Though the director had no say in the creation of the script

("it

was uever an idea 0r a pro-

posal, I was offered the finished script, arr

original screenplay accepted

b.v

Mizuki Yoko"), he

it at oltce because it was "about

hardships

in the fanrily, which is the

thing I understand best of ail.":rt

126

I

li!

Mother,1952, Naruse Mikio, with Kagawa Kyoto, 0kada Eiji

Tragedy is constantly hanging over NAruse's characters, and they Are never more vuluer-

able than when they for once decide upon a personal course of action. tragedy is uerted through acceptance. hr Naruse, rrists

find a kind of freedom in their mere

il

averted at all,

resolve. The heroine

In Ozu a similar

it is because the protago-

of

WiJb,

Be Like

a

Rose

(1935) sees her father find coutentment in the midst of nnhappiness. ht Euening Streunt (Yoru l'lo ltAgare, 1950), the .vouug daughter-loving her nrother's lover-conscioush' turrrs toward the tLaditional: she becomes a geisha. In Replsl,, the wife decides that the differeuces between her and her husband constitute a bond. "M),husband here, zuleep beside me," she sa,vs at the end of the as a

film. "Perhaps I anr h.ppy . . . mavbe nry happiness, mv happiness

wonran--
F'or Naruse, the relativistic optimisnr

of Ozu's films is

irnpossible. That fine

strrdv of postwar despzrir, Nzrruse's Flout-

htg Clourls (Ukigluno, 1955), is a tragedy preciselv because the heroine Lursuccess-

fullv decides to get fronr lif'e what

she

wants, even if only this once. The director embraced a similar resolve: "Mv object was the same lu

hers-to

pLlrsue the problenr

Floating Clouds, 1955, Naruse Mikio, with Takamine

betweert men and women to the very end,

Hideko, Mori Masayuki.

n0 matter how painftrl. Mizuki's script [after

LL

Hayashi l.'unriko novel] was

sonrethiug great, aud after I had finishecl shooting I lnew I'd portrayed exactlv what I wanted in exactly the way I wzurted."

rr

The heroiue (Takamine Hideko) fights against the hopelessness of poverty-stricken postwar lif'e and achieves a kind of recog-

nition onl1, after she dies. The man

When Mikio

she

loved (Mori Masayuki) realizes, too late, that he loved her

as

a

Woman Ascends

the Stairs, 1960,

Naruse

well and, in a touching scene, makes up-literally: he applies lipstick to

her dead face before the funeral. In Wtert

u

Wornrtn Ascertcls the Stnirs (Onna gakaidalt w0

nobortr toki, 1950) , a Grnza baL madame (Takamine again) is profoundly dissatisfied with Iter entpry lif'e. Yet when she makes one gesture toward freedom, evelything goes wrong. She retreats. Again she climbs the stairs to her

bar-the motif which appears over and over in top"-and in the final scene we watclr

the film with its ironic suggestion of "getting to the

as lter face once urore asslunes the mask of the entertainer.

127

Yet Naruse also shows us froru time to time that the charActers' ignorance of approaching

doom, their fortunate iunoceltce, constitutes a kind of beauf,1, a sort of strength. Though happiness

is intpossible, conterttrllgll[-however unwisely based-may yet be

achieved.

Such is the case in the long, unfolding final seqllence, a kiud of coda without dialogue,

At

the conclusion of Flou,in g. Only the elderl.v maid (Tanaka Kinuyo) larows what will happen

in the geisha house where she works-that the house has been sold, that there are only

a

few more weeks left in which to enjol/ a seemingly secure life. The others continue as they always have. The daughter (Takarline Hideko), who

will never again try to escApe, conteut-

edly works her sewing machine; the mother (Yamada Isuzu) hoping for the future, practices her samisen.

It would have been out of the question for directors to make such cohereut statements Ozn and Naruse did had they not enjoyed the

as

full backing of their studios. Most film directors

had no choice in what they directed. They took what they were given. Increasingly, in postwar Japanese cinema, directors had been refused the status given Ozu, Naruse, or Mizoguchi. Newer directors had fewer options, and such auteur-like "staterrents" become rarer.

It

was

only a very/ strong-willed director, such as "Ernperor" Kurosawa Akira, who could achieve this coutrol. Naruse, ouce he had left Shochiku, found company sLlppot't. Originally PCL extended this becatrse of the money-making novelty of such

films asWif'e, Be Like

t

Rose. Contemporary-

looking, with willful heroines, filled with the latest techniqnes from Hollpvood, were seerl as modern, untraditional, even attractively "Westem."

theSe pictures

In a rare

humor, Naruse dubbed PCL (Photo-Chernical Laboratories) "Pork-Cutlet-Lard,"

rnoment of zr

reference

to its Western-tinged outpnt that also reflected the Japanese perception of foreign food. Yet, as the traditional returned during the prewar years, Naruse's pictures carre to be seelr as conseruative and hence

eqllally bankable. When PCL was incorporated into Toho, Naruse

was a part of the package. fuid though he was given a number of scripts uncongenial to [rim,

he was nonetheless often allowed to make those he reallv wanted to.

In this wxy, with

the writers, actors, aud technicians he had in his unit, he wzu able to build an "oeLlvre" altd become what would later be knowu as an auteur. Naruse's visiou becarue, as he grew older, lltore and more traditional. While tradition itself was seen as one of the major impediments to a h'appy life, it was precisel.v these fought-

against views that infornred his view of lif'e. Narulse's lneAns, peLhaps couseqLreutlv, also became highly traditional.

Like aZen mAster, Naruse refused to define. Tanaka Sumie, with whorn a large part of Repust wzu written, said the director would dernand "hundreds of pages of rewrites" withont

clarifying what it was he wauted. According to Mizuki Yoko, "NAmse always refused to disclrss, 0r even mention, meaning or theory. Sometimes

128

I wonld say, 'Tlte tlterue should-'

and he would gently but firrnly cut rne off by saying:

'lt will

come out by itself.' " 'r r Many are

the stories of actors driven to despair by the director's unwillingness (or inabiliry) to describe

wlrat lre wanted. Nakadai Tatsuya (who played the bartender inWhen

a

Woman Ascmck

the Stairs) said that he had never in his entire career suffered such frustration.

Naruse's filmmaking methods themselves became more and nrore conservative. rnoved less and less until

I finally

stopped altogether. Repast contained very

"l

little camera

lnovernent, you couldn't find a single instance in lllother, andthe only cametamovement in

Lighfuing [lnazum a, 1952] was necessitated by an actor's movenent." rl It is singular to find Naruse drawing so close to Ozu but, as we have seeu, they had never been far apart. They liked each other's fihrs, and Kido was acknowledging a certain resenblance when he said that he didn't need another Ozu. Yet in fact, Naruse is an alternative to

0zu. The difference is in their attitudes toward the traditional. Ozu more or less accepted it and Naruse more or less did not.

0n the other hand, the directors' means are close, and at times their attitudes toward the traditional, toward"Japaneselless," can seem identical. They even cone together 0n a major theme of Japanese classical literature, the celebration of evauescerlce,

they see

in

nono n0 awarc, whiclr

purely cinematic terms. Ozu has said he felt earl,y 0n that aII films were

ephenreral nonsense and that he still believed "the attractive thing about sience, this rnistlike vanishing

film is this tran-

quality."'* Similarly, Naruse was of the opinion that films

"always vanish a few weels after release. Perhaps this is what fihns should be, things that live

on only in the audience's rlrenory/ 0r else vanish into thin air."r5

MIZOCUCHI AND THE PERIOD-FILM with traditional problems is not

not

is the only one, and a coltceru Th. traditional I the Japanese director's only concern. The couutry is as contemporary/ view

as fonvard-as

it is baclavard-looking,

as radic

as

it is traditional,

al as it is conseruative . If a concern for the tra-

ditional might suggest a similarily among those directors who interest thernselves in it, there is, at the same tirne, the greatest divergence and dissimilarity among those directors who interest thernselves in the less traditional.

Naturally, all good directors, traditional-minded or otheruise, are individualists. This is as true

for Ozu, Naruse, and Mizoguchi as it is for Kurosawa, IchikawaKon, and Imamura

Shohei. The only directors who are not individualists are those not seriously interested in

making good fihns. Ozu cherished his self-irnposed limitations; Kurosawa would not tolerate linritations. One might even arlange this tolerance of limitations on a kind of scale in which C\zu would represent the extreme

right and Kurosawa the extreme left.

Mizoguchi might be placed in the middle of the spectrum, since his fihns partake of both

129

extremes, Indeed, in such a picture rc Sisters of the Giort (1935), both extremes are personi-

fied: the elder sister is from a world which Ozu knows well, the younger might eventually

fit

into tlre world of Kurosawa. Mizoguchi himself perhaps thought so. Apropos of his attitude toward limitations and his use of realism he once said to Shimizu Hiroshi: extraordinary in a realistic way. jzu portrays the ordinary/ in a realistic rnore difficult."

"l

portray the

way-which

is everr

16

Certainly one finds

in Mizoguchi, particularly in the postwar films, abalance

betweeu

classic poles: the acceptance of traditional values (the affirmation of the home, the joy of

finding freedorn in restraint) and the vindication of the individual (the irrpatience with restraint, the criticism of older values, the ioy of overcoming obstacles and enlarging horizons). This is especially apparent in a single but importaut aspect of N,lizoguchi's later films:

his treatment of women. The director's rnajor theme (in spite of his eclecticisrl, all of Mizoguchi's pictures cau be seerl as arranged around a theme) is women: their position, or lack of it; their difference frorn men; their relations with rnen; and the intricate relationship between women and love.

ugetsu (Ugetsu nonogatan, 1953) presents the therne in perfected form. A potter (Mori Masayuki), caught between opposing forces

in the sixteeuth-century civil wars,

leaves his

wife (Tarnka Kinuyo) and small son behind, and goes to sell his wares. There, a beautiful Iady (Kyo Machiko) buys his stock, takes him home, and sedLlces him. He stays on only to awaken and find both mansion and lady gone. He has been enchanted; the \ady was a ghost.

When he finally reaches home, he discovers his rvife waiting for

hirr. When he awakens

the

next morning, he discovers thatshe, too, akeady dead, was also a spirit. The two women rnight represent the opposite ends of Mizoguchi's thente. This is more than sirnply profane verslls sacred love. Rather, both women died wanting love. The spirit in the haunted mansion is to be equated, not contrasted, with the loyal and loving wife. They are equal, and

it is this

parallel that

interests Mizoguchi. Likewise ,

in [Jtctmaro ancl His

Ffu,e

Womut, the poiut is that these wornen, despite their differences, are equated by

tlreir love for the artist. In Wornen of the Night, and

in the director's

last

filnr, Red Light District (Akasen chitai, aka Street of Shame, 1956), the women,

dissirnilar in all else, are the same in

their hunger for love in the midst of

Red-light District,1956, Mizoguchi Kenji, with Kyo Machiko, Mimasu Aiko, Wakao Ayako, Urabe Kumeko, Sawamu ra

mercantile sex.

Sadako, Shindo Eitaro.

130

The Life

of )haru,1952, Mizoguchi Kenji, with Tanaka Kinuyo.

Some

fihls coutain within thern the extremes of Mizoguchi's richly ambivalent attitude

toward the traditional, while others insist upou but one extreme . The Lfe of

)lt(n'u (Saikaku

ichidai onrrA, aka The Life of a Wornan by Saikaku , 1952) shows the heroine (Tanaka Kirrrrvo) falling frorn court lady to common prostitute. It does so with such close regard that the f'eudal institr,rtions under which she labors are revealed as responsible. In A Storj,

Cltifuntotsu (Chikamatsu monogatail, aka The Crucified

Lovers

,1954),

A

front

woman (Kagawa

Kyoko) is forced into adultery by the very suspiciou of it. It is only after her jealous husband drives her, irutocent, from his house that she beconres

"guilty." In Sansho the Bailtlf (San-

slto dayu, 1954), mother and daughter (Tanaka Kinuyo and Kag awa Kyoko, respectively) are

bmtally separated and never reunited. When the son finally discovers his aged, blind rnother, she does not ask what happeued to him, but rather she only asks after her another womAu.

daughter-

In Tlte Princess Inng Ku,ei Fei (Yoki-hi, 1955), the Chinese concubine

(Kyo Machiko) so loves her emperor (Mori Masayuki) that she lives on after her executiou. The final sceue finds the aged mler listening to the sound of her loving ghostly voice.

It might be thought unwise to categorize adirector judging merely by "content analysis," siuce most directors have no coutrol over their

content-tlreir

producers do.

In the

case of

Mizoguclti, however, content goes far toward describing character. The director was s0 erniueut within Daiei that, like Ozu at Shochiku and Naruse at Toho, lre not only chose his owrr

tttaterial but his cameraman (MiyagawaKazuo), his writer (YodaYoshikata) as well as the actors with whom he wished to work.

It is through the manner in which Mizoguchi made his fihns that the traditionalist in hirn is nore clearly viewed. He was found old-fashioned-that is, traditional-because

he

weu both literary and painterly: he thought in terms of character rather than calnera, and he

131

composed his scenes

in a pictorially

pleasing manner. Indeed, to remernber Mizoguchi's

films is often to rernenber a series of beautiful stills: the lovers on the lawn in (lgetsu,the couple in the boat in A Storj,frorn Chikamntsu, the aged woman sitting in the stnt in

Lfe of )harLt,the rnother and herchildren in the forest inSnnsho the Baihff.

Ugetsu,1953, Mizoguchi Kenji, the lawn scene, with Kyo Machiko, Mori Masayuki.

A Story from Chikamatsu, 1954, Mizoguchi Kenji, the boat scene, with Kagawa Kyoko, Hasegawa Kazuo.

Sansho the Bailiff, 1954, Mizoguchi Kenji, the forest scene, with Tanaka Kinuyo (left)

132

T'he

It

is perhaps indicative of Mizoguchi's growing concern with tradition that half of his

postwar films were jidaigeki while most of his prewar films were not. The director might have disagreed

with this staternent. He has said that he only began making his prewar historical

features because military censorship had become so strict that, though he wanted to continue

developing the realistic contemp orary experintents he had began autlrorities forbade it. fuid as for hisTbe ally forced to rnake it."

Lo1t67

in }saka Eleg',

the

Forty-Seuen Ronin,lte said: "We were virtu-

r7

0nce the Occupation was over, however, Mizoguchi became interested in the genre, whiclr he saw as having suffered severe attrition.

In 1952,Mizoguchi said that "since the deaths of

Yantanaka Sadao and Itami Mansaku, the period-film has become an utter shambles. Both

Ito Daisuke and Kinugasa Teinosuke are no longer active-they might

as

well have retired.

It oughtn't to be this way.":s About the former director, Mizoguchi was later particularly stern:

"lto Daisuke, who rnore

than auyone had defined the period-film's conventions for decades-giving [the films] a dazzling vitality, found that his only recourse was to repeat his increasing rxonotony and steriliry."

re

initial innovations with

He was equ ally harsh about the general standafiiza-

tion of jidaigeki: "This descent into rigid stylization can be seen leven] in the yakuza-film genre and the outlaw heroes portrayed by Tsuruta Koji and Takakura Keu."'r0

Mizoguchi would, in effect, create the style of the postwar jidaigeki, sornething which the

otlrer great period-filrn practitioner, Kurosawa, was happy to affinn when he said that Mizoguchi was theJapanese director he most adrnired and respected, that he liked his periodpieces, particul arly A Stor1,

from

Chikctmatsu

.

Kurosawa, however, did not think Mizoguchi was particularly good with sanurai: "For exarnple , Ugetsu, the battle scenes and swordfights. He couldn't really express sanurai emo-

tions. I suspect these scenes would have been better if he'd allowed me to direct them. After

all, when he did The

Lo1t51l

Fort1,-5srtan Rortin he left out the final climactic scene-the

saltlurai attack.".ir Indeed, Kurosawa's idea 0f "samurai emotions" was not compatible with the kind of pictorial traditionalism toward which Mizoguchi was moving. Samurai needed

editing-as Kurosawa would go 0u to dernonstrate in Setten Samurai (Shichinin no samurai, I954)-not the one-scene, olle-shot rnethod, the subject long held from far away. fast

Mizoguchi's realistic patterning of history, on the other hand, needed just this kind of detailed distance. One long remembers, from Ugetsu, the potter and the princess almost lost

tn a field of superlative beauty; the little boy at the film's end who places the offering on his mother's grave while the camera, with the gentlest, nost reverent of motions, begins to climb

until finally the entire settlement by the lake

is seen

in a long, still shot which rnatches the

slow pan from lake to village at the beginning of the film. Mizogr-rchi's balancing

of traditionalisrn's demands-condemning the moral

conse-

133

quences while, to be sure, availing himself of the aesthetic

means-has resulted in films

which illustrate the very dynamic which created thern. As the director Masumura Yasuzo, no friend to tradition, has said: "Most filmrnakers feel a need to keep up with the latest fads by ridirrg the crest of each 'new wave.' Bnt

if 'modernizatton'

is the standard of excellence, then

Mizoguchi is at the bottorn of the barrel. He never worked with new-wave ideas. In fact, he portrayed the world of shirnpa, which was outdated before he began . . . His rigid abstinence nray seem stupid to those who value the benefits of Westerntzation, but this stupidity is just what led hirn to the truth."'jl

NEW MEANS:/UN-BUNCAKU, COMEDY, AND SOCIAL ISSUES

/\ s the Occupation ended and a more independent Ja;san was envisioned, directors F\ iucreasingly searched out alternate roads to truth, beyond the traditional olle. Concomitantly sought were the means to express these. The postwar emphasis upon the individual rather than the group occasioned a number of changes, alnong them the very way irr wlrich a uaftsuch as fihnmaking was learned.

The traditional method was u0 longer possible. Until the 1950s, established directors had under them a stable of assistant directors. These were trained both directly and by exarnple in the proper ways to make a filrn. Cornplementing these were like groups in which the chief cameratnan had his pupils and the chief scriptwriter had his apprentices. In essence, tradi-

tion was taught-though very often older directors (Yamamoto Kajiro was a fantous example) gave his youngsters very free rein. Some have seen the break has said

that "it

was actually

in tradition occurring because of the Toho strikes. Kurosawa atthatpoint, with the firing of these youl'lg assistant directors,

tlrat lheJapanese film industry began its decline . . . I don't know if the older people stayed on in the movie industry because young people weren't trained, or if young people werett't trained because the older ones were staying s11-i11 any event, n0 one took time for training young p€opls."'l'l So, increasingly, the youltg people were forced Sonre found

to learn their trade as best they could.

that (iust as in the early days of.Japanese cinema) the best school was a theater

slrowing Western filrns. The new young directors, particularly after the 0ccupation was over, learned the lingua franca of cinema, what has been called the "Hollywood codes," by watch-

ing foreign pictures. Here, along with the new freedoms occasioned by both the end of World War

II

new

genres-{r old

and the conclusion of the Occupation, were new subjects and new attitudes

as

well

as

genres newly viewed.

One of the most important developrnents, along with the recently invertted genres of pos,t-

war colnedy and the social-issue film, was the revival of the jun-bungaku movenent.

134

,

'

Ii it

hld

helped iorestall the pl'e\\,ar censors,

it

nor,v

oflered in postivaL.fltpurt it witv to couuteL the

c0lnlnel'ciltlisnr of e srux,l,ing nunrber ol postri,rtr iilnrs-c0ncenred rn ntost of'tltern wele Ivith capturing olt filnt the lirst kiss or the neil sensution oi the bclogie-lvoogie Gosho Fleinosuke hud lorrg lelt thtrt

thlrr conlltel'cial lictron. Ilere, he

"pule litenrture" oflered ltetter pr0spects lor cinenrt

lurcl 'for,o(lrt Shito hrtcl pt'esented a ntore

or less united

fLont. 'fher'\\'el'e able to interest tlieir studios irr their'ltlrurs bi'poittting out thltt the uudience, ah'eaclv

iuntilial rvith the book, woukl hence nx)re reudilv go see the filnr.

Gosho's intelest in clussic.fuplurese litenrture hegrur long before the wru, ivith his atlrptrt-

tion ol the Yanlunoto Yuzct nol'el Et'ct'.1'lhlttg 7'ltttl [,it'cs (lkitoshi ikeru r]tolto, 1931). After the u'ul he tuLnecl u nuntber ol distinguishecl novels into clistinguishecl lilnrs. Tukunri .]Lrn's rvrirk wru the blnis tor Orcc

,ll0re (hlzr hitotabino, 194T, Higuchi lchi)'o's trtr Grott'itt,q Uft

(l'akektrLalte, 1955), Odu SztkLrnrisuke's lor Ftrcflles (Flotunrbi, 195.9), uncl \'ususlti luoue's tnr

Huttlitrg llqfle (Rvo1u,

1961)

Gosho ulu,uls tried to piet fronr his litenul'originuls the best possible scripts, soruetirues

b1

lvriting thenr hintself. His uinrs were deceptivelv sinrple. He elabot'ates: "'l'he pullosc of lilnr clilector"s lif'e is to describe the true feelings of hunuur lteings."

i'

Leal

rt

life uround hiru uucl creute ivorks wlticlt erpress tite

Perhrtps that is one'of the rerls0ns whv he pref'ered to ivork

u'ith serious novels-the novelists' grxrls lurd his were one rurd the sarue.

I'he ntethocts were ulso sintilar'. A Gclsho lilnr sonretinres ltegins like e ltook In ll'ltere ('hlnttte.l'.s,1/'c, S)eett, a voice-o\/er in fimt peLson presents hinrself lurcl ltis r,vit'e to the ciunera.

("'l'his is ivltere we live, urrcl here is nl'lvife. And this"-shot of the brtLe loot of a nuur still lnleep in the

futon-"is llte.")

Latel on in the iihn, Gosho, in rrovelist-like llrshion, chiurges

vielvpoint.'fhe olterring I'oice is thut of Llehuru Ken, plui'ing the husbuncl. At the cliurar, the \'oice-o\'er is that ol Akutul]2rwa IJiroshi, pl:tying u tenrurt concentecl rtbciut the bztltt''

Thele is u sequence

in,ht httr ltt )srtfut

contnrsts luore often seelt in fiction thun in

(Osaka no yudo,1954) rvhich owes rnLtch to the

lrhr. It begins lvrth

u scene wltere the nraid kloks

Irt the drulving oi lt cow her son hln sent her.'fhen conles rt scene of crueltt,ittvolving the

callous landladr und the cclr,i' ctnnvirtg. J'his is lollori,ed bv u funnv scene show-

ing the llurdlltdr"s renrorse, 'l'hen conres the rertl herutbreaker. The nrother is foLced to displav her

ftl'lt

f'erv

belclngings in the seurclr

nrissing thousancl-r'en notc. fheir

sliubbiness is revealecl aklng u,ith the

ter,v

snutll trx's she hln nlluraged to buv for' her cliild should she be uble to tuke hinr 0n a trip, lur unlikelv

el

entualitr',

An lnn rn 0saka,1954, Gosho Heinosuke, with Otowa Nobuko and Sano Shuji

ljt

By carefully balancing and mixing the tender, the cruel, the comic, and the pitiful, Gosho orchestrates the response he desires

in a manller which places hirn in the tradition of

the great ttarrators, ltovelists. He shows us objects and allows the emotional content of each to speak for itself. In the resulting conflict of emotion any thought of sentirnentality is lost. Tlrat Art

htrt in

Osaku is not based on a uovel but on an original script by Yasumi Toshio

indicates evelt luore clearly the novelistic coltcents of both the scriptwriter and the director.

colllnent, Gosho can get awaywith evelt lltore. At the end of Grou,irtl4 Qt, a boy gives the girl au iris. As she crosses the drawbridge into the house of prostitution, she By refusing to

unthinkingly throws

it away. The iris,

landing in a dirff canal, becomes a svmbol which through careful usage rlrauages

to regain sonrething of its original

Lrrgency.

In the book b), Higuchi Ichiyo,

the author refused to explain. In the film, Gosho reftrses to linger. Toyoda Shiro brought his owu lneans

to the geure. One critic

describes the

director's approach: "Toyoda subscribed

Growing Up, 1955,

Gosho

Heinosuke,

with

Yamada

lsuzu, Misora Hibari

to the principles and practices of the represeutational narrative, yet his . . . liter-

ary depictions are

a

springboard to

experiences quite different from those of

the printed word." i5 Often written with Yzrsumi Toshio, a sceltarist who specialized irr jun-bungaku adaptatiolts, ToyodA's films begin from a novelistic origin,

then, in subtle ways transcend this llarThe Mistress, 1953, Toyoda Shiro, with Akutagawa Hiroshi,

rative.

In

195il,

Takamine Hideko The Mish'ess

(Gan, aka, Wild

Geese,

based 0n a Mori Ogai novella, ciuentatic rleans often take the place of verbal descrip-

tion. In the final scene, the young heroine walks along the pond where she first spoke with a student whom she

will not meet again.

She tums to watch the wild geese as they start from

tlte marsh. Toyoda's camera turns to catch her face, and finds hope. The viewer is able to corlplete the story.

X[cn'itul Rekfiiorts (Meoto zenzai, 1955), based on Yasurni Toshio's rendering of Oda Sakunosuke's novel, takes as its theme the compronise between traditional ideals and personal freedon. The

t36

couple-a yollng

no-good (Morishige Hisaya) and his geisha rlistress

(Awzuhirna Chikage)-eventually, alntost

without kuowiug it, give up tlte benefits

of traditional

Japanese

life in order to be

together. At the end, wzutrel and paralnour

go off in the snow together, a collpletely recoguizable parody of the nichiyuki, that

kabuki convention where the traditional lovers set out irtto the cold, cold world. By

having one genre comrltent upon another, Maritd Relationt 1955, Toyoda Shiro, the michiyuki scene with Awashima Chikage, Morishige Hisaya

Toyoda presents a wry parallel which

LL

novel could only suggest.

furother urichiyuki parody is seen at the corrclusion of A Cat, Shoz:0, atul

7110

Womert (Neko to Shozo to futari lto oll'la,

1956), the Yasurtti-Toyoda adaptation of Tanizaki's novel b), the salne ltalle. The

callow hero Shozo (Morishige again)

is

much more in love with his cat than with either of his women (Yamada Isuzu and Kagawa Kyoko). Shozo's position is a familA Cat, Shozo, and Two Women,1956, Toyoda Shiro, with Kagawa Kyoko, Morishige Hisaya

iar oue. He resens tradition (the older wife),

but is afraid of the anarchy of freedorn (the yolurger

one)-so

he is happy only with

Lili, his cat, a creature absolutely free yet reiusuringly dornesticated. When Shozo firrds his recently rurt awul pet at tlte end,

both now drenched in a summer shower, he picks her up, saying, "We'll just g0 away

together . . . we won't go back."

In these filrls and many other bungeieiga-Yasurni-Tovoda's Sttott' Snow Country, 1957, Toyoda Shiro, and Kishi Keiko

with lkebe

Ryo

C0Luth'1,

(Yukignni, 1957), Inoue Yasnshi's frlcrclnme

lTtki

(Yushu heiya, 1953), Shiga Naoyzr's

Pilgrimng4e

at l,light (tuiya koro,

1959),

and Nagai Kafu's Tu,ilight Stort' (Bokuto kitan, 1950)-Toyoda turns written words iuto moviug irnages. By using traditional literary material, he makes films which seriously and sensitivelv reflect the concerns of the authors.

1t7

Still, when turned into film, literature

is invariably reinterpreted. An exarnple Yoshinru

is

ra Kozabwo's The Tale of Gutji

(Genji mono gatai, 1951), which, like every other version of

Guli,

reflects its own

time as much as it does that of the Murasaki Shikibu novel. Yoshirnura's Genji was fihned just one year before the 0ccupa-

tion was over, and in it we see Japan trying

to redefine itself. The scenes

are plainly

mid-twentieth century. The court ladies

The Tale of Genji, 1951, Yoshimura Kozaburo, with Hasegawa Kazuo, Kogure Michiyo

neglect their calligraphy lessons and, groupie-like, race to the doors to watch the sexy Genji pass. Even if Aoi no Ue dies in properly resigned and womanly fashion (as in the novel), she is played by Kogure Michiyo, who had just played the gangster's rnoll in Kurosawa's

Drunken Angel (1948). Murasaki herself is Otowa Nobuko, the quintessential

1950s

modern girl.

Equally

of its time was Kurosawa's

Rashomon (1950). Based on two Akutagawa Ryunosuke stories, which

in turn

are

based 0n anecdotes from the Heian period

094-1194), the film farnously

recounts

the story of a man and wife (Mori Masayuki

and Kyo Machiko) set upon by a robber (Mifune Toshiro). During the trial, eaclr gives his or her version of the incident, but

tlre versions are s0 apparcntly variant that

Rashomon, 1950, Kurosawa Akira, Mifune Toshiro, Mori Masayuki, Kyo Machiko

magistrate and spectators alike are unable to decide what had actually occuned.

A

woodcutter (Shimura Takashi), the sole witless, and an

trrrreliable one atthat,provides his tale in the framing story.

In explaining the script he wrote with Hashimoto Shinobu, Kurosawa was able to give his assistant directors sone insight: "Hutnan beings arc unable to be honest

with themselves

about themselves . . . Even the character who dies cannot give up his lies when he speaks to the living through a medium. Egoism is a sirt the hurnan being carries with him . .

film is like

.

This

a strange picture scroll that is unrolled and displayed by the ego. Some say they

can't understand this scriptat all, but that is because the human heart itself is impossible to understapd. " .36 Akutagawa's original story was about relative truth, but Kurosawa's

138

film is about the kind

of relative reality which perhaps only fihn can offer. We watch each version of the

story-

each one as "real" as the other-all of them expressed through the antalgam of play of

light and shadow created by MiyagawaKazuo, Kurosawa's camerarnan. With its psychological rnodemity and its postwar questioning, the film was a literal re-creation of the Akutagawa story. The seeming realiW of each version makes us qllestion that of the others. The

author's original intention had been anecdotal, but the fihn is now considered a contemporary existential

statemsnf-each one of us invents a personal reality.

funong the many interesting facets of this multifaceted film is that, within its structure, it displays one of theJapanese cinema's definingcharacteristics, the opposition between a represented reality and that reality

itself-affaitwe

have already seen in the antithesis between

tlre presentation aI and the representational.

Tlrough the producer of Rashlmln, Nagata of Daiei, famously said that he had no idea what "his" film was about, the questioning mode of the picture appealed not only to the Japanese

(it was one of the top ten moneymakers of the year) but to everyone else as well.

This became apparent when the film won the Venice Golden Lion, the Academy Award for Best Foreign

Fihn, and other prizes-becoming the most honored of allJapanese fihns and,

for atime, the single Asian picture nost viewed in the West.

Literature offered one meaus of expressing an individual view. From an accepted original cante a new and personal interpretation. fuiother neans was comedy. Indeed, in the postwar era, individuality was a new way of being funny. To be sure, there had been several kinds of conredy

in prewarJapanese cinema, fron the romps of Saito Torajiro to the social conedies

of his disciple, 0zu. What was novel was an individualistic irreverence-one which resulted

in satire, a new genre forJapan. Two of the more successful of the postwar satires were both based on a prewar nodel.

Botlr The Girl Who Touched His Legs (Ashi ni sawatta onna, I95Z), directed by Ichikawa Kon, andThe

Girl

Who Touched His Legs (Ashi

ni sawattaonna, 1960), directed by Masu-

mura Yasuzo, were based on the 1925 Abe Yutaka film of the sane title. One reason for the renrakes was that Ichikawahad been an assistant of Abe and that Masumura was an assis-

tattt of lchikawa. fuiother reason was that the roots of this type of situation-comedy extended back to the Taisho days of ero-guro. The erotic elernent was the protagonist herself, a pickpocket who, as though unaware, woLlld allow her shoesto graze the pant-leg of her proposed

prey. The grotesque were the cartoon types she ran into: wide-eyed innocents, bumbling policernen, stuffy bureaucrats, officious housewives.

In postwar Japan, the satire was much broadened to include people in all walls of life.

139

This detuocratic approach cut across social boundaries. These films may have even beerr structured so as to ruake this possible. The original Abe movie was about the upper ntiddleclass irt a hot spring resort. Both the Ichikawa and MaslunurA films, however, take place in

the upper lower-class milieu of trains and boats, where potentiallv comic social intercourse was irtevitable. Likewise, Shibuya's

lVl

Cortsultutiorts Todal, (Honjitsu kvushin, 1952) is

about a doctor whose day off at the cliuic is corrplicated by a wide variety of patients who just canrrot wait. Ichikawa Kou's A Crouded Streetccu' (MAn'in densln, assistant director was Masumura

1957)-for which

Yasuzo-takes its stol from the title

crowded, proletariau postwar Tokyo.

-a

the

slice of life in

Satire even ftuther-out (from the Japanese point of view) was shown in one of the earliest

postwar comedies, Emperlr's

Hnt (Tenno no boshi, 1950), directed by Saito Torajiro.

plot alone would have constituted a political crime in prewar

Jaytan:

The

a mAn working in

a

nrlrselun steals the erlperor's hat frorn its display case and, with it, gets a job as ahaberdashery sandwich man. The plot revolves arouud the reactions of the police and public to this bit

of ldse majest6.

Still more controversial was Ichikawa's satire A Billiortnire (0kurnan choj a, 1954), one of the writers of which was Abe Kobo. One of the characters has as her slogan "Make Atonr Bombs foL World Peace," aud is shown

in the rnidst of constructing just such a peace-maker.

At the end of the picture she has finally corrpleted her project and is confidentlv awaiting its explosion.

funoug the uew satirists of the 1950s, the most outspoken was Kinoshita Keisuke. His earlier debut film, Tbe BlossontirrS4 Port, poked discrete fun at national policy. Two sharp confidence uren deceive sirlple islanders into backing afake shipbuilding company.

It is the

bumbling virtues of the islanders, however, not national policv that makes honest men of the crooks. The director went on to make a series of morc rnemorAble satires.

The Blossomrng PorI, 1943, Kinoshita Keisuke, with Higashiyama Chieko

140

Herds l0 the Girls (Ojosan kampai,

194il, about the love affair beMeen a girl fronr

low-class roughneck and a

aristocratic fanrily, herself oue

of

an the

in itself prac-

luew-poor of the period, wln

ticallv a burlesque of the old-fashioned Shochikrr "wontzut's

fihlr." T'lte Brokett Dt'utn (\'abure daiko, 1948) took ou the Jepanese

father-the

damaged nusical

instmment of the title. A constnrctionconrpall\/ fatheL tries alonp4

The Broken Drum, 1948, Kinoshita Keisuke, with Bando Tsumasaburo, Mori Masayuki

to ftul his fanrilv

t'eudal lines and

ms

into trouble

when wif'e and children ignore hirn.

'Ihere is an added resol'rance in that the fumclus and nranh, iidaigeki star Bartclo TsunursltbuLo plavs the hapless fatheL The cowriter of this picture was Kobavashi Nlasaki, who woulcl lateL have

more to

sa1'

about authority.

Kinoshita's best satires, perhaps the firrest nrade during this periocl, were C'ot'-

tlten

C'0mes

Carmen Comes Hlme, 1951, Kinoshita Keisuke, with Takamine Hideko, Kobayashi Toshiko

Home (Karunren koki'o ni

kAeru, 19i t )-coincidentall,v

Japan's

fiLst color filrn-zutcI Crn'men's Pure

Llt'e (Kanuueu junjosu,

1952). hr the

first, a striptezne artist, whose stage nanle is Carnren (Takanrine Hideko), returns to

her rural honretown where her poshvar nlanners enrbaruass ancl even fLighten

the sinrple countn,

folk Satirized

were

not onlv the pretensions of postwar societt' but also the credulit)' of those who

Carmen's Pure

Llve, 1952, Kinoshita Keisuke, with

Kobayashi Toshiko, Takamine Hideko

clung to prewar belief's Tlte "seqllel," which canre out one )'ear later, was created after Kinoshita had nrade a trip

to Europe to tueet his idol, Rene Clair, a clirector who wAS nruch admired-lchikawa Korr lras also nrentioned his influence 0u such earlv fihus as his,,l ('t'0t('(le(l Sitreelcrn'. Agein,

Takamilte was the stril)per, but now she rvas also the svnrbol of Japan, and so all sorts of

tlr

postwar types were satirized: the feudal hidebound and the ultra-Ameri carized, alike. The

plot parodies maternal love, patriotism, narriage, and much else. The widow of an army officer tries to run her house

like abarracls; an avant-garde artist's studio is so cluttered

with mobiles thatthere is no r00m to move; one character blames the A-bomb for everything including stuck windows; and, in one comic sequence, a pro-rnilitarist election candidate's procession collides with a demonstration of Mothen Against War. Kinoshit

scripts.

a was also one of the few postwar directors who wrote ahnost all of his own

In this he was like Ozu and Kurosawa, though unlike them, he usually wrote his

scripts by himself. He, too, had his own cinematic

"farnily" to work with. Kusa Hiroshi was

always the cinematographer, and the director's younger brother, Chuji, always wrote the nrusic. Kinoshita also maintaiLred a stable of actors. These included some of Japan's finest character acton along with such stars as Sano Shuji and SadaKeiji. The

familial

aspect wffi,

in part, real-Kinoshita would eventually arcange the marciage betweenTakamine Hideko and his favorite assistant director (later himself a director), MatsuyatnaZenzo.

Since

Kinoshita-rather than his company 0r his producer-was responsible for his

films, these formed a coherent whole. His oeuvre extended frorn the postwar satires to the family melodramas that practically defined the "shochiku Ofuna style." This resulted in an even broader spectrum when Kinoshita eventually began interesting himself

in a more con-

servative style of filmrnaking. From the fast-cutting of Clair (who had an influence 0n post-

war Japanese directors similar to that which Lubitsch had on the prewar group), Kinoshita turned to longer scenes and amore plainly presentational delivery. One of the most successful fihns of this \ater style

mum (Nogiku no gotoki kimi nariki, I9!f),

wu

She Was Like

based on the

a Wild Chrl,s6nthe-

Ito Sachio novel, where the mem-

oriesof anoldman (RyuChishu) recallinghisfintlove affair areshowninthesffleof Meiji daguerreotypes.

She Was Like a Wild Chrysanthemum, 1955, Kinoshita Keisuke, with Tanaka Shinji, Arita Noriko

142

One of the most popular of the \ater fihns was Times of Jq,

and Sorrou, (Yorokobi mo

kanashitni tno ikutoshitsuki, aka The Lighthouse, 1957). Here Kinoshita supported rather thatt criticized in this story of a couple (Takarnine and Sada Keiji) who tend lighthouses in various parts of Japan. The end assumption is that living in relatively uncomfortable living quarters and doing one's duty pays off

in all the joys and

sorrows mentioned

in the main

title. Like 0zu's old couple in Tok1,o Storl', thev have done "better thau most." For this conventional storyr Kinoshita devised a conseryative narrative stvle which contrasted long, placid panoramas with occasioual flurries of stomty cutting.

Times of Joy and Sorrow,1957 , Kinoshita Keisuke, with Sada Keiji, Takamine Hideko

Even rllore traditional-seeming was

Ballad of lVara.ycnna (Narayarna bushiko, 1958),

based ort the Fukazawa Shichiro novel, to be filmed again, solne twenty-five years later, by

Itranrura Shohei. Still later, the story fonled the basis for Shindo Kaneto's Will to Lit,e (lkitai, 1999). The Kinoshita version was set in a small comnllurity in the northern mountains whose custotu it was to expose the aged to the elemeuts so that there would be rnore food for

tlte youug, The barbarily of the custorn did not move Kinoshita s0

nuch

as

did the weeping

Ballad of Narayama,1958, Kinoshita Keisuke, with Takahashi Teiji, Tanaka Kinuyo

t 4.J

son being forced to deposit his aged

nother on top of Mount Nara. Here the son's love for his

motlter echoes the equally thwarted love of the mother who sees her son off to the front in Arm1,.Yet, whereas the latterfilm provokes our indignation through implied criticism of the

military, the former elicits our admiration for the traditional respect with which youngsters presumably regarded their elders in rural Japan. Stylistically, Ballad of lVaral,otno, was also deliberately traditional. Though it was shot

in both color

and wide screen, the director relied on deliberate stage effects, choosing t0

frame the story in narrative and scenic devices taken from kabuki. Traditional theater was purposely duplicated, resulting

in, amorlg other things, a

ceftarLr distancing

of the nore

extreme ernotions-as in the aged mother who, to impair her abilif,v to eat and hence provide rnore food for the yolurg, breaks her sound teeth on a millstone. fuiother result of the director's stylistic choice, however, is a blr-urting of social criticisrn in the interests of pictorial drama. The Ritter

Farcfuki (Fuefuki-gawa, 1960), Kinoshita's last irnportant picture, chronicles

five generations of a poor farming family during the sixteenth century. Again, the

film has

a

riclr theatric ality about it, emph uized by the use of color which puryosely imitates Japauese woodblock prints. In addition, particularly in the battle scenes, Kinoshita uses still photographs which both halt and hold the action. Though, been described as innovative,

in

1960, this technique rnight have

it also much resernbled that of the kamishibai, the traditional

paper-slide theater to which Mizoguchi's one-shot, one-scene style had been scornfully compared.

t- Gp.

#n

The Biver Fuefuki,1960, Kinoshita Keisuke,

144

with (left) Takamine Hideko.

The antitraditional nature of the film's theme is merely appearance. What is apparent in the pictllre as a whole is that Kinoshita rejects only the worst of traditional life: the rest he now approves. The final scene shows the last remainirlg member of the family picking up the banuer of the ruling clan, for which he and his ancestors have traditionally fought, as it floats down the river. With a gesture of rejection, he then throws it back. Nevertheless, one reason he does so is not ideological but because his rnother had been killed. After all, the

family is most important. Certainly

it is a blend of criticisru

artd compassion that distinguishes Kinoshita's rnost

popular film, Tu,erttl,-Fou,r E1'es (Nijushi 1o hitorui, 1954). This story of the life of att elementary school teacher on Shodo Island in the Inland Sea, based on the Tsuboi Sakae novel, is ortce again about the inhumanity of wartime oppression. The teacher

(Takanine)

sees a

whole generation of her pupils scarred by war. This thoroughly antiwar picture is s0 seem-

ingly undernanding of ernotion and yet so skillful in obtaining it that audiences all over the world have been reduced to (or ennobled by) tears.

Twenty-Four Eyes,1954, Kinoshita Keisuke, with Takamine Hideko

War is terrible and inhLunan, with much resulting suffering, but the Kinoshita filrn, somewhat like

shirlpa itself, finds virtne iu adversify. The director rnay present this in differ-

ent ways. Some were radical. Snou,

Flurrl'

(Kazahatfa, I95D, a severely fragmented stoq,

e1

rural giri-ninjo, full of flashbacks and ellipses, was a predecessor of the Shochiku "new wave," though never given credit for it. In the rnain, however, Kinoshita opts for a traditional way of presenting his narrative. Thus, even in the filrns whose theme is antitraditional, tradi-

tion usually informs the style. Perhaps this is because the films, which like kabuki itself find fault with authority, cati only advise traditional remedies. shikata ga nai (can't be helped),

gnrnbarcmakucha (you just got to put up with it). They do not offer solutions. Doing

s0

would be within the expectations of the social-problem film.

145

This new genre, the social-problem film, did not eveu have a nane until shukai-t?t0?t0 was suggested. To be sure, social criticisur had long existed, but the examples had never been

luLlnerous enough to fonn a

genre-a

few social comedies (Ozu's among them) and the

al [-but-b anned keiko-ei ga.

These latter "tendency" films located social problerns within Japan's political system and advocated reform, have seen, and

itt

some cases, revolution

in others. Nl were vigorously

censored, as we

it was not until the war was lost that anything like a politically corumitted

social-problern film was possible. funong those who initially explored the dimensions of this rlew genre were the directors who had rnade keiko-eiga, such as Kamei Fumio and Sekikawa

Hideo, as well as the recent socially comrnitted directors Imai Tadashi, Yarnamoto Satsuo, and Shindo Kaneto.

In an interview with hnai, Joan Mellen asked: "Would yoll

say that the essential therne of

yoLu fihns is the struggle between the ruling class and the working class'/" He answered: "N0,

not so much the class struggle. This theme is more appropriate to the works of Yamamoto Satstro."'17 S0

it is. In his Street o.f Violertce (Pen itsuwarazu: Boryokn no machi, aka Boryoku

no ntachi, 1950), based oll au actual attempt to suppress a joumalist's investigation of col-

lusion between a rural police chief and the local gangster bosses, Yamamoto's theme was supposedly the democratization of local govenrment. Nevertheless, the methods used resembled tlrose of the Communist union which produced the

film. In his Sunles.s

Sh"eet (Taivo no

rrai rnachi, 1954), atr adaptation of Tokunaga Sunao's proletarian novel of 1929 about a prolonged strike at a printing plant, there was a conscious applicatiott of Soviet "social real-

isrr" and noticeably idealizedportrayals of the working

class.

Imai's rnethods werc much less politically motivated. In response to another of Melleu's

'political' is difficult to define. It can be broad, meaning'social,' but'social' can also rnean 'political."'He added: "l can-

questions, he made an attempt to pin down terms: "The word

not formulate the theme of my work very well, but after perusing my pictures and listening to critics talking about them, it seems to me that rny work is ceutered on human tragedies-those created by the weight of war, poverty, and social oppressiou."is This perhaps accounts for Imai's

liking for Kinoshita, a director with similar themes and one whorn hrai said he most admired. Yet, conpared with Kinoshita, Imai's pictures have a decidedly rnore

tion. Max Tessier has put it succinctly:

"lf

"political" orienta-

Imai's options lead hirn at tirues to prefer propa-

gandato arl and the didacticism of sirnple statement, his siucere humanistu always protects

him from the dangerous ternptations of dogrnatism."

As

for the director's methods, Tessier

has said that realism functions not only as a mirror of reality stone thrown against that

bllt, "rnore irnportantly ,"

as " a

mirror."le Whether this rneans that the higher reality of political

"realism" is used to shatter the cornplacent realism of everyday rlovie life, 0r uot, hnai's degree of

146

political intention remained troubling (or reassuring) to his audience.

Blue X'loutttctirts (Aoi sammyaku, i94D

is

about a love affair condemned by feudalistically minded elders, until teachers and fellow students

join the fight on the side of yoLurg love. Until the Da1,

We hleet

Agnin (Mata au hi utade, aka Till

1950)-no relatiort to the lost

We Meet Again,

Oztr

film of

pressed

1932 of the sane

title-shows

op-

yolulg lovers destroyed by the war: he

dies at the front, she dies during an

air raid.

By

tlre tirne Imai rlade And l'et We Liue, discussed

Blue Mountains,1949, lmai Tadashi, with lkebe Ryo, Sugi Yoko

earlier, the Occupation had changed its direction, and fihns about the exploitation of wcrkers were considered suspiciously leftist.

With the Occupatiou over, huai went on with

films of social realism, turning his atterttiort to the receut war. The result was the imrrensely 1lopular

'fhe Tou'er of Lilies (Himeyuri no t0,

195il, showing the deaths of a number of contbat nnrses duriug the fulerican invasiou of Okinawa. The

filrl

Until the Day We Meet Agarn, 1950,

lmai

Tadashi, with Okada Eiji, Kuga Yoshiko

was nzuned after the monumeut

there dedicated to them. The major blame for

the tragedy was put on "traditiollal"

Japanese

"fatalism," the fact that these girls had been, irr effect, trained to die. fuiother

film about the tra-

ditional oppression of women, though under fetrdal society, wzs fulu,d(h' Wrters (Nigorie

, aka

Troubled Waters, 1953), based on four stories by

Higuchi Ichiyo, as scripted by Mizuki Yoko and

The Tower of Lihes, 1953, lmai Tadashi

Ide Toshiro.

Both films are examples of what the critics called Irnai's rtakcutai realism (realism without tears), in contrast to both the Chaplinesque smiling-through-the-team of, say, Gosho Heinosuke, arrd tlre slrameless rutnticlct, chocfuti (lots of tears, please) of the average rlelodrama makers. Such, Itowever, wffi not Imai's major

drama itself was.

coltcern-social

Muddy Waters, 1953, lmai Tadashi, with Awashima Chikage.

147

One

of the director's

mosl

politicallv seusational films Darkness

was

at lVoort (Mahiru

no

arrkoku, 1955), a film which shared

nothing but the title with tuthur Koestler's well-known novel. The

is

story

based upou

an

actual

occllrrence and assllmes the innocence

of the

has said that

apprehended. Imai

it

was the storyr of

four young rnen who werc arrested,

Darkness at Noon, 1956, lmai Tadashi, with Hidari Sachiko, Kusanagi Kojiro

tortured, and forced to confess to a crime which they did not commit. In reality, no political charges were rnade against them. They were kuown as "bad boys" and had been marked bv the police for some tirre. The director claimed that the young men were not anti-establishment

in any way but that

the

police, when faced with an unsolved murder, frarled them.

Written by Hashirnoto Shinobu (who had scripted Rashonton and many other filnrs), the picture takes a social issue and dramatizes it. That

it did so when the trial for the four was

still pending (Japanese justice can take long to achieve its results) caused some criticisrn but did nothing to affect their

fate-they

were sentenced to death.

Miscarriages of justice and the prevailing "felrdal" thonght were the stuff of Imai's later

filnrs

as

well. fulong these waslVigltt

Dntnt

(Yoru no tsuzluni, aka The Adulteress, 1958),

a

version of a Chikamatsu Monzae-

mon puppet play, written

by

Hashimoto Shinobu and Shindo Kaneto.

Iu it, a samurai who does

the proper feudal thing and kills

both his wife's seducer and the wife herself, then realizes that by having satisfied a feudal society he has destroyed his own life.

More modern targets included,

in Kku and Isamu (Kiku to

Night Drum,1958, lmai Tadashi, with Mikuni Rentaro, Arima lneko

Isarnu, 195S), the plight of rnixedblood children

in an Llncomprehending and uninterested sociefy, and, in the rnultipart Rittw

Wthout n Bridge (Hashi no nai kawa, 1968-70), the pathetic lives of those whom society atterrrpts

14tl

to ignore-the burnkurnin (the outcast class). All of these pictures and many

nore (lmai rnade a total of nearly fifr,v) were perhaps influenced by his political affiliations, thor-rgh they were also distinguished by his emotional cornmitment.

Given such antitraditional content, one uright expect the fihns to ernploy a like style: something incisive,

brilliant-like

the Russiaus in the twenties. Here, however, oue would

be disappointed. Imai's films are ahrost without

style-that is, a consistent visual-aural

presentation.

Unlike other directors of his generation, notably Kinoshita and Kurosawa, who underwent long apprenticeships uuder directors Shirnazu Yasujiro and Yarnamoto Kajiro, respec-

tively, hnai entered the cinema untLained. This does not mean that his point of view is amateurish or awkward, but it explains his stylistic diffusion 0r, another way of looking at it, his freedorn from limitations.

Imai's individuality is found in his statertrent, in what the film is abor-rt, rather than in a strongly individual sffle. Though his rnethods are eclectic, his coutent is remarkably cohererrt. Yoshirrura Kozaburo, then an assistant to ShirrazLt Yasujiro, relnernbered early on showing Imai around the lot and then telling him, "a person like you would be better suited as a tuovie cfitic. "

*o

The creation of a style depends upou a personal vision and the rreans to communicate it.

Company directors take the house style, Comrnunist directors use the party style, Catholic directors adopt a churchly style. Other directors rrove among available styles, and only a few evolve their owlt. In Japan, the social diLectors had observed

film

seemed to demand the kind of realisrr that the

in the Italian rleo-reAlist filrns (De Sica, for example, had a strong

influence 0rl early Imai). 0n the other hand, the demands of the Japanese tradition were uonrealistic. The resulting dilemrna (if that is what it is) is seen iu the social films of Shindo Kaneto.

Shindo was originally a scriptwriter, working most uoticeablywith Mizoguchi Kenji, for

wlrorn (on Tlte Lol,al Fort1,-Set,en Rortin) be also serued as chief assistaut director. Later, he wonld make a filrn about his meutor: t\lizo,quchi Kenji; The Life of a Film Directot' (Aru eiga kantoku no shogai: N{izoguchi Kenji uo kiroku, 1975). As a scriptwriter, Shiudo was

Llnllsually eclectic, having written filrns as different as Shirnizu's prewar Chilch'en

in tbe Wncl,

and both

Bnll

il

lhe

Anjo House and Tbe Tale of Genji, by Yoshimura.

The director came to wider notice when the Japan Teachers' Union spolrsored Children

of Hiroshiruct

(Gern-

baku no ko, 1952)),the film version of a best-selling Osada l,rata novel. By this

Children of Hiroshima,1952, Shindo Kaneto, with Otowa Nobuko

149

titue, Hiroshirna had becorre the loaded political subject that it was to reruain. The funericans, who had originally banned auy meutiou of

it in Occupation Japan, were still trying to

find reasolts for their atrocious actions ("shortened the war . . . really saved a nuntber of lives"), and Japan was divided into those who saw the bornbing as lrore akin to an act of ttature, just orte more calamity for sufferingJapan, and those who wished to use it as a political stick with which to beat Uncle Sam. This latter Aim, also that of the Soviets,

wa.s reflected

in the film requested by the Teachers' Uuion. Though shot in the ruins of Hiroshima and using many of its inhabitants, Shindo's film wus thoroughly nonpolitical, even traditional.

It

opells

(0towa Nobuko) going into the city and, in effect, acting

with the school-teacher heroiue

as the viewer's benshi

."1[irutsonta"

(Ladies and Gentlenreu), she begins, and then takes Lls 0u a guided tour. She tells us about the tragedv, and (in various flashbacks to the fatal dny) she shows it to us.

The presentation is traditional and the acting is stagey-close to the standards of

sltitlpa, though most of the actors were from shingeki.

A result of the presentational stance is

that we are told much morc tltart we are slrown. Hence, a demanded emotiou becomes sentituentalism. One is Leminded of JamesJoyce's phrzne, "seutilrentality is unearned enrotion." Certainl,v, the

fihr

is no answer to the erttotioual demands earned by the subject: the annihi-

lation of a cilv and its inhabitants. Though the picture was a populAr success, the spousot' coruplained that Shindo had made a tearjerker and that all political orientation was clestro,ved. Cottsequently, the Teachers' Union next backed a project which would,

in their

words,

"gerrlrinely help to fight to preserue peace." The result was Sekikawa Hideo's Hirosltimrt (1953), a film whose political orientation was obvions. Yagi Yoshitaro's script wzrs all the Urtion could have hoped for, and if the results were both stage-bound and melodranratic (as the West was to see five years later iu those scenes

included-ultcredited-in Nain Resnuis's

Hiroshirnil, XIou Atttour), the context was politically correct. Shindo is in the West ntost remembered for The lVuked Islrnul (Hadaka no shima,

akzr

The Island, 1950), a documentary-like feature film about a hard-working fanrily on alt island in the Inland Sea-a film which Oshima Nagisa once called "the image foreign people hold of the Japaltese." Made entirely without dialogue,

it

*r

escaped

ruruch of the sentimentality which conversations about how awful life is would have

made inevitable. We obserue the social conditions which make the islauders' labor necessary and we draw conclusions.

150

olu own political

The Naked lsland, 1960, Shindo Kaneto,

Nobuko

with Otowa

As

in the works of Sekikawa Hideo, Yamarroto Satsuo, Karnei Furnio, and Imai Tadashi,

the party line is never completely invisible in Shindo's earlier fihns. Yet his concerns are

s0

huuranistic that they make political distortions difficult. In any event, in time all of these directors mellowed, if that is the word. They either stopped directing 0r changed their direction. Anong the latter, Shindo's change was perhaps the most divergent.

)nibaba (The Hole,

1964) rnarked the begiuning of this change. This

fint period-film

by

the director was about two women (Otowa Nobuko and YoshimuraJitsuko) who prey on samu-

rur. Shindo retumed to this theme less strccessful

Bhck Cnt

in the

(YabLl n0 naka no

kuroneko, 1953). Both films might have beeu read as antigovernrnent allegories,

but so filled were they with naked flesh and sex (a subject hitherto alien to the Shindo oeuvre) that no one did.

That sex and politics are bedfellows is

not a new obseruation but, given the al]nibaba, 1964, Shindo Kaneto, with 0towa Nobuko,

rnost suspiciously pllre nature of Shindo's

Yoshimura Jitsuko.

pictures up until this point, the change came with a certain suddenness. Shindo himself, however, found the shift logical. He told Joan Mellen: "N0,

I am not at all pessimistic about politics Iand] my idea of sex is nothing

but the expression of the vitality of malt, his urge for survival."*r And indeed it is but a srnall step to rnove frorn the irnperative of the proletariat's survival as asocial class to the quest

for

the meaus of continuation of its membem. Certainly, the sane route is to be observed in the

filrns of many a leftist director, as in the case of Sekikawa Hideo, who was now rnaking pictures about the sex trade, such

u ktmo

(1955)

,

Hirno (1965), and Dani (1965)

Whatever the reason, Shindo was uow making lyrical studies of sexual subjects, among tlrenr: Lost

J'e;r:

(Honno, 1966),T'lte

)rigm

o.f

Sex (Sei no kigen, 1967), Haclnka no

(aka Live Today Die Tornorrow, 1970), right up through

jukl,usAi

)u,l (Fukuro,200r, something

like a modernized)nibctba. Though the hero of the first fihn in this series loses his potency after being exposed to the atom bornb, one could not consider the picture a political statement.

Shindo's was but one example of changes in the social-problern

fihl.

There were mauy

others. A later example is the work of Kumai Kei, who came into international prominence

with I'is Sanclnkan B (Sandakan hachiban shokan: Bokyo ,1974), a strong indictment of the Japanese wartime policy of providing

"confort women" for the imperial troops. One such

wonran, now old but still victirnized (Tanaka Kinuyo), tells her sad story to a young reporter. (The only other director to rnake serious use of this subject was Imamura Shohei in his doc-

unerrtary, (vr,rayuki-san: The Making of a Prostitute [Karayuki-san , 1973]). Kurnai went

151

0n t0 create one 0f ltis rnost controversial shakai-mondai films in Ihe Sea ancl Poison (Umi to dokuyaku, 1985), a disclosure of the hnperial fu'my's medical experiments on fulericarr POWs. The director

work on, honestly disclosing. He is one of the

a serious picture about Japan's rnost sensational shakai

few directors to have rnade

mondai-the Aurn Shinrikyo, the

religious cult responsable for the Tokyo subway sarin nerye gas attack

in

the Light (Nippon no kurai natsu: enzat,2001) is about the

in 1994.His

Durkness

"tryout" for the attackin the

provincial capital of Matsumoto, where a nurnber of people were killed and one of the injured was accused of the crime by the local authorities. Police and rnedia connived to con-

vict lrirn and it wffi, ironically, only the Tokyo attack that led to an understanding of the man's innocence. Film directors outraged enough to make fihrs on such subjects and brave enouglr to endure the resultant flak are ra;te. A more famous exarnple of the socially conscious director

willing to expose problems

is

Ichikawa Kon. Director of eighty-six films, he worked under Ishida Tamizo-renen'rbered for The Blossoms Hcr,tte Fnllen (Hana chirinu, 1938), scripted by Morimoto Kaoru-and was

originally a house director doing what the prodLlcer wanted: His )ne Iltou,sand ancl

)ne lVights (Toho sen'ichiya, I)47) Later,

was billed as "Japan's Own

It Happened )ne Night)'

in the 1940s and into

the 1950s, Ichikawa became better known for his Daiei satirical comedies. It was not, Irowever,

until he made

The

Hary of Burnta (Biruma no tategoto

,

aka The Burmese

Har?, 1956) that he

was

judged a "seriolls" director. The

Harp of Brtrnta,

a

Nikkatsu autiwar film based

on a novel by Takeyama Michio, was a very serious

The Harp Rentaro.

of Burmq 1956, lchikawa Kon, with Yasui Shoji, Mikuni

picture indeed about a soldier who decides to stay behind after World War

II

to become a

monk in order to bury the dead. The therne was right for the times and the picture was popu-

lar enough that the director remade it in 1985, using the same script. The scenarist was Wada Natto, avery talented screenwriter whom Ichikawa married. That she was responsible

for many of the excellent qualities of Ichikawa's films is evident in a certain decline in their

quality after her death. Together, Ichikawa andWada had an early interest in "social problems," as their satiri-

cal comedies witness. They found a natural subject in the rise of postwar problems with

152

"rebelliolrs" youth, the theme in Purtishntertt Room (Shokei rro lreya

, 1956), a picture about

restless youths and their reckless

ways. The novel from which Wada fashioned the script was

by Ishihara Shintaro-later ^

right-wing politician and, how-

ever improbably, the govemor

of Tokyo. It is from lshihara's rrovel Sertsort of

Punishment 800m, 1956, lchikawa Kon,

with Wakao

Ayako,

Kawaguchi Hiroshi

the Surt-itself

soon rlade into a

fihr

by the same rrarne (Taiyo no kisetsu, 1956), by director l'urukawa

Taktrmi-that tcti),ozofut

was coined as a geure.

The taiyozoku phenomenorl, a true creation of the uredia and due in large part to Ishihara's novels,

drel

the public's attention to the dangerous antics of "the sun

tribs"-[[x[

i5,

the young. The topic spawned a number of films, the one best remembered being Nakahira Ko's Crnzecl

Fruit (Kurutta kajitsu,

aka Nfaft at Kamaku

r-a,

aka]uvenile Passiou, aka This

Scorching Sea, 1955), a picture which also propelled the cAreer of its yoLulg hero Ishihara Yujiro, Shintaro's younger brother.

Punishrnent Roorn, though it did not star the phenomenally popular Yujiro-Yujiro belonged to Nikkatsu, while this was Ichikawa's first

film for Daiei-it did do well euough to

conviuce the conpany to let Ichikawa and Wada rnake several more literary adaptationstheir

best

work, aud to which we will rctum. The Mo werc also allowed to rrake the war film they

had really wauted to rnakeFires on tlte Plutu (Nobi, 195il.

Unlike The Hur'lt oJ' Burntt,

which could be

considered

conciliatotJ,, this later fihn was deliberately confrontational.

Scripted by Wada after the Ooka Shohei novel, Fires on the

Plnin is about the final

days of

a. Japanese battalion

in the

the

defeat.

Philippines after

Fires on the Plain,1959, lchikawa Kon, with Funakoshi Eiji

Told mainly through images (there is almost uo dialogue in the first half and little through-

out), the story is one of despair. Scenes remain long in the mind: the slow rnarch through the jungle, a plane approaches, the soldiers all fall to the ground, the plane passes, only half

153

tlte nten rise to stagger on and not one looks back; a lnalt tasting salt for the first tine irr mouths, att involuntary tear ruruting down his cheek; men dead on their haunches, like animals, with even the dignif,v of death taken from thern. Japan had never seen a war

film like this, aud those respousible for such experiences had

ltever been so indicted. There was some public concent, but the political import was muted

by the lronesty of the script and the appalling beauf,v of the images. In this seuse, Fires on the

Pluin resentbled Fit'e

Scouls (1938), a

film which had begun the cvcle that Ichikawa's

picture now ended. A completely different social issue was taken 0n by Ichikawa and Wadain

Borrchi (1950),

their adaptatiou of a Yanrazaki Tovoko novel. The filnr title is untranslatable-it is

0saka dialect word used

Alt

to

designate a f'eckless elder son. Irr

this film the solt is purposely spoiled becanse his merchant fanrily is entirely run bv women. ThatJapan is reallv a matri-

archy is a proposal sometimes heard, and Ichikawa would later

rttake a comedv about wollelr

really controlling things, Ten

Durk Women (Kuroi jnniu no onna, I95l). tn this latteL film

Bonchi, 1960, lchikawa Kon, the Girls' Day scene,

with Mori

Kikue, Yamada lsuzu, lchikawa Baizo

the ladies gallg Llp olt the two-

timing gent and couspire to do him in. funong its ntany delights

is a long scel]e between two of the rnost vengeftrl of the womeu (Kishi Keiko and Yarnamoto Fu-

iiko) in which their nurderous coufercnce takes place in front of

an iusipid Japanese-style painting showing two kimonoedJapanese women behaving as ideal Jzrpanese

Ten Dark Wlmen,1961, lchikawa Kon,

with Kishi Keiko, Yamamoto

Fujiko

wonlen should.

ht Bonclti, Ichikawa's women create the verJ situations from which the women in luore

traditional fihrs are alwavs attenrpting, unsuccessfully, to escape. The grandrnother is

a

tttatriarch who has decided that the family needs an heir, and this lneaus that the playboy

154

girl child so that they can later "Adopt" a husband for her as a provisional head of the fanrily-just zu the boy's own father

grarldson must rrarry and produce. What they want is a

was

adopted-and thus keep power arnong the womeu.

A suitable marriage candidate is found for the grandson, and the grandrrother and lrer

daughter plot the

outcome-A charming

scene where the two,

like little girls, are sitting

before the traditional doll display on Girls' Day, as seemingly innocent as the

girl childreu

they are talking about. Later, the two delve into the toilet to try to discover if the uew wife's

rlenstrual cycle has halted, thus heralding the arrival of the wanted child. After they leave, the catttera regards the gleaming bowl in the half light, as beautiful as a porcelain vase.

We are shown

all this with an honestv that is ruthless And, at the sAme time, with

beautv that transfigllres everything

it touches. In this fihr,

as

a

iu the others ol't which they

worked together, Ichikawa aud his camerauran, MivagawaKazuo-who shot both Rusho-

tttln

and []getsu, atfoug many other

films-insist

that power and beauty are no strangers.

The iuxtaposition is particularly acute in the scene where, the first child being a bov, the fitrious granclmother sends the new wif'e back home. It is so quietlv beautiful that one all but forgives the famil,v its wretched self-interest. It is one long, irlmaculately lit, single scene: five people talking in the late sumrner ztfternoon.

ln

Tbe

Sin (Hakai, aka The 0utcast, 1962), a brooding and brutal film about the dis-

crirnination directed against the outcast class, the burakumin, Ichikawa alteruates scenes

as

black as the.v are bleak agaiust backgrouuds of euonuolls beaut,v. The morality of this Ichikawa-Wada

fihn is always balanced by its aestheticism. While there were few social

tlteutes as poteutially explosive as that of the urarginalized burakurnin, a form of discrimiruation which

still continues in conteltlporary/ Japan, there are few black-and-white fihrs in

postwar Japanese cinema which are s0 colnpositionally perfect, so aesthetically right. The

fihn's appearance inexorably undercuts its meaning.

The Sin,1962,lchikawa Kon, the final snow scene, with lchikawa Raizo, Fujimura Shiho

155

A scerte pariah

in which the vollng school teacher

sx5tg-a

"conf'esses"

to his pupils that he is of the

ven/ painlul seqLlence-is followed bv the scelte in which he nrust leave the

snrell ntourttain conuuunitr'. He is met bv the maid at the school, the only one who cared for

hint. Thev sav goodbt,e. Suddenlv it begins to snow. The canrera turns to catch this ntantle

of white slowlv covering the black forests, the dark nrountains. This lovelv nronreut is nretaphor for the entiLe filnr-beALrtv covers

nroralih/-or

r darker hidden truth. Aesthetics

a

support

even take its place.

Ichikawa waited for weeks in his expensive nroLurtain location for that snowfall. Though sonre

directors-O2u, N{izoguchi, and Kurosawa, anlong thenr-would have gotten awav

with spending that much of tlre cor]rpan\"s nronev for reasons that all fihn conlpanies even where would regard as bad busiuess, Ichikawa's conrpzur\,, Daiei, dissatisfied with the returns

on his filnts, decided to curb the director's erpensive tendencies. Anrong the resultzurt indignities was the order to renrake a venerirble tearjerker. This wlu Art Aclot"s Ret,enge (Yukinojo henge, aka The Revenge of Yukinojo, 1961. The oLiginal was a nreloclranratic scenario bv Ito Daisuke lvhich had alreadv been filmed versiorr lrnder the sanre title bv Kinugasa Teinosuke, releusecl

in

before-a three-part

1935-36. It wzu obviousll,

not a filnr for the nrordant Ichikltwa. Nevertheless, director and scriptwriters saw possibilities 'l.he

filnr focuses on Yukinojo, a kabuki actor specializing in fenrale roles, ancl this

was

sonrething that iuterested Ichikawa. ht fact, the director's very first pictlue wi6 a puppet versiorr of the sinrilarh'nzured doll dranra

llusutrte Dqlo.li (1946)-the rnaiclen

ztt Dojoji

Tenrple being, 0f course, a nren. The director had alwavs been fond of the stage, puppets, cultoons, and the like. He was later to interest hirnself Gigicl,

ancl-as

he was oLiginallv a graphic

artist-he

in the Italian

t

An Actor's Bevenge, 1963, lchikawa Kon, with Wakao Ayako, Hasegawa Kazuo

1t6

nrouse plU)pet, Topo

had long nraintained an irtterest in

stylistic experiments, such as the artificial decor and painted sets of his

Mut 0f

Tohoku

(Tohoku n0 zummu-tachi, 1957) and Miyagaiwa Kazuo's artificially filtered color work irt Younger Brother (}toto, akalittle Brother/The Younger Brother, 1960), where the screen was made to look like a hand-tinted daguerreotype. Asked about the grcatest influence on his

work, Ichikawa answered, without hesitation, that it was Walt Disney. The Yukinojo project also offered possibilities

within the vast, uncharted reahn of kitsch.

Wadafound the original scenario so bad it was good, and kept almost everything. Ichikawa also insisted upon the star of the original version-the aging matinee idol, Hasegawa

Kazuo-and

proceeded to

find out, as he phrased it, "what movies can do." The resulting

fihn is a tour de force of great virtuosity in which the director deliberately scrambled

stage

and screen, tried every color experiment he could think of, and created one of the most visually entertaining fihns of the decade.

Ichikawa being lchikawa, he also succeeded in rnaking a very disturbing picture. The love scenes-an elderly but dignified Hasegawaplaying aman playing a woman, and the young Wakao Ayako-are both arresting and troubling. Innuendos, always to be inferred, give all of these scenes a certain edge. The spirit of camp is never far away, yet one renains

uncertain whether Haseg awa is being made a fool of or is giving a great if ambivalent performance. One consequently begins to feel, little by little, the pathos and terror which must have

originally lurked in this hackneyed little story. Disney would not, perhaps, have appreciated the nature of the tribute but he might have admired the presentational display.

Not only is the production self-consciously stagelike,

it

also shows Yukinojo himself

as

the final incarnation of Onoe Matsunosuke, that first actor to rnove from stage to screen, by meaus of the long, stationary shot, the frontal view, and the two-dirnensions of this ideal and

theaterlike world. Though rnuch had occurred in the intervening half century, the amount

of sheer presentation originally assumed by the Japanese cinema still remains in pictures such

as this.

Ichikawa also experimented with more realistic representation-the documentary. He was commissionedbyToho to make

afihn on Little League baseball ,Youth (Seishun,t955);

by Olivetti to make a half-hour fihn on the old capital, I(1tsto (Kyo,1958); and by the IglO 0saka Exposition to make Japan and the Japa??ese (Nihon to nihonlin, 1970, n.s.) , ahalf-

lrour documentary designed to be shown 0n a mammoth nine-panel screen in theJapanese Pavilion. The first and finest of these cotnmissions was Tokl,o )lJ,rnPiad (Tolqro Orimpiku, 1965),

a documentary of the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games. It was scripted by the poet Tanikawa

Shuntaro-later to write another exceptional scenario for The Wandwus (Matatabi, 1979. Tanikawa created a structural space for the director to work in. Aesthetically, the picture is

superb-a

masterpiece of visual design. One remembers the incisive use of slow motion

157

cluLing the track-and-field events; the beautiful repeated shots

in the pole-vaulting competi-

tion; the fast zooltrs in the shot-put event; and the long, brilliant clinrax of the nraratholt-

the work of the directoL and ;L staff of neArlv six hundred people, including sixteerr calneralnelt led bv NIivAgnwt. Norte

of this, however,

wzts

what the Olympic Organizing Board wanted. Not onll' had

Ichikawzt t'efused to monunreutilize the ganres, he had hunranizecl thenr. ht the uncr-rt ver-

siott (ttever publicll/ screel'led), the cAltteta tltrns tinte and agaitt frottt the nrajor evettts to capture details: the spectators; athletes at rest, those who canre in, not first, but

third-or

last. Japanese victories are not favored. At the end, the celebrations over, the stadiunr enrptr'. A nuur

is

with a ladder crosses the field; fronr far awav contes the sound of children at

plav. The ganres were, after all, onlv ganres. Thev are over and life goes on. N1uch of this footage hus never been publiclr,screenecl, end anrong exanrples of

of 'l'ok.)'o 01.)'rrtftiuclmust

fihn vanclalisnr, the case

rank as especiallv regrettable. That the picture was also brilliantlv

presentationzrl, rather than representetional

in a nrore

docunrentlur,-like we\r, did not, of

colrrse, offencl the Boarcl. But what thev had wanted wzts presLlnralllv a Leni Riefenstahl kind

of eggrandizenrent, ancl this thel'did not receive.

In lchikawzr's single finest lticture, Cotflugruliorr (Enjo, aka Flanre of Tonnen/fhe Tenrple of the Golderl Pltviliott, 1958), tltese httttlattized ttesthetics were ltlreadt'evidertt Written bv Wada after the populaL X{ishinra Yukio novel, translatecl as T'lte 7'entltle o.f lhe Golrlerr

Prtt'ilion, the film is about the acohte who deliberatell,set fiLe to and destroved K.voto's fantous Kinkakuji. The visuals are srU)eLb. As his ex-assistant diLector, \{asunrura Yasuzo has said:

"He

possesses trenrendotts

conrpositiorral

onll'

skill, rivalled

b1' Kurosawa

Akira. His

talent allows hinr to creute first-rate inrages that easilv escape realisnr and resnlt in superior

filnrs."'j

Particularly irnpressive

is

the use of architecture-the thenre, after all, of the fihn. The action is balanced bv au architectural detail which,

Conflagration, 1958, lchikawa Kon, with lchikawa Raizo, Nakamura Ganjiro

as

one scene follows another, re-creates the tenrple itself. 0r, auother use of architecture, Ichikawa set his acolyte high on the balconv of the Nanzenji in Kvoto, then shot fronr far below with a telephoto lern. The result is a bas-relief of the foreshortened tenrple roof, the student black and tinv and lost anrid the gray n)Lrze of tile and wezrthered wood Ichikawa

15ti

and Miyagawa use the wide-screen format

u

n0 one had before, capturing textures in the

crispest black and white.

Through dialogue and controlled flashbacls, we are told the story of this boy who eventu-

ally cornes to destroy what he most loves-the pavilion. These architecture-filled

scenes

serye to emphuizethe narrative, the boy's awareness of his isolation and loneliness. Though

aesthetically prodigal, the film uses beauty to envelop and to define the acolyte and his feelings, to create an atmosphere, a space to hold thern.

Equally rnoving in its disturbing beaufy is

)dd

)bsession (Kagi, aka The Key/Strange

Obsession, 1959). Loosely based on the Tanizaki novel fhe opposite: the picture equates love catheters, unmade

Kq', beauty is again linked to its

with ilhtess. The screen is filled with hypodermic

beds-all filmed

needles,

by Miyagawa in muted color. Erotic obsession reaches

claustrophobic intensity, and the spectator is made a participant.

)dd 1bsession, 1959, lchikawa

Kon, with Kyo Machiko, Nakamura Ganjiro

A typically extraordinary scene fiuds the husband (Nakarnura Ganjiro) rnaking love to the wife (Kyo Machiko). For an instant we think we are witnessing his orgasm. Then we real-

ize that he has had a stroke. Love has turned to death before olu eyes. Though the fihn is flawed by its lazy conclusion (the rnaid done it), the tensious of its theme and of Tanizaki's

original intentiolls are still there-something which is not true of Ichikawa's next Tanizaki adaptation and his last

film of any note, The lrlakioka

Sisters (Sasame

yuki, 1983), a com-

I

rnercial venture which has been called "a kirnono show." Critic Iwasaki Akira sumnarized his view of the director's shortcomings dr-rring a q/mposium

thematic lirnits he can work

in

in 1953: "lchikawa

rnust have

The Ozu Tofu Restaurant can sell only tofu. The

Ichikawa Restaurant, however, carl sell both tofu and pork cutlets, but not tofu, pork cutlets, beefsteak, and tempura." **

The equilibriurn of a fihn such as Corflagration, for many, remains typical of the fine

balancewhich theJapanese film sometimes attains. fui acute eye, tempered by acontrolled and directed vision; realistic perfonnarlces, particularly that of Ichikawa Raizo (who also

159

-1

starred

in Bonchi and The Sin): and a social theme (National Treasure Bumed Down)

lrurnanized-all contributing to a controlled atmosphere which, no less than in

Souls ort

the Road, defines character and creates meaning.

Another director concerned with theJapanese social dilemrnA was Yoshimu:"aKozaburo. Though he worked under Shimazu Yasujiro, it was Mizoguchi Kenjiwhorl he most adrnired. Nonetheless, he felt that the Japanese tradition was a p00r oue for

tlrat Japanese

fiction after a thousand

years

naking films.

He once said

still lacked dramatic construction. It was all

ln0n0 n0 aware, and this naturally ryilled over iuto filurs.

Though eclectic, Yoshimura's films are about traditional subjects, for exanple, the

tradition of unfortunate oppression borne by Japanese women. In Clothes of Deceptiort (ltstrwareru seiso,1951),

afilm much like Mizoguchi's

Sisters of the Gion, the modern ideas

of the heroine (Kyo Machiko) clash with traditional behavior and get her into trouble. In Women of the Girtza (Ginza n0 onna

,

1955), the geisha's life is seeu as one of smiling

tragedy. In lVight Rit,er (Yoru no kawa, aka Undercurrent, 1956), a traditional Kyoto girl, played by Yamamoto Fujiko, is led astray by her modern ideas. ht lVight Butte(ll,es (YorLl n0

clro, 1957), yet auother version of Sisters of the Gion, Yamamoto Fujiko is the traditional bar rnistress from Kyoto, and Kyo Machiko plays her Tokyo rival. In TIte lVnked Fctce of IVight (Yoru n0 sugao, 1958), however, one womau rebels: Wakao Ayako, on her way up in the world of traditiornlJapanese dance, pushes aside her mentor, Kyo Machiko.

Nl of these very successful Daiei films treat the fact of being a

wonan

problem.

as

though it is a social

It is women who are

exploited and forced into inau-

thentic lives, and this problem is society's. YoshimLlra's

Ball at

the Artlo House reflected criti-

The Naked Face of Night, 1958, Yoshimura Kozaburo, with Wakao Ayako, Kyo Machiko

cism of Japan thror-rgh the ruptured institution of the farnily. The director's later films share the same thetue, but the focus is wornen, their plight, and their occasional bravery. These themes, presented

with a grace

and fluidity which reveals the influence of Mizogr-rchi, contributed to the laconic dramatic construction which helped define the Daiei house style. Masumu

raYuuzo, aDarei director and pupil of both Ito Daisuke and Mizoguchi

as

well

as Ichikawa, owed much to Yoshimura as well. It was from the latter, he once said, that he

leamed his editing methods. These were developed in opposition to a tendency in Japanese

160

films to play every scene out, even after it has made its necessary points. This can be salubrious, as when Ozu does it, but in lesser hands

it

can be tiresome, as when

it

arises frorn the

so-called "realism" of shingeki, where everything should be "just like life." Yoshirnura would frequently rlake a direct cut right from the high point of one scene to

another. This telescoping of effect-one dramatic point piled on top of another-is a method of construction which gives his films their pace. Masumura, using the sane method,

cut even more stringently and created an even livelier effect, something which rnany other Daiei directors emulated. An example of this manner of pacin g is Warm Crtrcent (Danryr), a picture made by Yoslrirnura

in

1939, and remade by Masumura

in

1957

. Both versions are about a young

doctor responsible for a small hospital who must choose between a spoiled, rich girl and a dedicated nurse. The Yoshirnura version moves swiftly but is filled with careful revelatiort of

character, sustained by a finely contrived hospital atmosphere. Nlasumura's version moves nruch

faster-atapace quite foreign to mostJapanese fihns of its time.

off by another almost before

it

One scene is shoved

is done. Character and atmosphere may suffer, but storyline

interest increases.

It is not surprising that nany Japanese critics, tired of the valid but discursive styles of Ozu or Mizoguchi, should have greeted the novelry

of afaster-moving film enthusiastically.

Tlre young Oshima Nagisa describes his reaction after watching the flight of the rebel couple sequence shot

with a hand-held can)era following the couple's motorbike-in Masu-

mura's Kissa (Kuchizuke, 1957). Oshima recounts how he "felt that the tide of the new

age

could no longer be ignored; that a powerful, irresistible force had arrived in theJapanese cinema."a5 The upshot of such a style is that the director has almost no tirne in which to estab-

lish charActer, and such fast cutting is certainly not conducive to the creation of atrnosphere.

The incisive nature of this style, so like a series of short, declarative sentences, fitted Masumura's adversarial stance. It was he who, upou returning frorn a seasorl of study at tlre Centro Sperimentale

in Rome, called for nothing

less than the destruction of mainstream

Japanese cinema. Masumura (like Yoshirnura) argued that

Japan's literary tradition, that tlre characters

in

these

it

advoc ated suppression

it

was congruent only with

of individual personality, that all of

theories

To1,s

:i:

films invariably subrnitted to acollective self, and that even in the 'Ta

leftist fihns the heroes deferred to the will of the masses.

InGiants and

t,l

(Kyojin to gangu, aka The Build-Up, 1958), Masumura exercised his

in this fast-moving attackon the advertising racketinJapan and, by implication, on

the values of a ruerchant-based society. A slick advertising director takes an unknown girl

from the slums and turns her into a national celebriry. The sudden fame ruins her, from his point of view, since she walls out on hirn when he needs her most.

In such fihns asAfraid to Die (Karakkazeyaro,akaAMan Blown by theWind 1960),

161

a gangster

film which marked the

acting debut of Mishima Yukio,

and Manji (1964),

a Tanizaki

adaptation featuring Wakao Ayako

and Kishida Kyoko as the

two

women in love with each other, a certain shallowness of characterization is perhaps the price exacted

by a restless cartera and fast edit1ng.

It is interesting to compare Masumura's vital, noisy

Inte

Manji,1964, Masumura Yasuzo, with Wakao Ayako, Kishida Kyoko

Sui-

cida at Sonezaki (Sonezaki shinju, 1978), based on

a Chikamatsu

bunraku play, with Mizoguchi's slow and elegiac

A

Storj, "from Chikamntsu. Tt-nrr$ it is a periodpiece, the actors in the Masunlua

version were a rock star and a yolllrg "idol" starlet. After abreakneck

if doorned romance, they go

off onto a convoluted michiyuki which finds thern as dead as the puppets they portray. But that is one of the points of the picture:

Love Suicides at Sonezaki, 1978, Masumura Yasuzo, with

Kaji

Meiko

it

was the system that did thern in.

Masumura's films critical of Japan's rnilitary past are ltarticu-

larly interesting. The l{akano Arm1, School (Rikugun Nakano gakko, 1956) is a school for spies where the hero (lchikawaRaizo) finds that, in serying his country,

he left hirnself little to live for.

The Hoodlum Soldiu (Heitai yakuza,

195) is the story of. a

soldier and his officer who, for

162

The Hoodlum Soldiel 1965, Masumura Yasuzo, the bathhouse scene, with (center) Katsu Shintaro

entirely different reasons, hate the army. The film is so filled with blood and laughter, torture and horseplay, and is so cynical about national ideals that for a tirne there was talk of its not being released abroad. In Japan itself, the picture was s0 popular that it later becarne a series.

The pace of The Hoodlu,rn Soldier matches the conplications of the story, while the simpliciff of construction fits the artlessness of the two major characters (Katsu Shintaro and Tamura Takahiko). Sometimes the action beautifully erupts (as in the celebrated fight in the bathhouse). At other times (the finale where the hapless heroes escape 0n the wrong train), it simmers, controlled but boiling. While such bravura could wreck a lesser story, it is just this thatso distinguishes the picture and gives it its critical edge.

Masumura, ironically, never entirely revolted against the constraints of his company, Daiei, and remained the last rnajor director on the payroll, long after others, such

as

Iclrikawa Kon, had left. His contract gave him no control over his material, and he was con-

tinually saddled with Lurprepossessing scripts and hedged in with conditions from which other directors largely escaped by

forning their owr compauies. 0f the sixfy-odd films he

made, only a handful of these were ones he wanted to rnake.

But such is the way of film cornpanies. While profits were to be ntade, it was not unusual for directors to be allowed to film what they wanted. When profits fell off (as they would fronr the rnid-1950s on), directors were made to toe the line, and personal, critical, and socially rninded fihns were discouraged.

fui exarnple is Kobayashi Masaki, who in his entire career rnade only twenty-two films, due

in

part to the lack of cornparly sllpport. Originally one of the Shochiku stable, he worked

as assistant to Kinoshita. Interestingly, his first rnajor

film, The T'ltick-Willed Roorn (Kabe

atsuki heya, 1955), scripted by Abe Kobo and based on the diaries 0f "war criminals," had

a rnost un-Kinoshita-like theme-the idea that rnost of the imprisoned were innocent, while the real criurinals escaped. One of the very fewJapanese films to raise the question of responsibiliry for the waf , it was not the sort of film one expected frorn Shochiku. Indeed, the company held up its release for several yeaffi.

in the least contrite, Kobayashi next made I'll Bu1, Not

Iou (hrata

kairnasu, 1956), about

tlre cornmerciali zation of Japanese baseball, and followed this

with the highly critical Black Rittet'(Kuroi kawa, 1955), which tackles the matter of corruption on Anrerican bases inJapan The

Black River, 1956, Kobayashi Masaki, Arima lneko

with Nakadai

Tatsuya,

t63

villain is not the United States for its presence, but Japan for permitting lawlessness to go unpunished.

Returning to World War

II and those

Lesponsible, Kobayashi went on to make his most

popnlar filrn, the massive three-part epic Tbe Hnntrnt Cortclitiott (Ningen lto joken,

1958-51)-no relatiou to the similarly named Andre Malraux novel. Matsuyama

Zen

Scripted by

zo after the Gornikawa Jumpei best-seller, the epic depicts a youllg soldier

(Nakadai Tatsuya) who is appalled by the conditions he finds iu Manchuria, particularly by

the brutal military/ use of slave

it and

labor. He fights against

is

sent into active duty, where he is

killed.

The enornous populariff of

the fihn tempered Shochiku's criticisms, and Kobayashi chose to again target the system irt ltis

single finest picture Harakiri (Seppuku, 1962). The script, by

The Human Condition, 1958-61 , Kobayashi Masaki, with Nakadai Tatsuya

Hashimoto Shinobu based on

the Takiguchi Yasuhiko uovel, concerns

a samurAi

Tatsuya) who sets

or-rt

(Nakadai to

kill

the

official he thinks is responsible for forcing the sarnllrai's sott-iu-

law (lshihama Akira) to disembowel hirnself with a barnboo

sword-one he was

wearittg

because he (iust like the hero of

Htrtnctnih, ancl Papu' Balloons) Harakiri,1962, Kobayashi Masaki, with lshihama Akira

had sold his real one in order to eat. The father-in-law discovers

that it is not a persolt but the system that is responsible-a systetu which, then as uow, is integral to the tradition alJapanese way of life. Kobayashi referred to this whetl answering a question posed by Linda Hoaglund regard-

ing his theme, in terms of his ideas about history. "Nl of my pictr-ues . . . are coltcerned with resisting entrenched power. That's what as

well.

I

suppose

and

Rebellion

ll957l

I've always challenged authorify. This has beetr true of mv owlt life,

including ny life in the militAry."

164

Harttkiri is about, of coLlrse,

*{'

Kobayashi has said that while making

tional Japanese aesthetics:

"l

Harakiri he became very much

aware of tradi-

was keenly attracted to the stylized beauty of our traditional

forms. At the same time, since I felt I had come to the end pursuing realisrn in fihn, this new

rlode of expression [the use of traditional aesthetics] delighted me."47 It delighted his men-

tor as well. When Harakiru won the jury prize at the Cannes Film Festival, Kinoshita told Kobayashi that the

film was his masterpiece, andthat if

estJapanese fihns of all tirne, he would include

Even though the

he were asked to name the

five great-

Harakiri.

film nade Shochiku a lot of money, it was perhaps thought that

a

director this critical of the systern could no longer work for acompany so much apart of it. After a few more pictures, Kobayashi had to search for work. Toho let him make the decorative and "traditional" Kutaidan (Kaidan,

I965)-aMizuki

Yoko script after four stories by

Lafcadio Hearn-and the Hashimoto-scripted Rebellion (Joiuchr, aka Samurai Rebellion, 1967), another of Takiguchi Yasuhiko's traditional looks at the vengeful warrior, this one played by Mifune Toshiro.

Bebellion, 1967, Kobayashi Masaki, with Koyama Shigeru, Mifune Toshiro

Despite box-office successes, Toho decided not to continue with the unpredictable Koba-

yashi, or perhaps he decided not to continue with

them-the

stories differ. With three other

directors who were dissatisfied with their companies (lchikawa Kon, Kinoshita Keisr,rke

, artd

Kurosawa Akira), he entered into a new production company, the Yonki-no-Kai (Club of the {J

Four Knights).

film, Kurosawa's Dodes'ka-den (1970), wffi acritrcal and financial failure, and the director's feelings of obligation toward his "club" were perhaps instrumental in his later Tlre first

suicide attempt. The four "knights" made no further efforts until the eventual filming of one of tlreir scripts, Dorn Heita (2000), directed by the sole knight still alive, Ichikawa Kon. The last years of Kobayashi's life were spent in the construction of another large indict-

ment of society, The Tok1,s Trial (Tolcyo Saiban, 1978-83), an independently produced,

165

questiouiug, fragnteuted, four-and-one-half-hour

filrl

compiled frorn over one hundred sev-

enty hours of documentary footage. In it, the eutrenched powers of the world, that of Japan, and that of the United States, are bravely, even defiantly resisted.

The director who most particularly rnade the shakai-mono Dr-rring his long career he made

film his own was Kurosawa Akira.

atotal of thirty-one filrns, and all, in sorle w&y, are about

social issues. KurosawA's interest is in reflecting and iuterpreting his sociefv. This eim, to be sLrre,

is oue quite taken for granted in other countries, but in Japan, it is not the average

director lvho interests himself in coutroversial social issues. KurosawA, Inted, Kobayashi,

0shima-directors similar only in their interest iu controversy-are exceptions to general rule

of Japanese

KnrosawA's interest seen

the

fihnrraking.

iu the nrost pressing (and hence most controversial) social issues is

in fihls such as The Bud Sleep Well (Warui yatsu hodo yoku nemlull, aka A Rose in the

Mud, 1950), a title which might be best reudered as "The Worse You fu'e, the Better You Sleep." The thenre is the corruption of big busiuess, and the underlying assumption is that absoh-rte power absolutely corrupts.

The Bad Sleep We\1,1960, Kurosawa Akira, scene from the wedding-scene sequence

The rnovie opens with a brilliant sequeuce: in a traditional wedding reception the hero

(Miftrne Toshiro) is shown celebrating his rlarriage to the company president's daughter (Kagawa Kyoko), whorr Knrosawa (and his cowriters Hashirnoto Shinobn, Oguni Hideo, and

Kiknshirna Ryuzo) rrade larne for the sarne reason that Shakesp eare ntade Ophelia mad.

166

Both must provide for the hero's eventual downfall. The president (Mori Masayuki), amid his unctuous employees, his corrupt board of directors, and the

full paraphenahaof traditional

Japan'smost telling ritual, prides himself upon the hope thathis line will continue. And so it does, despite the fact that the wedding itself is interrupted and the hollow pretense it embodied is eventually exposed.

The bridegroom is really the son plots his revenge.He even engineers

of amurdered company official, and Hamlet-like,

aplaywithin aplay when

he

he makes an ostensiblydead

company official observe his funeral, only to be undone by pity for his own wife and by the revenge of her Laertes-like brother. At the end of picture, after the hero's death, w€ see the

president on the telephone telling those even higher than himself that the matter has been taken care of-an implication thatpublic corruption goes right to the top. Kurosawa gives his audience n0 easy way out. The Record of a Liuing Being (lkimono no kiroku, akal Live in Fear,

19if)

is about aman openly obsessed by the secret fear of his

time-atomic destruction. A successful factory-owner (Mifune Toshiro)

is so concerned that

he tries to get his family to move with him to Brazil where he believes he might find safety. The family, compla-

cent and cyn tcal, is outraged by this, and

tries

to have him

iudged insane. The last we see of him is

in an asylum,

look-

ing at the sun and believing that

the

earth is at last on fire. At the same time, the

family is shown to be responsible for his The Record of a Living Being, 1955, Kurosawa Akira, Shimura Takashi.

with Mifune

Toshiro,

in-

sanity. In reality, they

r

want his factory. To deprive them of this,

their last recourse, and to force them to join him, the father destroys the factory. This act is used as evidence of his insanity. Traditional society-here

n

in the form of the family-

thwarts individual will.

At the same time, the individual himself (or, more rarely, herselfl must also assume responsibiliry. This is a theme in Kurosawa's major films, from the hero of Sanshiro Sugata,

who learns to be accountable for his own actions, through Dr. Akahige, who teaches his

lll\{

167

T

irrtern what rnedical responsibility is, 1955).

in Kurosawa's last major film, Red Beard

(Akahige,

It is for this reason that the moraliry of the Kurosawa fihn is rigorous, and such easy

diclrotomies as good and bad are not tolerated. In the finale gangster emerges white (after

of.

Druutkert Angel, the "bad"

falling into spilled white paint) as in an apotheosis. In Strat,

Dog, the good cop captures the bad robber after an exhausting fight in the mud; the camera

lools down at thern and finds them, both mud-covered, indistinguishable .In High and Loru (Tengoku to jigoku, 1953), the plate of glass separating jailed kidnapper and visiting victim, reflects and fuses their images in the final scene.

Bed Beard,1965, Kurosawa Akira, with Kayama Yuzo, Mifune Toshiro

High and 10w,1963, Kurosawa Akira, the final scene, with Mifune Toshiro, Yamazaki Tsutomu.

168

Kurosawa's classic statement on personal responsibiliry and the ills of the world is found in

lkiru

(1952), a film about the largest possible social issue-ieath.

Takaslri) learns he is dying For the

fint tirne in his life he

A petty

official (Shimura

realizes that he has accomplished

nothing, has never enjoyed anything. He spends his savings 0n a spree, but this brings him only grief, as he indicates in the celebrated scene wherc he sings a song of his youth.

Life is so short,

Fall in love, dear maiden, While your hair is still black, Before your heart

For there

will

stops*8

be no more tomorrows.

I A

lkiru,1952, Kurosawa Akira, the singing scene in the entertainment-district sequence,

with Shimura Takashi

The dying ntau returns to the office and uses

all of his strength to bring to realization a

petition (for months on his desk and on the desls of others), a request for a children's park.

In tlre f ace of official antagonisrl he pushes his project through. Finally it is cotnplete. That night, sitting 0n a swing in the new park, the snow falling Despite Kurosawa's

criticisms-and the fihn, in part, is

abor-rt

hitn, he dies.

as sweeping an indictment of

bureaucncy as has been filmed-1friru is not an angry movie. We are not so concemed with abadsociety

as we are

with a good man, and Kurosawa makes us realize this by framing the

latter half of the film with his wake. The tone is frankly elegiac, but there is little m0n0 n0 aware.lnstead, there is the statement that we are what we do. Others rnay be in states of selfdelusion but the dead man has escaped. He created himself.

169

The way in which he is seen to do so is through a cinematic style which is as controlled as

it is inventive,

as incisive as

it is subjective. All directors create their films in just this way-

showing what they have learned both from life and from other plays this with extraordinary panache.

It is this genius for

pictures-but

Kurosawa dis-

antalgamation which one may

find typical of Kurosawa and veryJapanese of him. All of Kurosawa's best pictures are anirnated by this quality, but

it

is seen at its best

in his period-pictures, those films which, like

the jidaigeki of Ito, Itami, andYamanakaSadao, see the past in terms of the present, rnaking its problems and solutions ours.

The fusion of all the elements which make up the individual style of Kuros awa perhaps most convincingly occLlrs rn Set,ert

Snmurni (Shichinin no sarnurai, 1954). Though

its

story is laid in the past, the picture is concerned with the present. It criticizes contemporary values, but insists that they arc, after all, human values; Japanese

life but is

concerned

it honestly

creates the context of

also

with verities

seen as timeless and attitudes viewed as universal.

Through controlled real-

isrn, Kurosawa

an absolutely

presents

believable

world.

In many ways the pic-

ture is the continuation

of Rashomon. The

lier film

ealt-

represents the

limitations of the intel-

lect-four

Seven Samurai, 1954, Kurosawa Akira, the final scene, with Shimura Takashi, Kato Daisuke, Kimura lsao.

stories, each

intellectualized,

all mutually incompatible, with reality itself becoming relative. In

Set,en

Samurai we step beyond intellectualizatton.Only those acts which spring from the emotions

arevalid acts, and action thus motivated is truth. In this fihn, theory becomes practice. Violent physical action is what the

film is made of-and the end result of all this action

(and there has rarely been so violent an "action of a single almost unpalatable

truth-
film" u

Ser.,sn

Samurni) is the distillation

whose emotional acceptance is impossible to avoid.

The story is simple. A village is harassed by bandits. The villagers ask the aid of a masterless samurai who

in turn gathers others, a group of seven-they themselves

ety as the robbers they are asked to fight. They plan their defense and carry

as outside soci-

it out.

A number

die, and the villagen arc grateful for the protection rendered. But it is spring planting season; they have things to do.

170

The final scene shows the three remaining samLlrai (Shimura Takashi, Kato Daisuke,

Kimura Isao) stopping by the mound where their comrades are buried. The farmers, ignoring them j atebusy with their planting. Shimura turns to his hvo fellow samurai.

Shi,mura.' furd againwe

lose.

Itr,to:

...?

Shimura.'

We lose. Those farmers . . . they are the winners.

*e

The fihn is a call for cooperation anong rnen, but it also suggests why this has always been and always will be irnpossible. This is the therne that the director often called his "unpalatable truth."

The sanurai fight side by side with the villagers yet, at the end, nothing is changed, except that the bandits are dead too. This experience turns out, not tragic, but exhilarating. One is so overcome by the

vitaliff of the visuals that it is only later that one realizes lrow r]ear

tears one has been. To rerlernber a viewing 0f this

the

initial fight where the swordnaster

film is to remenber a hundred

irnages:

shows Lls everything we need know about sarnurai,

the series of scenes where Takashi devises a plan to test his new rnen; the last sarnul'Ai and

lris death; the first attack of the bandits, their irnage against the sky, their slow descent through the waving grasses; tl're last rout and the rice-planting seqllence, and then the final scene, so

right, s0 spare, so honest that it is near catharsis.

In making this picture-it took over ayear to film-Kurosawacreated a new sffle: for tlre first tirne he used telephoto lenses to capture detail. In the attackof the bandits, uren aud horses pile up to create massed detailed irnages of solidiry. The director also used multiple cameras, each taking the scene from a different angle: thus he was able to cut directly, with-

out stopping the action, from one perspective to another. The rylendid final reel, the battle irr the rain, wffi shot in this nanner. Though such a method uses a vast quantity of film, Kuro-

sawa-who almost invariably shot at a ratio of ten to one-preferred it, even using it in

the

intirnate converuation-filled scenes of Tlte Ll'u,et' Depths

Tlrough matly critics considered Kurosawa the finest director in Japan, his own crew found him to be the best editor in the world. Perhaps this was because, as he once said, he edited his films as they demanded to be edited: "Whenever we get down to talking about edit-

ing, the issue of montage is immedi ately brought up, yet I cannot but feel that such a theory is a pretty strange aberration of the imagination." He added: "When it comes down to the basics of

film technique, I am anaiveGriffithean."50

The mature Kurosawa style, one which creates a realism of its own, is put to the uses of an equally realistic but peffional rnorality. Such abstract virtues as heroism, dignity, virtue, even bravery for its own sake, do not interest

him. In this his films are far from the ordinary

171

period-film. Even a filnt which deliberately uses the very stuff of chambara, Tbe Hiddat Forh'ess (Kakushi toride n0 san akunin, aka Three Bad Men

in a Hidden

Fortress, 1958) is

not done in the heroic manner. One of the points is that there are three bad men, though we are shown only

two-the

thiev-

ing, lying peasants-until we realize that General Miftrne Toshiro, our hero, is just

as bad.

There are equally no heros irr

the comic period-film lojimbo (1961) and its sequel Sunjuro (Tsubaki Sanjlrro, 1962). In both

filnts, the hero (Mifune) is not in

himself heroic. In the first pictlrre, he cunningly pits the two opposing factions (both bad) of

The Hidden Fortress, 1958, Kurosawa Akira,

with Mifune Toshiro

a

town together and then sits back and watches the fun. In the latter

film, he is continually worried by

a grollp of young santllrai who reallv believe heroics

in

of their

the

supposed

profession. His

is that their "heroic" foolhardiness will get them all concem killed The stories, both about rival politics at the end of the Edo era,

Yojimbo,1961, Kurosawa Akira, with Mifune Toshiro

are composed of the very stuff

of the ordinary period-fihn,

but

Kurosawa, like Yarnanaka before

him, infused this cornnon mater-

ial with new life, returning

to

even the most notorious clichds their original values.

In Yojimbo, to take but

one

example, the old cliche of a falling fighter's crying oka (fron okas6n'r,

172

nteanillg "nother") is used

Sanjuro, 1962, Kurosawa Akira, with Mifune Toshiro, Kayama Yuzo, lrie Takako, Dan Reiko

and reused. First, there is a short scene with a mother and her

snall son, where the cry

is

heard as it is in ordinary speech; next is a funny scene where a weak son utters the word and his mother slaps lrirn; and, finally, there is the sceue where a dying gang member cries oka and returns to the clich d aII of its horror and despair.

In these three films,

Kurosawa has again fitted technique to his requirements. There is

greater dependence upon close-ups, a constant use of deep focus, low-key photography, and a

realistic intricacy 0f detail. Space is outlined by right-angled shots so that shortly the loca-

tions become evident even when not seen. With this cornes that sense of reality which is

atmosphere-creating a home, as it were, for the believable character. One remernbers Humanity onn Pctper Balloorts. Kurosawa's use of history is corlparable to that of Yarnanaka,. The Edo period is a known

historical period-1500 to place

1857-but it is also a domain

where the director can construct a

with its own conventions, its owl laws. If the director of the historical film is

a

Yantanaka or a Kurosawa, he makes it completely his, In the hands of a more conventional director, the period will be reconstructed from conventions we all know, those of the period-

filnr. When Inagaki Hiroshi made his entertaining Samurai Saga (fuu kengo rto shogai, I95D, based on Edrnond Rostaud's CJ,rnno de Bergerac, for exatnple, he used only the accent of his genre. This particular p\ay, to be sure, already

hadafairly thick accent. It was

first nrade into a shimpafavoite,Shirano Benjiro, fron which all its emotional posturings found their way into the film.

In transplanting

Shakespeare's Macbeth to the middle ages of Japan

in

The Throne

oJ-

Blood (Kumonosu-jo, 1957), Kurosawanade a fihn completely nongeneric, utterly his, and ouffi. Though the characters were allJapanese and the locale was obviously Japan, this was

still a story of vaulting arnbition. This was its appeal to the director, who saw in it the continuatior-r of antajor theme:

"l keep

saying the same thing in differentways.

tures I've rnade, I think they ask, 'Why is it that

Tlte Record of

a Lit,ing

If I look at the pic-

hurlan beings aren't happy?' Both lkint and

Being

are suclr pictures . The T'brone

of

Blood, on the other hand, shows

why they must be unhappy."t' Both shakesp eare and Kurosawa agree on what the theme

is-the

pull of power and its inevitable corruption. However, since the story was already legend and the

theme tirneless, the director discarded the seerning hyper-rcalism

The Throne of Blood, 1957, Kurosawa Akira, with Kagawa Kyoko, Mifune Toshiro.

173

of his other historical films and created a film style that would conform to the necessities of his vehicle. Using only a few

conponents--drifting fog and smoke, a rairry forest, the glint of armor,

the sheen of natural wood, cloudy skies, the dead white of skin-Kurosawa, with his camerantan, Nakai Asakazu, created a fihn with a definite texture. We feel the bite of swords, the thud of hooves, the leaf-filled catastrophe of the advancing forest, There are fruitftrl additions to the original as well. Some examples are the scene where dozetts of birds, disturbed by the destruction of their forest, fly into the banquet

hall and cir-

cle around the distraught hero; the sequence where tiny nocturnal sounds form an ostinctto to tlre murder of Duncan; the appearunce of the ghost of Banquo where the director, disdain-

ing trick photography, uses the actor himself, made Llp pLlrely white, with lights creating a halo around him; and the climax where Macbeth is immobilized by arrows, the last one transfixing his neck. Tlre restrained prodigaliry of ilris film is rlatched in Tbe Lou,er DePths (Donzoko,1957), a literal

film version of the Maxirn Gorkv

pla.v, yet one

which has its owu individual style. A

cottsistent set of rules governs characteffi, cAmera movemeltt, formal corlposition (those dra-

matic diagonals), and editing. These rules unify the film, rraking it a bit more consistent than life itself. They also box in the characters of this claustrophobic drama. Everything is carefully threadbare, and the only rnethod of punctuation the director allows hirnself is the simple cut. In fact, Kurosawa coufined himself and his actors to just two sets and permitted uo star turus. Furtlter, he kept the cast for weeks in these sets, with daily camera rehearsals,

until

every/

last retuinder of the stage had beerl rernoved. Among the results was a unanimilv

of enserlble rare

in aJapanese film.

The Lower Depths,1957, Kurosawa Akira,

174

with Mifune Toshiro, Kagawa

Kyoko

Likewise, for ollce, Kurosawa allowed

little music. The music is mainly what the actors

make for themselves-singing, banging 0n pans, and tapping

bowls-this and the rhyth-

nric sound of ll'rc hl,oshigi, t\-nse clappers which call the audience's attention at the tradi-

tional theater. In the final sceue, after the death of one of the characters, another takes

a

drink, turns to the catrrcra, and says: "What ashame! Justwhen the partywas beginuing." At the same time there is a single clap from the hyoshigi, and instantly the end title glows for a second, then disappears, wresting us

frorl what

was also ours. While the picture is theatrical virrced that

was indeedafloating world, but one which

in the most bravuraof. manners, we are con-

it is life we are watching. With its purposely shallow playing

and its two^reas

dirnensional architectural backgrounds, The Lou,er Depths reaches back into the same kind of traditions that gave us early Japanese cinema. Its continual sacrifices for theatric aliry are here rewarded.

This abilif,v to evoke the stage while denying it became even rnore appffent in Kurosawa's Iater work. Dode{ka-den (1970) employed obviously painted sets, as did the dream sequence in lhgetnusha (1980). plrryosely stagelike

Rnn (1985), Kurosawa's adaptation of King Lenr,

it became operatic, enhancing the

alre ady apparent influence

was s0

of noh,

long a favorite Kurosawa eutertainrnent.

In the films followingRed Becn'd, Kurosawa became rnore openly interested in a highly structured, even schematic presentation. Such structure was, as we ltave seen, always there, though the realistic style of the earlier fihns made it less apparent. The visual architecture of Set,ert

Snmurni, for example , rnay turn schematic (the map the samurai draw is seen as a

schema for subsequent action), but the effect is softened and rendered less apparent by the

realistic coutext. The map is there for the use of the samurai. It is only secondarily of any use to us. Ran, on the other hand, is neither a realistic rendition nor an illustration of the King Lear story, nor is it intended to be.

Indeed

in

these \ater

films the director seems to be hirnself repeating that well-known

pattern where theJapanese artist (Tanizaki, Kawabata, Mishirna, and nany others) turn to the outside world, the West, the realistic style, and then return to sornething we might identify

as moreJapanese. These later

films of Kurosawa's sharc mnch with earlierJapanese cinema.

Toward the end of his life, Kurosawa said that he "watched with a detached gaze," just

like tlre noh playwright and theorist Zeani. This neant that the director's pass everyrthing

eyes were

to com-

in detail but did not remain-as he expressed it-"glaring at the set."

Indeedwith the camera rolliug, the later Kurosawararcly looked at the actors. He explains it as a sort of peripheral sixth sense:

"l

focus

ny

gaze somewhere else and

I

sense instantly

when sornething isn't right."sr In tlre last fihns, AeAms (Yume, aka Akira Kurosawa's Dreams, (Hachigatsu no kyoshikyoku [rhapsody] , 1991) , andMcdnda,j,o

1990) ,

Rhapso$, in Augrct

(1993)-allof which Kurosawa

175

t,

scripted

alone-the controlled realisrn which had

so marked earlier films is less apparent,

and more conventional views emerge. The critic who said that watchinglate Kurosawa was like watching the history

of Japanese

film bachuards revealed

a prejudice toward realisrn, but

he also stated a truth. Kurosawa's lack of accommodation to received ideas lras allowed some Japanese critics to

call him their "least Japanese" director. The description is understandable in that he is "Western" enough to be openly individual. Completely uninterested in the standard progran filnr, andfailingwhenever he was forced to make one, he has gone beyond the accepted confines of cinem atic \anguage as the Japanese understood thern and, in so doing, has broadened them. Consequently, perhaps, his films have been widely accepted in the West itself.

Kurosawawas the firstJapanese director to be "discovered" abroad, and this discovery is also one of the reasons that his local critics have found himself, however, review

wff

made famously furious by such

him "un-Japanese." The director

criticisn.

from abroad that had not rcadfalse meanings into his pictures and, in any event, he

would never make a picture especially for foreign audiences: ing toJapanese audiences, then

176

He said he had not rcad one

I-as

aJapanese

artist-am

"lf

a work cannot have mean-

simply not interested in

it."5.1

THE ADVENT OF TELEVISION AND THE FILM'S DEFENSES: SUZUKI, NAKAHIRA, KAWASHIMA, AND IMAMURA

felevisiou,

I

something which damaged the Japanese

film industry much more than

had

eitlrer the 1923 earthquake or the 1945 fire-bombings, officially commenced in Japanirt

1953,

but its ravages were not apparent until adecade later. Indeed, in 1958, when over olte

billion tickets were sold, theJapanese film industry reached its financialpeak. The record for the nrost productions was set theaters. This

in 1!50, with

537 Japanese movies being released

nay be compared with the figures for 2000: 282 films

mately 300 theaten.

released

in some 900

in approxi-

I

There are, of course, many more theaters in Japan, nearly 3,000, but the vast rnajority slrow only foreign films. By 1999, after the complete collapse of Shin-Toho, a Toho subsidiary which had been financed frorn 1947, and the partial collapses of Daiei and Nikkatsu, Toei had turned its Kyoto studio into a therre

park-the

Toei Uzurnasa Eigarnura, with its

Haunted House ("N0 one has returned alive yet . ."). One year later, Shochiku, having already closed its own therne park (Ozu House, Tora-san Street), was moving its head office,

closing theaters, and selling off its Ofuna Studio. Earlier the entertainment economy had been burgeoning. A watershed date for the period is trsually given as 1954. This was the ye r of the Tolqro Olyrnpics, and tlte event (syrnboli-

cally so important for Ja;tan, marking its reentry into "the family of nations") was distinguished by all sorts of modernizations and cleanups. There was a new systeu of elevated highways, strip shows and blue movies were banned, the bullet train was installed, and everyone acquired a television set in order to view the Games.

With a tube in front of every farnily and consequently not many families in the rnotionpicture houses, the filrn industry decided it had to do something about itself. In 1950, the peak year, there had been six major filn-producing companies: Shochiku; Daiei; Nikkatsu (resumed from 1954);Toei (from IgSt);Toho; and its affiliate, Shin-Toho, shortly (1951)

177

to go bankrupt. With tickets selling and crowds rernaining, these companies had beeu confident. Btrt, by 1954, viewers were deserting the theaters and loss was loorning.

The remaining major filrn conpanies thus attempted remedies, all under the rubric of

"rrodernization." HAVing already displayed the insufficient attractious of color and various sorts of wide screens, the industry now turned to other hoped-for attractiorts. These included odd feature lengths, stars in heaqr concentrAtion, and diversified

monsters-Honda Ishiro's

Godzilkt (Goitra, akaGodzilla, King of the Monsters, 1954) having been a hit. The lumbering lizard went on to star

in a twenty-seven-film

series. Here he ruet

with

a

number of other Toho monsters, including Mothra, Rodan, King Ghidorah, Ebirah, Megalon, and that famous foreign tourist, King Kong. He also continued to carefully cruttch ruodels of Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, and oth er Jaysanese cities. "AwAkened" by the A-bomb and put

to rest (again ardagain) by selflessJapanese scientists, Godzrllabecante a kind of barorneter of the political mood. From punishrnent-figure-from-the-past

lre turned friendly and finally

took to defending his country (right or wrong) frorn not only foreign monsters but also the

machinations of both the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. Political ambitions did not, however, kill Godzilla. Toho did. He was n0 longer pulling his financial weight and so Godzilla;

Final

Wars (Gojira: farnaru uozu, 2004) marked his final appearance, During his fifty years of popularity he spawned many fellow monsters and was viewed by nearly one hundred million people.

fuiother audience-attention item was the double bill. Two features for the price of one had all long been a distribution ploy, and some of the exarrples were f.airly exotic. ShochikuTenkatsu, for example, had earlier mixed genres. Souls on the Rond (1921), in which no one had any coufidence, had been shown 0n a

filn from 1920, The Ret,utge

bill, at least in

sorue places,

with a Hollywood

of Tarzaz. Such rniscegenation did not last long, but rtow, in

tlre crisis of the sixties, it was again encouraged.

Companies also dangled lavish genre-product displays. Toei, which had begun produc-

tion only five years before, pioneered wide screen, in 1957, and now routinely rnade all its filrns in that format and specialized in big, wide yakuza and prison-life series. Daiei, uoting the early success of Henry Koster's The Robe (1953), had Misurui Kenji rnake The Life

of

Buddha (Shaka, 1951) in 70 rrm, with every star on the lot in it. This was perhaps in emulation of Toho's earl ier The Ihree Treasuras (Nihon tanjo, 195il , an Inagaki Hiroshi widescreen spectacular about the origins

of

Japan,

with special effects from the people who

brouglrt you Godzilla. Hara Setsuko starred in the role of the sun goddess, and Mifune Toshiro was her unruly dragon-slaying sibling.

funong the better of those directors who specialized in geure fihn was Kato Tai. Beautifully crafted, filled with long, contemplative scenes, and interspersed with crisp fast action, his films seemed a return to an almost forgotten heroic cinema. He made films frout scripts by

178

Hasegawa Shin,

who forty years before had defined the jidaigeki-Loue.for

a

Mother

(Mabtrta n0 hana, aka Long-Sor-rght Mother, 1962) and Toktliro of lSttsukake; Lorte Yakrtza (Kutsukake Tokijiro: yubo ippiki, 1966)-and revived the kn ha in movies such

as

l'is )iu,ct's Ghost (Kaidan Oiwa no borei, 196I), a version of the kabuki play Tokknido Yotsul,a

kidnn.

fuiother genre specialist was Fukasaku Kinji, who rnade Battles Wthout Honor 0r Humanifit (Jtrtgi naki tatakar, aka The YakuzaPapem, 1973-76),

a rnultipartseries for Toei.

Tlre series criticized the yakuza and concemed itself with the extreme consequences of giri and ninjo. These pictures formed a subgenre within the major yakuza-filn genre. Known as

ninkl,o-eigA, such vehicles were idealized, highly forrnalized elaborations, set usually in

the late Meiii, the Taisho, or the early Showa eras. The hero wades into the rival gang and emerges victorious.

Though popular and profitable, the ninkyo-eiga did not last and was replacedby another subgenre called jitsu,roku ("reporting reality") eiga. These films were set World War

II

times and

kid-killingBattle

Ro1t677

in gritty

post-

in the brutal andamoral present. Examples would be Fukasaku's (Batoru rowaiaru, 2000); its sequel Battle Ro1'al

II

(2003), finished

by Fukasaku's son, Kenta; some of Kitano Takeshi's films; and most of Miike Takashi's. Irr these, the lawless,

nihilistic hero of Ito Daisuke is revived-now no longer a figure of serious

moral concern but of rnerely fashionable violence. There were during the period many other genre craftsmen as well. Nakamura Noboru,

wlro lrad worked as assistant director 0n YoshirnuraKozaburo's The Storl, of Tank, Command"er lVishizumi, became a latter-day jun-bungaku specialist, making into persuasive

films such novels Sisters of

as

Ariyoshi Sawako's Tlte Riuu Ki (Kinokawa, 1966) and Kawabata'sTutin

l$'oto (Koto, 196r. Oba Hideo, another Yoshimu n-trained director, specialized in

melodrama and created the enormously popular trilogy What Is

lbur

lVame? (Kimi n0 na

wa,1953-54) andlater remade Snou Countrt, (Yukiguni, 196). Chiba Yasuki, having early completed Certain lVighfs Kiss, went on to create superior program-pictures such as the four-part Mr. Fortune Makw (Oban, 1957-58) and an excel-

r-)

lent Hayashi Fumiko adaptation, Doutntontn (Shitamachi, 1957). Nso working for Toho,

'r-

Okanroto Kihachi began under Naruse Mikio as assistant director on Floating Clouds.He

\-

later went in for spectaculars including 7he Sutord of Doont (Daibosatsu toge, 1966) , Kill

(Kiru, 1958) , and the star-studded The Emperlr and the Guteral (Nihon no ichib an nagai hi, akaJapan's Longest Day,1967); the wry war comedy, Hu,man Bullet (Nikudan, 1968); and a remake of Kuros awa's Sanshiro Sugata (1977) Less generic were the ways

.

of Nikkatsu. Having finally resumed production in 1954, the

company had found (as we have seen) a money-making genre in the taiyozoku fihns about troubled youth. When

it later discovered that this kind of picture was

being patronized by

179

I

rj

troubled youth itself, directon were allowed an unllsual degree of independence. One of those who,

initially at arty

rate, profited

from this rnove was Suzuki Seijun, who in

a relatively short period (1956-57) rnade over forty films for Nikkatsu. Entirely youth-oriented products, his fihns went further than many others. Not only was there more sex and

violence, but the very manner in which they were nade appealed to the young. Color, frivo-

lity, irresponsibility-this appeals to all youth everywhere, but post-Occupation

Japanese

youtlr were particularly altracted. After the earnest postwar era and the often drab-seerning neo-realism of manyJapanese films, a new brand of ero-guro-nansenu became saleable, and directon such as Suzuki sold best.

Suzuki's The Gate of Flah (Nikutai no mon, 1964) was a remake of a 1948 fihn by Makino Masahiro, but few would recognize it. A dour review of prostitution in occupiedJapan

is transfonned into a brightly-colored page ant all about sexual liberation. Sirnil adry, The Lxfe of

n

Man (lrezumi ichidai, aka One

Tattooed

Generation of Tattooed Men, 1965),

wlriclr takes on the yakuza genre, is as stylized as kabuki: carefully aimless action

is

combined with aparody of giri-ninjo dedication in the undenvorld, and violence is lavishly aestheticized.

In Tokl,o Drifter

(Tolcy

o nagaremono, 1966), the hero wears

a white

suit throughout

so

that during the final massacre (which takes place in a white nightclub) the splashes of blood

will nicely contrast. With

every

killing, the strobe lights change color, turning a deep and

satisfying crimson in the end. Such aestheticism, seen now mainly in manga (comic) books and in anime (sci-fi animation) films, began in large partwith the films of Suzuki and his ero-guro followers. One of the qualities of Suzuki's pictures is that, amid

all the blood and laughter, a seri-

ons point is being rnade.In Eleg1, 1s Violence (Kenka ereji, aka Elegy t0 Fighting/Born

Fighter/Fighting Elegy, 1966), the hero is the typical close-cropped, hunorless, pent-up schoolboy 0f the sort

still seen in manga. His girlfriend is far too pure to do anything, but

he hates hirnself for masturbating; a life of violence seems the only answer. At the end of the

fihn, he suddenly joins the notoriolrs rnilitarist coup

of

1936. What

we had seen as simple nonsense can now be read as social comnent. This is what

Ian Buruna neant when he

wrote: "Thus the film is literally an

elegy to fighting, to the innocent violence of youth.

It is a nostalgic

yearning for that period in life when

one can be self-assertive without

180

Elegy to Violence, 1966, Suzuki Seijun, with Takahashi Hideki,

being punished too severely, that time of grace before the harnmer of conformity knocls the

nail back in." l Suzuki is also anarchic, something which made him such a popular director among the yoLurg.

"l

hate constructive thernes . .

. Images

that stick in the mind are pictures of destruc-

tion."'r Ard the destruction is of an aestheticallyJapanese kind. When asked byJ. Scott Burgeson why the boiled-rice fetish of the killer in Branded to

Kll

(Koroshi no rakuin, 1967),

Suzuki replied: "lt's because he's aJapanese assassin. If he were Ita\ian, he'd get turned on

by ntacaroni, right?" Asked about the masturbation scene

in Elegtt to

Violence, he

responded: "The only thing I ever think about is how to make the movie more interesting . .

.

Back tlren you couldn't show nudity inJapanese movies. So I always had to think of some-

tlring else as a substitute." When asked if the actor Takahuhi Hideki was embarrassed, Suzuki showed his Ozu side when he answered: "Since he was told to do it, he had no reason to be embarrassed." {

Suzuki's pictures are now seeu as a kind of rnanga-esque pre-pop-art. Burgeson has said:

"ln

the same way thatJapanese woodblock prints were originally mass-produced com-

mercial posters that only later were recognized

as

worls

of. art,

Suzuki's films are a triurnph

of style and form over impossibly restricted conditions."

Shortly the conditions were to become even more impossibly restricted. Interesting though suzuki's films were and, despite their popularity, Nikkatsu became concerned with the "antisocial" rnessages these colorful and entertaining films were perceived as imparting. Also, the conpany was being criticized as catering to the more seditious of the young. In

a patlern to become familiar industry-wide, Nikkatsu dismissed Suzuki when it became plain tlrat lris youth-oriented fihns were not occurred

in

afte

r

al\, returnin g a malor audience. His dismissal

1968 and, though a number of the youth-oriented took to the streets (around

tlre Nikkatsu Hibiya offices), their numbers were not sufficient to convince the company otherwise. Paradoxically, during the fifties, Nik-

katsu had encouraged seditious directors. When the taiyozoku genre was a

--L

popular subject, Nakahira Ko was per-

.J-'

mitted to make what he would of the

TJ

script which Ishihara Shintaro had fash-

ioned from one of his own popular novels, Crazed

Fruit. Though the stu-

dio wanted just another juvenile delin-

quency fihn, Nakahira made tragedy, one which sacrificed

a

lyric

little

to

Crazed Fruit, 1956, Nakahira Ko, Kitahara Mie, Tsugawa Masahiko.

with lshihara

Yujiro,

sensatiottalisttt and even had an integrity of its own. In it, two boys, brothers, enjoy the favon of tlre sAlue girl. Nakahiracaptured well the atmosphere of a second-rate slunnler resort, the

hesitant arrogallce of adolescents, the animalit)' of the young in their setting of shining sea attd sun-drenched beaches. The elder brother (lshihara

Yujiro) appropriates the girl

(Kitahara Mie), not so much because he wants her as that he doesn't warlt his youltger brother (Tsugawa Masahiko) to have her. But the youngest of the brothers gets therl both in the celebrated motorboat finale, where both the girl and the elder brother are killed.

Like the young people in George Stevens's A Place irt the Stut (1951), afilm which influettced this oue (there is even a shot in common: the portable radio on the pier), the youltgsters are vicious because they lack the

irlagination to be anything else. These particular

yoLlltg people being Japanese, the traditionally competitive ties between the boys are muclr stronger than any bond that might develop between the boys and the girl.

With the success of this film behind him, Nakahira was allowed a degree of freedom. He went on to ruake The Four Sensorts of Lote (Shiki no aiyoku, l95S), in which he showed a fine f'lair for comedy at the expense of the Japanese family system. The picture illustrates how uruch more conservative some membem of the new generatiou are thau their parents.

The Four Seasons of Love,195B, Nakahira Ko,

with Yamada lsuzu, Nakahara

Sanae.

The children of the film's farnily all think that Mother (Yamada Isuzu) should stay at home, giving herself over to self-sacrifice and tears. Her resolve, however, is to live her owlt life. The children, conseruatives that they are, arc ashamed of her. At the end of the fihn, they are assembled at the railway station. Mother, they think, has seen the error of her ways and is

returning home. They prepare suitable faces, hurt but brav€, ffi the train pulls in. Mother appears-accompanied. She is with a gentleman friend and, together, they are olt their way to a hot spring resort. The children are horrified. Mother smiles sweetly, the whistle blows, and the train rnoves off. The final scene is of the faces of the children, who for the first time become aware that it is perhaps they who are missing something.

182

In

1959, Nakahira was also allowed to make TIte Assignntiorr, (Mikkai). Though

it was

only an hour long (Nikkatsu, like everyone else, was experimenting with lengths), it turned out to be an Llnusually powerftrl fihr. An indication is the opening scene-six minutesshowing a married woman and her young lover, a student, lying on the ground in a deserted park. Nakahira confines our view entirely to this single setup, both actors cut off at the waist.

It is in the acting and the slow, sinuons lnovernents of the camera that sex is suggested. At the end, the wife, fearful of dis-

closure, irnpulsively pushes the stu-

dent under a, train. Here, as nrotorboat finale

in Crazed

in

the

Frutit,

Nakahira Llses a convincingly impressionistic technique, creating the action thror-rgh a number of very short shots:

close-ups

of the two faces, the wife's

hand, the student's foot slipping, and then his body turning as he falls. At

the end of the seqllence we see the

train overshooting the station, then we are shown the tracks.

The Assignation,1959, Nakahira Ko, the opening sequence,

with lto Takao, Katsuragi Yoko

aud

In a long-held shot, there is the student, dead, his head and

slroulder at one side of the frame; atthe other, atan impossible angle, his leg.

Brilliant as these films were, they attracted no real following, though other directors rnuch admired them. Presaging the conpauy's later treatment of Suzuki, Nikkatsu consequently decided that Nakahira would be better occnpied making action fare. A number of tlrese films w€re made, after which the unhappy director extricated hirnself and went to Tai-

wan to direct equally undistinguished Chinese entertainment fihns.

fuiother director who had initially found freedom at the new Nikkatsu was Kawashima Ynzo, who had left Shochiku and was later to go on to Daiei and Tokyo Eiga, a small

in-

dependent company affiliated with Toho. funong collaborations with a number of directors,

Kawaslrima had worked as an assistant director 0n Ozu's The Brothers

and

Sisters

of the

Toda Fctmilj,. Though the first half of his fifff-odd films were standard Shochiku produ ct, at Nikkatsu he was allowed a degree of latitude.

Imamura Shohei, who had, as he put

it, a

"master-apprentice relationship" with

Kawashima, recalled having asked the rnaster why he had made such "completely worthless"

films at Shochiku: "He looked me straight in the eye and said: 'For a living."'5 Kawashirna indeed did a number of things for a living, includin g appearing as an extra in Tasaka Tomo-

taka's Fiue Scouts (1938)

,

and working intermittently

with Shimazu Yasujiro, Yoshimura

Kozaburo, and Shimizr-r Hiroshi. He was chief assistant on Kinoshita Keisuke's debut film, he

I83

"r -L I"i.

made one of the early "kissing" pictures for the Allied Occupation, and became knowrr as the

man who could direct a film a month. It was not until he went to Nikkatsu, however, that he made the kind of fihns he wanted to make.

With money to be made from juveniles-adolescent revolt still being a box-office draw-Kawashima was pennitted to turn his attention to another segnent of the population which the films had more or less ignored, but of which he himself was a member. This was what the upper classes called the lower classes. To be sur€, the lower classes had been seen 0n the screen in both the shorningeki geure and keiko-eiga, but

"socializgd"-1f that is the word-to

in the former they had

a sometimes sentimental degree, and

been

in the latter they

were too often mere propaganda fodder. One of Kawashima's assumptions (shared with Japans. One is the

lmamura) is that there are, in effect, two

"official" version-noh, tea cerenony, Mizoguchi, Ozu, late Kurosawa,

along with the approved high-class virtues of fidelity and devotion. Here and there, an unhappily subservient (possibly kimono-clad) woman cornpletes the image. This is the version which most foreigners see, the one which gets exported, and the way in which Japanese society perhaps best likes to view itself.

Tlre otherJa;san is tlre "real" one, the one both directors chose to depict. The characters

in a Kawashina 0r an Imarnlua film,

as has often been noted, do not behave

like 'Japanese"

because none of the rules of order and decoruln insisted upon by the official version apply. These low-class

folk do not know the meaning of fidelity. They are utterly natural,

even

"unciviltzed," t0 the extent that civilization means a rerloval front the natural. They are selfislr, lusty, amoral.

Nl

the vitality of Japancomes from their nurnben.

Kawashima, Imamura, and later directors who shared this view believed that tlte "offi-

cial" civihzation had long

"l

threatened to smother the real one. Imamura has said of himself:

happen to be lnore interested in the Japanthatflourished before the artistic decadence fos-

tered by the political isolation of the feudal period." It still flourishes: "TheJapanese did not

clrange as aresult of the Pacific War . . . they haven't changed in thousands of years."6 This accounts for their admirable vulgarity.

In Suza,ki Paradise-Red Light Dish'ict (Suzaki paradaisu:

Akashingo, 1956),

Kawashima's favorite among his own films (scripted by Ide Toshiro, better known for his Naruse scenarios), people are completely without pretensions. Though the women are all more or less fallen, n0 one feels terrible about it in the Naruse nanner. When one of them (fu'atama Michiyo) has the chance for a bit more money with another rnan, she simply (as slre

is-no

luggage) clirnbs on the back of his rnotorbike and, with abigsrttile and awave,

off she goes. No one feels particularly bad about betraying trust or stealing a bit of cash either, and the man who eventually does retum the stolen noney is seen as something of a wirnp. People are depicted as

1U4

people-surviving. We see this in the opening

shot

, a very long

dolly shot (under the credits) frorr a high angle looking down at the customers as they pass the houses of the prostitutes who attempt to drag thent in. The angle is such that it is all legs arrd bottolls, u0 one's face is seen, though a hand now and ther-r enters and sttatches. This is

what their roiling world is really like, struggling to

surive-aud

we are

iu its throes, like it

or not.

That the realJapanese world was always like this is shown itt Kawashima's most popular

filrn, The Surt's Legend (Bakumatsu taiyo-den, aka The Sun's Legend at the End of the Tokugawa Period, aka After Leaving Shinagawa, aka Shinag wa Patlt, 1957). Written by Kawaslrinra, Imamura, and Tanaka Keiichi and based in part on rutkugo stories, the setting is a large and cornfortable brothel, the Sagarniya, toward the end of the Edo period (ca 1850). Saheiji (Furanki Sakai) cannot pay his

bill and

is held hostage.

In uo time, native wit has led to

financial solvency. He collects debts and tips, is a lovers' go-beMeelt, and evett gets hold of a map of the British Embassy and sells it to a resident revolutionary so that he cau burn it down.

The Sun's Legend, Kawashima Yuzo, 1957, with lshihara Yujiro, Furanki Sakai

Here, as always etlgage

in a Kawashima filrl, a number of characteffi

in rlundane

eltcounter each other,

discourse, enjoy carnal relations, and have an overall good tittte.

Imarnura thought that the

filn

should have showed more 0f "how the citizens of Edo, in

spite of their proverbial frivolouslless, revolted against oppression."T BLlt one of the points of the picture was the unorganized and nnbuttoned beauty of the Llltcolnlnitted.

Md

as for the

revolt against oppression, it was sirnply not that kind of fihn,

huarnura has also noted that Kawashima "wasn't interested in the conventional gram-

lnar of filmmaking and [that] he often just jllmp-cuts. Whert I wrote fthe script for this

film] I left matly things in

the script deliberately ambiguous, but he never paid any attention

to the details auyvvay. That's the kind of man he was."

8

1U5

Despite

his lack of grammatical interest, Kawashirna was also atl admirer of

the

foursquare geornetric workmanship of both Ozu and Yam anaka. Tbe Stut's Legencl in some

ways reminds one of Humanitl' Antl Paper Balloons. Kawashima, like Yananaka, attentpted to show the interaction between space and people-whether space is extraneous or rtot depends on the situation, what happens in it. The corridors, rooltls, bath, and toilet in

tlre single ruain set of The Surt's Legencl arc as articulated as are the tenement and the streets outside in

Hurnanitl, rnul Pctper Balloons, And for the salne

reasons.

Many other directors learned from Kawashima. fulong them was Urayarna Kirio (later arr assistant to Irlamura), who rrade The Sh'eet u,itlt the

Cultoh (Kyupora n0 am machi,

f962), after a script cowritten with lmamura, aud Bacl Git'l (Hiko shojo, 196i. The later "new wave" directors learned frorn him

as

well. In an essay called "Mv Teacher," hrarrura

states that "Kawashima's early revolt against Shochiku's anthorit,v is precisely the reasorl

why young people are once again taking an interest

iu his work.

He personified the "new

wave," years before its emergence."')

Imamura hirrself learned frorn other directors as well. "The film that shocked and rnored me most was Kurosawa's Dt'unken Toshiro incredibly

real-he

was with Kurosawathat

Angel.l found the gangster played by Mifune

reminded me of people I'd

Imamura-then

at

rlet ou the black market." r{) fu1d i1

Toho-ryx1[ed to study, but

as Toho was hav-

ing strikes during this period, no admission examinations were held. He therefore went to Shochiku, where he was told to work with Ozu. Imamura worked as the older director's assistarrt orr three of his filrns, includingTokyo St0r1,. At the tirne he said he ruuch disliked the expenence. Later,

iu an interview with Nakata Toichi, Imamura revealed how unbearable it had beeu

to watch the scene where the mother in the Ozu

film

dies

of acerebral hemorrhage,

given

that his own mother had recently died of the sane caLlse. Irnarnura recalls taking refuge in the bathroom, almost

in tears: "0zu followed me and came to nrinate next to me. 'Mr. Ima-

mllra,' he ask€d, 'is that what a cerebral hemorrhage looks like? Have I got it right?' At the tirne I thought hirn incredibly cruel, but I later realized that agreatfihnmaker sometirnes has to behave like that." Imamuralater said that leamed rnost of the basics of filmmaking.

it

was while working for Ozu that he

rr

Under Ozu's tutelage, Imarnnra also leamed about the kind of

film he did not want to

make. While Ozu's remark was certainly enough to cause resentrnent, what Irnamura perhaps equally disliked was what he saw as Ozu's celebration of the official

version-the

serene world of traditional Japanese aesthetics.

The rnyth of the accepting Japanese woman was another of Imamura's dislikes. As he told Audie Bock: "Self-sacrificing womeu like the heroines of Naruse's Flocttirtg Clourh and Mizoguchr'sThe

186

Lfe of )hnru,they don't really exist . . . My heroines are true to life-just

look around you at Japanese women." Imamura went on to define this tn-re-to-

life cinematic womau: "Medium

height

and weight, light coloring, smooth skin.

The face of a woman who loves nen. Maternal, good genitals. Jnicy."rr He was

talking about the heroine of Intentions

of hlurdu'

(Akai satsui, aka Murderous

Desire, aka Unholy Desire, 1964),

but the

description fits most Imamura women.

lntentions of Murder, 1964, lmamura Shohei, with Harukawa Masumi.

She is matemal yet she likes to ntake love.

Most men would perhaps not

nake the connection between good juicy genitals and

uotlterhood, but for Imamura this quality is necessary for a woman's full ability to nurture. This he openly shows in most of his films. In fact, an understanding 0f this link helps one approach the director's pictures. Imamura told critic Yarnada Koichi:

"l

am intercsted in the

relationship of the lower part of the human body and the lower part of the social structure otl

which the realiry of dailyJapanese life supports itself."li Tlre Imanura wornan receives her first full-length portrait

in

Pigs

and Battleshps (Buta

to gunkan, 1961), where YoshimuraJitsuko cannot protect her innoceltce but closely guards

lrer independence. In The Insect Woman (Nippon konchuki, 196il, the heroine (Hidari Sachiko) has tlte same absolute resolve as the ant we are shown attempting an up-hill climb

in the first scelle. In the last scene, like the insect, the protagonist struggles on: getting her stockings dirty, breaking the thong of her clog (mishaps that would make a Naruse heroine burst into tears), pe$evering despite these minor misfortunes. Botlr this and the

film which

Hasebe Keiji, who had worked

was to follow,

with Ichikawa Kon on both the early comedies and on Confla-

grntion, and who was particularly creating au incisive, image-drive

tive.

Intentions of Mrn'der, were cowritten with

ade;tt at

n

narra-

In the later film, the rape victim

(Harukawa Masumi) outlives the rapist,

.! -' *{'

legalizes her son, and triumphantly comes

into her own in a man's world. Imarnura's women are all suruivors.

Within the first fifteen minutes

of.

A X[an

Vanisha (Ningen johatsu, 1967), the female protagonist has forgotten about the miss-

ing

ob

ject of her search (the vanished

The lnsect Woman, 1963, lmamura Shohei, with Hidari Sachiko

187

1

man) and has Wagnatically transferred her affections to the interviewer who is helping lrer find him. In Tbe Profouncl Desire of the Gods (Karnigami no fukaki

yokubo, aka Kuragejima: Tales frorn

a

Southern Island, 1968), the yolulg shamau

rnay be rnentally disturbed but she also possesses a

vitaliry that allows her to sur-

vive in a modern civilization which attempts The Profound Desire

to extinguish that very qualiry.

of the Gods,

1968, lmamura

Shohei, with Matsui Yasuko, Mikuni Rentaro

Both Kawashima and Imaurura find a reftrsal of

"civilization" admirable because it is this primitive naturalness that is responsible

for the wholeness which some Japanese still exhibit.

It

appears

in various forms. In Ihe

Pornogruphers (Erogoto-shi-tachi yori: Jinrui-gaku nyumon, 1966), based on the popr-rlar Nosaka Akiyuki novel, the protagonist is a man who feels

it is his duff to restore some of the

things that civilization has denied. First on his list is pomography, which harms no one and pleases marly. To this end he devotes himself to

sized latex dolls. We watch hirn at

work-a

making

bh-re

films and manufacturing life-

serious, dedicatedJapanese craftsrnan. The

film

is like a docunentary, an impression reinforced by the Japanese title of the film, whose literal

translation is Pornographers; An Introdnction to Anthropolog'. fuid at the end, busily, happily inserting real hair into his creation, the artis an at work does not notice that his houseboat studio has slipped its

nooring line. In the calm coda of the filru, we watch hinr

drift, all unknowingly, through the cauals of Osaka and out into the Pacific Ocean, preslunably never to be heard of

again-the

end of a specles.

InThe Profotntcl Desire of the Goch, filmed entirely on location on the southern island of Ishigakijima, much of the footage of its original three-hour length is devoted

to the topography of the place, its flora

and fauna, including the

islanders

whose ways are as prirnitive as they are

natural. But two-thirds through, the story suddenly breals off and a title tells us that several years have passed.

The spot has been discovered by the tourist industry-planes, taxis, frenclr fries. The final sequence-the shamarr

meuaced by the new

188

train-is

affect-

The Pornographers,1966, lmamura Shohei,

Sumiko

with Sakamoto

ing because we have come to understand the prirnitive and to long for it. Now all is gone. The cry of the Coca-Cola seller is the voice of doorn. It is the earl,yJaparrcse, the "pritnitive" olres,

wlro are real--not our rationalizing contetnporaries.

Primitives are not taken in by accepted opinion. The hostess in A Historlt of Posttuar Japnn As Told W a Bar Hostess (Nippon sengo-shi-Madamu Omboro no seikatsu, 1970) lras only scorn for the official version of the Pacific War and its heroics. "lt wasn't that way

atall,"

she says.

h'tEijanaika (1981), it is the lowly showgirl (Momoi Kaori) who is the real

rebel, and in The Ballad of IVaraltnvto (Narayama bushiko, 1983), Irnamura's version of the same novel on which Kinoshita based his 1957

film, it is the mother (Sakarnoto Sumiko)

who imposes her will and orders her son to take her up to the mountain.

Imamur ahu said that he wanted to make really human, Japanese, uttsettling films, thus implying that well-made, plotted, reconcilingJapanese films are not reallyJapanese. Indeed the director has never liked the cinematically tidy. He has n0 more use for plot than Ozu did,

though for different reasons. He prefers instead a series of stories or, if there is but one stoty, a chain of scenes only loosely interconnected. Imamura states his preference "for shooting true

things." He elabontes: "lf rny fihns are messy, it is probably because I don't like too perfect a cinema. The audience must not admire the technical aspects of rny filruuraking,

as

they would a cornputer or the laws of physics."la Tlre resulting spontaneous appearance of the films is nonetheless often

the result of much planning. Even in the most documentary-like of all the

filns,

,4

Man

Vanishes, the "docu-

mentary" is a construct (cowritten with Nosaka Akiyuki) and the direc-

tor's control is irnplicit, as

in

the

A Man Vanishes, 1967,

lmamura

with

Hayakawa

Yoshie, Tsuyuguchi Shigeru.

scene where he (playing the director

of tlris docume ntary they are making) and Tsuyuguchi Shigeru (playing the interviewer) talk about the woman at the center of the film, the one searching for the vanished lnan.

hnamurn;

You know, she may be falling

in love with you.

Tsul,uguchi; That would be awftrl.

Imamura; So rnuch

No, that is just what I want.r5

for cintima vdrit6,. Imamur a hu in one line of dialogue openly exposed his

intentions, made visible what most documentarians seek to hide: that a real-Iife film is

as

I tJg

directed as any other kind, that the director still picls and chooses and thus creates his own realfty.

In another such dernonstration in the

sAme

film, the heroine asks, "Mr. Director, what

is

truth?" As though in answer, the walls of the private dining r00m in a srnall restaurant wlrere they are sitting

fall

away. The lights are turned up, the canera dollies back to reveal

that we are filming in a fihn studio, and in the midst of this enormous space sit the princi-

pals atasntall table. "This is fiction,"

16

says

ImamurA, Answering the astonished wotllan's

question. This collp de cindrna (only Imamura, not the others, knew what was going to hap-

pen) answers in the rnost convincing manner the somewh at Rashomon-like question. Real-

ity is sornething we construct, As for abstract reality, it u0 lllore exists than does the abstract Japanese wornan.

In

Imarnura's extremely tight, action-filled framing-sometimes there are srnaller

frames

within the frames, windows, or doors, through which even more actiort can be

glimpsed-he indicates his concerns. The director

has written: "There are no shots

in my

films which do not contain human action. There are n0 empty landscapes 0r unmotivated

cuts... love

Thereason

Iworkthiswayisto avoidthetrapof onlyexplainingcharacter.,.

I

all the characters in rny films, even the loutish and frivolous ones. I want every one of

rrry shots to express this love." Stasis,

in the Ozu or Mizoguchi

sense, would thus be a

luxury

his busy people cannot afford. It would also be an indication of dispassion, which lmamura himself does not possess. His explanation of this continues: greedy, humorous, deceitful people who are very human

"l'rn

interested in people, strong,

in their qualities and their failings.

A reason that my fiction films sometimes look like documentaries is because I base nty characters 0n research

into real people." ti

Likewise, hnamura caunot afford the ternporal equivalent to entply spaces-free tirtte. Tlrere are very few long, lingering, actionless shots

until the late films: Black Rain (Kuroi

anre, 1989), The Eel (Unagi, 1997), Doctor Akngi (Kanzo sensei, 1998), and Lukeu,arm

Water tmder the Bridge (Akai hashi no shita u0 nllrui mizu, 2001). Vitality is created through a crowded canvas and abreakneck

ln

speed,

The fusect Woman, whole weeks are compressed

into just three cuts. The heroine's

chitd pulls a hot soup cauldron over and is scalded to death; cut to a detail of the child's body; cut to the crying mother, now at one of the new-religion centers-weeks have passed. Using the only punctuation that Ozu pennitted himself, the straight cut, ImamLua creates an

equally laconic world. Iraryeance Is fotine (Fukushu suruwawafe ni ari, I97D, a study of a killer, is filled with temporal short cuts. The body of the first murder victim is found in an empty field; cut to a helicopter, then pan down to the field nowswarmingwith police. Afewscenes later, the murderer

190

(}gata Ken) is shown in atruck with his next victim; cut to the helicopter and the field;

Vengeance ls Mine, 1979, lmamura Shohei, with Ogata Ken, 0gawa Mayumi.

cut to the murderer in a train looking out as the train passes the field. These scenes go by

so

fast and push the chronology at such a pace that one does not even notice all the scenes deliberately left out. Sornetimes, instead of cutting, Imamura

gle traveling

will swiftly cram all we need to larow into a sin-

shot-one filledwith spatial vanety, though the temporalvalue

is constant. A

spectacular exatnple from the same film is cornposed of trvo end-to-end traveling shots. The

first shows the murderer going to a uew town. We are in the train with him. The scene is

filled with passengers getting ready t0 get off the train. Through the windows, the station slides into view. When the murderer also alights, the canera gets off along with him, staying

just behind as he traverses the platform, passes through the wicket, leaves the station, and gets

into ataxi. Cut to the taxi stopping 0n a small street. The second traveling shot begins at

once. The killer gets ont, pays, walls up the street. The camera contiuues to follow

turns, opens

a gate,

passes

him

as he

through the garden, and enters an inn, through the windows of

which we see the proprietress playing rnahjong. Without interruption, the shot proceeds up the stairs as she leads hirn into the second-floor r00m, which

will

Though no time has been elided, the frame has been so filted with motion that the sequences,

which are actually relatively long, seem short. They have pushed us into the

film's chronology and rnade us feel its urgency. Like e-maki,

-

be his.

these traveling shots have both

informed and oriented, while at the same time producing an effect of overflowing vitality, one which bursts the confines of the frame. For its equal, the West would have to wait

until

tlre invention of the steadicaln, as seen in the opening shot of Robert Altman's Ihe Plaltsy

(1992) and in the celebrated into-the-nightclub-through-the-kitchen-entry shot in Martin Scomese's Goodfellas ( 1990)

191

) --r

THE EARLY INDEPENDENTS: HANI AND TESHICAHARA

pf

lJ

ack in the late 1950s, when Nikkatsu was leading the

way-with

its new directon show-

ing a rnodest profit and an enlarged, mostly young audience promising to reward its

irtcreased

turnout of youth-oriented fihns-shochiku, the most conseruative of the com-

panies, decided to allow its directors a bit more autonorny as well, something which

it had

previously accorded only Ozu Yasujiro and Kinoshita Keisuke.

Shochiku thus cautiously encouraged a number of assistant directors, among them Oshima Nagisa, Yoshida Kiju, and Shinoda Masahiro. This group was the nucleus of an

identity later created by the media with the help of the studio: nuberut, bagu (nouuelle uague,or "new wave") , a copy of the conmercial designation used for the new French film product of the 1950s which incorporated such otherwise dissimilar directors as Jean-Luc Godard, Frangois Truffaut, and Claude Ch abrol.

That the audience was ready for a "new wave" kind of picture had already been indicated by the reception given the work of Hani Susumu i avery young director working completely outside the studio systern. Hani was enployed by Iwanami Eiga, the fihn-producing section of a publishing company, and his methods were utterly different frorn those who had studied

fihnmaking in the rnainstrearn studios. He had made a series of documentary slrorts, most notably Children

in

the

Classroom (Ky oshitsu no kodomotachi, 1954) and Children Who DrAu, (E wo kaku kodomotachi, 1955),

In

1960, Hani filmed his first fea-

ture, Bad Bo1,s (Furyo shonen, 1951).

Mixing documentary with fiction in this

filnr about boys in a reformatory, Hani

Bad Boys, 1961, Hani Susumu

improvised scenes with the young delinquents. Starting with no story atal\, he gradually built Llp a series of situations and, in the end, created a highly perceptive fihn. While the boys were sometimes told what the situation

wff, the dialogue

was their own, as was the "acting." Hani s00n discovered that the camera

went largely ignored. Since the boys had all earlier spent time at the reform school, they quickly fell back into their old lives, the difference being, according to Hani, that now they were reliving their lives. This made the young actors thoughtful and gave the

film a deliber-

ate quality.

While the actors did not consider their actions, they seemed to be considering the consequences, which, of course, they abeady knew. This attractive arnbivalence led to the ironic

final scene of the film, where the protagonist, being released, thanks the institution which

192

has forrned (or perhaps deforrned) him.

This irony, with its implied social criticism, both made the fihn popr-rlar and earned it the KinemaJumpo pfize.

Hani's sense of irony was to con-

tinue into later films. His next feature

wu A Full Llb (Mitasareta seikatsu, 1952). It was made for Shochiku and used well-known screen actors whom Hani continued to direct as though they were arnateurs.

A Full Life, 1962, Hani Susumu, with Arima lneko

In it, a young womarl

fuopular screeu star Ar irna Ineko) wants to better herself. She tries various neans: radical politics, drana troupes, a nunber of men. At the end, avery long close-up indicates that the

womau has found happirress by behaving in the manner in which mauy Japanese housewives behave: subservient, repressed, ferninine. But this does not lessen the irony. She ancl

He (Kanojo to kare, 1963) explores the sarne theme,

a

woman's atternpts to dis-

cover herself, though n0 solution is offered

here-ironic or othenvise.

She

(Hidari Sachiko, whon Hani had mar-

ried) plays a happily rnarried wife in the

filn

itself; he, her husband (Okada

Eiji), is a good provider. But this is not enough for her. Again, at the end, there is a long close-up as the wife lies in bed, sleepless

, gazing into

is lr alf- a fr aid,

h

the darkness. She

alf-hopefu l.

She and He,1963, Hani Susumu,

with Hidari Sachiko

The methods used in She and He are sittrilar to those of Bad Bo1,s. Hani and his scenarist, Shimizu Kunio, followed no script. They wrote the lines as they went along, and each set-up became a documentary-like affair. The tlreme of finding oneself is repeated in Bricle of the Andes (fuldesu no hanayome, 1966),

a Tolro productiotr in which a rnail-order bride (Hidari again), straight from Japan, feels that she must somehow find her true self, married, and in the wilds of Peru

as she is.

Hani's wolneu, well understood, well presented, are far from those of Mizogr-rchi Kenji or Yoslrinru ra Kozaburo, and nearer to those of Imamura. Yet these directors

would a\l agree

tlrat theJapanese wonan is a fitting symbol of a problern which many f.ace: how to leam to be yourself

in a society that doesn't want you to. Though Mizoguchi's wonen largely fail,

Hani's occasionally don't.

r93

I

This tteed to rcalize the self is not limited to wotuelt. In the Daiei fihn Chilch'ert Hartcl in

Huncl (Te wo tsuttagu ko-ra, 1964), a remake of an Inagaki Hiroshi fihn from 1948 based 0n AIt earlier Itami Mansaku script, a backward child comes to realize his limitations and Itettce lris possibilities.

In Tbe Song of Bu:arta Toshi (Buwana Toshi no uta, 195), an ordi-

nary Japanese man (Atsumi Kiyoshi, later famous as Tora-san) who never before bothered

with notious as to who he night be other than a Japanese, finds hinrself without a clue irr darkest Africa. The filrn is rttade of up documentary-like, unplotted sceues: Toshi up in a tree baying for hippopotanti; the exciternent and awe of the village people turning 0n the electric

light for the first tinte; and the dancing finale in which we

see Toshi pleased, embarrassed,

happ.v, and very hnman.

Both the bride of the furdes artd Toshi in Africa experieuce being outside Japan, away front the tradition which has so formed them. That tradition itself is by natnre repressive is sotuething which all people experience, but the Japanese experience it a bit lnore openly. Society wattts citizens, not

fully developed human beings. This thenre auimates much cul-

tural expression, iu Japan as elsewhere. In Hani's films, the thenre of collective traditiolt versus freedour is an important oue.

A major statement of this thenle was The

htbrno of First Lot'e (Hatsukoi jigo-

knhen, aka Nauami: First Love, 1958), an independent (Art Theater Guild) film. tui adolescent boy aud

girl nteet and waut

to nrake love. She has had sorne experience and he has had

uone-but

both are

equally innocent. Their voyage to experience finds

its central staterrent in

desperate sinceLif,v

of the yoLutg

the

people

and in the machinations of a. society

The lnferno of First Love, 1968, Hani Susumu, with Mitsui Koji, Takahashi Akio

which threatens to (and eveutuall,v does) overuhelm them. Serttiruentality, posing an eqLlal threat, is avoided by the harshuess of the photography; by a ltelvoLls, prying camera; by the refusal of an,vthing short of actual locations; and by the tact and grace with which the ,voung people are directed. This thoroughly modern version of the giri-ninjo thene garnered great critical and popnlar acclaim, but it wru also Hani's last major film.

With the "new wave" comluercializing uew attitudes, and the studios moving to cash iu ott wltat they perceived m a fresh, open market, Hani discovered further productions nudging

hiru itt ways he did rtot want to go. Since he had no commitnrent to the film industry,

194

he

returned to the docume ntary , a gerlre for which he is now famous in Japan he is the foremost director of wildlife films.

In thern, Hani finds a nattnalness

and, yes, as he recently

phrased it, an innocence which he no longer finds in Japan. Most "members" of t\'rcJapanese new wave did not even know each other, nor did they all

come

fron

the same studios. Hani was unaffiliated, as was Teshigahan Hiroshi who, son

(and scion) of the founder of a very successful ikebana (flowe rarrangement) school, early made experimental films and then privately financed his first feature,

Pitfall (Otoshiana,

rg52)

Pitfall,

as was the case

with the rnajority of this director's films, was scripted by novelist

and playwright Abe Kobo. Their most successful (Suna n0 onlla

,

fihn together

was Woman i,n, the Dunes

1964). It was, Iike most of their collaborations, a parable. A school teacher

0n an outing is irnprisoned by the local folk in a large sand pit with a recently widowed woman. His attempts to escape are all unsllccessful. Eventually, he adapts to his impossible

life. In discovering a way to make potable the water that seeps from the sand, he hits upolt his purpose in life. When the chance to escape finally cornes, he refuses it.

Woman in the Dunes,1964,

Teshigahara Hiroshi, with Kishida Kyoko, Okada Eiji

The therne of the search for and discovery of identity shares muclt with the central thetle

of Hani's fihns, though Teshigahara's way of illustrating it is quite different. Early a maker

of documentaries, Teshigahara combines great technical skill

(extreme depth

of

focus,

imrnaculate detail, elaborately choreographed camera movement) with a precise fidelity to his script, a combination which resulted in a number of interesting theme-related Abe-based

films, such as The Face of Another (Tanin no kao, 1966) and Ihe Man Withou,t a fi[ap (Moetsukita chizu, aka The Burned Map, 1958).

ht the fonner, arnan

laboratory accident and has a new one made for

hin. In the latter, a detective

loses his face

in

a

unwillingly

assunes the identiff of the rnissing man for whom he is searching.

195

l\

Teshigahara has said that he believes his talents are those

of a canreranran. It is certainlv tn-re thztt the docunrentan'-like

realisnr

of his early work is

striking. The two-part docurttentaru ,.fosd

1965) rrnd

Tlt'res ( 1959 and

5'u tn

tner

Sokliers

(Sarrra soruj a, 1971), the latter scripted bv John Nathan, are of a clesigned realisnl rarc in Japa-

nese filnrs. Working closelv

Sunmer Soldiers, 19J1, Teshigahara Hiroshi, with Keith

Sykes,

Lee Reisen

with photographer Segawa Hiroshi and conrposer Takenritsu Toru, Teshigahara

createcl

sollle of the tuost strikingl)' original filnts of the decade. Litter, having taken over as head of the ikebana school after his father's death, the direc-

tor tuLned much nrore'Ja1tanese." Interesting hinrself in traditional aesthetics, he nracle srrclr heavilv detailed historicztl dramas rc Rik.)'tt (1989) ntd Prittcess Go (Go-hinre, aka Basara, 1992). This sudden return to zur almost prewar-like rnonumentality was obviouslv predicatecl on the traditionalisnr of his new profession.

It also affinued

a

kind of cultural pat-

tern we have previonsll, encountered. a period of exploration in the various realities outside Japan, concluding with a return to Japanese tradition as it is understood.

THE "NEW WAVE": OSHIMA, YOSHIDA, AND SHINODA redit for the cresting of the "new wAVe" is nsually given to Shochiku and the stable of

f'r

f.l

young clirectors it initialll, sponsorecl. The first of these was 0shima Nagisa. A twentv-sir-

year-old assistant director, Oshima wAS given an unprecedeuted full-diLectoLship under the "lrew-wave Lot,e

poliq'," desigued to pronrote fresh and free films, and allowed to direct A Tott'tt of'

atcl Hope (Ai to kibo lto mAchi,

1959). That Kido himself gave this hackneved title

to a film about neither love nor hope and which the director had wanted to call Tlte Bo.)' Who Solcl His Pi,qeoz indicated just how fLesh aud free the uew-wave experience

with the

company was going to be.

Though Kido disliked the picture, calling restricted distribution,

it got good

reviews. After

it a

"teltdeucy

film"

and allowing

it

onl.v

half a year the young diLector was allowed to

go 0n and urake Cruel Stor.l, 0J'Ioutb (Seishun zankoku rnouogatari, aka Cruel Tales of

Youtlr, 1950) and The ,lutt's Rurinl (Taiyo no hakaba, 1960). While these films could be seen as extensions

196

of the coucenrs of the taiyozoku-violeut youth in revolt-thev were

Cruel Story of Youth,1960, Oshima Nagisa, with Kawazu Yusuke, Kuwano Miyuki

also found interesting by the critics for their narrative innovations and inherent social concents. The filmmakers of the postwar era had embraced politics of a leftist hurnanism. Now

Oshima went on to express disillusion with the organized left and a continued despair with the right.

fihl,

IVight and Fog in Japan (Nihon n0 yoru to kiri, 1950), was clearly intended as his declaration of independence. A political fable which criticizes both 0slrima's fourth

right and left, it was made with rninimal rneans, mauy long takes, and is filled with theatricality. It is surprising that the director thought he could peacefully foist this on his studio, and

it

s

an)azing that Shochikr-r allowed him to make

reassured by the inclusion of a wedding scene. The

it at all. Perhaps the comparly

film, however, is not about

was

a wedding.

It

is about the failure of the left to end the United States-Japan Securify Treaty during the 1950

deuronstrations. The film is so palpably opposite the concems of Kido, so little in accord with tlre "Ofuna flavor," that one can only read its production as achallenge.

In his adversarial stance, Oshima was to Japanese cinema somewhat as Jean-Luc Godard was to the French.

"l don't

Joan Mellen, "but I

agree

agree specifically with any

of [Godard's] positious," 0shirra told

with his general attitude in confronting political themes seriously

in film . . ."rs In Oshima's view, u0 one else was doing this. "My hatred forJapanese cinema includes absolutely

insight:

all of it,"

re

he said in a later interyiew. fui earlier statement provides

"lt is not a rnatter of good or bad. My point is that

their fihns [0zu's and Mizo-

guchi's] were rnade to be acceptable to the Japanese because they were based upon a familiarity with general concepts readily understandable by the Japanese-they used a narrative

197

style long established and understood, but

I an not attempting to remain within this conge-

nial, older ntode. Our generation cannot rely on the congeniality of our all beingJapanese in order to communicate." lo

If lVight snd Fog in Japan was intended as provocation, it was successful. Shochiku, provoked, shelved the

film

after only a few days on limited release.

It used a recent political

assassination as anexcuse, pleading the risk of political "unt'est." Oshirna famously storrned

out, calling for his studio to just stop using that term "new wave" once and for all. Shochiku

did not, and indeed Oshima subsequently released a number of independently produced films through shochiku. A breach had been made, however, and

filrn audiences now realized that there existed an

alternate cinema. Oshima was even able to pinpoint its birth:

"ln

the rip of a woman's skirt

and the btrzz of a motorboat, sensitive people heard the heralding 0f a new generation of Japarrese

film."rr The reference

is to Crazed

Fruit (1955),

by NakahiraKo, one of the direc-

tors Oshima spared from his general condemnation.

fuirong the others thus reprieved was Masumu ruYuuzo. Oshima lauded him for, as he said, turttittg his back on the lyricisrn dominant iu Japanese society and cinema. He also approved of Masurnura's saying that

his goal was "t0 paint, in all their excess,

the desires and passions of

hurnan beings." rr Such a statement leads one to sr-rmrise

nese cinema

least not

that prior Japa-

did not do this, or at

in terms that were accept-

able to Oshima himself. Just what the director expected of

cinema is indicated

in olte of his

rnost interesting pictures, Decttlt bl'

Death by Hanging, 1968, Oshima Nagisa, with Do-yun Yu

Hm4qing (Koshikei, 1958), based on a real incident which had occurred

in

1958 and had already been the subject of several sto-

ries aud a novel. According to 0shima, none of these prior authors had delved deeply enough

to reveal what he called the cot€, the inside of the crinte. The plot concems a young Koreau who had presurnerbly murdered aJapanese schoolgirl.

In the resulting investigAtion, Oshima

takes the Korean side (against which, on

all

issnes,

theJapanese are often prejudiced) and declares the youth ethically innocent. He argues that

law is not possible without crirne, and that policemen are unimaginable without criminals. Upou being assured that it is very bad to

unassailable logic: "Then it is bad to

19tl

kill, the conderrned young Korean boy

kill lne."

obserues

with

In order to prove to the suspect his own guilt, the police each policemanplayingarole. This device finds thern

set

out to re-enact the

fint re-creating the

crime-

rape and the mur-

der before the uncomprehending eyes of the youth, and then going back further in time to act out the boy's earlier years, or rather, their idea of what his early years had been like. Being first and foremost Japanese and second, cops, their ideas of childhood in the Korean neiglrborhoods of Japan arebtzarre indeed. Oshirna skillfully r-rnderlines both the comedy of their lack of imagination and the horror of their lack of comprehension. The policernen's inept pantomime is alienating to the extent that we fully feel the irony of tlris crime within a crime within a crime, the latter being capital punishrnent itself. The

fihn accuses the police of being more

obsessed

with the idea of crime than any criminal

is.

Consequently, from a misguided wrongdoer the law liter ally creates a crirninal.

This is brilliantlydisplayedwhen one of the policemen, carried away, atternpts to kill. He is so intent

upolt re-creating a role that he assunes it. As 0shima has said (and in doing

explaine dJapan's continued failure to come to any sort of terms with

so

its wartime past): "As

long as the state makes the absolutely evil crime of murder legal through the waging of wars ri capital punishntettt, we are all innocent." and tlre exercise

of

Stylistically, the fihn is entirely presentational. The "realism" of Oshima's earlier

films-akeady on its way out in IVight and Fog in JapaTt-rs nowhere to be seen. Those foreign critics who mention German playwright Bertolt Brecht in speaking of this film (and almost all of thern do) are certainly correct in implicitly evoking the stage. Oshirna was ear-

lier interested in expressionist drana and belonged to a Kyoto troupe that specialized in not Breclrt, however, so much

as

it-

Frauk Wedekind and Ernst Toler.

Just as expressionist drarna is a drama of ideas, so Oshima's largely expressionist films are coltcerned with thought. We follow arglunents in

sented

in

nany of his pictures, attd these are pre-

stagelike or essay-like forrn. To the older generation these films appeared odd

indeed. The opinion of Kobayashi Masaki, under whom Oshima had worked as assistant director, is typical. After looking at his pupil's films, the older director said that, while they had a cer-

tain political interest, 0shima was clearly not an artist who loved the craft of filru for itself. Though sot]te critics have sought to fit Oshirla into the very rnaittstrealn he was trying to overthrow, the attempts have not been convincing. His stagelike settings and shallow playing spaces have been seen as continuations

of early Japanese citretna; his expressiouistu

antecedents in various late-Taisho and early-Showa cinema; likewise, his staring

shots held

for an unusually long time-is

seen as something he shares

has

calnera-

with Mizoguchi

Kenji.

Nl of this is problern

atical. When one sees a long-held scene in contemporary Japanese

cinerna, the influence of Mizoguchi is but one possibiliff. The influence of Michelangelo

199

futtoniotti, of tlte "talking head," 0f the television iuteruiew-all of these are eqllallv likelv.

In the

case of 0shinta, siuce words are as

important to hiru as images, zurd ideas are perhaps

lnore iruportant than enrotions, the long take is one of his ntost eff'ective tools. Oshinra's style is

eclectic-it

aLtificialitl' of filnrs such ts

becontes whatever best serves his purposes. The stagelike

Deilh b)' HurrgLiz.q

1959). The slow pace of lVight

is followed bv the

"reAlislu" 0f Bo),(Shonen,

urul Fog ut .lultute (onlv forw-three shots in the whole fihr)

is

followed b.v the swifl pace (fifteen hundred shots)

in l'iolertce ut

lVoorr

(Hakuchu no torimA, 1966). In this sense, Oshima

is like a multitude of

directors, regardless

of their

respec-

tive political stances. One rnight equallv see Oshimzr

AS

a nlore serious Suzuki Seijun. Both Llse

popular culture, both are colt-

cenred with political ideas, both love

talk for its owu sAke, and both share LL

velr real

80y,1969, Oshima Nagisa, with Abe Tetsuo, Koyama Akiko

renegade inventiveuess.

Both are also intellectuals whose fihns are abont political sedition. This is what huamura Shohei indicated wltetr, comparing himself with the vounger director, he said:

"l'nt

a colut-

try fartrer; 0shima Nagisa is a samllrai."rt He was implving that he was not iuterestecl in politics and that Oshinta was interested in little

else.

One of tlte most political and, at the salue time, autobiographical of Oshillu's pictures is

The Ceren?ut.t' (Gishiki,

19lt), the story of a famil.v

as shown throngh their ceremonial

occasious of weddings artd funerztls. This twentv-five-vear period of postwar history', whiclr

soruewhat resenrbles Oshima's owll early vears, is seen as both personal attd as an allegory of postwar Japan. Each cerelronv is carefully timed to

coincide with a year significant irr

the postwar histonr of Japan. Each ntarks a stage 0n a downward spiral,

for it is tire "spiritual death" of Japan that 0shima is chrouicling.

Oshima as romantic intellectual is a reading which might accor,rnt for

some

200

of his extremes and much of

The Ceremlny, 19l1,0shima Nagisa, with Kaku Atsuko, Kawarazaki Kenzo

his stvle. "l'nr ven'sellindulgerrt," he once suid. entlrtrsilrstic

ott h'iltti

I anr. the nrore ertrenle nlv techniqtte

"l

like to do extrene things-the nrore

becornes."

tt

'l'lJe

,lfuttt ll;'ln Le.ft His llt'ill

('['oki'r) sens0 sel]g0 hiu'u, 1970) is lur elltbonttelr self-refet'ential pictute. rt \'oultg

filrrrrrurkeL shoots a

iihn ubout shooting e filnr.,\'utntttr?t'5itslat' (Nubu tto irnoto,I\)7)) is a

sinrltle allegorv tltout.faplur's Lelations ll,ith its southennrost, ancl nrost recent, lttrlvince, Okinltli'u. In it, u Tokvo girl receives u letteL fronr an Okinltwiur bov cluintirtg to lte hel longlost ltrother'. The stvles ol the lilnrs iue s0 diffeLent thut one w0lrlcl rrot guess thev lvere the lvork ol the sanre director. Arrother ltew direction enrerged in

ht tfu llertltn ql thc Jc,resc,s (Ai no kririclu. aku Ernllile

oi the Senses, uka'fhe lielrhn ol the Senses, It)76). Blned 0n ulr uctuul occuruence, thc filnr

is

Irbout a lulur lutcl a \\'0rlriur conrpletelv cor'rsttntecl ii'ith eltch otltet'. Ser hltd:tlwrtts been ptesent

in Oshinur's fihrs, usultllv ls a nretaphor hlL politicltl p0\\'er-nriul ovet

w0n11111-1111t

in this lticture the senurl relutionship is eqrutl. Kichizo, u rerrl 1930s bortchi. is as conipletelv enanrored of 0sudu, the lrew nraid in the house, ln she is of hinr. I'heir love is sholrr irr entirelv sertutl tenls.

The filnr's erotic corrterrt hrm led

it to be descLibecl as

harcl-core, n,hich,

in pltrt,

is. This should not, ln the Bealm of the Senses, 1976, 0shima

Nagisa,

with

Fuji

Tatsuya, MatsLrda Eiko

however,

be confused r,vith ponlogrqrhic. Yet the

ing et the 1977 Ner,v York lrilnr Festir,'al. furcl, in

it

lilnr wln refusecl screen-

2000, rvhen it lvlts revivecl "Llllcut" in Japan,

it was onlv the wontzur lvho wes renderecl l,isible-the nuur, whose nuditr' (vuhrerabilitr') to be avoided at all costs in serist countries, wes still nrodestlv censorecl. As Oshirua luu such ceusolship nracle his pure fihn dirtr,. The filnr certainlv

cloes

is

suicl,

uot seek to excite its audi-

ence. htcleed, given its outconre, the Lesult is just the opposite.

Ian Burluna has clescribed one view of the fihn: "Sex beconres the lovers' whole cluustLophobic urriverse and after strangling her lol'er during a shudderirtg clinrax, the girl cuts off his penis as the ultinrate gestuLe of possession. It is

zt

beautiful but frightening lilnr perf'ectlr,

erpressing thut uurious-sensuous anrbivalence lvhich is so much a prut of the .f aparrese psvche." r"

ht lhe Reulm oJ the Jazses is also Oshima's nrost openlv transgressil'e filnr. It

attenrpts to

break all the various "public clecencr"' lalvs in Japzul, uncl ztctuallv involved the police in

a

20t

law suit. 0shima demanded that "obscene" be defined. Given this impossibility, he won the case. Notwithstanding, the "public decency" laws extant at the time rernain unchanged to

this day. As a political statement, the fihn fails. ,{s an artistic statement power,

it is eminently successful. furd

as

of great beauty and

for those in Japan who maintained that the director

had sold out to the foreign porn rnarket, he retorted: "Completely involved as being a Japanese,

I

I am with

have n0 way to make films except by exarnining the Japanese and

endeavoring to discover what they are."'t7 Given the opportunity to examineJapan's actions in World War

II, Oshima directed the

Japanese-British coproductiotl lVIwry Christmas, Mr. ktu,rertce (Senjo lto rneri kurisumffu,

1983). And,

in a Japanese-French

coproduction, MdtN, X[ort

Arulur" (1937), he had

the

chance to view sexual relations with a parodic twist: woman loves ape. Though his own seuse

of history continued to broaden, he coufessed to Bock:

"l don't feel that

the age of the samll-

rai is mine yet." Nonetheless, after a long silence and aserious illness, Oshirna finally directed his samu-

rai filrtr, Gohntto (akaTaboo/Forbidden,l99D. With

h

the

Realm of the Sertses,the director

sltows the lovers' ardor triumphiug over customs, mores, and even their repeats the therne,

owl deaths. Gohatto

itt that love destroys. Yet, by 1999, heterosexual love ot'l screen, through

repeated exposure, had already lost its transgressive power. Oshima therefore turned to another expression of desire. The society at the sioned

Gohatto,

202

in

1

filn's

core is the Shinsengumi, an elite grollp of swordsmeu commis-

1853 to form a police unit to counter anti-shogunate activities. They are fanatically

999, Oshima Nagisa

loyal, think as a group, and atternpt to subdue personal feelings. Into their midst is enrolled

an extremely handsorne youth. Passion grips the all-rnale Shirlsengumi, discipline disappears, ard death results.

In creating this beautiful and startling fihn, Oshima (who also wrote the script, basing it 0n a Shiba Ryotaro novel) is aided by his actors, film directors Sai Yoichi and Kitano Takeshi among them; by the photography of Kurita Toyomichi; and by a carefully sustained atmosphere of rigid enclosures opening into rich autumn

aI gardens. Beautifully styled, essentially

static (despite bursts of swordplay), its anti-establishment message remains strong.

Within Shochiku, the director perhaps most resen'rbling 0shina was Yoshida Kiju. His Good-

for-Nothing (Rokudenashi, 1950) , a iuvenile-delinquent film about student crimes, could be cornpared with The Crod Stor1, oJ'Youth.In Dried Blood (Chi wa kawaiteiru, 1950), the criminal elements are rnore mature but still mixed with social concern.

ln

Tbe

Affctir (Joen, 1967), social concern is even more evident. A young woman (played

by the director's wife, Okada Mariko) fights against her owu sensual nature. She has her reasons, among which is this reaction against a rnother who slept around. Nonetheless, when

she give5

ip-yyith

a young day laborer who had known her

ntother-she

gives

in thor-

oughly. The contbination of well-to-do yonng lady and common laborer predicates society's disapproval. Yet for the daughter, these rneaningless social she will-are the only "nonnality" to which

prejudices-violate thern though

she can cling.

Fonnally shot and edited with much economy, the

filrl ends honestly.

Having settled

with a proper luan, we find the wornan one day waiting for a train. Suddenly, and with

a

sllrge of emotion that Yoshida rlakes us feel, she sees the young laborer on the other side of

the tracks waiting for a traiu going

in the opposite

direction. His train

arrives first. She waits. Wheu the train pulls clear he is gone. She continues to stand there. We are to infer

that at this moment she realizes how false to her own nature she has been. Later, Eros Plus Xlassrtuz (Erosu pLrrasLl gvakusatsu,

aka Eros Plus

Vengeance, 1970) and Heroic PurgcttotT' (Rengoku eroik a,

197 0)

grcatly

euhanced the director's reputation.

Eros Plus Massacre, 1970, Yoshida Kiju, with Kusunoki Yuko, Hosokawa Toshiyuki

203

The former is a long and complicated examination of sexual and political liberation. Written

by Yoshida and Yaruada Masahiro,

it is about

love and

anarchism-as its title

Cutting between two storigs-s11e set in the preseut, the other in the early Taisho

indicates.

period-it

concerns two lovers who are both docurnentary fihnrnakers and student radicals. Their rela-

tionship is ntirrored in the second story, that of Osugi Sakae-an early advocate of free love, abolition of private propertv, and women's liberatisn-21rd her lover. Though Yoshida has called his films All "allswer" to the films of Ozu, KinoshitA, Knrosawa and other tLaditional directors, he is uot unaware of their influences. 'Just as the last

half of [Kurosawa's] Ikiru is concentrated on the . . . discussion of the deceased Watanabe,

[m1'film]

focuses 0n coutemporary persons who act

so

thinking of the dead."rs This is particn-

larlv true of Protrerse (Ningeu no yakusoku, 1985)-scripted after a Sae Shuichi novel by Miyauchi Fukiko and the director himself-which might be seen as a new kind of Tokl'o Stor.l'. Here an old because

nlan (Mikuni Rentaro) murders his

elderl.v spollse (Murase Sachiko)

of the various horrors of old age. Througlt lkiru-like f'lashbacks chrouicling the

stages of his confessiorr, we are brought to undemtand senilify and the virtues of anaesthesia.

Indeed, one of the qualities of these llew films of the late 1950s was their innovative com-

bination of both radical and traditional means though, with Western style now so uruch a part of the Japanese cinema, it is often impossible to determine whether the compositional decenteriug

of a scene, for example, is to be traced to the Japanese

woodblock prints,

Mizoguchi, furtonioni, or modern graphic design.

fuiother of the Shochiku "uew wave" directors, one quite different frorn 0shima or Yoshida, wffi Shinoda Masahiro. Though, like thern, he came from a theatrical background

(earlier directors, by contrast, such as Ozu, Mizoguchi, Kurosawa, and Ichikawa had been graphic artists), Shinoda was the only one of the group who had majored in theatrical history. This, he has said, gave him an aesthetic distance denied the others. "Reality for its own sake is not what interests

rre," he told Audie Bock. "lf ny films had to be perfect reconstruc-

tions of reality, I would not rlake thern. I begin with reality and see what higher idea comes out of

le it. "

In his couviction that something higher than reality exists, Shinoda followed in the

steps

of the directors he admired lnore than any othem: Ozu and Mizoguchi. He worked with the

fornter as assistaut on Tok.t'o Tu,ilight, in 1958, and was deeply impressed. Ozu, the young Shinoda told Kido Shiro, was like an aloof reclining deity obserying the human world, perhaps looking for and finding that higher reality.

Eveu the "new wave" films Shinoda made are quite different from those of the other young directors herded into the movement. The best of these films, Pale Flou,er (Kawaita

lrana, 1964), is really as much about cerenlonial behavior as was Mizoguchi's The

Lojt611

Fortl,-Set,ut Rortitt , though the subject is the yaku za ratheL than ronin. Shinoda has said he

204

clrose this subject because the yakttzaworld is the only place wltere the Japanese ceremonial

structure is sustained, where au aesthetic response to ceremony is still possible. Though the yolurg hero stoically

dies-exenplifying that "rrasochism" which shinoda claiurs

is inher-

ent in the aesthetic irnpulse-there is little bloodshed, and the violence is choreographed in a

traditional fashion.

Pale Flower,1964, Shinoda Masahir0, scene from the opening gambling sequence

The opening is particularly striking ered in the gaming room cedes the first dialogue

in its ceremonial presentation. The gangsters are gath-

and-in a montage of over one hundred and forty shots that prefilm-the atmosphere of the place and its people is presented.

in the

To intensify and drarnatize this, the director and his composer, Takerlitsu Toru, altered the sound track. The actual sound of the cards being cut and shuffled is replaced by the sound of atap-dancing routine. The degree of formalization which this creates is even now suryrising.

It was this opening that heralded the many which resulted in

his-like

scriptwriter for Pale Flou,u

every/one

troubles Shinoda would experience, ones

slss's-leaving the hapless Shochiku. When

the

(Baba Ataru, working from a story of Ishihara Shintaro) saw his

dialogue shoved aside to make r00rn for all the audio-visuals, he was s0 angry he took his cornplaints to the company. Had he not also accused Shinoda of makirlg an "arlarchistic"

film, his complaints would perhaps not have been taken

so seriously. But the tirnes were such

that this accusation resulted in a nine-month delay in the film's release. Though the film was successful according to

Shinoda-he

avers

it served as a model for

tlre forrtr and appeffance of Toei's yakuza genre-he went 0u to make nore overtly Mizoguchi-like pictures. In the series of filrns that followed-Witlt Beautl,nncl Sorrou, (Utsukushisa

to kanashirni t0, 196),

based

0n a Kawabata novel; Clouds at Stntset

205

(Akanegumo, I96D; and Banishecl

)rtrt

(Hanare goze orin, aka Svmphony in Grav, 1977),

photographed by Miyagawa l\n7v1s-the protagonists,

all of them wollelt, bear a strong

family reserrblance to the long-suffering heroines of Mizoguchi and, indeed, are photographed like

theru-long

utents which seem

takes, distant, aesthetically balanced sceues, and camera move-

to lead these doomed women (usualll' played

b.v

the director's wife,

Iwashita Shima) to their eventual destmction.

The tnost successful of the director's later films is Double Suicide (Shinju ten no arrrijitttA, I96D, based Llpon a bunraku play by Chikamatsu. Not only is it less "adapted" than either the Mizoguchi or Masumllra Yasuzo versions of wlrat amounts to the sane rnate-

rial, its presentation is different as well. Both playvright and director share a fatalistic view-destiny awaits, nlall is incapable of escaping from it. The

filn's

overriding fatalisrl is illustrated by its use of the doll drarla itself. The fihn

opens at the Osaka bunraku theater, where seen:

all of the preparations for making the fihu

are

light cables are laid, callt-

era positions are

deterurined,

and the director himself appea$,

as do his technicians and his

scriptwriter, Tornioka Taeko. The

film begins

as a doll-dranra

docurnentary, drawing attention to how each puppet is held aud manipulated by the tradi-

tional three meu, two of whonr are masked. As the story, proceeds, Shinoda substitutes actors

Double Suicide, 1969, Shinoda Masahiro, with Nakamura Kichiemon, lwashita Shima

for the puppets. The actors take over the telling of the stor,v. One-shot, oue-scene methods are used, aud the conrpletelv theatrical artificialiry of the doll dramzr is insisted upon. Yet, though the dolls arc uow alive, the puppeteers rerrain. Thel' are always there, nrasked by black gAuze, behind which we see their faces, compassionate yet helpless as the,v

watch the charxg[s15-now thoroughly

human-find their way to their fate. Shinoda

Sato Tadao that these figures are as much a part of his

film

as they are

told

of the puppet plav,

that they "serve as ageuts for the viewer who wants to penetrate the truth of the lovers' plight

[their eventual double suicide]." Thev also represent Chikamatsu hinrself who, in this rnodent reading of the play, "creAted this autisocial world, tinged with the melodramatic concept of a double suici6[s."

i{)

The story is a sirnple one: giri-ninjo, dufv verslls love in this case. The world is that of the

206

doll drarna-all flats and painted

hero gives way to despair, it is a stage set he

sets. When the

destroys-closed, claustrophobic, inesc apable. This world, as stylized and contrived as that of, say, ffie Cabinet of Doctor Caligari,

rs

filmed as though it is realistic-there is little cut-

ting, only two hundred and forty shots; and most of the movement is that of the turning, gliding c^t'r7era. It is also the world

as theater. Shinoda retums

in this film to the rlear beginnings of cinenta,

for tlre good reason that his story-inescapable

fate-is

close to those of early fihns. The

experirnental nature of the picture (little is owed to contemporary film narrative) and its

beauty (art direction by Awazu Kiyoshi; photography by Narushima Toichiro; music by Takernitsu Toru, who also helped write the script) make this return to simplicity a moving experience, one which ilh-rstrates Chikamatsu's fatalistic concept of awaited destiny and the

impossibiliry of escape.

That our destiny will catch us in the end and that love, a supposed lifesaver, will sink before anything else is again illr-rstrated in

Assassination (Ansatsu

, 1954), a picture

wlriclr Ichikawa Kon, an early supporter of Shinoda, thought his finest work. The film

takes place

iu

1853 (with flashbacks to

earlier action) and deals with the plots attd counterplots which resulted

in the opening

of the country. Shinoda-like any periodfilm director-takes for granted that the audience knows the rarnifications

of the

Assassination, 1964, Shinoda Masahiro,

with

0kada

Eiji, Kimura lsao

story and quickly draws the viewer into these

complications, whether he cornprehends thern or not. It has been said that the story is not to be understood

without a prdcis, and if this is true it would still not bother the director.

Shinoda is not interested in the intricacies of history. They are useful only ittsofar as they establish the kinds of actiou necessary for the disclosure of the director's main

concern-arr

exclusively aesthetic one-nanely, the shape of meu's lives, the patterns they make. This interest accounts for both the diLector's cursory treatrnent of history and for the structure of the

fihn itself. In the first reel we believe that we are being introduced to the heroes and that their talk

is

about the villains. By the time the second reel is over, however, we have learned enough to

know that those we first thought were heroes may very well be villains, and vice versa.

As

the film progresses, we are led to question the ethical moves of everyone in the picture. Nothing is certain. At tlre sane tirne, a strongly realistic presentation encourages our belief. YanadaNobuo's

207

script, based on the Shiba Ryotaro novel, is as prosaic of fact as

it is baroque of gesture;

Kosugi MASao's black-and-white photography is purposel.v grainv, with strong contrasts,

looking like a feudal newsreel; and Takemitsll's rrusic is spare and evocative of the period. Shinoda, as was to beconte his custom wheu making historical films, shows us as lnAuv authentic structLues as he can find. The result is a film in which uucertainty is tempered bv

alt apparent reality. Shinoda said that he wanted to

see

what "higher idea" could come out

of reality. This is just what he attempts in Assnssiruttiort. In this regard, he was much like N,lizoguclti, who would sometimes tell an nnderstated story through the nrost definite of real-

istic lleans. Shinoda ouce said of a N{izoguchi scene: "The portrait of Oharu's despairing

flight through the bamboo grove Iin the human condition as anv

The

Lilb oJ')lnrzr] couveys as much of the tragedy of

film ever made."'rr

We don't know where she is going 0r evelt

exactly why, but the woman and the grove are as real as life itself. Sotttetitues, ltowever, Shiuoda's delicatelv balanced aestheticism may be an end Exanrples are ltis "kabLlki"

filn,

The Scrtnclctlous Ach,ertfures oJ'tlte

in itself.

Burnikcnl (Buraikan,

olt a Terayama Shuji script; a later bunrakn film (also after Chikarnatsu), Gonza the Sltearman (Yari no Gonza, 1985); an evocation of old Edo, Shuruku (199); and 1970), based

the spectacular cltantbaru,)u,l Cnsfle (Fukuro no shiro exercises

,

Igg}-all

beautifully mannered

in tlte Mizoguchi rlode, with nannerist finish taking the place of character interest.

Ittdeed, this heightened aestheticism is to be observed

in others of the "ltew wave."

Oshinra Nagisa's aesthetic concerns in Goltatto had critics comparing the

Mizoguchi pictures

of forty vears before.

filn

to the late

Yoshida Yoshishige's Wttherirtg Heights

(Arashigaoka, 1988), the Emily Brontd novel done

in a period setting, is concerned almost

errtirely with art for its owrt sake. These fihns also indicate aJapanese characteristica returu to a self-conscionsJapaneseness after a period of foreign-inspired experimentation.

AFTER THE WAVE

following

I

the innovatious of the 1960s and the gradual accolnlnodation of the "ltew

wave" directors, it wonld have been appropriate

if-had

the finances of the motiou pic-

ture industry uade it possible-another new wave of young directors were to lrave appeared

in the 1980s. They did not. The majorily audience, debauched by television, vanished forever. Despite occasional visits to movie houses for pictures about dogs left behind

in the fuitarctic and the like, a regular

audience would never return. The later story of the Japanese

fihr industry (as distinguished

front the later story of the Japanese cinema) is one of decline and bankruptcy. Thus far in this accourtt, we have followed a nurnber of industrial ups and downs-always agaiust a backgrouttd of general audience availability. Now there was uo general audience available.

2qtt

Genre products kept some companies afloat

Tough Being a

for a time. YanadaYoji's Tora-san; lt's

rtlan (Otoko wa tsuraiyo, 1!59-96)

series,

which continued its success until

the death of its star (Atsumi Kiyoshi as the beloved "Tora-sau"), kept Shochiku solvent for decades.

Genre as such, however, could no longer cornm ard a rnarket. What happened to the

yaktrzafilm is instructive. With the jidaigeki fading into television, this modern descendant of tlre matatabi-mono became, for a time, the leading action-film genre. Yakuzaetiquette is

really aparody of the samurai code, and its expression is actually a continuation of what one critic called the "Chushingurarnentality." With such "Japanese" virtues as loyalty, dedication, and subseruience inculc ated, one might have thought that a lasting popularity was assured.

Stylistically conseruative, the yakuza genre was further a "rationahzed" product in that it was constructed of standard units: the

"retuln"

scene, the

"identification" scene, the "recon-

ciliation" scene. These were shot, from film to fihn, in more or

less

identical fashion. Like

many tradition al Japartese cultural products, the films were constructed of modules, one attachedto another. Not only did they resemble the charnbara in this way, they even reflected 0noe Matsunosuke's rnethods-one duel per reel. Such rationalizatiot-t also means a prodr-rct

which is cheaper to make and easier to distribute, thus reducing the unit price. Yet the

populariff of the yakuzafilnt lasted only adecade, from about 1963 to 1973. Fihn

yakuza, models of submission, were quite unlike the rnodem gangsters with which audiences were now farniliar from crime films. What is more, the sacrifice of individuality for the sake

of the group (giri-ninjo again), the message inherent in the ritualisticyakuza fihn, was of

little interest to alnore permissive, younger audience. As a result, though producers forced directors to keep churning out the product, the genre itself died.

Many genres died along with the yakuza film, including the "youth film," a product wlrose directors were now said to have nached arr average age of sixty-five. Eventually,

eiglrties and nineties, the

yakuzafiln

in the

became just another vehicle for violence, along with

filnrs about fast cars, aliens, and natural disasters. As has been mentioned, there was some attempt to rethink the genre, notably in the filrns of Kitano Takeshi, Miike Takashi, and otlrers, but it uever again attained an audience-wide popularity.

In

1971, Daiei turned turtle, carrying down Chaimran Nagatawith

it. Later, other corn-

panies tried to stay afl,oat by turning to the production of roman-ponto, a soft-core p0m0graphic geure which was to take the place of clandestine blue fihns, themselves victirns of the pre-Olympic Games cleanup.

Along the first was Takechi

Tetsuji's Day

Dream (Hakujit-

surlru, 1964), a Shochiku picture after a story byTanizakiJun'ichiro. Though it was a sirnple

exploitation picture, filled with rising breasts and open thighs, it aroused some public disffny, includin g aprotest frorn theJapan Dental Association since the crazed hero who has his way

with the ample heroine is a dentist. There was private disrnay aswell. Tanizaki, who had

209

waltted so much to raise the standards of early Japanese ciuema, was publicly furious at this example of their decline. Director Takechi got into deeper trouble with Black Snou,(Kuroi yLrki, 1965). This pic-

ture, about an impotent young man who makes love with a loaded pistol (instead of the more usual weapon), was highly critical of that safe target, the Arnerican bases in Japan. Norretheless, the Metropolitan Police Board sued. Though Takechi and Shochiku wol'r and a

higher court upheld the verdict, the director shortly went back to the stage, from whence he had corne.

There was now precedent for others to build on. Roman-porno buoyed up Nikkatsu, at least for atime. Romcm colnes from "romantic," the ideabeing that this somehowrnade the

product respectable. In French the word means "novel" (as in the literary genre), lending the results a

jun-bungaku-like luster. For years, Nikkatsu made nothing but these fihns. Their

novelty, while it lasted, wffi enough to ensure a kind of audience and to generate competition as

well. Many new talents ernerged, among them Kurnashiro Tatsumi, a director with literary

preterrsions. Tlte World of Geishn (Yojohan fusuma no urab ari, 1973) was based 0n a jun-

bungaku Nagai Kafu story. Other, smaller conpanies began to issue plain,

if soft-core, blue films, with no romantic

or literary ernbellishrnents. Japan has a category for everything, and so such pictures were called eroda,k'ushott, a portmanteau word derived from "erotic productions." Though never hard-core, their intent was titillation. nurubers what they lacked

In this, they were successful, since they made up in

in everything

else. For a time, alurost

half of the annual filrn

production figures released in Japanwere composed of these hour-long minifeatures. Usually arranged into a triple bill, the pictures were produced by srnall independent companies (such as Okura) and projected in the companies' owll tlteaters, which never showed anything else. One of their Matsunosuke-like rules was that a stimulating scene should occut every five minutes. As the genre becarne more established, the

films becarne more preten-

tions, with rcom for artistic and political self-importance-as in the films of Wakarnatsu Koji.

Though the product was too severely rationalized to permit anything like creative fihnruraking, the roman-ponlo studios did provide a training school once the rnajor studios had

declined to the point where the master-apprentice systeur ceased to exist. These srraller studios sewed as a training ground for many yoLlnger directors.

Tlre larger film companies began diversilying when it becarn e apparent that rnaking films was n0 longer a viable business. Handicapped by heavy studio costs and by a relentless double-bill distribr,rtion which demauded over one hundred filrns

^

year front each of the

producing companies, other means of making money seemed the only solution. Thus occurred the anomalies of Shochiku bowling alleys; Daiei supermarkets; and heav,v investments

210

in railroads, all-girl dancing troupes, and baseball teams.

The collapse of the

film industry (a phenomenon

did not, of course, nlean tlre collapse of

film-as

observed

in every country that had one)

entertainment, art, or both. It merely indi-

cated that one unrealistically expensive way of maki ng a formula product was u0 longer operative. There was

still an enonnous movie audience, but it lvas a minority one. At the

same time, this smaller ar-rdience was not attracted to an industry where the producers were

aftaid of the new and the original, and wherc directors had little say in the kind of work they produced. In Japan, as in other countries, one answer was independent outside of the studio system. This had revitalizedcinema

would uow benefit the home front

as

fihn-pictures

rnade

in both Europe andfunenca, and it

well.

fui initial problem for the independents was not only the exclusive nature of the ruling rnajors but also the fact that the latter had a caftel on almost all of the theaters. At the sane time, each rnajor had to keep its houses filled with expensive double-billed features. In these trying times, a company sometimes did not make enough product and had to acquire a hope-

fully profitable picture from outside its purviews. Ar independent film such as Shindo Kaneto's T'lte IVaked

Island (1950) remained unshowr. No theater

was

willing to take it, that is, until it

won the Moscow Prize in the same year of its production, thereby enhancing its attractiveness to theaters back in Japan. A Toei theater was found for it, and shortly other directors discovered

that their productions could find a horne within the beleaguered majors themselves. Perlraps atffactedby the title, Shochiku releasedTlte Bod1,(Ratai, 1952), an independent

debut

film from Narusawa

Masashige, who had scripted Toyoda Shiro's The Mistress and

worked on the later Mizogr-rchi fihns. This delicate and understated cornedy is based 0n a Nagai Kafu story, about a young girl (Saga Michiko, daughter of Yamada Isuzu) who becomes aware of her charms and proceeds to use these tirnes you took what you

them-not

Shochiku's kind of

film ataII, but in

collld get.

The conpany also released

Tok1,o

Bal, (Hidarikiki no sogekisha: Tokyo walt, 1962)

, ar.r excellent

cops and robbers

chase-thriller about

in Japan's

capital,

directed by Nonura Yoshitarc, son of corTr-

pany old-timer, Nornura Hotei. For its part, Nikkatsu allowed Black Stut (Kuroi taiyo, 1964), Kurahara Koreyoshi's serious

filnr about the bond between

aJapaltese

lazz-Ioving youth and an AWOL GI. There were,

The Body, 1962, Narusawa Masashige, with Saga Michiko, Nagato Hiroyuki.

in addition, a growing number of noucornmercial experimental films.

These

would eventually be collected in the arclrives of TomiyamaKatsue's hnage Forum, but originally they were individual efforts which showed wherever they

could-rarely in rnotion-picture

211

theaters, though the independent Sasoriza screened a number. funong these ltoltcolnmercial

experimental films were those of Terayarra Shuji, a poet and

plalvright whose theatrical

troupe, the Tenio Sajiki, produced sorne of the most interesting theater of the period. His

filnr Tltrou'Au,al'Ibut'Books, Let's Go ittto

the Sh'eets (Sho wo suteyo, rnachi e deyo, 1971) is

a playfully anarchist call which could rlever have found its wav into a colrluercial motion-

picture theater. The first major attentpt to produce independent commercial films and eltcoLlrage their screening was the Art Theater Guild (ATG), backed by a cousortium which had

ntoney but which was mainl,v the work of

solle Toho

Towa (headed by Nagamasa and Kawakita

Kasltiko), the foremost importer of foreign films. Originally, ATG's theaters were for foreign art films (they were the first to show Ingmar Bergman, Robert Bresson, and Luis Buiiuel in Japan). Later, ATG offered half the productiou costs for newJapanese films, a welconte move,

particularly to the suruivors of the "newwave," nearh'all of whom had lost their jobs. Tlttts, such irrportant films as 0shinrA's The Cerenrut.l', and Hani's Tlrc

lt{brno oJ'First

Llt'e were ATG pictnres. hr addition, the courpany lrelped fund the films of independent filnrmakers such as Higashi Yoichi. Witl'r ATG's help he nrade Thircl (Sado, aka A Boy Called

Third Base, 1978), based 0n a Teravama Shuji script, and went ou to direct the prize-winuing Villuge of Drertms (E no naka no boku no mlrra, 1996). Jissoji Akio's Tltis Trarcienl Life

(Mujo, 1970) and Matsumoto Toshio's Funerttl Puracle oJ' Roses (Bara no soretsu, 1969) also benefitted frorn ATG assistance. Knroki Kazno was given his first directorial opportunifv by ATG

and later went on to make

(1990)-a

The Assussirtcrtiort

oJ Rl,lnlo (Ryonra ansatsu, I974), Rortirt-gui

remake of the 1928 N{akino N{asahiro

grzrphicalA Bol,'s

filnr of the same name-and the autobio-

Slununq'ht 1945 (Utsukushii natsu Kirishirtra, 2003). Though it onlv lasted

ten years, ATG was responsible for sustainingJapanese cinenra during its most difficult period. When the crunch was over, toward the end of the l970s,Japanese fihn had found

m

audi-

ence, a tttuclt smaller olle, and though income from foreign-fihn showings now far surpassed

that frorn Japanese-film showings, there were at least a number of independent comparries and theaters that could carry/ ou A tradition.

Though three of the major colrpat'riesToho, Shochiku and

snriving

as

Toei-are still

sonrehow

of this writing, it has long

beerr

apparent that they are being kept alive

b1'

nreans other than sirnple filmmaking, The filnr

industry, in Japan, had gone the wA), of all others. furd here, ru elsewhere, the death of the

irrdustrv allowed new forms enrerge.

212

of ciuenra to

Third, 1978, Higashi Yoichi, Toshiyuki

with

Nagashima

MAKINC AUDIENCES lust

\'l

as new forms of cinema require new audiences, new spectators require new kinds

movies.

fulong the many innovative changes in the rnedia during the last

of

decades of the

twentieth century, diverse technologies created different kinds of audiences. These,

in turn,

made possible both divergent means of viewing and fresh genres to view. Once again,

alocal

shift could be observed in which a "patlern of initial Western influence [was] followed by the development

of 'purely'

agarn, not only

Japanese forms,

la pattern] which has been repeated

again and

in individual careers but thror-rghout the culture."r In a wzy, the end of the

century was like the Taisho era all over again. Japan, always technologically adept, soon found new ways to create and augment this

newly segmented audience. Just as earlie r Japanese fihn had successfully divided the field, too had

it sought to

so

create its audiences. During the early postwar years, the industry even

allocated its spectators: Daiei and Toho appealed to the urban young, Shochiku sought the

fanrily, and Toei had the rurals and whateverJapanpossessed of the lower classes. When the large audience and the enormous profits disappeared, it seemed only natural to

exert audience control over what was left, though always, the

in a consider

ably simplified manner.

To be sure, producers (usually representing the fihn company itselfl have ordained

As

controlling power was the producing cornpany.

product-it

always

is after all their money that is being invested. Hitherto, however, cer-

tain filrns had made enough money that some directors-Mizoguchi Kenji, Ozu Yasujiro, Kinoshita Keisuke

,

and for a time, Kurosawa Akira-were allowed to make what they

wanted. Their box-office record was 900d, and occasional losses could be written off. There were

also alarge number of producers who desired fine films just

as

much as the directors did.

Kikushima Ryuzo, for example, one of Kurosawa's writers, was the producer not only of Red Beard but of Naruse Mikio's fine film,When

a

Woman Ascends the Stairs. Even the

policies of Daiei's Nagata (who was concerned mainly with rnoney) and Toho's eclectic

213

TanakaTornoyuki (who produced everything from Yojintbo to fulothra) allowed fine films to slip through. As

tnovie attendance declined, such astate of affairs could not continue. Kurosawa, attlte

end of his career, said: "One reason why we had s0 rnany good directors is that Japanese stu-

dios gave talented people the freedom to make the rnovies they wanted. Now, however, the people

in the marketing

department are

in charge-and all they think about is the box

office. [So] they keep remaking the sane kinds of pictures. If a movie about a cat does well, they rnake one about a dog."

'

Irtdeed, both feline and canine films made money at the box office.

Milo ctnd )tis

(Koneko rnouogatari, aka The Adventures of Chatran, 1987), assistant-directed by, of all peo-

ple, Iclrikawa Kon, and The Storl' of the Lo1t41 Dog, Hachiko (Hachiko m0n0 gatan, 1985),

with a script by, of all people, Shindo Kaneto, were successful financially. The animals were rigorously controlled-there was even a rLlnor that quite a number of similar-appearing cats had to be used

in filning the feline's dangerous adventures. Carefully controlled,

as

well, was the andience. Subjected to what were, at the time, unprecedented levels of advertising hype, the curious

flocked, money was made, and a precedent was created. The pictures, of course, were unexceptional. As Umberto Eco has observed, mass rnedia insists upon repetition, redundancy, arrd iteration as well as obedience to a schema. This rlreans that the

film is fit only

as

product, and s00n only product fits the audience.

In this cycle, since the

cultr-r

ral traffic is all in one direction , any cultural creativily that is

not mainstream will be neglected. Whole visual cultures, many venerable, will disappear, along with the personal vision of the artist and the apprehension of all that is

differsn[-

since these are contnry to the expectations of mass media.

The growing control of producers and the marketing people was not the only reason for change, however. Japan's new directorial talent was not interested in the values that KurosawA and his contemporaries had been interested in. These larger

issues-the collapse of pre-

warJapan, the Western "invasion," the problerns of the new individualiry-did not concern yolurg directors, all bom after World War II and nurtured by uthen-burgeoning economy. Kurosawa Kiyoshi (no relation to Kurosawa Akira), from this new generation, refers to directon such

as Ozu and Kurosawa as "masters of the studio system." Yet, he says, they have

lit-

tle meaning: "sometimes when I watch their pictures on television they seem like foreign films to me. Even though

l'm a fan of Ozu, they are s0 different from our time

and our films now."r

One of the differences is that the new product is mostly genre oriented. This is partially

due to what the new forms, such as conputer games, music videos, anime, and awealth of special effects, can accomplish. Pictures tend to exploit the latest means. Easy morphing means monsters; inexpensive explosions means violence.

214

To be sure, Japan had always devoted itself

nore to genre than had many other countries.

n0n0

(about mothers), tsuttta mono (about wives),

There was iidaigeki, gendaigeki, haha

the tendency fihn, and a myriad of others. But at the sane time, there were also a large nurnber of films which were not generic in inspiration. By the end of the century, however, a majority of the product were deterrnined by genre. As Kurosawa Kiyoshi saw

it,

after the studio system collapsed and production ceased, genres

actually grew fewer in number, while those that rernained becarne ubiquitous. "The domirrant genre today is the yakuza genre. I think the reason for this is that theJapanese audience likes Hollywood films. That is why the main gerlres are mysteries and thrillers ard yaknza fihns. fuid, of course,one of the most important names here is Kitano Takeshi."* Genre is certainly one of the ways in which the rernaining audience is funneled into theaters, but there are lnany others. Just as we saw the attempt to counter the threat of televisiorr

by introdr-rcing monsters, sex, and wide screen, so we now see an audience wooed back with genre, spectacle, and the promise of a product to be viewed

in a theater only. These films

were rnade independently, were unaffiliated with whatever rnajor studios retnained, and were

able to offer sornething more sophisticated

in the way of erttertainment at a significantly

lower cost to the prodllcers.

While the West is familiar with this way of rnaking films, it was relatively unknown in Japan. A picture could be made

for conparatively little since a recently forrned company

would not be burdened with the cost of a full-tirne studio and staff. fuid, as not much was spent, a najor audience was not needed to realize a profit. Financi

al gain, though lirlited,

could still be considered sufficient if it managed to finance another fihn. Tlre term "independent

filrn" in the West atthattime usually indicated an independent

attitude as well. It was the kind of film the urajor production cornpanies could not ntake, given what was cousidered its narrow audience appeal. This was initially the reading of the ternr dokoritsu por,rodnkushon inJapan pendent

as

well. In time, however, as in fulerica, the inde-

film gradually turned urainstream.

Maverick fihns became box-office hits, the avant-garde turned up 0n big-theater screens,

i)

new filmmakers were awarded government prizes. With the expansion andlater contraction

r

of Japan's econofry, znew conseruatisrn--compared to the relative liberalism of the 1950s

):,

and 1960s-became evident. In film this was seen in the slow backing away from the style of modern realism to something which could be labeled as "postm0dg11"-a mixing 0f high and low, art and commerce, which posited that culture had never been as pure as assumed, tlre notion that all culture is syncretic, hybridized. Postmodernism called f.or adefinite return to the presentational quality which had always defined theJapanese drarnatic ethos, bringing about the emergence of that completely presentational film genre, anime. This return to the presentational implies a return to open control (as opposed to the covert control implied by

215

the representational), and it operates 0n many levels.

One such level is the open presentational character of the

film itself. fuiother is the

hands-on and openly controlled manner of selling the product. Like film merchants worldwide, the Japanese became adept at playing the market. Japanese films might not rake in

nuclr money at horne, but their

appeal could be enhanced by prizes wolt at foreign

film

festivals. EventuaIIv, Kitano Takeshi, Kurosawa Kiyoshi, Aoyama Shinji, Miike Takashi, and

many other younger directors were winning prestigious awards abroad which resulted in larger sales (cassettes, discs, rentals, direct money from television showings) inJapan.

Fihn production methods at the beginning of the twenty-first century have in some ways returned to those prevalent at the beginning of the twentieth: many srnall production companies, all more or less unaffiliated, all seeking to purvey sensation and novelty. The masterless

ronin is now the nearly anarchic yakuza and his postmod posturings are not far from the kabuki-esque posings of Matsunosuke.

THE NEW INDEPENDENTS of the studio system rreant more freedom for directors. Beginning in the Th. I 1980s there were a number of atternpts to attract those audiences which were not satisbreakup

fied with corpo rate fare, those who still took film seriously, and also those who had the greatest amount of disposable income in their

pockets-the young.

Toho, having seen that investing in ATG had proved profitable, tied up for a time with PIA publications to launch YES (Young Entertainment Square) which was to produce low-

budget fihns by young directors and distribute them

in Toho theaters. Shochiku answered

with its CinemaJaponesqlle which had much the salne aims. Both eventually foundered after each had released several pictures. The differences betweett entrenched authorify and young filrlrnakers were too great. This way of financing was completely different from the old studio system, which was all that the conpany bureau-

crats knew. Toho simply backed out. The Shochiku board preferred to ax its Cinema Japorresqlre

people-despite the fact that two of their films-lmamura Shohei's The Eel

and lclrikawaJurlsTokl,o Lullnbl, $okyo yalq'oku,

1997)-had won

awards.

More successftrl were those independent companies that attempted to enter the field with-

out major film-industry partnership. fu'go Project, a consortium of independent producers backed by Suntory, sought to break the monopoly on both production and theaten, and for a

tinre was able to attract a number of viewers. Software-maker Pony Canyon joined advertis-

ing agency Hakuhodo to make independent films; W0W0W, a major television satellite station financed theJ-Movie-Wars series under Sento Takenori, and s0

0r'1.

Many of the resulting products have the youth market in mind and are often relentlessly

216

cool, modish, and filled with various special effects. They are, ahnost by definition, given to dispersing what is

"independent

new-techniques, styles, attitudes. Whatever its minority beginnings, the

film"

has thus becorne mainstream fare, Nevertheless, these independent

production units have often also been responsible for the best of recentJapanese cinema.

In the international breakdown of consolidated film production and distribution,

the

proliferation of new production companies, and the emergence of a vafiety of distribution circuits one senses something like the beginnings of

filn

all over again.Once more we have

a cinen a of views and scenes, of raw sensation and rudimentary nartative. The music video is tlre new nickelodeon, the early Sinking of the Lr,rsitania (1918) becomes the late Titanic

(1997). In Jap an, Arnted Robber (1899) turns into the criminal confrontations in Miike Takashi's Rainl, Dlg (Gokudo kuro shakai reini doggu, 1997). fuid, again, as a cetttury before, we have the merchandizing of the self-proclaimed new.

While history is not necessarily cyclical, sirnilar stimuli sometimes produce sirnilar results. The original "opening" of Japan to foreign media a century ago was indeed like that even greater opening post-World War

II, and this corresponds, agatn fifry years later, to the

buying sprees of the 1980s and the consolidation of purchases in the 1990s. Tlre independents of today are displaying a new kind of Japanification. The divergence between tradition

aI and nontraditional is much

tionallyJapanese or not is no longer a is not to be guarded.

less marked. Whether sornething is tradi-

concern-no

It is to be augmented

one can tell and n0 olte cares. Tradition

as the riches of the rest of the

world are assimi-

lated.

At the same time, the distance between styles has grown. 0n the one hand, the most representational of means, the documentary and its new practitioners; on the other, the most presentational, those directors heavily influenced by man ga and ntanga-like anime. Both

lrave been s0 far neglected

irnplications-will

in this account of

be considered later.

the Japanese film but

they-and their

In truth, there are s0 nany crossovers in independent

production that n0 amount of generali zation can account for the varietv.

This said, oue must nevertheless remark Llpon the new importance of genre. To be sure, we have seen, genre films have been more

as

conmon in Japan than itt many other countries.

There was the rnajor division between jidaigeki period film and gendaigeki contemporary

fihn; and there were nany subdivisions, the haha-mono, about mothers, the tsuma-mono, about wives, the yaku za frlnt, and so on. This genre menu has now widened and though there are still many films which defy genre, a new rnajority readily succumbs.

There are a number of reasons for this. Audiences like to know the kind of film they are

217

going to see before they see it. Most people want to know the perimeters of their entertainment. This is particularly true in Japan. Also, category worls as a kind of brand uame. If one

film diverts then ma$e the next one from the same geurc will too. Also genre is as reassuritlg as

it is entertaining.

As

Martin Scorsese has observed: "For

better 0r worse, story as entertainment is saddled with conventions and stereotypes, formulas and cliches. For

Nl of these limitations

are codified into specific genres."

film producers, genre is product with its own shape, its own mold. Each genre prod-

nct costs about the sarne, and directors are expected to confine thenselves to its specifications. futd for those directors who do not wish to conform to this rigid pattern theLe is the clrallenge of enlarging or subverting it at little extra cost. funong the rnost successftrl of recent genres has been the horror film. Though the genre is not new in Ja;san, its popularity has been hitherto among

children-fihns about

monsters, or such local products as giant felines and footless phantorns.

It is only

ghosts,

recently

that major audiences have made such fare profitable. Perlraps the first horror

film to make big money

was The M1,stery of Rampo (Ratttpo,

1994). It was released by its production compally in two competing versions, one by its direc-

tor, Mayuzumi Rintaro, the other by its producer OkuyantaKazuyoshi. Much of the publicity

which surrolutded the films, and perhaps accounted for the financial slrccess of OkuyamA's

fihn, was due to the falling out between director and producer which occasioned the two versions. Both, however, were based 0n a story by EdogawaRampo, alocal master of the horror story who even took the name of a famous predecessor, Edgar Allan Poe. This literaq, touch argued for a kind of respectabiliry. Imitations followed and a genre was revitalized.

With a sirnilar revival of interest in horror in the United States (evidenced by the popularity of Stephen King fihns, for example),Japanese companies jurnped aboard the bandwagon and tlre Japan-gothic genre began to appear. funong the first films

in this

genre was Ishii

Sogo's prescientAngel Dust (Enjeru dasuto, 1994). A new religion convert is supposed to be

deprogrammed but is instead turned into a serial

killer-all

this a year before the serial

attacls of the followers of the Aum shinrikyo cult. There is also a meltacing Mount Fuji, and mass mind control. Perlraps the most famous of the resulting nouvelle horror flicks was

Nakata Hideo), followed by Ring

2

Ring (Ringu,

1998,

(Ringu 2, I99D by the sane director, both based 0n a

novel by Suzuki Koji and \aler treated to anfunerican remake. funong others who also later sold their scripts to Hollywood was Shimizu Takashi whose The Grud,qe (Ju-011, 2000) said the ads, about that popular horror staple "the cuffie of one who dies

The director who gave the genre whatever creditability

w6,

in a powerful rage."

it has achieved

Kiyoslri (no relation to Akira). A protdg6, of Itami Juzo, he had a small role

was Kurosawa

in Itani's

Tbe

Funeral (0soshiki, 1984), ard Itami himself played the monster in the yourlger director's

218

Su'eet Honte (Suito hornn, 1989). F-rom there Kurosawa opened up the geltre-fewer rnorrsters aud

llore social criticism . Ctn'e (Kyua, 1997) is about

a young ntalt cumed with

socially corlscious evil power. Burren lllusiort (0inaru gett'ei, I99D is set in the au{ul future. The director called it a film "abollt two people who are trying to live between eternal love and the horror that is modern [ife."

Equally allegorical

in intent, and just as rnuch about the

horrors of modern life,

is

Chnnsrna (Karisulla, 1999)-a large, mysterious, and eponynous tree is killing an entire forest: is the individual then more than irnportant than society? ht corne out of contputers to attack the living; in Bright

lttiro

(2001), the dead

Future (Akarui mirai, 2003) the threat

is poison jellyfish, and yet another kind of doonr is the coruing of the clortes in D opp el gc ir

t

ger (Dopperu gen ga, 2003)

0r perhaps the clones are already here. One of the indicatious is the rtew activily of the generic

film. Spectators g0 clone-

like to see the same thing at the same time; they

all seern to have

the same opinions of these popu-

lar eutertainurents. A favorite

is

Tsukamoto Shinya who has made such youtlr-cult pictures rc Tetsu,o; Tbe

h'ort rtlcm (Tetsuo, 1989) and

Tetstto

II: Bodl, Hurnmer (1992).

Here, flesh and fabrication are

Vital,7004, Tsukamoto Shinya, with (right) Asano Tadanobu

united in the cyborg hero and the

poundirrg pace is both welcorne aud farliliar to those who have long watched television. Tsukamoto received rnost of his media training videos before turning to

in connercials,

and made promotiort

film. Later pictures find him more conventional. There is only oue

nreclranical-serpent torture device in A Snake

oJ'

Jurte (Rokugatsu no hebi,

2002)

. Vital

(Vitaru, 2004) finds him preoccllpied with rnere scalpels.

Sensational violeuce, injury, varyingly horrid forms of

death-such things

have long rlade

up nuch of popular cinema. Perhaps a contemporary difference is the reputabiliry excess has achieved. Rape, torture, mnrder are there to be viewed

judgrnental, but detached. It is cool to do Since this Japanese

fihn

qualiry-being cool-has (as

fiat such

in a manner not only non-

so.

corne to play such a leading role

in contemporary

well as in modern Japanese life) one might examine it. First, to be cool, or

219

hip, or whatever word is used, is to exhibit a sffle that defies the mainstream, whatever that may be at the time. The young wish to believe that they are "with

it" and are hence nore

empowered than they actually are. Dissent becomes a means. Most young persons, however,

will settle for something

less time-consuming

than real counterculture alienation. They are

satisfied with adopting a look, a style, an attitude. To be cool neatls to have lots of attitude.

This phenomenou is by n0 neans restricted to Japan and is, at anv rate, not new to it. Back

in the repressive

Edo period, to be hip was to show some

iki, to be square was to be

1,Abo, and no orle wanted to be that. Extrerne stage fashions (and rrorals) were imitated, the

"prostitute look" was in, and Edo had its own distinctive trendy take which we can see in snch chroniclers as Hokusai and Utanaro.

Again,

in the Taisho

period, the popular ero-gLuo-nanserlsu genre (combining erotic,

grotesque and farcical elements) was seen, its expression of dissidence

in its own manner antiestablishment and,

as we have

ran against the grain of increasingly repressive government.

To extol violence was perhaps too anarchic-though many a sarnurai film of the period did just that. To clairn nansensu, however, was to suggest that it was mainstream culture which was the more nonsensical. The attitude itself was also discovered to be a rnarketable item. Nansensu stories and novels became nansensu rnovies, and ero-gLuo could be translated into

smart outfits (cloche hats, bobbed lrair, plus-fours for the men) and marketed accordingly. Cool is nonverbal. It does not explain itself, nor can it. Hence its means of comrnunica-

tion are purposely lirnited. In this it resembles manga coustruction, a storyboard-like assemblage of discrete boxes, each containing its grain of inforrnation, affording nothing further than chronology as linkage. There is little explanation, much is assumed, and the reader 0r viewer is encouraged to do n0 nore than register each event. His or her emotions are beside the point, since to be with despised

it is to be out of it. This is cool-or, in Japanese parlance, not the

uetlo (wet), but its desired opposite, clorcti (dry).

This uninvolved and uninvolving dryness which the rnanga 0r anime format famously affords probably accounts for much of its populariry

in both printed and filmed fom.

nrajorily of new non-anime (live-action) filrns are now constructed like

nt

A

nga, since this is

the only narrative fonn that most young people krow. Bite-sized boxes means that one need not feel, aud rarely even think, since the chronology is self-propelling. It is fast, it is familiar, and

it affords asaf,eway to view dangerous life.

Violence, institntionalized, is thus a cool item, whether pun/eyed by Quentin Tarantino,

Kitano Takeshi or Miike Takashi. The viewer is uninvolved, that is, untouched. Consequently, it is danger that these safely insulated manganarratives revolve around. The films of Kitano "Beat" TAkeshi, a televisiorl personaliry who is uow sornething of a social force, niay be seen as an illustration of this fondness for danger at a distance. Origi-

nally a standup comedian, Kitano made his film debut as an actor-he was the brutal

220

sergeant who says "Merry Christrnas, Mr. Lawrence," at the conclusion

of Oshirna's film,

thus giving the picture its title. Oslrima gave the role to Kitano,arcIative unknown, because he had seen him playing a psyclrotic killer

rt

^

1983 television serial The Crimes of )ku,bo Kiyoshi (Okubo Kiyoshi no

hanzai). Kitano later said that the reason he accepted was that 0shirna's earlier fihns were just about the onlyJapanese cinema he had seen, and that he admired the director's treatment of casual violence. He agreed to appear not only in X[err1, ChristmAs, Mr. Lawrence but also in the director's later Gohatto. Kitano's expertise in violence led to his being offered the lead inViolent Cop (Sono otoko

ni tsuki, 1989), a picture scheduled to be directed by Fukasaku Kinji, master of the

lcyobo

yakuza genre. Fukasaku became

ill,

however, and the project was postponed. After some

tlrought, and perhaps sorne fear that hiring a lesser director might mean losing a prornising actor,producer OkuyarnaKazuyoshi asked Kitano to also direct.

The actor-director has said that, though he was perhaps influenced by such films Fukasaku Kinj i's Battles Without Honor or

Humanitlt

as

series, he knew that there w?s n0

way for asingle yakuza (like Takakura Ken) to take on a rival gang with a wooden sword (as

in the

ninkyo-eiga), Aestheticized violence has no interest for hirn. He believes violence

should be used for entertaining dramatic pllrposes-the jitsuroku-eiga ideal. Consequently Kitano reworked the plot of his debut fihn. Now it was about a cop who has reason to be violent. Not only was he up against really deprave d yakuza, he was also locked

in conflict with the truly corrupt officers in his own department. At the same time he recast tlre script. As Robert Schwartzhu described

il

"He insisted olt a static

stoic, like Takeshi hirnself and many of the characters he would play

c

rnera that stood

. . . an unmoving

can'rcrawould capture quiet, pensive stretches that serued to build tension and the eye would be equally

unblinking to the ruthless and relentless violence."t

Having played a cop too violent for his department, he next (San tai yon ekkusu jugatsu,

1990)-a

be alternated throughout his career.

played-in Boiling Point

gangster too ftuious for his gang. These roles would

InSonntine (Sonachine, 1993), the last of the old-time

gangsters (Kitano) is sent 0n a hit rnission to 0kinawa. At the end, the expressionless galtgster machine-guns the opposition, rrot afacial rluscle moving. Such scenes str-rd the oeuvre. As the

director commented at the tine. "Really tough gllys don't experien ce alot of

tension-

by nature they're cool."

Tlre finale of

Hana-bi (akaFireworks, 1997) is a revenge

sceue almostJacobiarr

in its

blood-bath excess, but, Iike Sonatirte, singularly detached, and therefore cool. But coohtess

can also generate a kind of rnanga-like sentimentality. In Hann-bi the two cop buddies share a deep affection. One (0sugi Ren) is paralyzed

in a shootout when the other (Kitano)

ouglrt to have been there but was actually visiting his wife in hospital. Osugi finds peace iu

Hanabi,1997, Kitano Takeshi, with Kishimoto Kayoko, Kitano Takeshi

leaming to paint (the pictures are by Kitano himself who, like 0zu, Kurosawa, Ichikawa and many others, is a part-time painter) but Kitano, filled with a farniliar macl'r0-r0rrAnticism, hirnself discovers tranquility only

in "delivering" his ailing wife and then himself

as well,

while the camera turns and looks elsewhere-a gesture made popular by Resert,lit'Dogs (1992). Good buddies though they were, we are invited to remain uninvolved. The

film

also offers sone indication as to how Kitano obtains his effects.

In the

scLipt,

Osugi Ren was supposed to die iu one of the earlv scenes but Kitano s0 liked his perfonTtance

that he kept him in the film until the end, and indeed rnade his character one of the points of the plot. When Kitano doesn't like something, however, he is famous for rarely reshooting the offending scene. Usually he cuts it out entirely.

This way of makiug a film certainly does not argue for the necessity of a shooting script.

In a way, we are back in the

days before Makino Shozo

thought the better of carrying around

a single sheet of paper and shouting his instructions to the waiting actors. Kitano's static cAmera, and his oue-shot-one-scene sfyle of narration ruay owe more to nranga than to

Mizoguchi but

it has

resulted

in a highly viewable product, where simple contrast

There is good (no matter how bad

rules.

it looks) against bad (no rratter how good it looks) and

there is the violent contrast between static scenes and scenes madly mayhem-filled.

fui example would be Brother (2000), shot in Los fuigeles, about an ex-yakuza boss who visits the united States to help are

^

gangbrother lay out the locals. Nl of the stylistic elements

in place: simmering silence, carefully timed bursts of trademark violence, an insistence

upon gangster chic (costumes by designer Yamarnoto Yoji) aud a hero (played by Kitano) who is so explosive that he is too cornbustible for the gang. There is also (as is cornmon

films) rlinimal acting by the director and over-the-top rrelodramatics by everyone

in Kitano's else.

Tlris formula never sold better than in Zatoichi (200r, Kitano's remake of Misumi Kenji's 1952hit Zatoiclti: Tlte Life ancl )pinions of tulrtsseLtr lchi (Zatoichi rnonogatari). Kitano hirnself plays the blind swordsnan with a slow and thoughtful dignity, a true artisan,

222

dedicated to his craft of cutting and always determined to see

slicing-always reluctant to begin the mayhen but

it through. Against his somber and restrained rendering 0f the title

charucter is the frenzied behavior of the rest of the

cast-leading up to the famous all-

singing, all tap-dancing finale.

Kitano's influence 0n other filrnmakers is considerable, since it was he who rnade manga-

like violent spectacle respectable. Ishii Sogo had been experimenting with cartoon-like violence

in High

School Panic (Koko dai panikku, 1978) and The Craz1, Fantill,

(Gyakufunsha kazoku, 1984), but

it

was not until Angel Dust, the year after Kitano's

Sonatine appeared, that he perfected the opposition of movement and stillness, of "goodness" and "badness" which is typical of these manga-influenced films. The action is stopand-go, posed tableaux-vivants and hyperactive violence.

Ishii Takashi (no relation to Ishii Sogo) was himself a ntanga artist before entering films. He consequently knew the technique even before he stepped behind the debut

film, Tbe

Gu,ts of

c

rne"a His

an Angel (Tenshi no harawata, I)88) was a success, and he followed

it witlr lVight in lVude (Nudo n0 yorlr ,199il and his best-known films, Gonin (1995) and Gonirt 2 (1996). Tlre misadventures of five members @onin) of a gang involved with another yakuza group makes up the Resentoir Dogs-like story of this fihn. Cut like a music video, noir details piled up, sensation is achieved

in

every shot. Design happy, each frarne is distin-

guislred by its lighting, its colorizatton, its composition, by zooms and fast or slow

fui

apogee

notion.

in presentational technique is reached in the many fihns of the intensely

prolific Miike Takashi, fonnerly an assistant to both Higashi Yoichi and Imalnura Shohei. A typical example is Deucl or Alfu,e (Deddo oa araibu: Itanzaisha, 199D, which opens with a

drug-induced Ieap off a rooftop, goes on to the buggery of a gang punk in a toilet, the explosion of the shot-up

(if digitalized)

stomach of a gangster just after he has eaten a lot of

Chinese noodles, and a close-up 0f a call-girl drowned

in her own excrement-all of it shot

with a neruolls camera, lots of flashpans, and other lrandheld gymnastics.

Audition (Odishon, 2000) is about a middle-aged widower looking for love but encounteritrg uumitigated evil in the form of his intended

bride-or

is it all a dream? Based on a

Murakami Ryu novel, and scripted by Tengan Daisuke (son of Imamura Shohei), the fihn

is,

like most of Miike's pictures, rnisogynist to a degree. Like the rest, it is also expertly tailored and delivers the advertised goods with a dead-faced indifference which rneets all the demands

of contemporary cool. Since these fihns are built like nTang they are hence several tirnes removed from feeling.

223

Tlrere is some Kitano influence

in all the super conmotion. There is however, n0 balanc-

ing stasis, and certainly n0 idea that violence should only fonvard drarnatic cornplications. Rather, since nothing regard

it as spectacle,

in a Miike film is believable, nor intended to be,

we are invited to

a kind of anime with real folls. Indeed, w€ areback

in the world of

pure flash-the realm of Ito Daisuke at his most frenetic, of TanakaTsuruhiko and the swislr-pan samurai actionof the early thirties. The resemblance is particularly noticeable in

Izo (2004), which begins as a sword-swinging chambara. Not that Miike has ever seen

^nything by these directors. Rather, this kind of calculated embroidery is part of an original

Japanese

accent-and influenced too, of course, by lots of permissive examples from

the

United States.

fuiother reason for the form and content of the Miike film is the intended venue. He has made many more OVs ("original videos") for the video shops and the srnall screen than he has made feature fihns for the theater chains. Made on the cheap, using new talent and young directors, such

OVs

fill many a shop

back for the nearly moribundyakuza

theaters but

still

appeals to

shelf. Miike's work represents a lucrative cone-

film, a genre which has more or

less had its day

in the

youthful tube -gazers and to those who find all the laid-back

excess cool.

fuirong others pushing this quality is Aoyana Shinji, who played ablack-shirted fascist in Kurosawa Kiyoshi's

think they live in.

Barren lllusiln, and who well reflects the kind of world yourrg people

As Aaron Gerow wrote,

"it

is comnonplace [for such yoLurg directors] to

noLrrn the inability 0f contemp orury youth to communicate. Lost in their virtual realities of video garnes and cellular phones they seem unable to handle people of flesh and

blood-

other than perhaps through random violence. It is as if they cannot establish contact because they don't even acknowledge the existence of their conversation partner."

('

Such autism is typical of the young hero of Aoyama's debut filrn, Helpless (1996), a selfscripted melodrama which the director said was inspired by the work of fu'thur Rirnbau d, a

poet often identified as the original rebel. While this is not othenvise evident in the film

(a buddy-movie about a yolurg gangster just out of jail taking up with a rebellious classrnate), both of the principals seem to find nturder a satisfying fashion statement. The even nore violent lvild Ltfe (Wairudo

raifu, 1997), agatr't ayaktrzapicture, is at the same time cooler. A pachinko pinball

224

"fixer"

Helpless,

1

996, Aoyama Shinji

lras his easy life enlivened by even

nore lawless invaders.

As

in the fihns of Quentin Taran-

tino, which Aoyama, along with a number of yolurg directors admires, the one-cut one-scene method is fihned with lots of violent action within the frame, nanga-like, and when things beconre too awful the can)eralools away. Technique becomes decoration, violence is a kind

of stylistic crocheting, aveneruble Japanese tradition. One remembers Tanaka Tsuruhiko's The Red

Bat (1931),

a

fihn made sixty-six years before but little different fron Aoyama's in

its dependence on flash , dazzle, and gore. fuiother resemblance to the crowd-pleasers of the

tlrirties is that in Aoyama's picture action is all, and chancterrzation is kept to a minimum, tlre better to display

it.

Tlre couple in Shadj, Groue (Sheidi gurobu,

I99D are s0 chancterless that they seem

barely to larow each other. In Eureka (Yuriika, 2000) the young people, one of whom is a serial killer, cannot

conlnunicate-and this, indeed,

lrour fihn. Still, victims

of.

constitutes the plot of this nearly four-

a bus-jacking, they make the most of it, victimization being in

fashion arnong the young. In EM-Embalming

(li

ernu embamingu,

I99il

everyone is

even more alienated. One critic said that "even the bang-bang scenes feel deadened. Blasting away at one another, both the good guys and the bad guys stand straight and expressionless as slrooting

gallery taryets-a steal from Kitano Takeshi's Sonati?te." In Lakeside Murder

Case (Reikusaido mahda keisu, 2005), the alienation is extended to the murder-mystery genre and most of the suspects.

Equal justification for antisocial ways is found in the films of Iwai Shunji, a music-video director who made his first picture

in

1995 . Loue

Letter is about a young woman who writes

a letter to a dead lover and gets a reply. Its television-like romanticism and music-video-like

editing drew a large audience and provided the director with funds to make Swallowtnil (Suwaroteiru, 1996), a manga-inspired vision of the future set in Yen City, a junk-chic place owing much to Ridley Scott's Blade Runner (1982).

t,

Iwai hirnself has said that his young audience larows nothing of Ozu or Mizoguchi nor

-T"t,

anything of the society they portrayed in their films. Consequently, he concludes, "we have t0 make movies thatappeal fto younger movie-goers] and reflect the world they live in."

7

One

result is that the filmmaker becomes a "visual artist" (eizo sakka) who makes no distinction between the forms of

film, television and music video, and whose "message" is the stylish

nilrilism which has remained a favored youth-oriented mannerism since the early days of expressionism in Japanese cinema.

225

-'{--l

Tlrere are other takes on crime as ayouth specialty, however. Isaka Satoshi, a forrner assistant of Higashi Yoichi, had something new to say about the crimes of the young in his first

filrn, Focus (Fokasu , 1996), which he both wrote (with Shin Kazuo) and directed, and in which he revealed the manipulativeness of the Japanese media. A television director deliberately exploits a young and solitaryr computer uerd (Asauo Tadauobu) who lives his life onlv

through his electronic eavesdropping devices. Eventualll'the nerd hijacks the televisionexploitation feature they are making and gives the director a true adventnre. The fihn is taken entirely from the viewpoint of the television photographer-one cut, one scene (actu-

ally the work of cameranlan Sano Tetsuro) and looks like a documentan', but one which eventually includes us, the audience, as its target. It was produced by Hara Masato, one of Japan's most innovative prodLlcers-who also helped make both X[err1, Christmas,

ltr.

Larurutce ard Ran. Isaka,

in his later

works, went on to further explore the themes he introduced in

Focus. Doubles (Daburusu, 2001) was about the collision between how the young want to be seen and how they really are, and G@nte (2003) shows a yolurg couple ernbroiled

in

identity pranls with the grown-Llp world-pointing to new aud interesting directions in genre

filrls.

This pandering to youth, anarchy and the box office is not, however, the only way to make a

film. Another is to drop hard-core cool and attempt to show something of the realiff of being yourlg in a disciplinary society. One such possibility was early indicated by the late Somai Shinii. He first came to attention with Tl,phoort Club (Taifu kurabu, 1985), directed after aKato Yuji script, about a grollp of high-school juniors and the four days they spend together at their country school wait-

ing out a storm. The teenagers are shown as they really are, not as "youth" pictllres would have thern. In the grip of their glands, they are rnoody, contradictory, either at the heights of enthusiasm 0r in the depths of despair. The

title--certainly an echo from

Typhoon C\ub,1985, Somai Shinji

Tlrornas Kurihara's long lost "youth" cornedy Amcttetn"

Club-insists upon nnity, but

everything we are given shows only dissent: an older girl nearly drowns a yolurg boy, another yotrth is carrie

d

away by his budding sexuality, and yet another lectLlres his friends on the

purposelessness of their lives and then

kills hirnself.

Somai is not interested in solving educational problems-he wants to reveal how diffi-

226

cult it is to understand adolescents, and to show what they go through. In this he is notably successful. As Sato Tadao lras said: "Somai is able to capture this precarious psychological

in which jovialify and morbidiry became hard to distinguish." I

state of early adolescence

Sornai uses long takes, usually with the actors far from the camera. The climactic dance scene

in

the eye of the typhoon is taken

from very far away and is held for a long time. Oue remembers sinilar sceues fronr

early Japanese cinema-the fihns of Murata Minoru, or Tanaka Eizo.

This long shot as a techniqr-re to isolate and to locate the character in his or her world is also memorably demonstrated in tlre coda of Somai's blouittg (0hikkoshi,

Moving,1993, Somai Shinji, with Tabata Tomoko (left)

199r. A little girl (Tabata Tomoko) wanders through the remains of the festival after every/one has

left-the

caluera following, keep-

ing its distauce, isolating her, distant againSt the last of the festivities. Actor and narrative are fused through atmosphere, and sornething which we have

childhood-is

all experienced-the end of

su ggested.

To show things as they are is to show them guns and dope,yakuzaandcrooked

as Japanese. Real Japanese

lif'e is not about

cops, car chases and lovingly crafted explosions. Thns to

reflect soruetlting of an actual reality is to retnrn, even

if

inadvertently, to something

Japanese.

Other young directors are also moving

in different directions. One exarnple is Nakahara

Shutt, who started 0n the dissident edge by working

in the soft-core pom industry

at

Nikkatsu, an experieuce which taught him much. "P0m0 is very simple, easy to understand.

But people aren't animals, so you start to think about their feelings, to look deeper into human behavior. Porno is the best way to learu how to rnake films about human beings."'t Nakahara'sThe Cherrl,

)rchurd (Sakura n0 sono, 1990), after a script byJinno Hiroaki

loosely based 0n a manga by Yoshida Akio, is about four members of a girls' high-school

dranaclub and their annual production and performance of the epouymous Chekhov play. In the two hours before the curtain obserue the relationships aysafi, and come

goes

up (fihn tine and actual tirne being the sarne) we

which hold the girls together, the forces which will dLive thern

to understand the characters much more deeply than is comrnon in

a

youth-oriented Japanese film.

227

(--rc-

The Cherry )rchard,'1990, Nakahara Shun, with Nakajima Hiroko, Tsumiki Miho

Nakahara acknowledges a general lack of character depth in Japanese films zurd attributes

it to the fuuerican influence:

'Japanese movies have lost the kind of feeling

that [ear-

lieL] directors had . . . Japanese directors stopped being Japanese, [thev] wanted to be like fuuericans. Thev threw awa\/ their own dranta and went off to Hollrnvood." Now, he feels, "we're relaxed euough that we can again renrember the past. We clon't have to go to Hollvwood anvnrors."r0 fur exanrple of this return is his The Gertile ftrelt'e (Juninin rro vasashii

nihonjin, 1991) an expert conredv about how a Westenr concept, in this czue the jury svstenr, rnight work in Japan (where there are n0 juries, oulv iudges) and how a very 'Japauese" ztcconnrodation would be finallv worked out.

Auotlter director to show sonrethiug nlore than the cool edge is Suo Masavuki, best knowrr abroad for Sbull

Wa

Dutce? (Shttru ui dansu, 1995), the fihn which becanre the nrost popu-

larJapanese fihn abroad since Kuroszrwa Nrira's Rusbontln. A charnring conredv about the dail,v grind of a salaried mrur (\'akusho

Koji) and his dreanrs and hopes, it resonated with

voung audiences both in Japan and abroad. Suo is also adrnired in Japan foL his absurd and lovirrg parodies of Ozu. The first, a sofi-core ponr filnr, is a pink renrake of Lute Sprnry called

ht AhtlrrttAl

Fantil.l': ll.),Brother's Wlb (Hentai kazoku: Aniki n0 \/onlesau, 1983). The

second was a television dranra series segnrent, A Bttshtessmrtn's Scltoolroom (Sararintan

kvoshitsu, 1985). Both use the celebrated Ozu method for ends which the older director would not perhaps have envisioned but might well have approved.

Mochizuki Rokuro, who also learned his craft nraking soft-core ponr, created his first critical hit with Sikinless ltiigbl (Sukirtresu naito, 1991), about the dilentmas eltcoLuttered those working

b1'

in the rtrarginalized business of makiug ponr. This theme of social exclusion

wru further explored in The Ftre Witltin (0nibi ,l9L)7) and Ktrnuchi (2003), the latter vouth-film about a pop painter and poet who died ,voultg.

228

a

Nagasaki Shun'ichi's major theme is also the sociallyexcluded, as seen inThe Enchant-

ment (Yuwakusha, 1989), a feminist statement with teeth in it. In doraibu, 1992)

a

The

Driue (Saigo no

woman (Muroi Shigeru) murders a girl and implicates her lover (Tarnaki Koji)

In Some Kinda Loue (Romansu, 1996) a flaky young woman (Mizushima Kaori) has an unwelcome effect on her friends-one of whom is played by Tsukamoto Shinya. A fine portrait of the teenager grown older but still cherishing her revolt was given by Fujiyama Naomi in SakamotoJunji's The Face (Kao, 2000). Now fatandfrumpy, she resents her popular, pretty sister, and kills her. 0n the run she begins to find a new life. This discovery (orcreation) of self is a theme nowseen more frequently,particularly in such sakamoto

filnrs

as

Boxu Joe (1995) and the explosive (nockout (Dotsuitarunen, 1989).

The real problems of real young people is a dominant theme among yolurg directors

as

tlrey move further from cool genre and into particular ruther than general statements. Yukisada Isao

inGo (2001)

shows what

it is like to be of Korean

ancestry

in an all

'Japanese"

high school. ln Poisonlus Insects (Gaichu , 2002) Shiota Akihito gives us a seventh- grade girl who is ostracized at school but finds freedorn on the street. ht Canary, (Kanana,,2004), a young boy runs away from a religious cult. That freedom can be dangerous is indicated in

Ishioka Masato's documentary-like Scoutman (aka Pain, 2000), which is about ateenage couple who

fall straight to the bottom-he into pimpdom, she into the awful world of

"compensated companionship." A painful rebellion which succeeds is found

in Furumaya

Tomoyuki's Bad Companl, (Mabudachi,2001) where a high-school boy and his friends

turn against their tyrannicalteacher's idea of what "area| hunan being" should be. They reflect, then rebel, and make a real moral choice for themselves.

Anong these independent directors who refuse genre and try to make sone sense of society, tlre best known is the late ItamiJuzo. Son of the director Itami Mansaku, who died when Jtrzo was twelve, he was

originally well known as anessayist and an actor before becoming a

director.

I

Itami sometimes said that his therne was "what it means to beJapanesel' asubject upon wlrich he elaborated to Vincent Canby: "Americans, because of their ethnic, economic and educational differeuces, share far less in the way of comrnon experience than do the Japanese. Living inJapan is like living

in anation

of twins."rr This presupposes more similarity

tlran difference and supports a perceived need for atradition to guide. Yet, despite or because of his interest

in what it means to be aJapanese, Itami also main-

tained that he was strongly influenced by American movies, saying that he learned how to construct stories and develop characters by studying American fihns. Like many before

229

ilX?f-Tffl,J,111

him-Ozu

leading the

way-his

rffil;',:"'

with (rear) Susai Kin' Mivamoto

goal was to connect the new means to the old ways.

In The Ftmernl he satirizes the Japanese for forgetting their traditions: they no longer kttow the proper way to hold a funeral. The characters even have difficulty sitting in traditional sffle, feet tucked under them. Yet the way in which this is shown is learned frorn tlre West, The funeral-instruction tape is viewed as a

)ttr,Gmzplike home-nrovie long revealing

dolly-a

scene

in Ozu's

film within a filrn in the lnallter of the

I utcts Blrn, Bttt.

technique used on several occasions

fuiother parallel is the

in the Ozu filrn and,

before

that, in the filrns of Rend Clair-which reveals the ftureral guests having trouble sitting in tlre required formal position. The final scene, the widow's fonnal speech, is filmed lengthy single shot. The camera moves slowly fonvard into close-up , away of

u

a

filming-seen

at the end of many a Hollywood womeu's filrn, seen also in the final shot of Mizoguchi's Sistu's of the

Gion-which might be defined as traditional.

To be slue, influences exist 0n a sliding scale. No rnatter how novel at first appearance, eventually, everything becomes traditional. What we identify as once derived frorn Ernst Lubitsch is no longer

that-it

has become a paft of the Japanese tradition. As I write, other

ittfluences (let us say those of QuentinTarantino) are akeady being subsumed intoJapanese corrtemp orary

film and will shortly become "traditional"

as

well.

In the expertly carpentercd fihrs of Itarni, the demands of tradition and of rnodernity are nreslred

in a highly structured narrative. In the two-part .4 Taxing Woman

(Marusa no

onna, 1937-88), and in later pictures, the director claimed to be creating essays. He called Su,perrnarket Woman (Supa n0 onna,1996) a lesson on how to make a success of a poorly rutr store; and fulinbo or the Gmtle Art of Japanese Extortiort (Mimbo n0

ouna,I))Z), "a

kind of essay ou how to stand up to theJapanese mob." ,{s for Tampopo (1985),

ern-Howard the

230

Hawks' Rio

it wffi, said the director, a sociological

essay based

0n a West-

Brauo (1959). The film wasn't really about Japan at all. Indeed,

film was much nore popular in the United

States than it was

in its home country.

Itami, though a true independent in that he himself financed lris first film, The F

urrcrul-rnortgaging everything

he owred

iu

order to do so-soon

established distribution then production ties with Toho. Before loug, efforts were

being made t0 "improve" the purchased product, to turn

it into something

like

formula fztre, all "ltami production." funong the subsequeut failures (both commercial and artistic) was.4 Quiet

Tampopo,19B5, ltami Juzo, with Watanabe Ken, Miyamoto Nobuko, Yamazaki Tsutomu

Lfe (Shizukana seikatsu, 1995),

based on the

works of his brother-in-law 0e Kenzaburo. Concerned producers becarne even ested

iu "fixing" the Itami product and among

life and

nore inter-

the marlv reasons put fonvard for Itarni's

urrexplained suicide in December f997 was the suggestion that he felt he had lost the impetus uecessary to carry on rnaking his films.

0n the other hand,

0e-in

his 2000 novelizatiorr

of tlre event, The Chnngeling (Torikaeko)-suggests that the director's death was related to his lraving stood up to the mob and other rightist, nationalistic organizatiotts.

MoritaYoshirnitsu'sverypopular The Fantil1,5t,,rre (Kazoku getnu, 1983), apicturewhich won the KinemaJumpo prize for that year, and one which starred his mentor, Itami in the role of the feckless father, shows how satire cau be used to express criticism. In it, a tutor lriLed to iustru

ct abackward boy takes over the farnily and teaches them a lesson in modern

living. The film proved one of the most influential of its decade.

The Family Game, 1983, Morita Yoshimitsu, the "last supper," with Yuki Saori, ltami Juzo, Matsuda Yusaku, Tsujita Jun'ichi, Miyagawa lchirota

2.1I

Sato Tadao said that Tlte

Famill, Garne "wreaks vengeance on

t]r'rc Japanese

home-

dranta tradition." He goes on to compare the Ozu family with the Morita family. Just as Ozn often seated his farnily members facing the same direction, thus giving unity to their feelittgs, so Morita

in the final farnily meal, lines up the father, mother, two brothers and

the

family tutor. But the composition no longer means accord and, indeed, this last supper turns into a food fight. "Morita makes use of the Ozu style to indicate how the Japanese family of today, with its weakened bonds of kinship, is different frorn the Japanese family Ozu rl described. "

It was not until fifteen years later that Morita had another corrparable hit, with a picture

that was neither satirical nor particularly contemp orary. Lost Parndise (Shitsurakuen, 1997), wffi based 0n a besrselling novel and alater television

series-an exarnple of movie-

TV "synergy." If The Famill,GArne could be said to deconstruct 0zu, Lost Paradise reanrnrated Mizoguchi Kenji. One critic has said: "Though love suicide

(shinju) has been

favorite device of Japanese drama dating back to Chikamatsu and beyond, its use

lin

Morita film] struck many Japanese moviegoers, especially those of the sarne generation

a

the as

the film's couple, as excitingly romantic rather thau regrettably retrograde." Since then, however, the demands of television have been paramount, resulting Lik,e Asura (Ashura no gotoku, 2003), a

film

in a kind of

apogee

with

adaptation of a popular daytiLne televisiorr

serial.

A director who continues to use satire as a tool is Sai Yoichi, an assistant director 0n 0shirra's In the Recthn of the Senses, and an actor in the same director's Gohatto. Sai first gained critical attention as adirector with

All

Urtcler the X[oort (Tsuki wa dotchi ni

dete

iru, 1993).

Sai, a second-generation Korean, is one

of the few directors to concem himself with the rnany rninorities in Japan. hr

All

Urtcler the t[oon, Chung (Kishitani

Goro), is a Tokyo taxi driver. Although he was born in Japan, the fact that his parents were born

fanrily a target

in

Korea makes their

of. Japanese

prejudice.

"l

All Under the M00n, 1993, Sai Yoichi, with

Kishitani

Goro, Ruby Moreno

hate Koreans," one of the other drivers tells Chung. "They're dirty, they stink and tltey're stingy. But you're all right. I like yoll. Lend me some rnoney."

2.32

Though stigmatized, Chung gets along. He puts up with the prejudice and has a whole stock of stories about how bad

it

able young Japanese women. But

rnakes

him feel. These he uses for picking up impression-

it is a Filipina (Ruby Moreno) he falls for. His colleagues

are puzzled and ask "Why would you want to go out with such a dark-skinned person?" His

nrotlrer displays reverse racism with:

"l

absolutely forbid you to marry any except our own

folk." But Chung chugs on, a happy loner who has learned not to expect too much-a rnore socially integrated Tora-san. He knows thatprejudice makes prejudice andthatvictims make victims, but all the sane he longs for some happiness hirnself. Sai's people are loners but they are fffely losers-usually they

find away to fit in

and

learn how to live under the most extreme conditions. Examples of such resilience are the convicts in Doing Time (Keimusho no naka,2002). A mixed lot, they are distinguished by

their ability to go along with the authorities and to make

sense

of the meaningless rules

under which they live. The resulting comedy is a satire which cuts two ways. The rigid prison systern is exposed, but s0 are the craven ways of the prisoners. Seen as allegory, something

which the director perhaps intended, it is an indictment of a double-edged hypocrisy,

but-

as anelderly internee (Yamazaki Tsutornu) discovers-adve$ity also teaches.

Sai's rnajor minority statement is in Blood

and Bones (Chi to

lrone

, 2004), a nearly

tlrree-hour saga about a first generation Korean family in an unfriendly Japarr. The fortunes of the brutal head of the household (Kitano Takeshi) are followed from his arriv al to

his lonely death in North Korea. Filled with violence, the film does not attempt to take

sides-it

merely shows the awfulness of both. What emerges is

an adniration for

sheer

endurance.

fuiotlrer director using comedy and satire is Obayashi Nobuhiko. Beijing Watermelon (Peikin no suika, 1989) is about aJapanese greengrocer who befriends a group 0f Chinese students. It was shot without a con-

pleted script and the dialogue was supplied by the actors 0r amateurs playing the roles. Often the camera simply stands and watches for almost

all of its ten-minute load, while

the

frame is varied by all the entertaining comings and goings of the cast. When the story dernands that the grocer and his wife go to Peking at

Beijing Watermelon, 1989, 0bayashi Nobuhiko

233

the invitation of the returned Chinese students, Obayashi suddenll, abandons the realistic picture he has begun. The reason was that it wasJune 1989, and he and his cent wonld not go to

filnr in China

because of the Tiauanmen Square incident. Instead, 0bayashi staged the

airplane trip, the visit to Beijing, the trip to the Great Wall of China all in the studio, making this staginess clear to the viewer with cardboard nrock-ups and painted sets. This euonrolrs

and calculated rift in the stvle-from Lumiere to Nldlids in nrid-scene-also serues as

a

conruent on the enormitl, of the massacre itself.

Riyu, 2004, Obayashi Nobuhiko, with Kishibe lttoku

fur example of Oba,vzrshi's

style-light, satirical,

purposely

incongrllolls-is

seen

in his

popnlar Trmnfer Stuclerzls (Tenkosei, Aka, Exchange Studeuts, aka I are You, You zutt Me, 1982), a very/ funny pictr-rre about two students, boy and girl, wlto sonteltow colne to occupy eaclr other's bodies. InThe Discantates

(ljintachi to no natsu, 1988) a mAn meets his dead

parerrts just as they were when he was a child.

In Chizukl's lbunger Sister (Futari, 1991),

tlre elder sister retunrs from death to look after the younger. InlVostctlgie (HttrukA, rtosutaruji,

199), on

a failed writer meets a

as she meets

girl who strongly resembles a childhood sweetheart. He looks

an adolescent student who turns ont to be the writer himself wltett yourtg. Irt

Ri.t,tt (aka The Motive, 2004), a murder m,vstery becomes a cross sectiort (over otte ltundred speaking parts) of post-bubble Japanese lif'e.

Shinohara Tetsuo, a vollnger director,

Llses the

built-iu iucongmities of ntatrga to make his

satirical points. In The Biy4 Collectiort of Shou,o Eril Jbzgs, (Showa kayo daizenshu, 2002) he has a buuch of punks battling spoiled middle-aged women to the death. Shimizu Hiroshi, a Kitano disciple, also finds the comedy in violence

.In

Chicken Heart (Chikin hato, 2002)

,

his hero is a man who makes a living by being publicly beaten up for money. Shimizu finds irr his professio nal

234

nugurorqr ("humau

punchiug bag") a ntetaphor for modertt Japan.

Gentler, but just as satirical is Hayashi Karzo, best known abroadfor his take-off of Japanese

noir in his fulike Hanuner (Maiku Harna) series, which includes such titles as Tbe Most

Terrible Tinte in

fl[-y,

Ltfe (Wagajinsei saiaku no toki, 1994). His first film, however, is ltis

best remembered. To Sleep s0 as to pastiche of earlyJapanese

film

Dreant (Yune miru yo ni rtemurit ai, 1986) is a loving

(detectives in caps, girls in cloche hats and spit curls, the Victor

dog, sepia toning) which affectionately parodies modern foibles as well.

Anrong the best directors of this comic satire genre is Hirayanra Hideyuki, attd rnTuntt (2001) he created a cornpletely cornmercialJapan with n0 one in it. The heroine has entered anotlrer tirne level and lives in a Tokyo filled with things to buy and no people. In Laughirtg

Frog (Warau kaeru, 2002) he takes on the ordinary marriage and what happens when it goes wrong.

The

film which made Hirayama's rcputation, however, w6

about four women who work

tn abox-lunch factory and rnust

)ul

(2002), a mordant satire

get rid of the body of an abu-

sive husband. Having successfully dismembered his corpse and durnped

it, the four start a

Iucrative business in the disposal of the bodies of murder victirns. Gruesone and funny, the

picture is a study of behavior at its most extreme, beautiftrlly captured by tlte ensemble perfornrance of veteran actresses Harada Mieko, Baisho Mitsuko, Muroi Shigeru, and Nishida Naomi.

Making the picture you want and then managm g to control it is, of course, the goal of any

film director. If your subject is not instantly saleable, usually to

a yolrng audience, then this

is much more difficult. And if you work for a large company, independent 0r not, you then

turn into a con)pany hack-neither creating nor managing what you want. Many Japanese films get rnade but are never released. Others are tailored for release but go straight to the tube. Others are designed for the tube from the first. Still others are sched-

uled as just for the spool stores. Where a given film will go is now figured into the balance sheets of new productions.

I .L

theater,

)/

though it lasted a number of weels. The rest of the money was made on DVD and video

-tl

Kurosawa Kiyosht's CharismA, for example, played

in only

orle

snall Tokyo

sales and rentals. The pictures of a popular director such as Miike Takashi

will

be shown at a

theatre in the suburbs simply so that they will have had an opening date, and the rnoney will be made at the video stores.

At the sarne time much nrovies

of 2004 owed their

film funding success

comes from television itself.

Nl

the big box office

to network backing of what were the networks' owll

fihns. And the films themselves were often expanded versions of television programming, a

235

pheuomeuolt that Aaron Gerow has described as "the filrn projector as alt extension of the cathode -ray tube. "r.i

Director Shinoda Masahiro has estirnated that now only thirty percent of current income contes from movie theaters and that sevenly perceut contes from television broadcasting and

video rentals. He also believes that this meager thirty percent

will

be ftrrther eroded by the

hrternet'*, s0 different has "distributiolt" in Japan become.

fut exarttple of a director who still manages to work successftrlly within this system

is

IclrikawaJun (no relation to IchikawaKon). Since 1987,he has made aseries of filmswhich have established

him as one of the most serious recent fihnnakers. Though he is

Japan's leading director of television commercials-which is how he makes his

also

lloney-

his feature pictures are distinguished by a laconic structure and a quiet dignity, both of which have recalled to some the work of 0zu.

htTokj,o Siblings (Tolryo lryodai, 1995), the resemblance to Ozu was intentional on the part of the director. Though the style is not

Q7s's-uo

consistent sitting-on-tatami shots, no

ban ott palts-the world we are shown is that of Ozu. A brotlrer aud sister, orphaned, live together

in an old Japanese-sffle house

in

downtown Tokyo. The sante red Ozu coffee

pot sits there while night after night, the sister preparcs toftr for her brother. When the sister finds a boyfriend, heL brother resents

and the fanrily falls apart

in the finest

it

Ozu

tradition.

Ichikawa hirnself calls the picture au "Ozu homage," adding that he never tires of seeing the older director's films. The reasolt,

he told Mark Schilling, is that "today kids

Tokyo Siblrngs,1994, lchikawa Jun, with Awata Urara, Ogata Naoto

lnay ltave TV garnes and the world may seern to be different but really nothing has changed. The feelings between parents and childreu, between brothers and sisters, betweeu husbands and wives are still the same. That's why Ozu's

filns

uever becorle dated."rs

Ichikawa cousiders his "reAl" Ozu film to be D1,irt,q at u Hospital (Byoin de shinu to iu

koto,

I99r. "l didn't

want close-ups of doctor's faces or suffering patients such as yoLl

usually find in hospital films . . . Death is an equalizer.

Nl

the six patients in those six wards

were main characters. I didn't want to focus 0n one at the expense of others. I wanted to view

them all equally. That's why

236

I kept the canlera in one place.

The carrera itself has no

ffit

Dying at a Hospital,1993, lchikawa Jun

emotion-it The

is sirnply a neutral observer. I wanted to

film, an

essay

and a ttutnber of

maintain that neutrality."'o

in severity and conpassion, is made of very little: a few hospital roolls,

patients-a young father slowly dying, an elderly couple in

separate hospi-

tals who want to be together, a wornan who fights against her death. The imposed distance

from the camera, coLlpled with the empathetic subject, finds the spectator trying to get closer but unable

to-the

position most of us assurne when visiting the afflicted in hospitals. Lest

tlre strain become too great, Ichikawa intercuts these sequences of

scenes

with lyric

docurnentary

life outside the hospital: random, inconclusive, beautiful scenes that the terni-

nally ill will ltever again

see.

fuiother cornnunity-focused film

is

Zau,a-zoulo Shirnokitnznu,ct (2000), about a neigh-

borhood itt a Tokyo suburb. As in many of the director's films, what begins as a group por-

trait turns ittto a character study. Nothing much seerrs to happen, but

as we

watch we begin

to undemtand sotnetlting about life. The seasons change frorn the heat of sumner to the cold of winter, aud with them, the people change. What began as nothing becomes everything.

InTokj,o Marigolrt (To\{yo marigorudo, 2001), the pluposeftrl indirection is even more extreme. In this story of an ordinary, airnless yollng girl and her emotional disappoir-rtments,

tlte narrative is not about what is shown but what is missing. The dialogue gets the viewer no

further than it gets the inarticulate yourlg people-the story is elsewhere.

In fihns such

as this one, Ichikawa nlay easily be perceived as a true maverick, for lre

turns against his times and celebrates the old, refusing to sell out to violeuce as apanacea for emptiness, and, in so doing, defies the mainstream.

Oguri Kohei, like Ichikawa, has also retained his independence. His first film, IIu"dd1, Rfuryr

(Doro no kawa, 1981), a deliberate return to black-and-white shomingeki, is set in 1955

23t

Osaka and is about kids growing up to learn

the disillusioning facts of life, a scenario that nakes one think of 0zu's children, and

of Shimizu Hiroshi's. A little boy, sou of a lower middle-class farnily, makes friends

with two other children who live 0u

a

houseboat. The little boy comes from a p00r

but loving family and does not know that his new friends have no corlventional fam-

Muddy Biver,1981 , Oguri Kohei

i|y at all, and that their mother prostitutes lrerself to provide for thern. 0f Muddl, Rit,er,SatoTadao asked: "Why is nese

it that the

best Japa-

filrns about children are s0 sorrowful?" He then answercd his owr question. "lt rnay be

because of the

authoritanan nature of Japanese

sociely

. and the need to prepare children

from early on to endure the repressiveness of that authoritarianisrn."rT Ogtrri went ou to tnake For

ltrl,ako

(Kayako no tame

ni, 1984)

abor-rt the

tuinority group

rlost discriminated against in Japan: ethnic Koreans, most of whom have been born in Japan. Though the

fihn was condemned by sorne for avoiding social criticism and depicting

only passive suffering, this was obviously how the director viewed the problem, Even

nore passive is the storyline of Tbe

Sleepi,ng Mcr,n (Nernuru otoko, 1996).

Ayoung

rnan, hurt in an accident, lies in a cona-he dies six months later. This is all that happens so

far as the story goes. But this event, like a stone cast in water, makes little waves of

life which affect everyone else in the picture. The months move on, the seasons pass, aud the rnan asleep becomes a presence, a nucleus for his family, his friends. When he dies the picture implodes. As is

fitting with such subject matter, Oguri worls very slowly, and fills his fihns with long

takes. The scenes in Tbe Sleeping

Man puryosely

exceed what

rlight

be called

their infonlational

quotient. Like Mizoguchi's they are beautiful and, like fuitorlioni's, they are expressive. Unlike both directors, however, Oguri has always experienced financial

diffi-

cnlties nraking his films. Mudd1, Rfuter was financed by owner

a factory-

fihn fan. The Sleepfug Man

was financed by Gurnma Prefecture, where it was filmed. often,

It is not

in Japan as elsewhere, that

civic endeavor is rewarded with art, but this time it was.

23s

:

The Sleeping Man,1996, 0guri Kohei,

with Ahn Sung-ki

fur equallv iunovative director is Yanagimachi Mitsuo. Though he has nade only seven

fihus he has, nonetheless, created a body of work wlrose serious independence is rare in corrterrrporaryJapanese cinema. The first of the seveu was Gocl Speed

lbu! Black Eruperor

(Burakku empera; goddo spido yu, 1976), a documentary about aJapanese bike gang. 0f it the director has said that each society has its cwn rational laws but these have no relevance to bike gangs. Yet, that is for him no problem. Nothing needs justification because "society verslls the individual is a false equation."rs It is false because, as society changes its nature,

it

is constantly being rephrased.

Though all of Yanagiurachi's filrls are about the erosion of traditional values, this is not sorretlring he deplores . The IVineteert-I'ear-0kfs fllalt (Julqrusai no Chizu, 197D, based orr a Nakagarni Kenji novel, a would-be terrorist newspaper boy is filled with thoughts

of violence. The director has said that

don't meau to rlake

it [violence]

"l

legiti-

mate, I mean to make it visible, to show it for what it is." A

l')

Farauell to the Earth (Saraba itoshiki

daiclri, akaFarewell to the Land, 1982) is The Nineteen-Year-}ld's Map, 1979, Yanagimachi

about the breakdown of the ruralJapanese

Mitsuo, with Okiyama Hideko, Homma Yuji

farnily through the story of a junkie truck driver and the havoc he creates. 0f this

filn

Yanagirnachi said:

"lt's not that I

believe the

exteuded family is a good thing. I can't rnake a judgnent. But, whether for good or bad, the balance has been destroyed."r0

Again, this destruction of traditional balance is the theme of Yanagimachi's finest film,

Himutsm'i (akaFire FestwaI, 1985), also

based

0n a Nakagarni novel. The director lras said

that he wanted to develop further "tl'le relationship between nature and man." His modern rttaclto Japanese man, a lumberman in the forest of Kumano, cones Llp against ancieut deities-palpable, itr a rcmarkable

if invisible-

sedes of scenes where nature

becomes manifest: a storm, then sudden

stillness and suulight in the sacred forest. One of the most extraordinary sequences

irt

contemporary Japanese cinema,

it

is

composed of kleig lights, wind machines,

Himatsuri, 1985, Yanagimachi Mitsuo, with Kitaoji Kinya

239

ruin makers, TamwaMasaki's calculated color photography, and Takemitsr-r Toru's rnagical score. Everything works

in perfectbalance to

create five rninutes

of transcendental wonder.

Here the false equation of society veffius the individual is resolved.

It is really society (tran-

sient humans), versus nature (the way things permanently are).

It is also typical of the

way things are lhat most of Yanagimachi's films have had to be

privately financed and produced, and that he has often found hinself unable to work. His last feature film wu About Lotte, Tokj,s (Ai ni tsuite Tokyo, 1993), concerning illegal Chinese

inrrnigrants inJapan's caprtal. After that he directed only Shadout of Chinn (1990) for

Warner Brothers, and a rnade-for-television

fihr,

The Wandering Peddlers (Tabisuru

Pao-Jiang-Hu, I99).YanagiLnachi's first film was a documerftary about Tolqto bike gangs and lre has remained true to fine-grained realism. InThe Wandering Peddlers he returned

to tlre documentary format to explore the subject of the rnedicine peddlers of Tatwan-a vanislring breed who share much with other Yanagimachi characters. The director and his cameraman (again TamuraMasaki) roamed all over the island, making friends and taking pictures.

In

these detailed, descriptive films, there is nothing prescriptive; nothing is being sold,

and there arc no obvious agendas. One thinls of the films of Robert Bresson and, indeed, the younger Japanese aclarowledges the influence of the older French director. At the same tirne

lre mentions another influence:

"l

much admire Mizoguchi Kenji . . . he had avery cold,

objective, almost documentary style of filming. Bresson's films are different, but both directors share that cool, detached point of view with which I can identify."2r

The objective and detached point of view is very close to that of the documentary and, indeed, many of these young directors have worked Slrinozaki Makoto, whose fint film

day the wife runs away, steals

a

is

(1996), is about a seemingly typical youltg married

,)kaui

couple, getting along, living an ordinary

in this format. One such director

life-like in some

\atler-day Naruse film. But one

car, becomes someone her husband does not know. He is

pulled out of his placid fwo-dimensional existence and dropped into three-dimensional life. Yet this is not a domestic tragedy because

it is her "madness" which

saves them both

from

the true madness of a meaningless existence. At the end they stand together on the brow of a suburban

hill, aplacewhere

she has often

stood, and they both hear the wash of the invisible (and, in the rniddle of Tokyo, noltexistent) sea. We can only infer that they are at last feeling something authentic. This irony is nowhere directly expressed but everywhere shown. At the same time sornething eternal is suggested.

240

)kaeri, 1 996, Shinozaki Makoto.

Many fihns only celebrate the status qLlo, just as sone new directors are only concerned

with saying what everyone already knows. Shinozaki, more famous 'as an essayist, knows how to think for hirnself. Also a projectionist (this is how he supports himselfl) he lurows fihn,

irrcluding-the largest influence 0n his work-Robert Bresson. The ghost of Une Fernme Douce (1969)-another "mad" woman-hovers just above the surface of )kneri, though Shinozaki's heroine does not real one, a theme explored

kill herself. She

shows us that socially structured life is not the

in the work of many contemp

orary Japanese directors, such as

Kurosawa Kiyoshi, Kitano, and Yanagirnachi.

Kawase Naomi also made something

like a documentary with her first feature film, Suzaku

(Moe no Suzaku, 1997). It depicts fifteen years in the life of

afanily inarernote rural

are^.

It is aplace where the young leave and the old die. The remnants of a farnily-ayoung gir[, an older boy-stay on. She is attracted to

-'t J--

him, he is drawn toward the wife of his dead

')- -.j"

-i]

uncle. But there arc no melodrarnatic com-

plications. The attentive can)eru (Tamura Masaki) looks at the beautiful rnountain village and observes those people still there.

Unlike many younger directors, Kawase was not inspired by other filrns. Born

in

a

suburb of Nara, she says that she grew up

Suzaku, 1997, Kawase Naomi.

24r

seeing almost u0 movies or television. This, she believes, makes her more like filmmakers

fifry years ago, whose fihrs are rllLlch more realistic than those she now finds her contenrporaries making. She creates rnovies based on what she lras actually seen and felt, not ou geltres

or trends. Her films, she says, are formed by the environrlent in which she grew up.

hr making her first featnre, she studied the village where she intended to film for three years. She and her staff then lived there for three months prior to shooting. During this time

they repaired the old farmhouse where she wonld shoot. She cast all the parts, except that of the father, from arlateurs, iucluding a number of local people, F'or her next

fihn, a more conventional documentary, Tbe Wertlr/ (Somaudo monogntAri,

1997), Kawase retnrned again to the village to record the lives of niue of the old people still

living. Talking with them luore as aclose relative thau as A filmmaker, she records their past arrd, irr extreme close-Llps, their limited present. Shurusoju (Shara, 2003) is again set iu Narzt.

It deals with the theme of the absence of family through the story of a boy'who loses his twin brother and is still dealing with the pain. Though the boy comes to ternrs with his loss, the

film is no affirming fantasv. Rather it is a docu-dralua; simple, apperent, devastating.

wa Nobuhiro's debut film, Dtto (2/Duo, 1997), tion to a number of more conmercial filnrs, Also

llary in this rrovie. His methods are radical. He asks his actors to read the treatment and then forget about it. Through rehearsals he molds their version of the forgotten

script-all

rrove-

nrent, all dialogue their own. The canrerAman (again, Tanrura Masaki) is as nmch a part of the action as they are, watching, always in control, always generously relinquishing it.

Irr

1999, Snwa nrade Xt/)thet' (Emu-tnaza), agztin An ensemble

filnt, about the

love

between a divorced rnan and a yolulger fenrale office worker. When the ruan's ex-wife falls

242

ill, he rlust

assume the responsibility

of looking after their son. He brings the boy to the

home he shares with his lover without even asking her. This story and its complications were

arrived at through discussions between the director and the performers-actors Miura Tornokazu and Watanabe Makiko. Suwa believes that this Cassavetes-like way of filming reflects a deeper reality, and

it is true that such believable spontaneity would not occur in

a

scripted picture.

To allow room for this, cameranlan Inomoto Masami, known mainly for his documentary work, maintained a certain distance, always shooting the action

in long shots. What we are not shown becomes almost

in long takes, and often

as irnportant as what remains unsaid.

The result is a kind of believabiliry very rare in more conventionally constructed films. Upon

winning a Cannes award for this picture, Suwa commented that the honor rnight have beeu because he described ordinary people and not sorne exotic breed called "the Japanese." At any rate, he affirmed that this was why he shot it the way he did.

ht H Story (Eichi sutori 2001), Suwa made another kind 0f "documentary," a new version of Nain Resnais' Hiroshimct,, lllort

Amltn'(1959), which

shows the

film (a recou-

struction) being made while the relationship between a French womau and aJapanese rnan is being explored.

fuiotlrer docurlentarist, Kore'eda Hirokazu, made his first feature filrn in

1995 ,

Maboroshi

(Maboroshi no hikari). A young Osaka womau loses heL grandmother, then her husband inexplicably commits suicide and she is left alone. Eventually she remarries. Her new husband is a fisherman in a coastal village, and without our having been told (we arc far from any authoritative voice) we understand that she believes she somehow causes deaths. The

clrildren (his and hers, one each frorn previous marriages) return late after a sudden stonr, and she broods. After the funeral of an acquaintance, her husband, sensing her feelings, tells

Maboroshi 1995, Kore'eda Hirokazu, with Esumi Makiko

243

her what his father told him , thateveryone is tempted by such illusions Qnaboroshi) as hers,

that she is not

alone-and

she is consoled.

From a slender story by Miyamoto Teru (who wrote Oguri Kohei's Muddl, Rfu,er), Kore'eda created a

film filled with light and shadow (cinematography by Nakabori Masao),

unstressedparallels, and aregardfor people in their surroundings now rare inJapanese cin-

ena. In it the director rejects not only contrived storylines and editing tricls, but also the rnedia-driven consumer madness of urban Japan. The pace is deliberate, the colors muted, and the actors seem to blend rnodestly into the background, as though the film were a new

kind of shomingeki.

In addition, many

scenes were shot

from far away. Though we know that the people in

this fihn are wafln, understandable, just like us, we cannot reach thern-distance imposes a

kind of coldness. Nl we can do is watch. At the same time, as one carefully composed scene follows another, the power of the sheerly quotidian is felt. We notice details,

in the storyline and in the mise-en-scdne,

each

pattems-both

with its carefully prepared echoes and

repetitions. Tlre respectradiated in Kore'eda's work is now rare

in any film, let alone one rlade in

nrodern Japan. Kore'eda's carnerawaits, just like OzLl's, for people to leave the room before it shows us the next scene. Sometimes it waits for a long time. At the end of lllaborol./ri there is a distant, long-held scene which shows only a far away procession of mourners, the wife at

tlre very end. This we watch as minutes is the length of this

it slowly inches its way

across the screen. Two -and-a-half

scene-an enormous amount of tirle if there is "nothing"

to

watch but just the right amount if there is everything to feel.

Ozu-like too is a method of construction where objects are given a kind of storyline

autonomy-as in the scene where the young husband leaves to go to work which cuts to a laundry-holder in the rainwhich then cuts to the wife bathing the baby. The holder acts as a

kind of enjambment, both to separate tirne and to suggest water affinities. fuiother influence, olte which has done much to illuminate contemporaryJapanese film, is the highly popular cinema of Abbas Kiarostami, whose extremely distant shots force the sarne kind of curiosity and eventual ernpathy. There is in Maboroshi a scene where the young widow and her child wait for the train ataprovincial station. And wait, and wait. Yet tlris tirne is necessary, as is lraving the two cltaracters at a great distance, if we are to feel

as

Kore'eda wants us to. Context, atmosphere, nexus as narrative.

At the end of the film

,

after the widow has

finally shed her black dress and is wearing

white blouse, the camera lools out of the window . . . and Jtrst wlrat we were shown

sees

the calm and ceaseless

a

sea.

at alike moment at the end of Ozu's Late Spring

In his second feature film, After Lrfe (Wandafuru raifu, 1998), Kore'eda returned to a tlrenre he had first treated

244

in his television

docum erftary Wi,thout

Memorl, (Kioku

ga

uslrinawareta toki, 1996), about a rnan suffering from brain damage who, robbed of his menory, lives in an eternal present. In After Life,the setting is an ordinary-looking lirnbo where the recent dead gather, and

it

is explained to thern by the staff that they will take their most precious menory with them into eternity. If they cannot or will not choose, then they have no eternity. This is a

After Life, 1998, Kore'eda Hirokazu

problem the staff know well, as they

^re

there (like the bodhisattva of the Buddhist cosmology) precisely because they were

unable to choose, and their task is now to help those who can. To make the picture, Kore'eda interuiewed nearly five hundred people (men, women, old,

young) and from these chose ten for his picture. These ten were interviewed on film by actors playing the staff whose duty it was to help reconstruct each person's most precious memory. Nthough the staff had scripted lines, the ten amateurs did not. There is thus a strong storyline but no written dialoglle. Just as loosely scripted is Distance (Disutansu, 2001) , a dark and disturbing

film

about a

cult very like Aum Shinrikyo, the religious organizatiort responsible for the sarin-gas poisonings in both Matsumoto and Tokyo. It has been a year since the perpetrators of a similar poisoning incident were killed by their fellow cult members, and a group of relatives and friends drive to the distant lake where the executions occurred. Slowly and subtly, Kore'eda creates from the deserted cottage, the ernpty groves, the

still lake,

a world of regret

andfear.

:T

I

I I I

I Distance 2001

K 0re

ilH eda H rokazu.

245

Fihned docutrentaryr-style, using handheld cameras, the picture is explicit about nothing. Rather

it

leaves us to infer the

full horror of what these people did and what happened to

theur.

In lVoboch, Krtous (Dare mo shiranai, 2004) the horror is explicit. A feckless vollng ntother abandons lter own children. We watch as they

tn'to

cope, and fail. The electricity is

tunred off when n0 oue pays the bill, they wash their clothes

in the

park,

r

*

trv to live on junk food bought at the convenience store, and the house gets

dirtier as the kids get filthier. The injustice of this is apparent but there

is rto one to blame. The ruother

is

more childish than her children, aud

for them societ,v-irresponsible not-does not even

0r

exist. Something

is bound to happen aud something ovewhelnringly does. Kore'eda the documentary-maker

has learned that the truth is

in the

Nobody Knlws, 2004, Kore'eda Hirokazu

details. The son quietly asks the errant nother if he cAn't please go to school; doggedly the children try to keep an accolurt book of what they have to spend; they forage in the neighborhood, tnrning f'eral and not knowing it. Without any ostensible comment, Kore'eda piles one observation on top of auother

until the weight crushes all this innocerlce.

Bv displaying the children Alone, the writer-director is saying sorrething about what is

tnissing-the family. As with

Ozn, from whom Kore'edA has leamed rr-l,rch, the decom-

position of the Japanese family is the rnajor theme. The abandoned children try to make their own family. They fail. fuid in the process they show us that the world they live in

is

oLus-and our fault. "l'n-r strongly interested in the line between fiction and docurlentary, beMeert real aud

ultreAl," Kore'eda told Itakura Kimie. "ln this film between these

two."I

l

want to capture that llomeltt in

When Aaron Gerow asked the director why he

initially chose televisiorr

docuruentaries, Korc'eda said that it was because he had no other way to start. "We kuew that

the rnajors were finished, so hardly anyone of my geueration was thinking of working in the studios." He did go to Iwauami Productions, which had first encouraged Hani Susurnn, but

they were now only making public relations

filrls.

Kore'eda sLunnarizes

his

options:

"Tltirtking of how I could get behind a camera, a television production compauy was the next choice. "lJ

246

It was for television that Kore'eda made the series of docurnentaries which eventually led

him to feature-fihn production. In this he is like other directors of his generation: the techniques of the docurnentary continuing into his commercial films. These younger fihnmakers have thus given the docurnentary sffle a

nore apparent realism,

a definite place

in the films

of the turn of the rnillenniurn.

DOCUMENTARY AND ANIME

/\ s we have seen, a major rnotif in the history of the Japanese film has been the oscillation tt beMeen representation and presentation, between the perceived poles of an apparent realiry and a highly controlled if realistic fiction. One of the effects of this duality is that the documentary, that most realistic of

film

genres, has

not had in Japan anything like the

influence it has had in other countries.

All film begins as docurnentary. Early scenes of Tokyo streets and of geisha dancing were quite apparently real. Later films continued what Abe Mark Nomes has phrased as "the shift from the general to the specific in the docurnentary's vicariolls, virtual experiences of reality."

r*

The Russo-Japanese War of 1!04 produced au enormous amount of fihned material, some of

it authentic, which inform ed aclamorous public and at the same time ensured that

this public thought as the government wanted it to. We have earlier in this book looked at some of this material

in an attempt to define Japan's idea of presentation. Here, in this short

suruey of theJapanese docurnentary, we will notice that though this populanzation of uewsreel reality allowed the acceptance of that kind of fiction which is based 0n appearances, that is, realism,

it also left the documentary as afilm form with no place to go.

Some critics, Sato Tadao amoug thern, hold that the firstJapanese documentary of any

significance was Tbe Japanese Expedition to the South Pole (Nippon nankyoku tanken), nrade

in

1910 and released

in 1912. 0thers, however, have maintained thatthis film achieved

this distinction only because it was the first to resemble the foreign "documentary."

In any event, the

-t -.

Japan, without nany role models. Robert Flalrerty's 1922 Naruook of the IVorth-regarded by most film historians as the fint feature-

genre matured slowly

in

length documentary-wu f ar in the future, and even when the foreign documentary film aclrieved its definite forrn

in other

countries, few exarnples were shown

in

Japan. Paul

Rotlra's book, Documuttarl, Film, wffi as near as the Japanese got to the important British school of documentary.

Much closer in influence was the German kultur-film, imported

u early u

1930, and

widely available locally because of the growing political ties between Japan and Germany.

247

_U

These pleasant pictures were popular and were usually safely apolitical, unlike say, Russian

documentaries of the same period.

Russian documentaries themselves went unseen. Though the writings of Vsevolod Pudovkin, Sergei Eisenstein and Dziga Vertov were translated into Japanese in the early 1920s, such films as Eisenstein's Potemkin (192) and Neksandr Dovzhenko's Earth (1930) were not screened

until

after World War

II.

Even though Eisenstein's

)ld and

IVew (1929)

and Pudovkin's Storm luer Asia (1928) were permitted screenings before the war, they were heavily censored. Russian writings had their influence, however. In the fiction

film this is seen in the works

of Ito Daisuke, Itami Mansaku, and even )zuYasujiro. The Russian influencevitalized and

for a time defined the nascentJapanese documentary. As Iwasaki Akirasaid'. "Nl arts are vessels of ideology, and cinema is ideology

in the forrn of an obi made of 35 mm film."rs

As the Japanese government became more repressive

during the 1930s and 1940s, dissi-

dent opinion became more difficult to voice. Film was seen as away of showing dissent and,

fronr 1927 onward, the organrzatron Prokino, known as the "proletarian film movement," atternpted to use the documentary (as had Eisenstein and others) as ameans of protest.

The government fought back with fihn as its own ideologi ca| means and we have already seen here some of the results. Among these were documentaries which were the firstJapanese

attempts at long-form, large-scale, non-fiction films. Most of these documentaries pushed a

militaristic agenda, with mixed results-as in Kamei Fumio's 1939 Fighting Soldiu. 0thers, like Ishimoto Tokichi's Snlnt Countrl, (Yukiguni,

I93D attempted more. This

film reflected the realiry of rural Japan, actualify rather than aspiration, and in so doing aclrieved what is implied in John Grierson's definition of documentary as "a creative treatment of actuality." Most did not reach this level, however, and until the end of the Pacific War the documentary was seen mainly as a weapon.

But when peace has been achieved, weapons are no longer useful. Helping hands are needed. These were offered by the Nlied Occupation of Japan, America leading, and the role of documentary as an instructional (and often indoctrinating) tool was acknowledged. The Anerican-inspired documentaries of the Occupation period were also propaganda, to

be sure, and canied their own ideological load. At the same time, different issues were approached by other documentary makers. The diet

of the Japanese was examined

by

0kuyam a Dairokuro, while films about infectious diseases were made by Onuma Tetsuro and Sugiyama Masami. These were seen by large numbers of people since the Occupation's

Civil Information and Education Section (CI & E) had lent the Ministry of Education over a thousand 16-mrn projectors, making "movie classrooms" popr-rlar.

in the films of Yoshimi Yutaka,

Political issues were ^pryoached

Noda Shinkichi and

Kamei Fumio, though these appeared rnostly after the 0ccupation was over. Around this time

248

the Iwanarni publishing house created its own film unit, Iwanami Eiga. fulong the educational fihns it produced were those of Kyogoku Takahide, Haneda Sumiko and Hani Snsumu.

The Hani pictures were of great importance

in the

emergence

of the

postwar

documentary.Just as his feature filrns defined "new wave" freedonts in independent com-

mercial production, so his early documentaries freed the documentary forn and enlarged the field . Childrut

in the Classroom (Kyoshitsu no

kodornotachi

, 1954)

and

Childrur

Who

Draw (E wo kaku kodornotachi, 1956) inspired a whole generation of filmmakers. They proved that documentary did not have to be paternalistic and essay-like. Rather, one could, as

did Hani, set up a camera and simply record what occurred-sorting it out could cone

later. Before the term existed, cindma ueritd was in Japan and would yield spectacular

results-as in the documentaries of Kore'eda Hirokazu. Documentary, however, continued to

fulfill its role as a vehicle of political

dissent. The

protest lltovement against the United States-J apan Security Treaty of 1950, though

it ended

in failure, gave further irnpetus to the genrc. Matsumoto Toshio, Noda Shinkichi, and others made their first fihns around this tirne and these led to the protest films of 0gawa Shinsuke, one ofJapan's most original documentarists.

}gawa most farnously made a long series (some ten hours) of filns focusing on the protests against the construction

of Narita International Airport. Acting with

arbitrary

authority, the government had requisitioned land and, for once, the farmers rebelled. They were joined by various syllpathizers (including Ogawa), and the resulting ruckus became one of the most celebrated social upheavals of the decade. fuirong the titles series arcSect of Youth (Seinen n0 the

umi, 1966) andsummer in lVarita;

Libuation, of Jnpan (Nihon kaiho

T'he

in the }gawa

Front Linefor

sensen: Sanrizuka no natsu, 1968)

Ogawa has said that while they were making the Narita series, they gradually became awarc of the

"inner spirit" of the farmers-perh

aps a

bit like Uchida Tomu and his crew

when they were making the contraband Earth (I93D many years earlier. This awareness resr-rlted

in a later

series of documentaries by the same director on

farm life, among them the

prize-winning,4 Japanese Village; Furt4,61sl1ltri (Nippon koku Furuyashiki-rnura, 1982).

'-r

This kind of political statement was new to the documentary genre in Japan Usually

rrore akin to an anodyne kultur-film, or else obviously propaganda for either the United States

or the Soviet Union, such a strong personal bias was rare, and showing the resulting

product was difficult. Oshima Nagisa's television documentaries were relegated to odd hours;

Inramura Shohei's, even though sponsored by the television company itself, were aired only at three or four in the morning.

Some documentaries were

-

,..,1-

initially not shown at all, such as Tsuchimoto Noriaki's

irnportarttfr[inamata; Tbe Victims and Their World (Minarnala:Kanja-san to sono sekai,

249

1972) about the mercllry poisoning of an entire community by a nearby chemical cornpany,

and the scandal occasioned by the efforts of those responsible to escape. Tsuchimoto went on

to uake a number of other socially responsible documentaries-many more 0n Minamata pollution tragedy,

as

the

well as other like disasters on the Shimokita Peninsula and

itt Korea. This line of documentary still continues in the ecological pictr-ues of Sato Makoto and Hirneida Tadayoshi.

In addition, the documentary was finding an audience other than in the classroom and on the television screen. Frorn the 1970s 0u, a number of small theaters began to specialize

in the genre. One such was Iwanami Hall, which has shown the documentaries of Haneda Snrniko, Miyagi Mariko aud many others. was iuaugurated, and

in 2000

a

In 1989, the Yantagata Documentary Filn

Festival

similar festival was started in Yufuin, irt Kyusltu. By showing

both local and foreign worls, these festivals have not only stimulated a real interest in docu-

rrentary, but have been able to bring controversial films to awider audience. Without such venues and such support, a

filrl

such as Matsui Minoru's brave .lapattese Det,ils (Riben

guizi, 2001), for example, would not have been possible. The film is a series of staterneuts by fourteen former irnperial army soldiers who fought in China and who 0n canera tell exactly

wlrat they saw and did. The rnaking and marketing of a film which challenges Japan's anrnesia regarding its wartime atrocities was an act of real conscience and courage.

fulong the younger documentarists, the strongest-though still least likely to slrown on prime-tine

television-is Hara Kazuo.

As a student

be

of the Tokyo Academy 0f

Photography he worked part-time iu a school for children with disabilities, where he discovercd

the tlrerne of his first fihn, Gooclbl,e CP (Sayonara CP, 1972), about adults with cerebral palsy and how they are regarded (or disregarded) by the Japanese.

It deliberately challenges

taboos about the sharne of physical difference and refuses any facile empathy, As one of the

afflicted says in the fihn: "Pitf, I can do withollt it." Hara's next film, two years Iater, caused even more of a stir. Eltreme Priuate Eros; Lotte

Sortg (Kyokushiteki erosu: Koiuta 1974) is about Hara and his estranged wife, a radical ferninist, in Yokosuka, aJapanese port town which, as in Imamura's Pigs and Battleshilts (1961), is "corrupted" by the American naval presence. Hara's real subject, however, is the Japanese

family and its insular structure.

"l thought

that if I could put my owr family under

the camera, aI|our emotions, our privac,y,I might break taboos about the farnily."zc

Witlr The Emperlls lVak,ed Arml, Marches created his strongest and his rnost controversial

Plain htd

aJapanese

film dealt

so frankly

}rt

(Yukiyukite shingun, 19S7) , Hara

film. Not since Ichikawa Kon's Fires on the

with the facts of World War II, and none since

Karrei Funrio's banned 1946 A Jctltartese Tragedl' had so confronted the responsibility of the

emperor. The picture focuses 0n a nlan who obstinately inplicates Emperor Hirohito, denouucing him as "the most cowardly man inJapan."

250

Like the hero in Kurosawa's Record of a Lhting Being, the protagonist of Haru's film, Okuzaki Kenzo, is obsessed with his theme. Like the earlier hero, he, too, comes to use the very lneans he is criticizing. The rTran is a champion for righteousuess and he is at the sarne

tirne much given to

violence-he attacls

those he interviews and at the end of the

irr prison yet again for attempted murder. The paradoxes are so much like those

filn

he is

in Imamlua

Slrolrei's A f,{an Vanishes that one is not surprised to learn that the entire project was origi-

rrally conceived by him. He gave it to Hara while the younger director was working as an assistant cameramarl onVengeartce Is Mitte.

The

film itself, with Hara and his c meramuch in

Japanese social

evidence, transgresses a ttumber of

norms-so many, indeed, that no one wanted to touch the picture once it

was made. Everyone was afraid of retaliation by rightist thugs and thei r yakuza counterparts.

But Hara persevered. As he has said of himself: "My outlaw complex is very strong."r7 Finally the docurnentary and experimental

film archive, hnage Forum, was brave enough to show it.

This film was followed by A Dedicated Ltfe (Zenshin shosetsuka, 1994), produced infarnily by Kobayashi Sachiko, where again motivation is unveiled and Hara hinself is part of the picture. He has said that this docume ntary and the

filrn continued his interest in the dividing line between the

fictional film and that he had featured firebrand 0kuzaki Kenzo

because "he was something like an action star."r8 Fact and Hara's first "feature

fiction are seamlessly closed in

film," Chi,kn (Matano hi no Chika,2005).

Many youngerJapanese documentary makers are similarly interested in the line between

tlre real and the fictional. Kore'eda Hirokazu once told Aaron Gerow that he had always believed that the

filming person and the filmed subject occupied nvo separate dimensions,

as

it were, but that in his first documentary he became aware that this was not what he wanted. Hara would agree in that he is continually experimenting with a form which

botlr real and fictional. This is one of the reasons that A Dedicated

will include

Lift

has many

"memories" reconstructed for the camera, andwhy Haru is now devoting all of his energies to fictional

fihls.

If the documentary traditionally represents one pole of the representation-presentation axis, tlre anim ated film, that nost presentational of fihn forms, can be seen as the other. Here plrotographic realism does not exist. Rather, aueated actuality is presented and the realism is that of the

artist-the

person who draws the rmages.

The presentational style has been variously described, but the term usually implies that inrages are created for the cam era rather than found by

it,

and that these have a stylistic

unity, or a controlled stylization missing from representational sffles-variously controlled

251

though they may be. One of the liveliest defenses of this presentational quality occurs in one of its famous fictional celebrations-furdr6 Gide's novel Les Factx-fulonnct],etffs. Here Gide has Edouard, his protagonist, state that the creator should absolutely not be "a slave to resemblance." Rather, he ought to cultivate "that deliberate avoidance of life which gave style to the works of the Greek dramatists," whose works are "deeply human only in

tlreir depths; they don't prize themselves 0n appearing

s0-0t, at any :"ate, 0ll appearing

real. They remain worls 0f art."re

This is the appeal of any presentational

work-it

is a work of art, unified in vision,

singnlar in style, and subject to none of the vagaries of actualiry. In Japan, as elsewhere, the cittentatic form which most satisfies such criteria is the animated cartoon, the anime. Its growth parallels that of the Japanese feature fihn. It, t00, had its beginnings 0u the stage and

has long exhibited this debt;

it, too, was

subjected to various

pressures; and finally, it, too, continues to narrate

in a distinctiveJapanese accent.

Projected, animated images were seen ear\y, in the utsushi-e These were, essentially, lantern slides

political and economic

of.

the nineteenth-century.

with movable parts (hands, feet, heads) which could

be

manipulated during the showing. fui outgrowth of even earlier shadow plays, in which images were rnanipulated by hand while their shadows were projected on a screen, these r-rtsushi-e began to be adapted to

film shortly

after the first foreign animated pictures were

shown in Japan, around 1909. Among those experimenting with the new fomr were Kouchi Sumikazu, Shimokawa Oten, andKitayama Seitaro. The rneans werc several: single moving parts taken from the utsushi-e, blackboard drawings which were erased and modified for each succeeding exposure, and traditional stencil-cut shadow play. One of Kouchi's pupils, Ofuji Noburo,

wff to becorne famous for his popular chh,sgoTni-

eiga, made from antmated paper cutouts. Inspired by Lotte Reiniger's similar work, widely seen in Japan, he devised his

own anination board and went into production. His first film,

The Whale (Kuiira), was conpleted Mouse feature, Stearnbont

in

1927

,a

yea;r before Disney released

Willie.)ftrii remadeThe Whale in color tn1952 and went on to

create Ghost Ship (Yureisen, 1956), his best-known

film. In 1940,Arai Wagoro rnade his

popular Fcmtctst,oJ'Maclnm Butte(l:, (}cho-ftrjin no genso) rnasimilar

Nl these films used

its first Mickey

stop-frame animation

style.

in addition to manipulation of the images

while the camera was running. The technique of drawing directly on celluloid accepted rnethod of early animation was not widely used

in the West-was

seen inJapan

"6s[5"-[[g

only after 1929, and

until much later.

In the West, the anirnated-cel pioneerwas Walt Disney, andhis pictures, in Japan as elsewlrere, s00n established a hegemony. When sound

film

became feasible

in the early

1930s

there were a few Japanese animated talkie fihns, mainly those of Ivlasaoka Kenzo, but Disney's were thought superior, andmany animators were put out of jobs.

252

Wartime Japan offered a new role for animated pictures, however, since these could be

to inculcate a young and malleable audience. In 1935, the J. 0. Studios produced a short about Momotaro, the redoubtable Japanese Peach Boy, verslls Mickey Mouse. In it, the used

popular rodent is quickly dispatched. Momotaro rnade further appearances in Seo Mitsuyo's Momotaro's Sea Eagle (Momotaro no umiwashi, 1943) and Momotaro-Dittine Troops of the

)cean (Momotaro: Umi no shimpei, I)45). In both of these the Peach

"M0n0tar0 rnakes a leap onto the stage of the Greater

East-Asi

Boy goes to war.

a Wart" said the

press

release.i0 The evil demons speak English (with Japanese subtitles) and Momotaro finds a

plaque which reads,

"0n a night when the moonlight is bright,

there

will come from

an

Eastern land of the Son of Heaven a divine soldier on awhite horse who is destined to liberate the people."'il After World War

II was lost, there was little need for this sort of animation, 0r indeed any

animation at all.Just as the documentary had been sornewhat compromised bywartime

use,

so tlre Wopagandization of anirnation worked against postwar acceptance. In addition, animation was expensive to nake, and the tines were inclining toward a new realism. Consequently there was little animated based puppet picture, Musume

film. Ichikawa Kon managed to finish his kabuki-

Dojoji (1946), only to have it banned by the 0ccupation.

fuiotlrer animated film, this one safely non-feudal, Masaoka Kenzo's Cherry BlossomJA Fantasl, 0f Spring (Sakura

, I94D, featuring butterflies and girls under the blossonls of Kyoto, and synchronized to the music of Karl Mariavon Weber's "hrvitation

, akaHaru n0

genso

to tlre Dance," was approved and shown. Besides, the director had alreadyhadsome success

witlr anre non-propagandawartime musical animation,The Spider and the Tulip (Kurno to clrurippu, 1943)

All these worls-prewar, wartime and postwariefined the aesthetic limitations of the Japanese animated product. Seen now, they indeed demonstrate that assumptions are those one associates

with

a century before. Composition remains a

in the work of rnaster printmakers there is little attempt

and

the

re

early Japanese cinem

their graphic spatial

a andwith the print artists of

najor concern, and the regard for balance, as seen

Hokusai and Hiroshige, is taken for granted. Likewise

at any three-dimensional illusioni5pr-Mo dimensions are enough-

are equally few atternpts at depth.

fuid the action (even by the evolving interna-

tional standards of the tirne) is still limited.

Until computer animation became a possibility, Japanese cellular anrmation limited itself to eight frames a second. The Western standard was and remains twelve frames a second. At a

film

speed

of twenry-four frames per second, this meant that the Japanese anime

presented each frame three times, while the Western

films offered a new image every two

frames. The result is that American and European animation appearcd slightly more lifelike. JerkyJapanese animation of this period is called "limited animation" and indeed it is.

253

The standard adopted by the Japanese, however, saved time as well as mouey, and made weekly television animation series possible.

It fit the budgets of the prodllcers. Eventually,

thanls not only to limited animation (which in some cases was s0 jerb it seemed to revert to the earlier slide-show forrnat), but also due to the low wages of Japanese the even lower wages of subcontractors in Taiwan, China and

film became cheaper than making an

animators-and

Korea-rnaking an animated

ordir:m;ry picture. As Sato Kenji has said: "AninlAtiorr

offers a means of producing slick, stylish fihns without spending much money."il Since

natural-appearing novement was not one of the concerus,

it

was also not considered

inappropriate to be unrealistically jerky in motion. Indeed, the halting poses of much Japanese anirnation have been compared to the series

of still poses which supply the continuity of rtihon bL4,0,Japanese classical dance. This kind of dance differs frorn, say, Western ballet, in that the rnoments of rest are considered the high point, while in ballet it is the dynamic novement itself (from one monent of rest to another, as

it were) which defines the strength of the choreography. furirre pallses in a way reminis-

cent of nihon buyo, and in both instances naturalistic llovenlent is not a cormidered alteruative.

Lifelike represeutation is largely missing because it is rarely attempted. Rather, all manga

and most anime

aL-e

considered as opportunities for presentation. Just as the comic-book

manga, ovenvhelmingly popular in Japan, is irr reality a series of storyboards, so the anime retains the storyboard effect. This effect is seen at its purest

in Oshirra Nagisa's Bnnd of

lVinja (Ninja bugei-cho, 196D, which cousists of photographed stills-the original drawings which Shirato Sarnpei made for the comic strip of the sarre title. The storyboard effect is also evident

in Ichikawa Kon's Shinsengurni (2000), where comic-strip cutouts are manipu-

lated in the most puryosely elementary manner. The strong stmctural connection between manga and anime is logical, since rnost Japanese animated features are based upon best-selling rnanga series.

fui example would

be

Tezuka Osarnu's Astrobol' (Tetsuwan Atomu). It made its debutas a manga comic book in

I9St, wffi instantly popular, and in 1953 was luade intoJapan's first animated TV series. The turbo-charged youth with searchlight eyes, and ears a thousand tirnes sharper than ours, proved equally prevalent on the screeu, and the series' theme song becante ubiquitous:

"There you go, Astroboy, 0n your flight into space! Rocket high, through the sky, what adventnres yoll'

ll

face!

"

Tezuka, sonetimes called "the Walt Disney of Japan," not only pioneered the animated feature but also created the first animation factory. The Disney resemblance continued in

tlrat such works

u Pictures ctt an hhibitiort

(Tenrankai no e, 1956) and the unfinished

Legencl of the Forest (Mori no densetsLl, 1988) may be thought of as homages to Disney's

Ftnttnsia (1940)

254

The compliment was returned when Disney derived irs Liort

Kng fron the Tezuka

anime, Jungle Emperor Leo (Janguru taitei, aka Kimba the White Lion, 1997) and its predecessors, released

in

Japan

fron

1965

to

1967 and later frequently televised

in

the

United States.

Jungle Emperor Leo came from a comic-book manga. Tezuka's original version ran from 19iO to 1954 in aboys' magazine. It was animated and televised as aseries from 1965 to

1967 .

Theatrical versions were made

in

1955, 1989

arfi

1997.

Nl of these metamorphoses

in

1995

an

argue for an enormous audience. It was reported that

average

of fifteen cornic

bools and magazineswere annually purchased by every man, woman and child on theJapanese archipel ago.

In designing nanga (the word was apparently first used by Hokusai in I8I4 to mean "spolltaneous pictures," as applied to his series of lrurnorous sketches), the artist remains

plete control, unlike

in the West where the

artists are often part

scriptwriters, inkers, letteren, andso forth. fuiimatom such of directors like Mizoguchi and Kurosawa who assumed

as

in com-

of a team composed of

Tezukaare thus in the position

full control over and responsibiliry

for everything. This means that personal style (rather than house sffle) becomes apparent. Tezuka's style is straightfonvardly rnanga-esque, but his less commercial work reveals

definite personal characteristics, particularly

in such experimental worls

as Jumlting

(Jampingu, 1!84), a seven-minute conceit rnade in a single shot with over four thousand cel drawings, ard Broken-Down

Film

(Omboro firumu, 1985), where Tezuka deliberately

stained and slashed his work in order to create the feeling of "primitive" silent-period anirnated movies.

Just as manga influenced anime in its storyboard-like construction, so cinerna has also infltrenced comic-book manga. Tezuka's 1947 cornic-b ook shin Tnkarajima (New Paradise

Island) was considered a pioneering work because, in showing a driver speeding along a road, an action taking place over several comic-book frames, different visual ("camera") angles were used. Previously, Japanese nanga comics had, like the first fihns of half a century before, showed action only from fixed positions. Tezuka'svarying perspective off'ered sonrething new to printed mang a, and now can be regarded as apresage of anim ated mauga to come.

In the succeeding decades, anime has achieved an enormous popularity and nany new cartoonist-directors have emerged. During the late 1970s, more than forty uew series were

produced yearly, as well as special weekly ninety-minute-long animated programs. Matsunroto Reiji's famous television series Space Battleship Yamalo (Uchu senkan Yamato,

255

1974-75) was edited into a series of five feature films, all directed by Masuda Toshio. Even established directors tried their hand at the new form, such as hnai Tadashi with Yuki (1931).

With s0 many works creating a field so wide, one that is still proliferating, only a few can be cited lrere. One might mention Sugii Gisaburo's poplllar lVigltt of the Gnlaxj,

Railroad

(Ginga tetsr-rdo n0 yoru, 1985); Otomo Katsuhiro'sAkira (1988), based on his four-volume comic book about neo-Toho in the year 2030 which,

as

Tony Rayns uoted, was "paced like a

rnachine-gun: hardly any image is held on screen for longer than a few seconds"i'i' Otomo's Stearnbol, (Sutimu boi, 2004), the Tezuka-influenced homage to Atomboy; Oshii Mamoru's Ghost

in

the Shell (Kokaku kidotai, 1995), based 0n rnanga by Shiro Masamune;The Wolf

Brigacle (Jinro, I99D by Oshii's prottlg6, Okiura Hiroyuki; and tuino Hideaki's 25-episode IVeon Genesis; Et,cmgelion (Shin seiki evangerion, 1995) which was later repackaged into several feature films.

Irnportant too, is the work of Studio Ghibli. Miyazaki Hayao directed M1' lVeighbor Totoro (Tonari no Totoro, 1988); Kiki's Deliuerlt $svlti6e (Majo no takkyubiu, 1989); and the elaborate and eco-friendly Princess X[ononofre (Mononoke-hime, 1997), whiclt became

in Japan the highest grossing film of its time. Miyazaki won international renown for his award-winning Spirited Auta), (Sen to Chihiro n0 kamikakushi, 2002), before tnovittg on to

Hou,l's ll,lotting Castle (Hauru no ugoku shiro, 2004), both of which broke Princess M on ono

k e'

s

box-office record.

Princess Mononoke, 199J , Miyazaki Hayao

Recent auirne developments have seen various tie-ins arnong manga publications and

computer games, and inroads into the toy market. One such nanga-computer-toy tie-in is the Pocket Monsters (Pokdrnon, 1998) anime series which began as software for portable game machines nade by Nintendo.

fui anim

ated version was

first shown ou televisiott, and

tlren went into theaters as aseries of featr-rres. With it went the various spin-offs comtnon to such genres.

This pattern duplicates that of early cinema, where the first scenes and spectacles were recycled among various venues. New technical developments (the kinescope peep-show, the

256

eaily kinemascope projector, the first movie halls) permitted the

product-still in its

original state-to pass through these morc advanced viewing phases. The movernent is visible

in other film industries

as

well. The earlier faking of the sinking of the Lusitaria and the

latter faking of the sinking of the Titanic have much in cornmon. One thus sees in Japan's latest films

nany of the assumptions of its earliest cinema.

Tlrough the technology is now more or less on the cutting-edge of whatever technolo gical advance is being made, the surmises are often ones we are

familiarwith from the traditional

arts of Japan. There is no real contradiction. Japanese hardware is usually advarrced, Japanese software seldom is.

As the aniurated

field grows, genres proliferate and distinctions, such as that between

ctnirneishon (animation) and anime, are beginning to be observed. Miyazaki Hayao made this differentiation in the documentary interuiew which precedes the American English langlrage dubbed version of Princess Mononoke (1999). Here he voices his dislike of anime, saying that

it "simply

uses manufactured images instead of

reality." (Since the irnages in

both animation and anime are manufactured, Miyazaki presumably rneans by this that 0torno and the other anirne people are not realistic in the way he believes hirlself to be.) Nonetheless, amid all such painted "realism," one rarely forgets the presence of the Japanese anirnator and his guiding hand. He has,

with realistic detail 0r not, created an error-

mous body of work, the conventions of which now influence many other forms: advertising, design, narrative structure in the novel, and the

connercial "live-acti0n" feature fihn itself.

One ought perhaps to atternpt to accourrt for the enormous poplllarity of both nanga

and anime since they have come to dorninate all visual markets and even (in box-office figures) to representJapanese filmmaking as a whole. It is maintained thatntanga accounts

for a third of all bools sold in Japan, and that anime accounts for half of allJapanese movie tickets sold.

In explaining this phenornenal popularity, Sato Kenji has said that "for anirnation

to

push aside live-action films, a growing number of people had to prefer the thin, insubstarfiial reality of animation to the flesh-and-blood world of live-action."i* This, indeed, is precisely what occured during the 1990s. The flight to anirne, says Sato, is the inevitable result of the ethnic self-denial that has suffused Japanese society ever since the Meiji era, and especially since the end of World

War II. Bent ou achieving the goals of moderntzatiorr and Westerntzation, theJapanese, in

rejecting their own history and traditions, have sought to beconte rtihonjin-baTtare (de-Japanized)-generally a complirnentary terrn, implying that one looks and acts more like a Westerner than aJapanese. Toward the end of the twentieth century, many were the attempts to Westemize. There were not only Western clothing fashions to be acquired and exhibited, there was also mass

257

hair-dying among the young (blond being preferred) and eccentric make-up for girls which rounded the eyes and built up the bridge of the nose, as well as towering platform shoes to achieve a hopefully Western height.

Only

mang

and anrme, however, could convincingly meld Japanese and Western attrib-

utes into a natural-looking human being. Here one can have enormous round eyes and long legs. "This is because," continues Sato, "the upside of these genres' inherent"Iackof realism

is tlreir unique ability to exploit the appeal and fucination of the unreal. And this is why manga and anrme have attained such a high status in the popular culture of Japan . These are the only two media capable of portraying

realiff the

.

it should

way Japanese feel

be. "35

Though this thesis would seem at odds with tradition-boun d Japan, a moment's reflection suggests that this concern for the way things should be rather than the way they are is

in itself atradition-and not only inJapan, though perhaps,

as s0 often,

it is more

visibly so there. Despite the many exceptions, a general apathy to realism as a style is one explanation for

the enormous popularity of

mang

and anrme. Another is that the attractions 0f "virtual"

reality are to be seen more strongly inJapanthan in most other countries, perhaps because

"reality" itself is regarded in so tenuous a fashion. After all, one of the comforts of virtual reality is that, even when it concerns itself with gunmen and monsters, it is not dangerous. Reality itself, on the other hand, is traditionally perceived as perilous. Indeed , a part of the education of any Japanese child is being told many times a day (usually by Mother) that this

or tlrat

ts

abunai-dangerous. Virtual reality is also enormously tractable. One can control

avtrtual landscape 0r aviftual penon much more easily than can one the real thing. Japan is historically very familiar

garden sfyle that is "virtual"

with this. It early perfected, for example, a classical

in that it was entirely "ptogtammed." The differences

the seventeenth-century garden of the Katsura Ribru Imperial Villa

between

in Kyoto and the com-

puter game Dragonball are manifest, but their sirnilarities should not be overlooked. Three

of tlrese are the taming of nature, the idealizing 0f the environment, and the making of everything into what it ought to be rather than what it actually

is.

Such a conclusion might then explainJapan's perhaps othenvisepuzzling lack of interest

in realism as a style, and its corresponding lack of respect-if that is the term-for reality itself. It mightbe argued that there is no reality-that is, everything thatwe call by that name is really programmed somewhere down the line and hence has become something

it

in that line of thought, however, is that it fails to particularize, which

is

was not. The flaw

something that this book has attempted to do.

25u

CONCLUSION

ln

describing the history of earlier Japanese

I ideas of the tradition

al

film I

have often oscillated between the two

and the modern. This is fitting because the Japanese themselves

used to do so. We have thus searched for and found much living tradition

within a contem-

polary context, many atradition renaining in modern guise.

In the pictorial compositions of both the earliest and the latest fihns, I have traced connections and found ratios of empty and screen

full which

we can view as typical; have viewed the

in the first Loyal Forbt-$sttm Ronin and evett the later Neon Gsnesis: Euangelion

as a two-dimensional field, something to look

at ruther than

see

through, and have read a

narrative structure which retains the assumptions of the theme rather than the promptings of the plot. A similar search of contemporary Japanese

film would find much

less evident

tradition.

Suclr is the erosion experienced by any tradition. Notwithstanding, these various means do metamorphose and emerge

in different form. That the

Japanese

cinematic accent is now

much closer to that of the West is apparent. What is not so obvious, and this I have attempted to describe, is

thatit is still there.

Tlre lowering slq' defines character in Maboroshi (1995) just as

it did in Souls on

the

Road (1921). The narrow depth of image is as

in the adventures of Akira as it was ^pparent in the adventures of Matsunosuke, and young directors find the long shot just as necessary as did those now

long dead. Kitano, Aoyama and Iwai find it cool, Naruse and Mizoguchi

found it non-involving, and the shot is the sarne, though the contexts in which it is used are different indeed. This living tradition (unseen, accepted, even unconscious); this analgam of supposition,

of conjecture, surmise and accepted assumption; this aesthetic celebration of pattern and composition; this extreme angle from which life is to be viewed; this need for an auth orttative andJapanese

voice-that

is what this book has been about.

tl -l. )t'

-'l-';

259

I

tJ

apanese

fihn for home use is presently found in two fomrats: DVD and VHS (videocassette).

In Japan and the Americas the system is NTSC, while much of Europe relies 0n PAL. Nl these systems are rnutually exclusive. In addition, DVDs

France and Russia use SECAM.

are often designed to be playable designed to be played

in the

in

a single zone and to be unplayable

USA (Zone 1), for example, cannot be played

in others. A DVD in Japan (ZoneZ)

without a "universal" DVD player. This messy state reflects the economic arnbitions of both hardware and software producers. Tlre films listed below are almost all English titled (with the exceptions plainly indicated)

but may not all be obtainable (and will be distinguished with 0P for out-of-print). These 0P titles are nonetheless included since this listing aims to show whatever is or once was available. Many of the out-of-print films are available at rental shops or sold as collector's items

at popular online sites or in specialty stores. Most titles included have already been mentioned in the pages of this book. Films of rnajor directors,

if

available, are also included even

if they have not been mentioned earlier. fuid, of course, many mentioned in the text cannot be included in this guide since they were never issued

in tape or disc fonnat. American-made

discs and videos are given preference, those from other countries being listed only no fuire r rcan-made

p

if there is

roduct.

The title under which each film is listed is usually that preferred by the issuing comp any,

but it is also cross referenced with its alternative titles. In the matter of film lengths there is

little agreement. I use the Japanese reference standard, which is sometines different fronr that supplied by foreign video and disc manufacturers. There is also the matter of qualiry. This is generally good, but can vary, depending on the original printing materials and the amount of care taken in the transfer.

0f course, all versions are

less perfect than the

original projected film version. My listing

of these tape and disc versions does not imply that I endorse the results. The experience of watclrin g Ser.ten Samurai on television is nothing apryoaching that of seeing the

film on

263

atheater screen. But in most countries (including Japanitselfl tape and disc are now the only ways to view these films.

Finally, in commenting upou each,l have tried to give an indication of gener al uitical opinion by including some listing of awards. The reader will be faniliar with most of these, but perlraps not with the Knema Jumpo awardfor best film. This is important in Japan and is awarded by a body of

I

film critics, thus making it sirnilar to the

New York

Film Critics' Award.

lrave designated these as IS#1. There is also aJapan "AcadentyAward" panel operating in

much the same inner-industry manner

as does its

Hollywood counterpart.

In making this list I am extremely grateful to Marty Gross, Lalu Danzker, and Stuart Galbraith IV, all of whom were generolrsly helpful in finding for me which Japanese films were available. I would also like to thank Racha Abaziedfor fuiy oversights are mine, not theirs.

264

hef in locating

French sources.

is supposed to be deprobut is tttLued irtto a serial killeL. Our

new-Leligion convert

A

glanrnred

Actor's Reuenge, An (\'ukinojo

hertge, 1953),

heroine catches on, with terrible results. 123 rnins.

Ichikawa Kon. A kabuki fenrale iurpersonatoL takes

DVD, Panorama Eutertainment (Hong Kong), \'HS,

reverrge for the forced suicicle of his pareuts. Veterau

New Yorker Films.

Hasegawa Kuzuo plavs a double role actress aud the thief lvho befrieuds

Avako is the girl who falls

lu both rnale

hiur, and Wakao

in love with tlte

cross-

Antonio Gaudi

(1984), Teshigahara Hiroshi. The

director o'f Womur irr llte Dttrtas visits the

best

including

dressing actoL. Kitsch lurd camp nreet dedicatiou and

krror,vn buildings of his favoLite architect,

true love. 114 nrins. D\DnrHS, British Film lnstitute

houses

(UK)

lanrous Sagrada Familia Cathedral, With a score by

in

Barcelona and its envirous ancl the

Takemitsu Tolu. 45 mins. D\D, New YorkeL F'ihns.

Alfair at Kamakura.

See

(,itu=etl Fi'ttil,

Auberge i Tokyo, Une. See htrt in fok.l'z, An.

Afraid to Die

(KaLakkaze \,aro, aka A t{an Blown

llv the Wind, 1950),

N{luslrnmrut Ylnuzo. A gangster

filnr with fanous author X'lishinra Yukio in

the

Auditioz

(0dishon, 2000), N{iike Takashi. A video

producer finds the girl of his dLeams and

it is a

Ieacling role. The script was wLitten bv Kulosawa

nightrnare. He (lshiba.shi R1'o) holds a fake audition

scLiplwriter Kikushima Rvuzo, but the Lesnlts are

for a neiv bLide. She (Eihi Shiina) holds a real Itrdition for a uelv victim. N'laybe. Is it a dreanr or

nrore curious than believable. 96 nrins.

DVD,

isn't it? Little boy paLanoia about

Fautonra Fihls.

cleep,v

girls.

115

nrins. DVD/\HS, \'eutura Distribution.

4fte, Life kazr-r. A

(Wandafuru Laifu, 1998), Kore'ecla Hiro-

thoughtful elegv irr which the dead line up

Autumn Aftem,oon, An (Sauuua uo aji,

1952),

film of a great director.

to be plocessed into the next world. In orcler to enter,

Ozu YasujiLo. The last

tltev ltave to choose a single nreulon' to take with

Agaiu, aud more poignautlv th"rt evel', the farnilv

thenr. This nrenron' is then fihned bv the dedicatecl

staff-cornprised of those lvho could not or woulcl

falls apart. Widower (Rvu Chishu) arlanges for his loving claughteL (lwashita Shinra) to be nrarLied,

not thernseh'es choose a nrenrolr'. 118 nrins. D\D/

though it nrearts a lif'e of loneliuess foL hinr. Again,

au OzulNoda Kogo scLipt and lunrinous color

VHS. New Yorker Films.

plrotographv b1' Atsuta Yttltaru.

Akira

(198.3), Otonur Katsultiro. The arrinratecl f'ea-

fn

ttlilts.

DyD,

I'anorama Entertainurent (Hong Kong).

turc that, for u tinre, defined Japanese aninre. Brued

0n a popular Otonro comic-book, it is set in Tokvo afteL World War

III with Akira, the

apocalr,pse per-

Autumn of the Kohayagawa Fami,ly, The. See

htcl o.f'sitttrttrter,

The.

sonified, pitted against \'oung biker Tetsuo. Characterization is nrininral: special effects iu€ over the top. 124 rnins.

D\D. Pioneer

Aualon

(Abaron, 2000), Oshii NlauroLu. Though

just a "ganre" ntovie at heart, this real-life "ani-

Video,

rttation" is so beautifullv nrade and so astonishing

Akira Kurosarl,o's Dreams.

See

to watch that it leaves its genre far behind. Shot in

Drertnts.

Poland, and

All Mixed

Up.

See

in Polish (with English and Flench

titles), it is wonderfully'photographed

tlktrr.f i.

by, GLzegorz

Kedzierski. 106 ntins. DVDAHS, X,liranrax Home

Angel Dust (Enjeru

clasuto, 1t1t)4), Ishii Sogo.

funortg the fiLst of the nouvelle horror flicks.

EnteLtainment.

A

265

Sakarnoto Sumiko doing her preparations with

B

dispatch and some humor, and }gata Ken as the

Bad, Company (Mabudachi, 2001), Furumaya Tomoyuki. A high-school student rebels against a repressive school systern and asks us

to make

a

unwilling son. Cannes, Grand Prix; Japan Academy Film. 130 mins. \'HS, Home Vision

Alvard, Best

Eutertainment.

moral choice-his individuality is called delinquent but the teacher's discipline is shown as authoritarian. 106 rnins.

\tlS

(Dutch titles), Tiger Releases, Holland.

Battle Royale

(Batoru rowaiaru, 2000), Fukasaku

Kinji. The govenment, tired of juvenile delinquency, rounds up the kids and orden them to

Bad, Sleep Well, The (Warui yatsu hodo yoku

kill

each

otlrer. This they do at great length and in full detail.

ltemLlru, aka A Rose in the Mud, 1950), Kurosawa

Grim and eamest, it sports a few irouic touches, one

Akira. A finely made melodrarla, highly critical of

of which is having Kitano Takeshi as the honre-roon

the ties between big business and government, witlr

teacher. There is a "director's cLlt" version (2001)

If Q00il as well.

Mifune Toshiro in the Hamlet-like role of the nan

and a Buttle Rol,ule

who must avenge his murdered father. Mori Masa-

DVD/ \'HS, Tartan (Uti)

yuki is the Claudius-like boss and Kagawa Kyoko

113 mins.

is

the 0phelia-like crippled daughter. 151 mins. DVD/

Battles Without Honor and Hamanity flingi naki tatakai,

VHS, Home Vision Entertaiurnent.

Fukasaku

aka The Yakuza Papers

,

1973),

Kinji. The first of a ntulti-part

series

devoted to chivalrous yakuza and their honor-bound

way of life, as coutrasted to the smnl'mv wa\/s of the

common crirrinal. 99 mins. DVD, Home Vision Entertaiument.

Being Two Isn't Easy

(Watashi wa nisai, 1962),

Ichikawa Kon. A coult de cinrinta, tl'rc whole movie seen from the viewpoint of a two-year-old.

It is he

whorn we hear on voice-over and through whom we

learn that the ways of adults are strzurge indeed.

of l{ aray ama

8),

The bemused parents are Yamamoto Fujiko and

Kinoshita Keisr-rke. The first versiou (lmzrnura's

Funakoshi Eiji. The script is by Wada Natto. h]#l. 88

fihn in the following entrv

mins. VHS, Home Vision Entertainnrent.

B al I ad,

(N ar

arTia

b

us h

i

ko,

1

9

5

^y

was the second) of the

Fukazawa Shichiro novel about a village wheLe the

lizard

(Kuro tokage, 1968), l'ukasaku Kinji.

sous were by custorn forced to leave their aged par-

Black

euts to the elements of Mount Narayama. Here Tanaka

Mishima Yukio adapted this Edogawa Ranpo story

Kinuyo is the detemrined rlother and Takahashi Teiji

and Narusawa Masashige wrote it up. It stars trans-

is the reluctaut son. The director preseuts his storv in

vestite Miwa AkihiLo, with a bit part for Mishima

quasi-kabuki fashion with levolving scenery, tableaux

himself. It could have been a lot campier than it is.

and a traditional score. Ig#1,

!8 mins. \HS,

Fukasaku

Kino.

did uot know he was creating a cult

classic. 86 rnins. VHS, Facets Multimedia (0P).

Ballad, of Narayaffia, The

(Narayama bushiko,

1983), Imaruura Shohei. The secoud version of the Fukuzawa Shichiro novel about life

in the village

where the aged are taken to Monnt Narayaura to die.

(The first was Kinoshita Keisuke's versiou

in

Blaak Rain (Kuroi

ame, 1989), huzunura Shohei.

After the atom bomb, the black rAin, and after that,

radiation sickness. LnamuLa's version

of

Ibuse

the

Masuji's fanolrs novel about the HiLoshima disaster

above entry.) Inamnra's is the rnore realistic, witlr

is nrade with warmth, sincerity and compassion. Irr

266

sober black-and-white and

with a Takemitsu Toru

score. Cannes, Critic's Prize; JapanAcademy Award, Best

Film;

KJ#l

.

than narrowly political. 97 mins. DVD (English titles), Asrnik Ace (fapan).

123 mins. DVD/VHS, Image Enter-

Chusbingara (akaThe

tainment.

Loyal Forty-Seven Ronin,

aka Forty-Seven Samurai, 1962), Inagaki Hiroshi.

Boiling Point

(San tai yon ekkusu jugatsu,

Tlre most lavish of the many scrcen adaptations of

1990), Kitano Takeshi. Baseball teammates go to

the famous kabuki classic. This one, here fomratted

twolart venion, contains all the fanous

Okinawa to buy guus to avenge a murdered coach

as a

but fall into the hands of psychopathic yakuza.

but takes for granted a certairt acquaintance witlt

scenes

Kitano Takeshi plays himself (pop media idol, Beat

the story line. fui all-star cast with a new subplot for

Takeshi), and the cast includes people with names

Mifune. 204 mins. DVD/VHS, Image Entertainment.

like Bengal and Johnny 0kura. 98 mins.

(See also: Lo1'67 Forty-Set'en

DVD/VHS,

Rortitt,

Tbe.)

Fox Lorber.

Bom Fighter, The. See Elegl' to Violmce, Branded,

to Kill

(Koroshi no rakuin, 196n,

Suzuki Seijun. fui iuventive and ultimately anarchic take on gangster thrillers. Guryu Hachiro's script flounders midway and Suzuki tries on the bizarre

for its own

sake. All very interesting but the com-

pany didn't think so. This is the

fihl

that got Suzuki

Conflagration

(aka Enjo , akaFlante of Toment, aka The Terlple of the Golden Pavilion, 1958),

fired. 91 mins. D\D/VHS, Criterion.

Baild-up, The. See Giurtts nncl Tol,s,

Ichikawa Kon. Yukio Mishima's Tlte Tetnple oJ the Goltlen Pcu,ilion (scripted by Wada Natto and Hasebe

Burmese Harp, The.

See

HaQ

of

Burmo,

The.

Keiji) becomes the finest of Ichikawa's literary adaptations. A young monk destroys that which he most

loves by setting

c

P

avi

I

as the

Charisma (Karisurla, 199il,

Kurosawa Kiyoshi.

A large tree seems to be sucking life

fron the forest.

Which is most important-the individual or

fire to Kinkakuji, the

Golden

ion. With action-hero Ichikaw a Rarzo splendid

inarticulate priest, extraordinary black-and-

white widescreen photography by Miyagawa Kazuo,

and a fine score by Mayuzuuti Toshiro.

!8 mins.

\HS, New Yorker F'ilms.

society? This problern is not solved but obliterated by all the graphic violence at the end. With Yakusho

Koji. 103 mins. DVD (English titles), King

Records

(Hong Kong).

Chikamatsu MonogatAri. Chikunttrtsu,

See Stor.l, .frorn

A.

\ Childrm of Hiroshi,ma

(Gernbaku no ko, 1952),

Fruit

(Kurutta kajitsu, aka Affair at

Shindo Kaneto. Otowa Nobuko as the yolurg teacher

Crazed

who takes care of the homeless young after

the

Kanrakura, akaJuvenile Passion, aka This Scorch-

bombing of Hiroshirna, iVlore broadly humanistic

irrg Sea, 1956), Nakahira Ko. One of the seminal

267

filnrs of the fifties, a lvell-nurde atnrospheric picture

F'oreign l-ihn. Original, 141 rnins; LIS veLsion, 137

which gave respectabilih'to the taivozoku flanring-

nrins. D\D, Kino hrternational. Nso aualt'lol?hic veL-

vouth gerrre 0lder

arrcl \,ounger

Yujiro and Tsugalva Nllusahiko)

brother (lshihara aLe

siorr, (Russian arrd English titles), Ruscico (Russia),

both irrvolved

lvith the sume girl (Kitzilrara trlie) lvith

dislustrotn

results. Takenrilsu ToLu's first filnr scoLe as well. 8(r

nrins, DVD, CriteLion.

Crazy Page,. . See Prrge Arl o.l')rzlet', Crdpuscule d Tokyo.

See

A,

7b[.r'o Tu'ilighl.

Disir Meurtrier. Crucffied Louers, The. tttrtlstt.

See

See

lrtlerrliorrs of

,lltttler.

.tlolt' .fi'otrt (,lbifut-

Diary of Chuji's Traaels, A (Chuii tubi nikki,

A.

I9J7), Ito Daisuke. One of the ruost fanrous filnrs of

Cruel Story of Yottth

(Seishun zankoku nr0n0-

gutari, aka CLuel Tales of Youth, 1960), Oshinra Nrtgisa, A teeuage tough pirnps his

girl frierrd

f'er,v segnrents ure included on the CD-ROIl, "Ila"steqrieces of Japunese Silent Cinenlr,"

the twenties. A

therr

which contztirts excerpts ftont fortr'-iive other silent

extlztcts clough flonr the nriddle-aged buveLs. Shot

.frpurtese pictures. CD-ROIl (Wirrdor,vs onlr'), Ilrbalr Connections, Inc,, (Jlqtan).

through

with

Oshinra's sonrehow sentinrental

nihilisnr. With Kawazu Yusuke ancl Kulvano Ifivuki (Disutlu'lsu, 2001 ), Kore'eda Hirokuzu.

as pirnp uncl procluct. 95 nrins. \'HS, Nelv Yorker

Distance

F'ihns,

A nri'sterious ancl porvertul eleg'centered lu'ouncl four

people who are lanrilv of nrenrbets of a religious

Cure (Kt'ult,

1997), KuLosalva Kivoshi Pop gothic-

hon'ol hit. Detective Yukusho Koii is spuced-out purrk HagilvuLu

Illnato's

bzrfflecl

b1'

seerninglr

cult killecl

fbL lutving attenrpted genocide \Vhen the

four visit the scene of the tragecli,, their

crr

goes

nu'steriouslr nrissing, ancl fhev are forced to spend

irrzttional llowers, which include nrincl control, and

the night 16+ lnins. DVD (linglish titles), Bandai

nutking nrurclereLs of the iunocent. 111 rnirrs. DVD.

Visrurl (Julxur).

Honre Visiorr Entertairrnrent.

D

Daylight Demoz.

See l'iolurce

DeathJapflnese Style.

Dentier Caprice.

See

See

htil

trl

Atoort,

Furtet'ul,

Tlrc.

o.f'Strtrrtnet', Tlte,

Dodes'ha-den

Dersu Uzala 0975),

Kurosawa Akira. Based ou

(

1970), Kurosala Akira. A clecom-

tive, highlv coloLed slice-of-lif'e senred

in a contenr-

Vladinrir Arseniev's zrccounts of earlv exploration in

poriul'Tokvo slunr. \'arious churacters interact witlr

Siberia (urnongst the director's lavorite books) this

otheLs

fihu

cult. it is none the

shows hoiv Arseniev encounteLed l)ersu. child

to indicate that though lif'e is certainlv difTiless

lvorth living. Kurosalva's first

of rtztture, intrepid huntet and noble suvltge. Fihned

color lilnr. nrusic lli'Takenritsu

rnuirtlt'ort location in Rttssia Acadenrt'An'lucl,

Honre Vision Iintertainnrent

26ti

Best

Toru

140 nrins, \HS.

Double Suicidc (Shinju ten no anrijimlr,

1959),

Takashi) who believes

in healing, yet caunot

stop

Shinoda Mzuahiro. The Tomioka Taeko script, retain-

drinking. funong those he tries [o save is a death-

ing the plot of the Chikanratsu oligiual, also preserves

obsessed gangster (N{ifune Toshiro). The fiLst of

the couveutions of the bnuraku puppet theater for

Kurosawa's nroralilv pla.vs and a brilliant evoczrtiorr

which the play was oLiginally written. The

of postwar Tolc'0. KJ#1 98 mins. VHS, Home Vision

revolves around

ston,

a manied merchaut's iufatua-

tion with a geisha. The

Lesult (actoLs attended

Erttertaiumeut.

b1,

puppeteers) lends 2r fatalistic conrpzrssiou which nruch benefits the filnr. With kabuki actor NakamuLa

E

Kichientou, aud Iwashita Shinta in the double role

of wife and courtesau. N{usic by Takenritsu Toru.

Early Spring

KJ#1 103 nrins. DVDA,HS, Criterion,

nine-to-five officer worker (lkebe Ryo) is dissatisfied

(Soshun, 1956) Ozu Yasujiro. A

with both his job and his wif'e (Awashima Chikage). He hm a fling with the office

flirt (Kishi Keiko) but

everltuall)' takes a provitlcial post and decides to start over again with his wif'e. I.'illed with character insight and inrplicit social criticism. 144 mins. DVD CLiterion.

Enrly Summer (Bakushu, 1951), Ozu Yasr,rjiro. One of the director's finest films-the .fapanese farnilv slowlv, beautifully, inevitabll' falls

apart.

Hara Setsuko is the daughter wlto leaves to luarn/,

Dreams

(Yume, aka Akira Kurosawa's DreAuts,

Sugimura HaLuko is the grateful ntothel of the

1990), Kurosawa Akira. Eight episodes based on

groonr, and the Lest of the Ozu troupe (including

dreams of the directoL: a foxes' wedding, the atonric

Rru Chishlr us the disapproving elder brotheL) have

end of Japan, a nteeting with van Gogh (Martin

never been better.

KJ#l

115 nrins. D\,D, Criteriou.

Scorsese), and five others. Lots of fantasy and special efTects,

coupled with the moral uressage that we ought

Eclair, I'.

See

Lighhrirrg.

to be uicer to each otheL. Kurosarwa ureets SpielbeLg.

11! mins. D\,DAHS, Waruel Houre Video,

Eijanaika

(1981), Imantura Shohei. Celebrating

the anaLchv of the la-st days of the Tokugawa shogu-

Drifting

Weeds.

See

Floulitry

Weeds.

nate, Imamura juggles a uunrber of plots, all of which nremoLialize civil disobedience. N{oruoi Kaori

Dru,nken Angel (\oidore

tenshi, 1948), Kurosawa

is the stLipper, pop-star Izumiva Shigenr is the recerrt

Akira. The angel of the title is a doctor (Shirnura

retulnee from the USA, ancl pLoduction designer

269

Satani Akiyoshi created the enormous Ryogoku

like mask after his face is horribly scarred in

Bridge set and adjoining fairgrounds. Everything is

accident. Nakadai Tatsuya is the

nan,

an

Kyo Machiko

big, sprawling and vital. "What the hell!" as the title

is the unsuspecting wife

says. 151 mins. DVD (English titles), Panorarna

husband. Art direction is by Awazu Kiyoshi. Both

(Hong Kong).

seduced

by her masked

director and writers had akeady created Wontan,

in Eleglt to Violence

(Kenka ereji, aka Fighting

Elegy, aka The Born Fighter, 1966), Suzuki Seijun.

In the militarist 1930s a student

the Du,nes and s0 pure claustrophobia is an

intended and brilliantly attained result. 122 mins. DVD (English Titles), Asmik Ace (fapan).

represses his urges

and turns fascist. Suzuki sees this as a comedy,

Family Garnc, Ihe (Kuoku gemu, 1983), Morita

though a serious one. With a slvle lnore realistic than usual, he and his scriptwriter, Shindo Kaneto, turn

Yoshimitsu. Mordant satire on the Japanese family. To cram sonny into the right school, mun andpapa

growing up into social comment. With Takahashi

hire a tutor (Matsuda Yusaku) with appalling results.

Hideki as the gland-gripped youth. 86 mins, DVD,

Consumerism, social status,

Criterion; VHS, Home Vision Entertainment.

receive hilarious treatment, culminating

filial devotion-all in

a final

dinner which turns into a food fight. The original

Empire of Passion.

See

In

the

Ratlm of Paxrion.

manga-like novel by Honma Yohei was scripted for

film by Kobayashi Yoshinori and Morita himself. Empire of the Senses. See In

the Realm of the

Itami Juzo,later to become the celebrated director, plays the awful father. Ig#1 Japan Acadeny Award,

Smses,

Best

End,

of Sumrner, The

Fihn. 107 mins. VHS, Circle Releasing/Sony (Ol1

(Kohayagawa-ke no aki,

aka The Autumn of the Kohayagawa Farnily, aka Dernier Caprice, 1961), Ozu Yasujiro. An older man,

alone but for his three daughters, decides to marry his former mistress. This upsets the entire family, a disturbance which is settled only by his death, With

Nakanrura Ganjiro , AratamaMichiyo, Hara Setsuko, Tsukasa Yoko. 103 mins. DVD (French titles), Arte Video (France).

Enj o.

See

Femme

ConJlagrati on .

Eareka (Yuriika,

2000), Aoyama Shinji. A bus hiiack

changes a number of lives, including that of driver

d,e

Tokyo, Une.SeeWoman of Tokro.

Femrnes d,e

la Nait, Ies.

See Women oJ' the

Night.

Yakusho Koii. A serial killer emerges and is eventu-

ally unmasked as one of the hijacked yoLlng. All of

Fighting Eleglt.

See

Eleg, to

Vi,olence.

this is told simply and unsensationally but at great length. 217 mins. DVD/VHS, Artificial Eye (Ut<).

Fire Festiaal.

See

Himatsuri.

Fires on the Plain (Nobi, 195D, Ichikawa

Kon.

The nrost powerful of Japanese antiwar films. Based

F

on the Ooka Shohei novel, scripted by Wada Natto,

Face of Another, The (Tanin no kao,

1966),

this film tells the devastating story of a platoon lost

Teshigahara Hiroshi. Abe Kobo fashioned the script

in the Philippines at the end of World War II.

after lris novel, the story of antan who dons a life-

single survivor (Funakoshi Eiji) wanders the jungle

270

The

Shin Kazuo and a

and finally finds what it is that sustains those fellow

tlrat

soldiers he rneets, With impeccable photography by

beautiful performance by Asano Tadanobu as the

goes wrong. A fine script by

Kobayashi Setsuo ard amoving score by Akutagawa

nerd that tunm. 73 mins. DVD (English titles), ,{smik

Yasushi. 105 rnins. VHS, Hone Vision Entertainment.

Ace (fapan)

Fireworks.

Forbid"d,ez.

See

Hana-bi,

Fiae Women around, Utamaro.

See

[Jtcunnro

Flame of Torrnent.

See

Corflagration.

Flaaor of Green Tea or)er Rice, The (0chazuke no aji, 1952), Ozu Yasujiro. A middle-aged,

Gohatto.

Forty-Seum Ronin, The. Ronin,

and His Ffury Womm,

See

See

Iny6s7 Forty-Swen

The,

Forty-Seuen Samt

Frdre et Soeur.

rai. See

See

Chusbingtn'a.

)ldu' Brotber, YounS4u

Sister.

nriddle-class couple experier)ce acrisis in their mar-

Funeral, Ihe

over rice they begin to succeed 115 rnins. VHS (Eng-

(0soshiki , akaDeathJapanese Style, 1984), Itami Juzo. The director's first and finest film-a satire on the passing of old Japan. The

lish titles), Panorarna Entertainrnent (Hong Kong).

bereaved

riage. Their routine lives have lost their rnearing. Both atteurpt to change, and over a simple meal of green tea

no longer even know to hold a

proper

funeral: they can't sit on the floor in the traditional

Floating

Weeds (Ukikusa

,

aka Drifting Weeds,

luranner, don't know how rnuch to pay the priest,

195D, Ozu Yasujiro. The head of a troupe of travel-

and have to watch a video to learn the etiquette.

ing playen (kabuki actor Nakamura Ganjiro) retums

Though often edged into farce by its large and lively

to the island where a former flarne (Sugirnura

cast, the comic premise holds and

Haruko), who is the mother of his sorr, waits for

together when, finally, with dignity and devotion,

it all coutes

him, His present companion (Kyo Machiko), jealous,

death is itself addressed. KJ#l. Japan

pays the ingenue (Wakao Ayako) to seduce the boy

Award, Best Film

.II4

Academy

mins. DVD/VHS, Fox Lorber.

(Kawaguchi Hiroshi). That is all there is to the story and Ozu, who uever liked plot, has turned his tale

into a light idyll in which narrative parallels are reflected

in the

superb color photography of Miya-

gawa Kazuo and the summer-tinted score of Saito

Iclriro. A "renake" 0f his 1934

Stor'1,

of Floating

Weecls.l1! mins. DVD, Criterion.

Flowing

(Nagarerll, 1955), Naruse Mikio. Based

0n a Koda Aya story, beautifully scripted by Tanaka Sumie and lde Toshiro, this is one of the director's

finest filns. The story of the decline of a geisha house in Tolryo's downtown, it displays the splendid

G

ensenrble talents of Japan's finest actresses: Yanada

Isnzn, Tanaka Kinuyo, Takarnine Hideko, and Sug-

Gate of Flesh, The (Nikutai n0 mon,

imura Haruko.

Suzuki Seijun. The rnost stylish of the various film

117 mins. DVD, Criterion.

versions of this popular post-World War

Focus (Fokasu, 1995), lsaka

1954),

II play

by

Satoshi. First-rate

Tamura Taijiro about political togetherness among

mockuurentary, an iutrusive TV-tells-all progran

prostitutes, a solidarity wrecked by love. Here the

271

ston/ is told with knowing melodranra ancl inteu-

who, like Tora-san, went 0n to nrlrke

tional aLtifice. Glaring color and over-the-top desigrr

sequels in which the lovabl),cheesv tt.tottster,

support the antics of a lead whore (Nogawa Yunriko)

nrbber suit, carefullv steps on urodels of fanrous

who just won't stop.

cities. In this oue it is Tolq'o through which he cuts

!0

nrirrs. \HS, Houre Vision

Entertainnreut.

countless

in

his

his swath. The U.S,-r'eleased r,emiou deletes nruch and

adds Raynrond Burr. The success of this nronster

Gate of

Hell, The

Qigoku mon, 1953), Kinngiusa

spawned others-Rodarr, N'{othLa, Ganrera, Daima-

Teinosuke. Weak Kikuchi Kan period plal' nade

jin, and

into limp film with flaccid performances bv

lish-titled video but will not heLe be listed. 98 mins. D\'D, Simitar Video (0P).

Hase-

gawa Kuuo and Kyo N{achiko as the lovem fbrbidden

to love. If anyone paicl attention to this filnr it because

of Sugivama

s0

on-most

of whom also made it to Eng-

was

Kohei's superlative color

photogLztph\,, a qualiW which is ltot c'.rpturcd on tape.

Gohatto (aka Taboo, aka

Forbidden, 1999),

Oshima Nagisa. It is the end of the Edo period (ca.

1865) and the Shinsengunri 'crnn\',

85 mins. VHS, Home Vision Eutettaiuruertt.

all militan

m'.rcho, is defending its lost canse lvhen in comes a

Geisha,, (Gion ba,vruhi,

aka Gion Festival N{usic,

195.1), Mizoguclti Kenji. Based

on a

Kawaguchi

N{atsutaro stor, scripted b1'Yoda Yoshikata, this film tells tfte sad ston, of nvo geisha (Kogure ],lichivo

tuew, beautiful,

willing

sevettteen-1,ear-old LecLuit.

N{ilitarv forurations collapse in the face of passiou. Lots of

killing but lots of love-rttaking

as

well.

100

nrins. D\D/VHS, New Yorker F-ilnrs.

and Wakao A1,xli6) and their attenrpts at a better lif'e. F'illed with sentinrent, rather than with sentinrentalitr,, the picture eanrs cor'rcenr-paLticulaLly wheu even'thiug is so persuluivelv photogLaphed N1it'azawa Kazno,

b1'

and the pelformauces are

s0

perf'ect. 95 rnins. \HS, New YoLkeL Filnts (0P).

Ghost

in the Shell, The $okaku

kidotai, 1995),

82 nrins. Oshii Nlamoru. N{ore anime froru creators of

Akiru-this

the

one from a mauga bv Shiro

N{mamune. It is now 2029 and the c1'beLcop heroiue

Goni,n (1995), Ishii

chases after a villainous brain-hacker. Big special

five in

effects, snrall plaLrsibility and little attention paid to

from a yakuza outfit. fur inrplacable gluruuu (Kitano

character. Beware

of English-dubbed versiort.

83

ill lqoniz),

Takeshi) is hired to gun them clowu, which

does-one bv one.

mins. D\DA'HS, Mauga Video.

Takzuhi. A group of arttateuts, set out to take a lot of dough

Naga-shima Toshivuki and

Giants and Toys

(K.vojin

to gangu, aka The

he

Gore galore. With Sato Koichi,

l{otoki Nlasahiro.

109

nrius. D\D, Leo Filnrs.

Build-Llp, 1958), N{mmura Yztsuzo. The building up and tearing down of a voung televisiou "idol"

Gonza the Spearunan (\'ari no Gonza,

(Nozoe Hitonri) in the cut-thLoat world of entertairt-

Shinoda N{asahiro. The Chikanratsu plal' as scripted

ment. A bright script bv Shirasaka Yoshio based on

b), Tontioka Taeko, tnacle into a visuallt' beautiful

a Kaiko Ken uovel. 95 nrins. D\D, Fantoma

filnr which shows both loLd ancl retainel caLlght in

Gion Festiaal ilIusic.

f1, pop-singer Go Hirorui, and the lorcl's spouse

1986),

theiL vengeful Loles. The handsonre Gonza is plal'ed See Gersltu, A.

witlt

whom he falls in love bv Iwmhita Shinta, the diLec-

God,zilla, King

of the Monsters

(GojiLa,

1954), Honda Ishiro. The first appearance of Godzilla

272

tor's wif'e. It is all ven,cllusv and refined and a little slow. Berliu, SilveL BeaL. 126 mins. \HS, Kino.

Good

Morning

(0hru'0, 1959), Ozu Ylrsujiro.

A

a Takiguchi Yasuhiko novel, scripted bv Hashinroto

\/erl/ lulrusing setire on strbtrrtltn wrtvs. Two snrall

Shinobu) of a fornrel sanrulai (Nakaclai Tatsuvu) i,vho avenges the cruel death (harakiri with a banr-

bovs rebel at the bluraliti' ("Good nroruing"

adult snurll

tulk

/

Brtrtt,

19.11

litrl

of un update of

)

of

the

boo srvord) of his belovecl

son-in-lrl

(lshihunra

this filrtt lun tlte boi's'

AkiLa). He succeeds but the reigning lolcl (N{ikuni

sui good nroLning exposing just tliose

Rerrtaro) orclers hirn killeiland his ucls left unrecrlrcted.

ll:?rs

refusal [o

Sonrething

sociul gups u,hich such snurll tulk usrurllr bridges,

Irr this wav the srununti code renltins enshrined.

94 nrins [)\DA'HS, Criterion

Photographed

bi' \livujinre

Yoshio, nrusic bi'

Tukenritsu Toru, Curtnes, Speciul

.furl Prize

135

rnins. I)\'D, Honre Vision Cinenlr.

Harp of Bunna, The. (lJirunra no tategoto, rrku '['he Burntese Hltrl. 1956), Ichikail'lr Kon. ]'hc first

H

Hana-b;f (rrku Fireri'olks, 1997). Kitano'l'ukeshi

(und better) of Ichikari'u's tuo versiorrs oi the'l'uke-

Ot'er'-the-hill coll (Kituno) f'eels dreudftrl at hln,ing let

\ lunlt ,\lichio novel A.f rqlunese soldier is sil sucldenecl

tkru,rr u police lluddv und ut the slrme tinre neglected

br the cenrxge of wul thut he sturs llehind to bulv

lt dr irrg ii'ife, He tobs lt bltnk to get sonre ntoner to

tlie deud Resolutelr lxtcifist. the filrtt nuuutges its rnessxge ti,itltottt too rnttclt recourse to sentinrental-

rultke lunencls, scnrlls out lt gtrng in the prucess, ancl lut the conclusiort puts

lt bullet both in her and

irt

itr, \enice,

Slur Giorgio Prize: Acadenrr Arl'urcl, lJest

hinrseli. Kituno's uestlretic take on trendr anurcitv

|oreign Irilnr

hls here lrcen

tltirrnrent,

turrrecl into sonrethirrg like lur urt fonri.

K.f#i: \'ertice, (iolden

l.ion

103

nrirrs l)\'t)A'HS,

ll6

nrins

VHS, Honre Vision F)tter-

Ne\\'

\brker lrilrns.

Herringbone Clouds.

See

,\laiil ttct' (,'lottrls.

Hidden Fortress, The (Kukuslii torrde lro sul Itkurrirr. I958). Kurnslni,u Akinr, A delightfirl parrxlv rlrr the ordinurl'sunrlllui filnr. n'ith u clethronecl llrirrcess,

hidden gold. hr,o greedr peluurts, lur intpossiblv hernic hero (\lifune 'loshirn) und lots oi sivor{plur. A liortilerful iirutle

\\'hele-joined br urr ershi'hile

enenr\ (L'ujitlt Susunru), ltncl uided llv the rxutrinli, roving canrenr of Yzuuazltki Kazuo and the exhilunttirtg score of Sato \l'rs11111-gold, horses uncl cltst

Hnrukiri

(Seppuku. 1962), Koltarrnhi llusuki l'he finest of the tlirector's lihns. the storr' (lxnecl orr

gullop to freeclonr Berlin, ttest Director und Internutionltl CLitics' Prizes. 139 nrins l)\'D, Criterirln

27.1

High and, Iow (Tengoku to jigoku, 195T, Kllro-

Lure H6tesse de Bar, 1970), ImArnura Shohei. A

thriller-

rylendidli irouic docurnentan, which cuts through

sawa Akira. A

morali['play in

the fomr of a

written by Kurosawa aud others after the Ed il'lcBain

the cant and gives us N{adarn 0mboLo's version of

novel, Kirtg's Rnttsonl. A self-made urau (Mifune

World War

Toshiro) is mined by a jealous uobody (Yamazaki

truths blasted and maury holy cows put out

Tsutonru in his first inrportant screen Lole) but goes

pasture. 105 ntins. \HS (F'r'ench subtitles), Fihus sarn

ou to do the right thing aud iu the end the cantera

Frontibrcs (France).

II

and the resLrlting occupation. Accepted to

observes nlore similarities than differences. With

a menorable mid-filnr climax on a

high-speed

Hole, The.

See

)ribubt.

bullet train. 143 mins. DVD, CLiteLion.

Human Conditi,on, The

(Ningen no jokeu,

1958-51), Kobava-shi il{asaki. Long, powerful anti-

wlu' tLilogv lvlitten b.v l{atsuvanra Zenzo

and

Kobavzuhi after the Gornikawa Junpei novel. It is 1943 and an idealistic young inspector (Nakadai Tatsuva) is sent by his conrpaltv to report on the nriues of N'lanchuria, He finds the exploitation of the workers extrenre. conplains, and is punished. DLafted, he discovers the Japauese anny to be even

wone Extrenrelr, cLitical oi authoritarian mentalitl,, the fihn becanre orre of Japan's nrost controver-

Himatsuri (tkt

Fire F'estival, 1985), \'anaginrachi

N,litsuo. A stLong Nakaganri Kenji novel urade into an equally,powerful

fihr.

A nrodeLn macho lunrber-

sial-over uiue hours inside the militan'

nrind

Tlre three parts of the filnr are given the titles of lVo Greuler

Llre200 nrins., (Venice,

San Giorgio Prize);

nrau faces vengeful uature-but such a one-line

Tbe

prdcis cannot begin to conrmunicate the ertormolls

Prut.l'er, 190 nrins. D\D, Iruage, Erttertainnrent

potency of the film. With luminous photographv Tzuuurar Masaki,

llourl lo Eterrtilt',

180 nrins.: and A Siolclier's

b.v

a ravishing score by Takenritsn

Humanity and Paper Balloons

(Ninjo kanri-

TorLr, Kitaoji Kinya as the lumbennan aud Nakamoto

fnsen, 1937), Yanvuutka Sadao. One of the great

R),ota as his shiftl'sidekick. Locarno, Silver Leopard.

Japanese

120 mins, \HS, Kino.

a Kawatake il4okuzuli kabuki play,, in which sorne-

films-N'limuLa Shintaro's adaptation of

thing like the true

lif'e of the people under the Toku-

gawa reginre is Levealed. Yamauaka (in this, his lrut

film) illuminates

his claustrophobic theme through

a constructiou where the spatial concerns echo the neecls

History of PostwarJapan As Told, fui a Bar Hostess, ,4 (Nippon sengo-shi: Madamu Onboro

no seikatsu, aka Histoire du Japon Racontde par

274

of the story', 86 nrins. D\D, CLiteLion.

Welt) as Prirrce Myshkin, and in watching all the

I

rest (Mifune Toshiro, Hara Setsuko) overact. 165 nrins.

I liae in Fear.

See

Reconl of a Lit'irtg Being, TIn.

DVD (English titles), PAnorAura Entertainment (Hong Kong).

I

Was Bom,,

But. . .

(LJlnarete wa rttita keredo,

aka Gosses de Tolryo, 1932),Ozn Yzuujiro, fui early

Ihiru,

little boys begin to grow Lrp when the,v learn something of the ways of the

bnrean chief leaLus he has caucer, will not live long,

adult world. Why can't they beat

He sets out in his last months to acconrplish sonle-

masterpiece. Two

Lrp

their father's

(1952), Knrosawa Akira. A city govemment

and realizes that he

hms

dorte nothing with his lif'e,

boss's kid when they are strouger? thet, ask. A veLy

thing-to

anrusing comedy and at the sanre tinte the daLk-

an el'ronnouslv moviug saga as we fbllow this rnodern

est of social cornmeutaries, the pictuLe is

pilgrim through his

fuunv and devzrstating. A silent

filn

both

with dia-

It

build a local park. This anecdote beconres

progress, t0 a

final achievemeut.

is simultaneouslv an existential exploratiou (nran

logue titles. KJ#1 !1 nrins. D\D (French titles), tute

is solel,v what he does) and a devastating indictmenl

Video (France).

of buLeaucrac)'. KJ#l, Berliu, SilveL BeaL. 143 mins.

D\D, CLiteriou.

Id,iot, The

(Hakuchi ,1951), Kurosawa Akira. The

In the Realm of Passion (Ai no boLei,

aker

directoL adapts his favorite novelist, Dostoevsky.

Ernpire of Passion, 1978), Oshima Nagisa. A riclshaw

St. Petersburg becomes uroderu Hokkaido, aud the

driveL is nrurdered by his wife and her ex-soldieL

Rttssiaus becorne provincial Japanese. A wildll' Lureveu fihn to begin with, it was ftrrther damaged bv

pay tor their prusion. A film uot to be compared to

the fact that Shochiku cut its running time nearlv

tlre nragisterial

in half prioL to its release. Still there is a certain

though Oshima's scom for authority here

chann

in seeing

Mori il4asayuki (noblenan in

Rrtsltonton, companv president in The Bud

Sleelt

lover. They are haunted by their crime and finally

h

the Realm o.l'the Jezses (1975), reaches

similar heights. With F'uji Tatsuya, last seen bleeding on the mattress iu the 1975 film. Canues,

Best

Director AwaLd. 105 mins. \HS/D\D, Fox Lorber.

In the Realm of the

Senses (Ai no korida, aka

Empire of the Senses, aka The Realur of the 1976),

0shina

Senses,

Nergisa. Based 0n A real1936 occlu'-

rence, a couple lose themselves

euourously erotic

resr,rlts.

in each other with

Though banued

as obscene

in bothJapan (where it still cannot be shown

Lurceu-

sored) and, irtitialll', s1t.*ltere, the filnt is really a serious study of possessive love and is uot in the least

275

ponrogrtphic. With Ilutsuda Eiko and Fuji Tutsuvu. 100

J

nrins D\DAHS. For Lorber

Japanese Tragedy, A (Nihon no higeki, 1953),

Inferno of First loue, The (Hrrtsukoi iigoku-

Kinoshitu Keisuke A nurther irr wartinreJlqxut strives

hen. uka Nauauti: First Lor,e, 1968). Hani Susurnu,

to ntise her child. onlv to lrc nret u'ith inclifference ancl

of the senrinal filnrs of the sirties l'enu'anlu

ingnrtitude. l'he nlrscent sentinrentliliti oi the thenre

One

ShLrji's script about innocence

in a tinre of cor'-

rulltion, is beautifLrllv reltlizecl bv Hani at his urost

is offset lr) the neo-reulisnr of the filnting,

cklcunrentarr'-like. lbkvo's Shinjuku nightspots huve

artcl the perfirrnrance

nevel been nlore flncinutinglv displuved, ancl anra-

rnother,

teurs'l'ukaha.shi Akio und Ishii Ktutiko us the \'oung

F,ntertainnrent

lot'els are consun'lnlttelv directed lerrgth is 107 nrins. l'his

LIS Lelease.

\brk Filnr furner (0P).

holever, hucks

Joy Girls.

Aullelge

).t

(

zrs the

(h)nglish titles). Parrorrnra

Hons Korrg).

See ,\i/rn'.1'r1f

Jud,o Saga, tr17 (Tokro

of llochizuki Yukcl

ll6 nrins [)\'l)

'lhe originll

the iihn ubout. \HS, New

Inn in Tokyo,

the

inclusiorr of ltctual rvzrrtinre ancl poshi'ar footltge,

no rzulo, akrt

See

rt l)trxli/trle.

,\ill.r/ttrrt

,\itt,qtt\rt,

LIne

Tokvo. 1935) Ozu Yasujiro. A beautifullr

Juuenile Psssioz.

See (,'t'rt..erl

l'-t'tttl.

filnr aboLrt a tlansierrt nuur and his trvo \oung sorts finclirrg conrpanionship ii'ith a i,i'iilon observed

artcl lter little giLl. \Vith Sakanroto Tukeshi zurd Okudu

K

Yoshiko 80 ntirrs. \'HS (French titles), Cind Horizon

Kagemusha (1980), Kutosu'ni'a Akirt A thief is spurecl if he rvill irnllersonute u ii'urlorcl 'l'he lutter'

(Fnurce)

Insect Voman, The (Nippon konchuki,

1961).

has been killed but the enenl\ still hus to be firoled

Irnlununt Shohei. Superlative sltl{u oi u poor coun-

l,ots of production values uncl u greut finul battle llut

trl wonltn ivho sets out to conc;trer the

r,lrrrld on its

the thief's rolc ri'us ri'r'itten fot Kutsu Sltintltro. lurd

oli,'rr tcrnrs, \Vith lrlI the cleternrirurtiorr uncl energr

Nuklului Tutsur u, ri,ho stepped in. is nriscust In uddi-

ol the rurt seen in the opening

tion. Kur)slr\\'u hlul so nruch tinre (no initiul funclirrg)

sequence, she suc-

irt rnuteriullv bettering herself though

het

thltt he pledesigned urtd color coorclirutted iust ullout

nreuns ule whoring, pinrping und blucknrailing A

everlthing, lenrling u cc,rtltin stltginess to the pLoduc-

ceeds

jovous urrcl affirnrilrg lurrcl lus

filnr

(u'r'itten lr)' Inrrnrunt

tion. Cunnes, (luurcl Plix. lli() nrins. D\1). Critelion

Hluelrc Keiji) ri'ith Hiduri Suchiko tnurscenderrt

the hernine K.l#l llerlirr. Best Actress,

DVDA'HS, (bnnoisseur

(

ll3

nrins

[IK).

Intentions of Murder

(Akld sutsui, uklt }luLder-

ous l)esire, aku Unholr l)esire. uku l)dsir Ileurtrier.

196+). Inuuuuut Shohei A skxl'.

llur, but

ver'\

cletenrrined lvife gets her o\\'n \\'tr\': she outlives her

ntpist. legitinrizes her son. und tliunrphs over her crecp\ husbuncl. A deep. bluck, glorious

lr) Inr:unulu

fihn \\'ritterr

uncl Hlnebe Keiji ufter the l'uiiri'unr

Shinji rlrvel. 150 nrins. \'HS (Ilrerrch titles). Filnrs sarrs Frurttieres

(

Island, The. See tYrrkarl lslrtrttl,

276

%ltl olxessirnr.

Key, The.

See

Ku,sidnz

(Klricllur, 1965), Kobuvu^shi Ila^suki. f'our

Fnurce)

'l'ltc.

ol the stories ivhich Llf'cudio Hearn uriginullt' tnur-

scLibed are here scriptecl

bv Xlizuki Yoko ancl

dilected foL all their aesthetic worth b1' Kobay'ashi. Gorgeous pageant-like entertaiunrent,

all of

Iate Spring (Brutsltun,

1949), Ozu Yasujiro

A

daughter lives rvith her widorved father, He wauts

it

lrer to liave u lif'e of her owu aucl get nrarried. She

paper thin. Cinenratographer N'livajinra Yoshio ancl

wauts to stav and look after hinr. That is all theLe is

art directoL Toda Shigenurst aruurge foL a bril-

to the stou', but the sad undeLstanding ancl Ligorous

liunt nuvul buttle in the thiul ston'. for which

beautv showu

Tekenritsu ToLu rvrote his nou,fluuous ltiu'rt (lute)

Scripted bv Ozu rurd Noda Kogo after a novel bi'

in this film

nrake

with Ri'u Chishu

it

unfoLgettable.

score. Cannes, Specilil Jun' Prize. 164 nrius. DVD,

HiLotsu Kazuo.

CLiterion,

HaLa Setsuko as the daughteL KJ#1 108

a^s

the father lurd

rnins D\1),

Criterion. \HS, New Yorkel Fihns.

\ L

hfe of Indy Mu,sashino

(l\lusashino lujin, aka The

Lif'e

Oharu, The (Saikrftu ichidai

orrnu, aku

of a Wonrur bv Suikaku, 1952), Ilizoguchi Ken ji

Lacli' of Xlusashino, 1951), \lizogLrchi Kenji, tlinoL

Based on a picaresqlle novel bv the seventeenth-cen-

\lizoguchi but eleguutlv clone. A Yoda

'l'unuku Kirruvo irr the leading role. Sti ntins. D\'[),

takes a llore serious fall of the heroine fLonr court ladv to colllnron nhole. \bdu \oshikuta's

ALtiiicial live (ttK)

script. Tanltka KinLu'o's perfonnaltce tN 0huru,

script

Yoshikatlr

crfted fronr irn 0oklr Sliohei novel, rvitlr

tuLv ivriter SaikukLr, the

fihn

vierv of the decline ancl

Ilizutani Hirnshi's alt direction und Slrito Ichiro's

Inte Autumn

(Akibivori, 1960). Ozu Yasujiro.

A

\cofe-using Japanese instrunrents-help

nurke

cluughteL is leluctant to leuve her ividoivecl nrother,

this clne of llizoguchi's nrost elegant filnts Venice,

it is tinre for her [o nluu. The ston' coLrld lle seetl rN a "tetttltke" o'i Lrtla.lrl'lllg-altd

sion.

thougli nrore autunrnal, it is just as nulving. Hlua

\ ision Entertainnrent.

everr though

hitetnational Prize. 0riginullr', 148 nrins.

ljj

ITS ver-

nrirrs D\D, ALtificilil Ere (UK):\'HS, Honte

Setsuko plavs the nrother ancl Tsukusu Yoko is the

duughter. l15 nrins, DVD (F)nglish titles), Puuoranrzr

Iightning

F}rtertainnrent ( Hong Kong)

Ilikio.

(hiuzunra. akt L'Eclair,

l95l).

Nanrse

fur uuhappv \'oultg bus cc-ruductoL (Taklunine

Hideko) rnakes u new fanrilv for herself irr this

Iate Chtysanthemunls Ilikio.

A fine adlqitrtiorr

(Bangiku, 195+), Nartne

oi sevenrl

Hur

lnhi

FLrntiko

stoLies (scripted br Tarruklr Suniie uncl Ide Toshiro)

Tanaka Surnie scLipted l'etsion of a Havashi F'urtriko ston'. 87 nrins. \'HS (l'Lench titles), l,es Fihns de Ila Vie (France),

about nriddle-aged geishu facing an uncertain future.

tselurtiful peLforntances

br

Sugintunr

Ilochizuki Yuko, Hosokalvu Chikako

HaLuko,

uncl Sali'ullurA

Lou,er Depths, The

(Donzoko

, 1957 ), Kurosalvlr

AkiLa Gorkr"s farnous plav nrovecl to an Eclo slunt.

Sadako. Cannes, SpecialJun Prize 101 ntins. \'HS,

its hunranist nressage enlarged lurd its nteloclralt]a

\\Iorld Artists

nrutecl bv a renrarkable ensenrble perfoLnrance front

277

the large cast-N{ifune Toshiro, Yamada Isuzn,

deqlair is rcdeerned thlough understanding. Nlivamoto

Nakamura Ganjiro, Kagawa Kvoko, Hidari Bokuzen,

Teru's novel, finelv scripted b,v 0gita loshihisa, is

and others. Sato N{asaru's "lnllsic" (all of

perfectly directed by Kore'eda in this, his first feature

it made

b1'the actors) is extraordinaLil,v right. 137 ntins. D\D,

film. 10! mins.

DVD/VHS, New Yorker Fihns.

Criterion.

Madadayo (aka Not Yet, 1993), Kurosawa

Akira.

The rnaster"s last filnr, a tribute t0 Llchida Hvakken, a

Japanese X,lr. Chips, who gathers his adoring stu-

deuts about him for au

alltual party. Nostalgic and

it

is acted out bv such remain-

sometimes maudlin,

ing Knlosawa favorites as Kagawa Kvoko

and

X'latsunura Tatsuo . 134 nrins. D\DAHS, Wellspring.

Mademoiselle Oyu.

Ioyal

Forty-Seuen Ronin, The

See

/ftr'.r

O.)'tt.

(Genroku

Makioha Sisters, The

(Sasame

chrrshirrgura, Aka The F-orlv-Seveu Ronin, 1941-2),

Ichikawa Kon. The third

fihn

Mizoguchi Kenji. This two-part version of the kabuki

Tanizaki novel and uo better than the others. The

classic is based 0n a wartine reworkiug by N4avama

original plot is hacked out of shape bv Hidaka

Seika. The slow dignih'of the

filnt

is much aided

the sober aesthetics of the presentation and

yuki, 1983),

version

of

the

b1'

Shinya and Ichikawa himself, and the holes are filled

the

with cherrv blossours. Also something of a kimono

gravi6'of the cast: Kawariuaki ChojuLo, Nakantura

show, it features urodel-erctresses Sakuma Yoshiko,

Gan'enton, Ichikawa Lltaemon. Statelv canrerarvork

Yoshinaga Sal'ttri, apd Kotegawa

bv Sugiyama Kohei and a grave score bv

\,TIS, MCA-LTn iversal.

F'ukai

|ttko. 140 nrins.

Shiro. 111 mins ./106 mins. D\D, hlage Entertainrrent.

(See also:

Man Blown by the Wind,, A.

Chnltilryuru.)

Manji M

(aka All N{ixed LIp, aka Passion, 1964),

Masumura Ymuzo. The Tanizaki uovel about thtee-corneLed love

Maboroshi

(Maboroshi no hikari

SeeAfi'uicl to Die.

,199),

Kore'eda

a

affair (husband, wife, another

womzur-Funakoshi Eiji, Kishida Kvoko,

Wakao

Hirokzu. A deeplv troubled ,vouug womAn (Esurli Makiko) f'ears that she brings death. She hru lost

Al,ako) Lendered fairly faithfully in Shindo Kaneto's

her gLandmother aud then, to suicide, her husbaud.

directoL Masumura. 90 mins. DVD, Fantoma.

script with lots of love sceues intinratell' arranged by

Though she has happil,v remalried she rcurains afraid. HeL fear is explored

with extraordinary/ tact and her

Max, Mon Amour

(1937), Oshima Nagisa.

Though often deemed a flop, this filnr is actually a wonderfullv outrageous farce. MarLied Charlotte Rampling falls in love with a large chimpanzee, Aud both 0shima and scriptwLiter Jean-Claude Carridre gleeftrlly subvert bourgeois pretensions and extend Oshima's anarchic ambitions. Whv did vou choose hint? asls the husband. To which Rampling replies,

iu the cultured tones of the boulevard-comddie tradition: "He chose tne." 98 mins. DVD, Cinema Club

27,3

Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail, The. See

Thq'

abor-rt

a group of women giving their all as

they

rnake optical instruurertts for the war effort. Though

Who Stelt on the Ti,.ger's Tail.

the director had no control over the script, he did

Merry Christma,s, Mr. Iawrence

(Senjo lto

his

best

to

create

a group of real characten. Witlt

meri kurisumasu, 1983), 0shitua Nagisa. One of

Shimura Takashi and Irie Takako. 86 mins. DVD

Japan's few accounts of its owu POW callps. David Bowie is horribly disciplined, Sakauroto Ryuichi falls

(English titles), Mei Ah (Hong Kong).

in

ilI/Other

love with

him,

And Kitano Takeshi gives us the

final line. Through it all 0shima continnes explor-

(Enu-t'naza, 199il, Suwa Nobuhiro.

A

divorced man brings his son back to live with him

ing his rnajor theme of social constructions (like

and his girlfriend. Filmed without a script,

arrnies) undernined by love.I22 mitts. \TIS, fulisan

dialogue arrived at by director and actors, it has

the

a spontaneity that would not be possible in

Entertainment.

filn.

scripted

a

147 mins. DVD (French titles), Afie

Minho or the Gentle Art of Japanese Extortion (Mimbo n0 onlta, 1992), Itatui Juzo.

Video (France).

In this courageous comedy, Itarui takes on

Mother (Okiuan, 1952), NAruse

Mikio. Based olt a

girl's prize-winning school

on the subject of

nese

the Japa-

rnafia-not the gentle knights of the yaktrza

essay

Nobuko

"My Mother," Mizuki Yoko fashioned oue of her

is the lawyer who gets rid of these truly bad baddies.

rurost moving scripts. Upon the death of her husband

Itami's take ort tlteut is that tltev are manga-like

the mother (Tanaka Kinuyo) rults the farnily

clowus, but dangerolls ones. It wru to this that the

lauudry by herself. She is he[ed by her first daugh-

film but the horrible real thing. Miyarnoto

real yakuza nost objected and the,v consequently

ter (Kagawa Kyoko) but must seud her

hacked up the director. 125 rnins. VHS, Hotue Vision

daughter to live with relatives because she cauuot

secoud

afford to keep her. A real shomingeki with lots of

Entertainrnent.

heart. Venice, Silver Lion. 98 mins. VHS, MLss Oyu (Oyu-sama, aka M'aderloiselle Oyu, 1951),

Facets

Multimedia (0P)

Mizoguchi Kenji. Based ott Tauizaki's I93Z uovel

Ashikrri, scripted by

Yoda Yoshikata, aud tueticu-

lously photographed by MiyagawaKazuo, but

it

really a showcase for Tanaka Kinuyo. 95 nins.

VHS

is

(French subtitles), Les Filrls de Ma Vie (France).

My Neighbor Totoro (Tonari

uo Totoro, 1988),

X'liyazaki Hayao. Sweet, good-terupered animated film

about

a group of children and their

friendly

monster neighbors. Lots of nice effects-like the wildcat bus. For children of all ages. Adults should

Mistress, The

(Gan, aka Wild Geese, 195il,

Toyoda Shiro. Narusawa Masashige's beautiful

avoid the dubbed versiou.

Iq#l. 36 mitts. VHS,

Twentieth Century Fox.

adaptation of the X{ori 0gai uovel about a yoLlng woman who, forced to be the rnistress of a noltey-

Murd,erous Desire.

See

Intmtions

of Xlurder.

lender, falls in love with an idealistic student. Miura

Mitsuo's photography nflects the elegiac days of the

late Meiji period when the old ways were falling

N

away. Takamine Hideko as the pathetic heroine. 104

mins.

VHS,

Naked Island,, The

Janus Films.

(Hadaka no

The Island, 1950), Shindo Kaneto. A

Miyamoto Musasld.

See

Sarntrcri.

shina, aka

film

made

entirely without dialogue (rnusic by Hayashi Hikaru)

about a

farlily struggling for existence on a small

Most Beaatiful, The (lchiban utsukushiku,

island

1944), Kurosawa Akira. An "everyday docunentary"

certainly there as we watch the little people lead

in the Inland

Sea. The leftist nessage is

279

their awful lives.

X{oscow, Grand Prize.

!2

rnins,

D\D, Asnrik Ace (Japan ).

fanr and eudures the wolst of wartinte suspicion, Kttrosawlt's major f'eminist statenrent and au allswer

to the criticisnr that he dicl not unclerstancl wonren. 110 nrins. \'HS, Honre Vision Cinema;

D\D (English

titles),I1ei Nr (Hong Kong).

!

Nu,ages

d'Eti.

See

J)lrir ner

J

C'lottrls.

o

Nanami: First loue.

See

lnl'enrc of'Firsl Lot'e,

'l'lle.

Odd Obsession

(Kagi, aka TIre Ke)', 1959),

Ichikawu Kon Turtizaki Jun'ichiro's splenclid novel, F)nglish

the inarre title given the filnr, second, bv u script

(Hzrsebe

Keiji ancl Wadu Natto) which ridiculouslv

T'he Ke.t', doubli' traduced. First, b)'

Naraltama bushiko. IYeu, Tales

See

Bttl lrtd of',\'rtrrt.l'(t nt u.

of the Taira Clan.

See

Zrlcr ql ilte

7'rtit'tt (,'hrn.

sinrplifies the original. clorre it. This saicl, the

Iu this l'ersion the nraicl

fihn boruts luuriuous photog-

nqrlu' bv Xlit'agawet Kazuo artcl fine perfonuauces

Night and Fog inJapan (Nihon 1960), Oshirna Nagisa. One aclvanced

fihns

of

no \'orlr to kiri,

Oshinra's ntost

Fla.shback-filled saga

of

leftist

nranipulution, involvirrg a weclding, student liots,

bv Nakanrura (ianjiro ancl Ki'o \{uchiko

ffi

the

kinkv couple. Cannes, Special Prize: Golden Globe ArvaLd. The

original veLsion is 107 rnins. The

LI.S.

vemion is 96 nrins VHS, Houre Vision lintertainnrent.

lurtd genentl rttavhern. This is the picture that got

Oshinlr fired fronr Shochiku-ancl gave hinr his flLeerlont. With Wutarutbe Funrio. Kulvano

llivuki

rtrtcl Koi'unra Akiko. 107 nrins. DVD (English titles),

Punouu'tlt Eutertuiuntent (Holtg Kong).

No Regrets

for Our

Youth

(Waga seishun ni kui

rutslri, 1940, KuLosawa Akira A deeplv f'elt nredi-

tution 0n wuLtinre Japan A unirrersitv prof'essor (Okochi Denjiro) is suspected of liberal view's and one oi his pupils (Fujita Susunur) is arrestecl ls a spr',

Okaeri

His lvif'e, the prcf'essor's daughteL (Hura Setsuko),

Shirroz'.tki

stzurds llv hinr und lilter he is dead goes to his parenls'

of lt Ipiclrl \'our]g couple, who are brought to sunih'

I

280

(

1995), Shirrozaki l{akoto. WLiter-director

in his debut fihl tells the arresting

stou'

through the wif'e's nradness. Beautiful, lacortic filnrruraking with a splendicl perforurance bt' anrateur LTenmru AwaLd.

!!

l{iho

n'ral'rce and Xlizoguchi's direction. To keep her job a.s

a telephone operator rt wonlall luus to beconre her

as the rvif'e. Berlin, Wolfgang Staudte

enrplover's nristress arrcl afteL he gets rid of her has

rnins. \HS (F'rench titles), K F'ihns (I.-rance).

no recourse but prostitution. Xlizoguchi said that he

finallv fourrd his true diLection with this iilm,

Older Brother, Younger Sister (furi

inroto,

zrka L'r0re et Soeur, 195.3), Nunrse XIikio. One of the

diLector's best renrenrbered filnrs. A brother sister

(Ilori lllnartrki

lurcl Kvcl

8!

Original length,

nrinutes, LIS release, 71 nrins.

VHS, Honre Visiou Entertaiunreut.

'.tnc[

Ilachiko) lue involrecl

in u love/hate relzttionship oi un uhnost suspicious

P

br'}lizuki

intensih'. The l{uro Saisei st0r1'as scLipted

Yoko. 86 nrins. \'HS (French titles), Les Filnrs de

IIa

Vie (f'rurce).

Page Ou,t

of

Ord,er,

A

(Kuruttrt ichipeji, akrt

A

Cr;tn' Page, aka A Page of Nlachress, 1926), Kinugusu l.einosuke. A puqloselv scranrbled script bv Karvrtbuta

One Wondcrfu I Sunday It)+7), Kurosalvlt Akim.

A

(

Subura-sh

i

ki

ivobi,

n ich

sunn\', sentinrentul conreclt'

ivritterr bi' the director und his old school friend. Uekusu Keinosuke. Bo)' and

girl 0n a clate find

rouuurtic nragic ivhen he tries

to coucluct the

Schubert "Llniinishecl" in an ernph'baud shell aud she tearfullr irnplores us to belier,'e

in hinr-aud,

sllrc enollgh. . . 108 nrins. \HS, Home Visiort Cinenta;

Yltsunari ut his nrost rlodernist about lt nrau who gets lt job irr un iusarte asvlunr

in orcler to

be nelrr

his iunlrte wif'e. this fihn is a rvelter of expressirlnist expeLinreuts irr r,vhich nan'ative

is questioued

lrt

even' tuln. This version coutains the score which Kittugluslt cottunissiorted

eu,of the ueglttive) VHS, l'acets

ilt

1970 (after tlte rediscot-

ancl then repucliated. 60 nrirrs.

Ilultinredia (0P).

DVD (English titles),IIei Nr (Hong Kong).

Pain.

See

Jlulrlntdtt.

Pale Flou,er

(Kawaita hana, 1964), Shinodu

Ila.sahiro. A seminal i'akuza

fihl

and orre thut helped

fonu the Toei geure. A voung hoocl nlrkes based 0r'r

lxrcl,

an Ishiharu Shinturo ston', with lots of

LhetoLic aucl a Takenritsu Toru score. The punk is Ikebe Rvo artcl his giLl is Krtgu \lariko. 96 nrirrs. D\D,

Ijonre Vision (linenrzt.

Passion Onibaba (aku The

See,lIrttt,fl.

Hole, 196+), Shinclo Kaueto.

IlotheL urrcl duughter (Otolva Nobuko und

Pleasures of the Flesb, The

YoshinruraJitsuko) sunil'e bv killing sunulai

Les Pleisirs de la ChaiL, 1965),

artcl

(Etsurzrku, uka

0shinn Nagisa. A dry

lln lleulnt of'iltc

selling their annor. Kurodu Kivonri's finelv textured

run, lrs it were, lot ltt

pltotognqlhv and Hai'ashi Hikuru's experinrentul

ruucle betrveerr the crinrinal, tlte cops und the i'ukuzu

score create a serrsuul utnrosphere. but the

iilnr

is also

gil'ert to portentous allegorizing. 104 lnirrs.

DVD,

CLiteLion.

Jc,ll.rzs. A deal

li'ith ser ls the cumenc\:. With Nlrklunura

Klrtsuo

Iurcl Krtglr IlaLiko. 90 rnins. \'HS (F'rench titles), Fihns sans Floutibres (France).

Osaka Elegy (Naniwu ereji, 1936), Ilizoguchi

Pornographers, The

Kenji. An 0kadu SubuLo nragaziue serial ennoblecl

JinLui-gaku llvunron, 1966), Inranrura Shohei.

br'\'oda Yoshikatu's script, \'anrada Isuzu's perfbr-

Nosaka Akivuki's finelv nrordant novel, scripted

(ELogoto-shi-tachi von:

b1'

28I

Nuruata Koji and Imamura himself. The hero

heart, and snperb battle scerles. Nso slow,

(Oztwa Shoichi) quite seriously believes that being

and color coordinated within an inch of its life.

stately,

0guni Hideo,

a ponlogLerpher is a way to satisft' one of socieh"s

Shakespeare is deconstructed by

most deeplv felt needs. Very funny and quite rnoving

N{asato, and KurosAwzt hinself. Nakadai Tatsuya is

by turns, with Sakarnoto Suntiko grotesque

Ide

aud

very grand and stagl, as the lord and there is a

touching as the fish-obsessed ladt'of the house. 128

splendidly Mahleresque score by Takenitsu Toru.

mins. D\rD, Criterion.

New York 152

Pri.ncess Mononoke (N,lononoke-hime, \{ivzaki

Film Critics' Award,

Best F-oreign

Fihl.

nins. D\DATIS, Wellspring.

1997),

Hayao. Eco-friendlv animated featule about

the middle ages in Japan, wolf-riding princesses, noble spirits of the forest, and so on. This is the

Rashomon (1950), Kurosala Akira. Two Akutagawa Rvunosuke stories scripted bv Hashimoto Shinobu and the director foLm this farnous ntnlti-

filnr which questions not onlv truth but real-

English dubbed LIS version, the rvhole aflair rendered

faceted

even less likely by' the broad funericau accents. Japan

ih itself

Academy Award, Best Fihn. Original length, 134

Machiko), a bandrt (Mifune Toshiro) and a sp.ving

rurins. D\DAHS,

woodcutter (Shimura Takiuhi) each give very difl'er-

N,{i

ramzuVDisnev.

A warrioL (Nlori Nlasal'uki), his ladl' (Ky'o

eut accounts of a rape and a nurder. A fascinatiug,

Princess Yang Kwei Fei,, The (Yoki-hi,

1955),

Mizoguchi Kenji. Slow and statelv film set in eighth-

even nragical

film.

Venice, Golden Lion; Acaclemv

Award, Best Foreign Film. 88 mins. DVD, CLiterion.

century China about the Emperor Hnan Tsung and

his mistress Yang Kwei Fei (N{ori Mas';n,uki

and

K),0 N{achiko). Beautiful photograph,v b1, Sugivanta

Kolrei (who filmed the colorful Gate ol' Hell) and a lovelv "Chinese" scol€ bv Hayasaka F'umio. OtheL-

wise, fornral cinema

with al'r almost

exclusive

emphiuis Llpou aesthetics. 98 rnins. \HS, New Yorker Films (0P).

o

Realm of the Senses, Ihe.

See

lr the lleultn

oJ'

the Serues,

Quiet Duel, The

(Shizukanaru ketto, 194Y,

Kurosawa Akira. N{ifune Toshiro is the virgin doctoL

Rebellioz

who gets syphilis fronr a scalpel cut and has to

Kobayashi N{asaki. Scripted by Hashimoto Shinobn,

explain things to his fiancde. The script, by director

wlro also worked with Kobayzuhi on Huruhiri,

Taniguchi Senkichi, is based on an othemise for-

film which has

(foiuchi, aka Szulurai Rebellion . 195T.

a

a,

similar nessage: the feudal systen

gotten play by Kikuta Kazuo. Even given snch

is inhnmau aud those uuder it rnust revolt. In this

nupromising rnaterial, KurosawA still rnanages to

case, the lord wants back X{ifune Toshiro's daughter-

make us care, if only for the tirne being, 95 nrins.

in-law (Tsukasa Yoko), and that spells trouble. 'With an elegant corpse-filled finale as Mifune finall,v hzrs

VHS, f-acets N{ultimedia.

enongh of his brutal overlord. Ig#1. 0riginal vemion, 128 mins. LIS release versiou, 121

R

Ran (1985), KurosAwa

Akira. Kurosawa's vemion of

Kittg Leur with three sons, a transvestite fool, lots of

2U2

rrins. \HS, Horne

Visiorr Entertainneut.

Record,

of a liuing Being, The (lkimono

no

kiroku, aka I Live in Feirr, 1955), Kurosawa Aliira.

The aging head of the famil;," (N{ifune Toshiro), worried about the zrtomic threat, tries to cottvince evewolre to emigrate with

him to Brazil, which

hopes is safer. They respond b1'finding

he

ltittt insane-

which he eveutually becomes. Tlte script (written bv Hashimoto Shinobu and Oguni Hideo, as well

government is passing the anti-prostitution legislation which will officiallv do awa)/ with them. Fine eusemble perfonuances by Kyo Machiko, Kogure N{ichiyo, Wakao Ayako and others. 94

tlins. !HS,

Home Vision Entertainnent.

as

Kulosawa) is sourewhat ruelodraruatic, and-given

Rhapsody in August (Hachigatsu tto

the didactic ainrs of the

director-a bit serttentious as well. 103 mins. D\D (English titles), Mei Ah

kyoku, 1991), KurosAwa Akira. fui funericart relative

(Hong Kong); \HS, Hotle Vision Entertaitttuettt.

aud hears about tlte atoru bombing

kyoshi-

(Richard Gere) returus to the Nagasaki horlestead

aunt

frotl his aged

(N{uLase Sachiko.) He apologizes, is forgiven,

and the children are pleased. The seutentiousness is sornewhat miuimized b1'the wonderful five utirtutes at the end. 100 mius. D\,D.

Rihyu

X4GN'{.

(1989), Teshigahara Hiroshi. Long, solemtt

spectacle

with a script b1,' Akasegawa Genpei

and

Teshigahara after the Nogami Yaeko novel, and

Mikuni Reutaro in the title role of the fantous teanraster. Beautiful N{oruoyztnra-period sets and costnntes (the woLk

Record

of a Tenement Gentleman,

The

(Nagava shinshi-roku, 1947), Ozu I'enujiro. The

director's first postwar

fihr. A little bov is ntost

of Nishioka Yoshinobu

and

Shigeta Shigenori) but rtowltere are we reminded

that this is the woLk of the director

o'[

Womun in

tbe Duttas. The original versiou is 135 lnins. Tlte

is

nins. D\D,

reluctantlv given a home bv a clrildless womatt attd

US version

is then much missed wheu his father finally turns

Cnpitol Entertainment.

115

E-Realbiz.corn; \HS,

up. One of Ozu's most perfect donrestic comedies with Iida Choko ru the put-upon samaritan. 72 mins.

Rose

in the Mud,,4.

See

Brul Sleep WelL

The.

\HS, New Yorker F'ilms (0P).

Red Beard (Akahige, 196),

s

Knrosawa Akira. tur

'ldaptation of Yauramotn Shugoro's huruartistic uor,el about a cloctor (lVlifune Toshiro), ltis youug ensistant

Samurad

(Kayama Yuzo), ernd the worth of hurttan beings.

Hiroshi. The Toho trilogy (there is a "Lival" Toei

Long, affecting, and beautifully paced, with

trilogl', 195I-6,

splendidlv affirming score by Sato Masaru, lesson in both fellow feeling and X4oscow,

film making.

Film Union Prize; Veuice,

a

it is a

(N4iyarnoto N{usashi, 1954-55), Inagaki

beued

on the popular Yoshikawa

Eiji potboileL. Part one (The Legencl ol'f,luvtslti,

KJ#1;

Best Actor Award

aud Sau Giorgio Prize. 185 mins. DVD, Criterion.

Red

light Districr

(Aliiuen chitai, aka Street of

Shame, 1956), Mizoguchi Kenji. The director's final

filnr,

as

well

as

his lmt staternent onJryanese won'lell

and repressive societ\,, based 0u a script bv Narusawa Masashige afteL a Shibaki Yoshiko short story. A group of prostitutes go about their busiuess as the

283

!2

rnins.) introduces the )/ouug warrior (N1ifune

Toshiro), who decides olt a career as A sanurai. Part two (Duel

ut lcltiloji Temple.

102 mins.)

Sanjuro

(Tsubaki Sanjuro, 1952) Kurosawa Akira.

A kind of a sequel to lojimbo, and just zu good. Here Sanjuro (N{iftrne Toshiro again) clearn

ql local

him honing his fighting skills. Part three (Duel on Gau'.t,u Islurrcl, 115 mins.) finds hint

corruption, while having to put up with a band of

using theur against his lifelong uemesis, Sasaki Kojiro (Tsuruta Koti). All three pafts are heavily

of the ordinaryr period film and a rnost intpressive

shows

edited

bov-scor-rt samurai. There are mauv

funuv parodies

blood-letting finale. 96 mins. D\D, Criterion.

in their tl.S. vemions but the first paLt

nonetheless wou an Academ),Award for Best Foreign

Film. DVD, Criterion.

Samurai Assassin

(Santurai, 1955), Okanroto

Kihachi. A Hashimoto Shinobu script based 0n

A

storl'by GunjiJiromzua about a urasterless samurai

(NIifune Toshiro) who plots

to

zr^ssassinate the

eurperor in order to furtheL his own career. Wild and

entertaining chop-'enl-up. With SugimuLa Haruko arrd Fujita Susumu . f22 mius. D\D/VHS, furiuteigo.

Sanshi,ro Sugata (Sugata Sanshiro, aka Judo Samurai Banners

(FuLiu kAzAu, aka Under the

Banner of SamuLai, 1959), Iuagaki Hiroshi. Rousing

Saga, 194il, KurosAwa Akira. The director's debut

filnr

(bzued on the Tonrita Tsuneo book) and still

scripted by Hruhimoto Shinobn, with Mifune Toshiro

quite inrpressive. It is about cocla judo champ Sanshiro (Fujita Susnnru) and his learning that

charubaLa based

ou an Inoue Yasushi novel

as

and Nakamllra Kinnosuke in the swordsmen, witlr

discipline is more important than prowess. 79 mins.

tttt-tsic by Sato Masam, 156 mins. \HS, British Film

DVD (English titles), N{ei Ah (Hong Kong); \HS,

lnstitute (LlK).

Home Vision Entertainment.

Samurai Rebellion.

See l?ebell

ion

Sanshiro Sugata, Part Two

.

shiro, 194),

Sam,urai Saga (Aru kengo n0 shogai,

1959),

(Zoku Sugata San-

KuLosawa AkiLa. A rather crude sequel

foisted off on the director by the producers. The clos-

Inagaki Hiroshi. Entertaining version of Rostand's

est to a propagarrda

C.t'rtnto de Bergeruc, set in the N{omoyaura period,

83 mins. D\D (English titles), N4ei Ah (Hong Kong).

fihn that Kurosawa ever urade,

with N{ifune Toshiro ru the loug-nosed Cyrano and Tsukasa Yoko as his euchanting Roxanne. Elegant

production design bv Ito Kisaku and a big thumping score bv Ifukube AkiLa. 111 mins. \HS, New York

Filnr Aurex.

Sansho the

Bailffi

Mizoguchi Kenji. Written

(Sansho dayu, 1954). b.v

Yoda Yoshikata after

a Mori Ogai novel, this pensive, crllel, and beautiful

284

film

contreuts the solitar-v fate of the exiled mother

(Tanaka Kinuyo) with the brutalization

of

the

exiled son. Nothing is explicit and even'thing

is

Shall

We

Dancel

(Sharu ui deursn, 1996), Suo

Masaruki. A charuringly slight comedy about a uuul (Yakusho Koji) who finds

himself-or tries

to-

in this menrorable picture.

through the local social-dancing club. With Take-

Veuice, Silver Lion. 132 rnins. VHS, Houre Vision

ruaka Naoto as the equallv dance-crazed colleague.

Entertainnent.

Much hvped in the

searingly apparent

gLossingJapanese

Scandal

(ShLrbun, 1950), Kurosawa Akira, A minor

pictuLe based 0r'r a Kikushima Rvuzo script about a yoLurg

mm

(Mifture Toshiro) and his f'enrale acquaiu-

tance (Yamaguchi Yoshiko) libeled b), the yellow

USA

where it became the largest-

film until then-though

uone of

the h.vpe rneutioned that it was Japanese. 0Liginal veLsiou, 135 nrins. US versiorl, 11! mins. DVD, Walt Disney' Houre Video;

\HS, Miranrax Home

Enter-

taiurleut.

press. Just as earlier Kulosztwu filnrs were about the excesses

of the wartime militan' so this picture

is

He (Ku'tojo to kArc, 195il, Haui Snsuntu.

She and

about the excesses of the peacetime media. Both tend

She is a honsewif'e who is not 1,et dehumanized by

to be didactic, 104 rnins. \HS, Home Vision Entertain-

the tvpical suburban life. He is a proper upwardlv-

ment; D\D (English titles), PanorAnta Entertainmeut

nrobile office-workeL who doesn't like her being inteL-

(Hong Kong).

ested

in a group of local

rag-pickers. With Hidari

Sachiko (who won several Japanese pLizes for this

Scoutman (aka Pain, 2000), Ishioka

N1asato,

The best of the sex-biz fihns, photogLaphed like

a

docuutentan' aud distinguished bv fine perfor-

role) and 0kada Eiii

in a beautifullv

understated

script written by Hani and Shinrizu Kunio. Berlin, Best Actress. 114 rnius. VHS. Facets Nlultimedia

.

mzulces from fiLst-tine actors N{atsumoto N{iku and

Nakaizumi Hideo. Nakaizunri is the "scontmAu," out stopping girls on the street to trv to get them into

the sex industry,. 114 rnins. DVD (English titles), Winson (Hong Kong).

Seuen Samurad (Shichinin no sanuLzri,

1954),

Kurosawa Akira. Six unemploved saruuliri and lr fztrruer's sou agree to protect a village fiotn the deple-

dations of a group of bandits. Thev win but, eu the rnenrolable final scene demonstrates, thev also lose.

Shin Heike Monogatari.

Superb action seqlleuces, fiue performances (partic-

C'lut,

ularly Shimura Takashi a

as the head

See'ftiles o.l'tln Tuitvt

samurai), aud

final reel which is one of the glories

of world cin-

enia. 200 mins. \'enice, Silver Liou; Acaderuy Award,

Si,sters

of the Gion (Gion no hodai, 1935),

il{izoguchi Kenji. Two geish2l si5[g1s-one of thenr

Best Foreign Film. D\D, Criterion.

3

2U5

traditonal and faithful to her patron, the other mod-

apparentll,, An fulerican film bv George Fitzmau-

em and fickle-get to the end of their respective

rice. The original is forgotteu but 0zr-r's vemion lives

ways of life. Nlizoguchi in this

film

consolidated his

0n arrd was eveu remade irt 1959 us Flocrtiny4 with Mitsui

mature style and positively illuminates the Yoda

WeecLs,

Yoshikata scLipt through the controlled acting of

KJ#l. 85 nrins. DVD, Criterion.

Hideo plaf ing one of the actors.

Umemura Yoko and Yanada Isuzn as the sisters.

last Chrysanthemum, The (Zangiku monogatari, 193il, N'lizoguchi Kenji.

Story of the

KJ#1. 59 mins. \HS, Home Vision Entertaiument.

Snow Country (Yukiguni,

1957), Toyoda Shiro.

Osaka, 1885, and a kabuki actoL off'ends his familr,'s

The first, and best, of a number of screeu vemions of

dignity by loving a woman of a lower class.

the Kawabata Yasunari novel. Ikebe Ryo is the feck-

realizes she mlrst sacrifice herself. Melodrama (the

less artist and Kishi Keiko is the troubled country

oLiginal is the Iwava San'ichi stage-play'brued orr

geisha. Yzuumi Toshio's script iuserts some inci-

the popular novel bv Muramatsu Shofu) wedded to

She

denls uot in the novel, but the feeling is very close to

the most refined of ciuernatic meaus; sentimentalitv

the original. All of this wiu subverted when the U.S.

errrrobled by pLecisiorr. 143 ruins. \HS, Home \iision

version was released (by Toho) with mauv cuh and

Eutertainnrent.

a rtrrtrting commentaw. OLiginal Lelease,124 mius.

Story of a Prostitute

VHS, Facets N4ultimedia.

(Shu

nrpu den, aka

Jov

Girls, 195), Suzuki Seijun. Lots of sexy goings-on

Sonatine

(Sonachine, 1993), Kitano Takeshi.

with Nikkatsu star Nogawa Yumiko and

otheLs. The

The artist also hrown eu Beat Takeshi directs his own

Takaiwa Hajime script is based on a Tanura Taijiro

in this picture about

stonr, the whole transformed into anotheL iu-\'our-

gangsters going to settle old scores in 0kinawa and

face, over-the-top enteLtainmenf by a nra^steL of the

getting carried away by the sun and sea. Not exactly

genre. 96 mins. VHS, Home Vision Entertainment.

script and plays the star role

a comedy (lots of guts flying at the end) but defi-

nitely soft-core violettce b)' hoods who have heart.

Stray Dog (Nora inu, 194D,

94 mins. \TIS, Mirana,r; DVD (English titles),

Detective N'lifune Toshiro searches Tokyo

Panorama Entertainruent (Hong t
stolen pistol while superuisor Shirnura

KurosAwa Ahira.

for

his

Taka^shi

lends tttoral support. A documentary'-like chase film

Story

from Chikamatsu, A (aka Chikamatsu

rrronogatari, aka The Crucified Lovers, 1954),

Mizoguchi Kenji.

A

Chikamatsu puppet-play

(Drrik.ro.li lllukaslti Got'omi), scripted

for

the

(filned in downtown Tokvo) which magicalll' into a morality play wheu we

see

quarry/ are more similar than diffeLent. 122 mins. D\,'D, Criterion.

screen by Yoda Yoshikata and photographed by N{iyagawa Kazuo, becomes

beautiftrl

a sober, serious

and

film about a merchant's wife (Kagawa

Kyoko) accused of adultery with one of her husband's apprentices (Hasegawa Kazuo).

It

is only after they

flee that they finally becoure lovers, are caught, And

crucified. 102 mins. VHS, Facets Multimedia.

Story of Floating Weeds, Ihe

(Ul
gatari, 1934), Ozu Yasujiro. The leading actor of an

itinerant group (Sakamoto Takeshi) retuLns to the town where he left a wonan (lida Choko) and a son

(Mitsni Hideo). Scripted by Ikeda Tadao

286

;'

after,

,.

turrts

that hunter and

Street of Shame.

See

Red Light District.

Summer Clouds (lwashigumo,

T

aka Herringbone

Clouds, aka Nuages d'Etd, 1958), Naruse Mikio. A Hashimoto Shinobu script about postwar

farn

life.

Taboo.

See

Gohutto.

ful idealistic citv newspaper reporter (Kimura Isao) gets to know a p00r rural widow (Awashima Chikage)

.

128 mins. \,HS (French titles), Les Films de

N{a Vie (France).

Tales

of the Taira Clan (aka Shin heike

rrorrogatari, aka New Tales of the TairaClan, 1955),

if colorful

excursiou into

parts of Yoshikawa Eiji's popular

novel-with a

N{izoguchi Kenji. Minor

Sun's Burial, The (Taiyo no hakaba, 1950),

number of Daiei stars (including Ichikawa Raizo

Oshima Nagisa, Llrban violence as political allegory,.

aud Kogure Michivo) making

Rival gzlugs, piurps, plostitutes, cast long

Miyagawa Kazuo photogLaphl' and Hayzuaka Fumio

shadows. With Kawazu Yusuke setting

social

up solid

appearal'rces. Nice

music. 108 mins. \HS, British Film lnstitute (LIK)

citizens with the charms of Honoo Kayoko. 87 mins.

Tarnpopo (1985), Itami Juzo. A calculated

\TIS, New Yorker F'ilms (0P)

and

arnusiug send up of Japau's passion for the West (the director said it rvas a "reurake" 0f the Westem, Rio Bruuo, set iu a noodle shop). The shop is uanred

Tampopo (Dandelion) and the cast includes N{ivanroto Nobuko, \'Aullzaki Tsutomn, aud suclr

old-time stars as 0kada N{ariko, Nakamura Nobuo and Kubo Ahira. Snrart, glib, satiLical and when flurn\', very funu1,.

KJ#1,

Japan Academy Award, Best

l.ilm. 114 nrins. D\DA'HS,

Taxi,ng Voman, Suzaku

(Moe uo Suzakll, 1997), KAwase Naomi.

A splendidll' atmospheric feature

film, made like

a

A

Fox Lorber.

(Marusa n0 ouna

,

1987),

ltami Juzo. Fast, amusing satire ou the Japanese passion for mone,v-and their unwillingness [o hand

Tu

documentary, follows the life of a rural fauril.v, ghosts

it over to the National

and all. KnniururaJun is the only professioual actor

personified bv its star inspector (N,liyaruoto Nobuko).

irr au otherwise amateur cast. 94 mins. DVD

Ta,r-evader king (Yamazaki Tsutomu) finally meets

(English titles), Edko Films (Hong Kong),

his rnistress. 127 mins. DVD, Fox Lorber.

Sword of Doom, The 0kanoto Kihachi.

(Daibosatsu toge, 1966),

Bureau. This institution is

Taxing Woman's Retan'n, A (Marllsrt u0 ouuzt

by

zoku, 1988), Itami Juzo. Tax inspector Miyamoto

Nakazato Kaizan, scripted bv Hashimoto Shinobu,

Nobuko on the trail again. This tirue she runs into a

Based

on the popular novel

aud directed b,v one of the better period-film

holv tax evader, bogus high priest Mikuni Rentaro.

specialists, this samurai saga (with fine widescreen

Tlre forrnula of A Tu.ring Wontcur is repeated,

photograph.v by Murai Hiroshi) is about a warrior

the film is distinguished by ltarui's lightness and

gone bad. With Nakadai Tatsr-rya as the samurai,

the straight-faced hurlor he so expertly engiueers.

N{ifune Toshiro as his teacher, Aratama N,lichiyo and

127 ntins. \HS, New Yorker Fihns (0P).

br-rt

Kayanta Yuzo. 11! mins. D\D, Criterion. \HS, Home Vision Enteltaiuruent (0P).

Temple of the Golden Paailion, The.

See

Cordlagratiort.

Tetsuo: The lron Man (Tetsuo, 1989),

Tsnka-

moto Shinya. Pop fantasy about the joys of being a

2U7

cvborg. l'lesh turns into nrachinerv and the other wav

aronrtd. 67 nrins, DVD, huage. Part hvo, Telstto IL' Bocl.t'

Hrtmnter (lgL)Z), is in color and a bit

less

illuminate Shakespeare's saga. Called the best scrcel't adaptation of the Bard ever nracle,

it rnal' be

just

that. With Ilifune Toshiro as the general, Yamada

lu his power-possessed lvife. ancl

honre-nrovie and a bit more hi-tech, The director

Isuzu

himself stars in both. 81 nrins. DVDAHS. Tartarr

black-and-lvhite photographi' bv Nakai,{sakazu.

(rrK)

110 nrins. D\D, Criteriorr.

They Vho Step on the Tiger's

Tail

(Tora

Tokyo

llrifter

superlative

(Toln'o nagafenrono, 1965), Suzuki

no 0 w0 fumu otoko-tachi. aka The X'len Who Tread

Seijun. Reallv just anotheL vakuza filnr but all

on tlte TigeL's Tail,1945), Kurosawa Akira. A slvlv

decked out lvith bright color, stagv sets, songs, jokes

subversive wartinre version

of the kabuki

pla)'

Krtrt.iittclto. Though the noble dLanra is nncut. it

is

cousideritbly undenuined bv the conreclian Hnoken's plaf ing of a

nel character:

A ven' conlnrou,

Irnd a miuiural plot. Delight in nravhenr is its onlv rnessage, but this

filnr delivers cleliriouslv well. Filnr

noir nreets spaghetti Western. With WataLi Tetsuva. .3j ntins, DVD. CLiteLiou.

very hunran porter, Banned bv Japanese alnrv authorities as loo clenurcratic, then again banned bv LI.S,

ann' authorities

ortlt'irt

Tokyo Olympial

(Tokvo 0rinrpiku, 1965), Ichi-

too f'eudal, it was relemed

kalva Kon. All tlurt is left of a nrznterful clocunren-

1953, 58 mins. \'HS, Home \risiou Entettairr-

tan'. The renrains aLe carefullv LeconstLuctecl, with

ius

the diLectoL focusing on the huruau rather than on

nrent.

the supeL-hurnau. This ruAv clis'tppoint sports funs (and Olvnrpic comurittees) but it Lesults in the rnost

beautiful, uttentive, and nroving sports-filnr

e\/er

nrade. Caunes. International Critics' Prize: Iloscow. Sports Lllrion Prize. 170 nrins DVD, Criterion.

Tokyo Story

(Tokvo ruortogatru'i, 1953),

Ozu

Ya^sujiro. A proviuciul couple go to visit their children

in Tokvo [ipolt their retulrr the nrother dies and the children conle for the funeral, This is the sole and

Thi.s Scorching Sea.

See

(,i'u:etl Fntil.

slnrnretrical numative llut Ozu ancl his co-scenarist Noda Kogo find in it an erttiLe 'nvorld of rvisdonr The

I

Throne of Blood, The (KLrnrorrosu-jo, IL)57),

clear observution lvhich nrakes the filur such

Kulosawlt Akira. ScLiplwLiteLs Hashiuroto Shinobu,

fbrnral delight ulso accounts fbr its enrotional power.

Oguni Hideo, Kikushinra Rvuzo ancl Kurosawa hinr-

which is unforgettable. Orre of the grelrt lilnrs of all

self nove ,llucbelh to the fogg)' slopes of llount

tiute. 1.i5 nrins. [)\'D, Criteriort,

Fuji. Irr the process thev preserue ancl eveu fuLtheL

2Uu

Tokyo Twi,lighf

) Tokyo,

(Tolcyo boshoku, aka CrEuscule

1957), Ozu Yasujiro. A young woman dis-

!6 mins. DVD,

Criterion; VHS, Hone Vision Enter-

tainment.

cove$ that her mother, whom she thought dead, is really living nearby, having deserted her husband.

Undcr the Banner of Sarnu,rai.

The discovery upsets everyone and the young woman

Bannas.

See

Samurai

eventually kills herself. With Harasetsuko, Yantada Isuzu, fuima Ineko. 140 mins. VHS (French titles),

Unholy Desire.

See

hiluttions

of

Murdu.

Le Sidcle des Lumidres (France).

Utamaro and His Fiue Women (Utamaro wo Twenty-Four Eyes (Nijushi no hitomi,

1954),

meguru gonin n0 onna, aka Five Women around

fint

Kinoshita Keisuke. Adapted by Kinoshita frorn the

Utamaro, 1946), Mizoguchi Kenji. The director's

Tsuboi Sakae novel, this is one of the rnost beloved

postwar film, scripted by Yoda Yoshitaka after the

Japanese films. It follows the life of a firstgrade school teacher (Takamine Hideko) frorn her

novel by Kunieda Kanji. Though Mizoguchi got per-

of all

beginnings

II and after.

in

1928 through the years of World War

At the same tirne the

fihn

is powerfully

anti-war. The combination of gentle contemplation

and fierce opposition make viewing this

film

as

mission from Occupation censors to make this film by telling them that the script was about the eman-

cipation of women, it is really a kind of rneditation

on the role of the artist in New Yorker Fihns (Of;.

society. 94 mins. VHS,

unsettling as it is rewarding. Those who do not like to be so disturbed have called it sentimental. KJ#l.

Original version, 154 mins. DVD (English titles), Panorama Entertainment (Hong Kong);

VHS

V

Janus/

Vengeance is

Sony (0P).

Mine

(Fukushu suruwa ware ni

ari, 1979), Imamura Shohei.

A powerful, complex,

and intricate study of a cold-blooded killer (}gata

U

Ken), and how he got that way. Baba Masaru adapted

Saki Ryuzo's book which was based on the crimes

Ugetsu (Ugetsu monogatari, 195r, Mizoguchi

of a real murdercr. With Mikuni Rentaro

Kenji. Two Ueda Akinari ghost stories linked by scriptwriter Yoda Yoshikata into one of the director's

and Baisho Mitsuko as the wife. Ig#1 Japan Academy Award, Best Film. 128 mins. VHS Horne Vision

most accomplished filns. With its beautifully

EnteLtainnent; DVD (English titles)

atnrospheric camera work (by Miya gawa Kazuo),

Entertainment (Hong Kong).

as

,

the father

Parrcranta

alI long shots, long takes, and graceful novements, this story of a potter and the two ghosts

Vibrator

wlro love him becones an emotional saga. With

distressed woman rneets a lonely truck driver and

(Vaibureita, 2003), Hiroki Ryuichi. A

Mori Masayuki,Tanaka Kinuyo, Kyo Machiko and

tlrey take off to faraway Niigata. After sex is gotten

a score by Hayasaka Fumio. Venice, Silver Lion.

out of the way they begin to get to know each other, though they both suspect that their aff.air is leading nowhere. A subtle, beautifully acted, honest film. The title, incidentally, refers to the cell phone which

vibrates rather than Lings. 95 mins. DVD (English titles), Happinet Pictures (|apan)

Vital

.

(Vitaru, 2004), Tsukamoto Shinya.

director and star of Tetsu,o: The

forensic skills, as

lron fulan

a rnedical student

The

displays (Asano

289

Tadanobu) regains his lost memory while dissect-

Kyoko as the couple, Segawa Hiroshi's sharply focused

ing, and bonds with the dead girlfriend. As

photography, and Takemitsu Toru's wonderfully

one

critic put it, "lyricism with formalin." Sitges Film

scratch-filled score

Festival New Visions Section, Best Film. 86 min. DVD

claustrophobic experience. I$#1 ; Cannes, Special Jury

(English titles), Happinet Pictures (Japan).

he[

make this a nemorable and

Prize. 123 rnins, DVD Llage Entertainment; VHS, British Film lnstitute (Utt).

Violence at Noon (Hakuchu no torim a,

aka

of Tokyo (Tobo n0 onna, aka Une , f%r, Ozu Yasujiro. A woman

Daylight Demon, 1955), Oshima Nagisa. One of the

Wornan

director's most experimental films, this is a purposely

Femnre de Tokyo

of rapist-murderer through

whom Oshirna attempts to implicate contenporary

worls hard to put her younger brother through school only to have him kill himself when he learns

society. As in Dectth fu, Hangitzg, there is no clear-

that she has financed his education by becoming

fragrlented account

cut

guilt-we

are all guilty. Berlin, Silver Bear.

!! mins. VHS, Kino.

a prostitute. A romantic melodrarna, perfectly put together. 70 rnins. VHS (French titles), Cind Horizon (France).

Women

W

of the Night

(Yoru n0 onna-tachi, aka

Woman Ascend^s the Stairs (Onna

la Nuit, 1948), Mizognchi Kenji. Postwar prostitutes and their miseries. A Yoda

ga kaidan w0 noboru toki, 1960), Naruse Mikio.

Yoshitaka script, Mizoguchi at his most noir, and

Les Femmes de

When

a

Beautiful, pensive manageress of

film about the

sad

life of

a Ginza bar. The stairs she

the

ascends

Tanaka Kinuyo at her most pathetic. 95 mins. VHS (French titles), Les Films de Ma Vie (France).

are those which lead to her bar on the second floor,

and it is a daily struggle. With Takamine Hideko at

her rnost persuasive, and a cool jazz score

Y

by

Mayuzumi Toshiro. 110 mins. VHS, World tutists

Yakaza Papers, Ihe.

Houre Video.

See

Battla

Withottt H0n0r

and Hu,mnni,t1,.

Wild Geese. See Mi.stras,

Tbe,

Yojimho Woman

in

the Dunes

(1951), Kurosawa Akira. The irresistible

no onna, aka

action comedy that became the director's greatest

Wonran of the Dunes, 1954), Teshigahara Hiroshi.

hit. Jobless samurai Mifune Toshiro strides into an

(Sr-rna

Abe Kobo's allegorical novel about a

nan who finds

awful little town and cleans out the bad

guys-{r,

himself caught with a woman, both shovelling sand

rather, encourages thern to clean out each other. An

for the rest of their lives to keep from being buried

elegant, poised, balletic, rernorseless, and deeply

alive. The perfonnances of Okada Eiji and Kishida

amusing picture, beautifully photographed (in

290

widescreen black-and-white) by Miyagawa Kazuo,

with

a

great score by Saito Masaru. Venice, Best

Actor. 110 mins. DVD, Criterion.

Youth of the Beast

(Yaju no seishun, 1963),

Suzuki Seijun. Shishido Jo takes on rival gangs to avenge the murder

of a friend. Actually,

however,

the storyline is just an excuse for this joyous sendup of violence. Lots of color, lots of laughs. !1 mins. DVD, Criterion.

z Zatoichi

(2003), Kitano Takeshi. Beat Takeshi's

remake with himself in the title role. Lots of violence,

naturally, but at the same time a kind of noble pathos, which shortly becomes tiresome. The all singing, tap-dancing finale is welcome but it is rather too short. 115 mins. DVD, Buena Vista Home Video.

Tntoichi:

Ichi

ru IW and Opinions of Masseu,r

(Zatoichi monogatari, 1962), Misumi Kenji.

The blind masseur who is also asensational swords-

man (Katsu Shintaro) became one of the durable

of late

most

period-heroes. Daiei made some

twenty-six sequels, several of them directed by the star himself. It is critically agreed that Misumi (who

directed six

of them) got the most out of

matefia| 96 mins.

the

DVD/VHS, Facets Multimedia.

l"Iilvt

291

JAPANESE HISTORICAL PERIODS

ANCIENT Nzrra 710-94

Heian 7L)4_tIg5

MIDDLE AGES (MEDIEVAI,) Kamakura 1185-1333 NoLthern arrd Southern Courts 1333-92

il'luronrachi 1392-I5i

3

WaLring States 1432-1573

PREMODERN N,lomovana I573-1500 !,do (Tokugawa) 1500-1357

EARI,Y MODERN

/ MODERN

N,leiji 1.36.3-19t2

Taisho 1912-26 Showa 1LlZ6_1989 Heisei 1989 to present

o

Western Influences 13. Ozu Yasujiro. Kinema Jumpo, March 1952, cited in Leonard Schrader, ed., The rtIasters of the

Japartese

14. Kurosawa

CHAPISR

15. Sato Tadao. Stttdl' oJ Historl, 0f

Japanese Cinema," in

lris:

A

Journal of

1988, p. 97

Tlre Gendaigeki

Childhood Years: A Mem-

4.

Kirihara, Donald. "A Reconsideration of the Ben-

sbil' p. 48, cited in Keiko I.

McDonald, Japa-

Theatr irt Films,

1994, p. 26.

furdenon, Joseph. "spoken Silents

19. Shindo Kaneto. "shinario Tanjo

2001, pp.

kngo," in Eiga

no Tanjo, ed. Sato Tadao, Vol. I, p.ZlJ, cited in McDorrald,Japanese Classical Theatu, p. 37 .

L. and Donald Richie.

20. Anderson, Joseph

The

Japanese Film; Art and htdustry,,I982,p.4I

IMcDonald.Japanese Classical Tlteatu,p. 31.

Sato Tadao. lVihon Eiga-shi (Le Cintirna

21. Bordwell, David. "A Cinema of Flourishes," in

Nolletti and Desser, ed., Reframirtg Japnnese

Japonais), Vol. I, p. 59.

8.

Scmario and the

Tbe Silent

Film XIot,ement,

80-81.

Cinema,

1992, p. 285.

.

Japanese Pu,re

in the Iapa-

nese Cinema," in RefrarningJcQarme

7

7. Benrardi, Joann e. The Early Da,eloPmmt, p. 52.

Writing irt Ligbt;

Konratsu and Loden. 0p. cit.,p.4).

6.

1

18. Yarnamoto Kajiro, pp. 31-33, cited in Bemardi,

.

3

nese Chssical

16. Sontag, Susan. On Photograpb1,,1977,p 23.

Tbeory

on Image and Sound,1996, p.34.

2. TanizakiJun'ichiro.

Film, No. lJ,

1979, unpaginated.

ing the Mute hnage: The Role of the Bmshi in

5.

Akira. Something Like an Auto-

1

Komatsu Hiroshi and Frances Loden. "Master-

oir,

1972, p. 219.

biographt,, 1983, p. 35.

Beginnings and the Benshi

1.

Film,

Cinerna, 1992, p. 334

tuidenon. 0p. cit., p.194.

22. Anderson and Richie. 0p. cit.,

p.44.

Film, Theater, and Actors

9

McDonald, Keiko I. From Book to Screen; fulod-

CHAPISR 2

ernJapanese Lituature in Fi\m,2000, p.

Taisho Democracy and Shochiku

7.

1. Realism and Reality

Kanto Earthquake,"

10. Sontag, Susan. "Theatre and Fihn

Radical Will,1965, p. 1

l.

,"

ttr Stylss

ef

in the Japanese

The

}xJbrd History of

Eiga Den, cited by Marianne

Icwinslcy and Peter Delpeut, eds., in Producer

]bsm'a; Form and

of Directors: Kdo Shiro,1995, unpaginated.

Cbtema , 1979, p. 147

12. Sato Tadao. "Nihon eiga no seiritsushita dodai

in

World Cinema, 1996, p. 177

2. Kido Shiro .lVihon

100.

Burch, N0€1. To the DLstant ltleaninS4

Konratsu Hiroshi. "Japa1-Before the Great

3. Ibid., unpaginated.

ni," in lVihon Eiga no Tanjo, Vol. I of Koza: Nihon 8i9a,1985, p.33, cited inJoanne Bemardi, Tbe

Earh' DetteloPment oJ' the

kreenplaj,,

1992, p. 24.

Gendaigeki

Ilre New Gendaigehi:

Shimazu, Gosho, Shimizu, Ozu, and Naruse

4. Ozu Yasu jiro. Carnets 1933-1963,1995,p. 5.

294

87

Nolletti, futhur, Jr., "Woman of the Mist and

Gosho

in the

in Nolletti and

1930s,"

'Japanese

Desser,

pp.3t-32.

6.

Kishi Matsuo. Nihort Eigct lbshiki-ko (0n Japanese Cinema Style), cited

in

Ibid.,

p

ancl Sourtd, SpLing in Lewinsky and Delpeut, unpagi-

Stanbrook, Allen. Sight

nated.

9

Cltrrails in Japanese Cinema,

1982, p. 34.

25. Thorton, Sybil. The Japanese Puiod Film: Rhetoric, Religiort, Realism, 1989

19

1988, cited

24. Sato Tadao.

McDon ald, Japn-

nese Classical Theater, p. 19.

7. 8.

Film and the Great Kanto Earth-

quake of 1923," 1985, unpaginated.

26. ttirih ara, Dona\d. Patturts

oJ'

27. Hasumi Shigehiko. "Sadao Yamanaka

Bordwell, David.

}zu

anrJ the Poetia of Cine-

New Wave

rna, I)88, pp.2J-24.

in the

No. 2, Winter 1988-89, p. 47

.

10. 0zr,r. Crtntets, p. 26

11. "Ozu on 02u," in Kinema Jrttnpo, June 19SS and February I)64,cited in Schrader,yt.I77.

29. Ibid., p.222.

12. Sato Tadao. 57, cited

)zu

30. Petric,Ylada. "Vselvolod Pudovkin," in Richard Roud, ed., Cinema: A Critical Dictionary,I)08,

Ytr,sujiro no Geijtr,tsu, Vol. 2,

p

in Bordwell,)zu and lhe Poetia of

Cinemu, p. 6.

Sorne Remark on Structure," Cirtema, Vol. 2,

)zu,p

Winter 1988-89, p. 54.

159

15. Bock, Audie. Japanese

p.

Fihn Directors,1978, Nikkatsu and the Shimpa: Mizoguchi Kenii

102.

16. ,qnderson and Richie. 0p, cit.,

17. "Naruse

on

800.

31. Richie, Donald. "Humanity and Paper Balloons:

13. Ozu. Canrcls,p. 100. 14. Sato Tadao.

or the

1930s irr Kyoto," irr Cinernaya,

28. Sato Tadao. Cunents, p.222.

p.

Time; Mizoguchi

ancl the I 930s, 1992, p. 62.

Naruse,"

p

32. Masumura Yasuzo. "My Film Apprenticeship,"

364

in Knema Jumpo, July-August 1!57, cited in

in Kinema

Jumpo, Decerlber 1!60, cited in Schrader,p.354.

18. Bock, Audie. "The Essential Naruse," in Mikio

Naruse: A Master

of

the Japanese Cinema,

Sclrrader , p. 142.

33. Mizoguchi Kenji. Kinemct Jumpo, from an interview with Kishi Matsuo, April 1952, cited in Schrader,

p.35.

1984, unpaginated.

19. Naruse

Mikio. "0n

Japaneseness,"

fron

Kishi

34. Yoda Yoshikata. "souvenirs Cahiers

Matsuo's Collected Film Writirtgs, 1955, cited

du Cindma, August

lated and cited

in Schrader, p. 393.

sur Mizoguchi," p. 34, trans-

1965,

in Kirihara, Patterns of Tinte,

p.66.

20. Kurosawa. Autobiographl,', p. I 13.

35. Masumura Yasuzo. 0p. cit., cited

21. Bock, Audie. "Naruse," unpaginated. 22. lwuaki Akira. "Naruse ardJapanese Traditioll,"

in

Schrader,

p. 142. 36. Richie, Donald. "Kenji Mizoguchi"

irr Studia of Japanese Filmmakers (Nihon

p

Sakka-ron), cited in Schrader, p. 425. 37

in

Roud,

699

. Yoda Yoshikata. Knema Jumpo,

April 1961,

cited in Schrader, p. 9.

fire

New Jid,aigehi: and Yamanaka Sadao

Itami, Inagaki, Ito,

23. Suzukita Rokuhei. Quoted in TanakaJun'ichiro, Nihon Eiga Hattaxr-shi, cited in Peter B. High,

38. Shinoda Masahiro.

"Far from Mizoguchi,"

Kfuenta Juml)o, in Schrader, p. 20. 39. Sato Tadao.

Curruttt p. 181.

40. Ibid., p. 181.

295

41. Ibid.,

p

183

Japan/Arnerica

and

42. Shinoda. In Schrader, p. 118.

Film Wars; WWI Propagancln

Cultttral Contexts,

57. Kanei Fumio. Figltting

43. ttirih ara. Pattuns of Time,p. 136.

1994, p. 259

Mouies-A Doutmen-

tAri.st's Shou, History (Tatakau

44. Ntizoguchi. Knema Jumpo,October 1956, cited

in Schrader, p.

lts

Eiga-Dokyu-

mentarisuto no Showa-shi), 1989, cited in Abe

21.

and Fukushima, p.250.

58. Iwasaki Akira. , sahi Shimbun, April

Expressionism, Kinugasa Teinosuke, and the Leftist Film

4,

1939,

cited in Abe and Fukushima, p.260.

45. Auerbach, Erich. Mimesis: The Represuttntiort of Realitl,

in Westwn Literatu,re,1953,p.6.

46. Fowler, Roger, ed.

CHAPTTR 3

A Dictionar^1, of lllodern

Criticnl Tums, 1987,p.

fire Occupation ofJapan

84.

47. Miyoshi Masao . Accornplices of Silurce, 1974, p. 95, cited in Audie Bock, A Page

Att of )rdu,

1.

Hirano. Mr. Smith Goes to Tok1,o,p.54.

2.

Dower, John. Embracirtg DefeaL Japan

1975,p.17. 48. Rajakaruna,

in

the

Wake of World War 11,1999,p.432.

D. A. Kinugasa Teinorukds

3. Kurosawa Autobig,qraPh),, p. 144. 4. Sato Tadao. Currutts, pp. I2l-22. .

Cruzl' Page"

and "Cr0SSr0adS,"

1998, p' 5.

49. Iwasaki Akira. Knema Jumpo, October 27, I926,cited in Rajakaruna, p. )ffi. 50. Kinugasa Teinosuke

.

Mellerr, Joan. Voices

1975,p

Alihon Eign Shirmrio

Kotut Sensbu. Knema Jurnpo-sha, 1952, Yol. 1,p.144, cited in Rajakaruna, p. )ffi. 51.

5.

from

the

Japanev Cinema,

105.

6. Hirano. 0p. cit., p.143. 7. The lVeu' York Times, Aug. 19, 1948, cited in Hirano, p.237

0slrina Nagisa. Taikenteki Sengo Eizo Rort (A Theory of Postwar Film Based on Personal

Experience), 1975, cited

illr.

in

Hirano

Postwar Developments

Kyoko,

Smith Goes to Tokj,o: Japanese Cinemn

Undu'

the

8.

Amrican )ccupatiort: 1945-1952,

Nolletti. "Woman of the Mist" in Nolletti and Desser, p. 7.

1992, p. 15

Ozu and Naruse

Criticism and Crackdown: Vorld Var 52. High, Peter B. The Imperinl Sreen;

II

9. Richie, Donald. )ztt

A Social

Histort, of the Japanese Film; 1897-

1945

,

p.27

p 249

53. Davis, Darrell William. Pict m'ittg Japnn e,satas : ful on umet ilal St1,le, Ncr tional ldenti t1,, Japa n ese

11. Sakamura

Work oJ Director

54 Ibid., p. 108.

12.

55. Yamamoto Kajiro. krtsudol,cr Suiro, cited in 1,

p.

12.

56. Kanrei Fumio. Kinema Jumpo,April 1939,cited in Ab6, Mark Nornes and Fukushima Yukio, Tbe

::

Ken and Hasuji Shigehiko,

eds.

From Behincl the Carna'o; A Neu, Look at the

Fi,lm,1996,p.6.

296

nnd Filnts,1974,

10. Slrochiku, publicity brochure,7962, in Schrader,

unpublished, Chapter 10, p. 18

Higlr, The hnpuial Screen, Chapter

His Lde

.

Yaujiro 02tt,1998, p.

10.

"}zu on Ozll," in Kinenta Jttmpo, June 19SS and Febru ary I)64, in Schrader, p. 185.

13. "Conversations

with Iwasaki Akira and Iida

Slrinbe," in Kinema Jumpo, June 1958, cited in Schrader, p.193.

14. Shochiku press release for the filmAn

15.

Autumn

Social Issues

Ryu Chishu. "Reflections 0n My Mentor,"

33. Kuros awa. Autobiographjt, p. 17l.

Kinema Jumpl,June 1958, in Schrader, p. 26J.

t5. Slrinoda Masahiro.

The

.

34. Richie. Japattese Cinema,;

Liuing }zu, Shochiku

pamphlet,1972. 77

New Means: Jun-hungaha, Comedy, and

Aftmtoon, I)62, in Schrad er, p. 24).

35. Johnson, William, "Toyoda and the Challenge

of Representation," tn Film Qu,arterly, Vol. 50, No. 2, Winter 1996-97.

Ozu and Noda . Tokl,s Storyt. Trans. by Donald

Richie and Eric Klestadt,

in

Howard Hibbet,

Contentporary Japanese Lituature, 18. Sato Tadao.

An Introduction,

1990, pp.123-24.

1977

)zu lhsujiro no Geiju,tsu,

.

36. Kuros awa. Autobiographl,', p. 183.

197I,

37. Mellen 0p. cit. p. 106.

in Schrader, pp. 295-99. 19. Naruse

Mikio. "Portraying Humanness," in

Kinema Jumpo,April 1965, in Schrad

er,

p. 343.

20. Naruse Mikio. "Naruse on Naruse," in Knema Jttrnpo, Decernber 1!60, in Schrader,p.366. 21. Ibid., p. 359.

38. Ibid., p. 107. 39. Tessier, Max. Dossirs

II),

40. Richie. Japanese Cinerna;

in Schrader, pp. 403-09. 23. Naruse Mikio. Interview with shimizu Chiyoda

andHazumi Tsuneo, Kinema Jumpq December 1952, in Schrader, p. 400. 24. "Ozu 0n 02u," interviews from

I95I ard 196I,

KinemaJulnPo,June 19lS and February 1964,

p. 88.

43. l,tasumllra Yasuzo, "Kon Ichikawa's Method," in James Quandt, ed., Kon lchikau,a, 2001

45. Sato Tadao. Cttrrents,p.2I3. 45. Hoaglund, Linda. "A Convemation with Kobayashi

47

. rbid.,p.3Bz.

48. Kurosawa Akira. 1960,

Mizoguchi and the Period-Film 25. Shinoda Muahiro. "Far from Mizoguchi," in

in

27. Mizoguchi Kenji. Kirtema 1956,

in Schrad er, p.

,p.99.

44. Uellen. 0p. cit., p. 118.

Masaki," in Positions 2-2 , 1994, p. 393.

25. Naruse. "Poftraying Humanness," p.344.

1969,

An Introduction,

42. tvtellen.0p.cit., p. 110.

in Schrader, pp. 176-77.

KinemaJumpl,June

(Cindastes

p. 128.

4t. l,tellen. 0p. cit.,

22. Miztrki Yoko, The lVaruse Retrospectfu,e, 1970,

du Cindma

cited in Mellan,p. 99.

SchradeL, p. 126.

Jumpo, 0ctober

2J.

Ikiru, Donald Richie, trans.,

45

4!. Kurosawa Akira. Saten Samtrai, Donald Richie, trans., 1960, 1992,p.225. 50. Iwasaki Akira. Cited in Sato Tadao,lVihon Eiga

Rironshi, 1977, partial, unpublished translation, Peter B. High.

28. Mizoguchi Kenji. Interview with Kishi Matsuo,

Kinemn Jumpo, April 1952, 29-30

p

in

Schrader, pp.

51. Richie, Donald . The Films of Akira Kr,rlsanta, 1965,

p.244.

52. Ibid., p.233. 29. Shinoda Masahiro, "Far from Mizoguchi," p. 1lJ.

53. Ibid., p.242.

30. Ibid., in Schrader, p. 112. 31. Kurosawa Akira . Kinema Jumlto, ApLil 1964, in Sclrrader

,p.

135.

32. Masumura Yasuzo. Kittema Jumpo,April 1964, in Schrader,p.I4J.

297

CHAPIDR 4

21. Mellen. 0p.cit., p.

The Advent of Television and the Film's Defenses: Suzuki, Nakahira, Kawashima, Imamura

22. Turim. 0p. cit., p.33.

1. Jaltanese Film: 2000,2001. Tokyo: Uni Japan

l975,cited in Bock, p

Film.

2.

Buruma, lan. A Japanese Mirror: Heroes Villatuts ofJapnnese Cttlture, 1984, p 149.

3

and

Sato Tadao.lVihon Eiga Shisoshi,I970,p. 391.

4. All three quotes

frorn Burgeson, J. Scott. Bug,

23. Bock. Japanese Film Directors,p.323. 24. Tantaya Rikiya.

Film Festival Rotterdarn, 1991.

7

Bock. Japa?tese

.

Film

Directors , p. 287

27. Mellen. 0p. cit.,p.254. 28. Yoshida Kiju. Quoted by Sato, in Kurosau,a Akirct

Eiga Taikai, cited in Keiko L McDon aId, Cinema East: A Critiutl Stud1,of ltlajorJnpanae Films.

Rutherford, NJ., 1983, p. 172. 29. Bock. Japanese Film Directors,pp.34143. 30. Shinoda Masahiro. Quoted by Sato, in lVibon Eiga Shishoi, 1910. Partial, unpublished trans-

.

Imamura Shohei. "The Sun Legend."

8.

lation, Peter B. High.

Nakata Toichi. "lmamura Interview," in Shohei

Imamura,

9

ed. Jarnes

309.

25. Buruna. 0p. cit., p. 50.

5. Imamura Shohei. "The Sun Legend of a Coun-

6.

Nihon no Eiga Sakkatachi,

25. Bock. Japanese Filnt Directors,p.322.

Vol. 3, 1998, unpaginated.

try BOy," inJapanese Kings of the B s. uitgave,

12.

31. Quoted, Schrader, p. 25.

Quandt ,1997 , p. 113.

Inranura Shohei. "My Teacher," in Japartese Krtgs of the B s., p. I L

10. Nakata Toichi.

CHAPTTR

"lmanura interview," p.

111.

11 lbid., p. 111.

'

Making Audiences

1.

13. Yanada Koichi. "Les cochons et les dieux," in

Cnhius du CindmA, N0. t55, Vtai-;uin,

p

Schilling, Mark. Enclt6lspedia oJ'Japanese Pop Cultrtre,1997, p. 10

12. Bock. Japanese Film Directors, p. 288.

2.

Schilling . Contemporary

3. Doraiswamy,

31.

15. Richie, Donald. "Notes

Inramura ," rn Partial

l3I.

Film, 1999,

Rashmi. "Kiyoshi Kurosawa," in

Cinemajz, Nos. 4748, Summer

14. hnamura Shohei. "Traditions and Influeltces," inJapanese Kngs of the B's, 1991, p.

Jcr,pctnese

p.59.

1965,

4.

2000.

rbid.

for a Study on Shohei

Viants

,

1995,

p. I57

.

16. Ibid., p. 25 .

The New Independents

5.

ing," inJapanae Kngs of tbe B's,1991,p.125.

Schwartz, Robert. "The Beat and the Auteur " Tbe East,Vol.

17. Imamura Shohei. "My Approach to Filmmak-

5.

DffVI,

No. 6, 200t.

Gerow, Aaron. "ShinjiAoyama," Dail1, Yomiuri,

August 21,1999.

The "New Wave": Oshima, Yoshida, and

7

.

Schilling, Mark. Contemporary Japanese Film,

p

Shinoda 18. Mellen. 0p. cit.,p.26l. 19. Turim, Maureen . The Films of )shima lVngisa,

8.

30'

Sato Tadao. "Rising Sons," American Film, December 1985.

18

g.rbid.

20. Mellen. 0p. cit.,p.254.

10. rbid.

1988,

298

p

11. Canby, Vincent. 'Juzo

ltami,"

The

Nw York

1989. 12. Sato Tado. "Rising Sons." Times Magazine,June 18,

30. Abe, Mark Nornes. The Japan/America

Tighten

Grip on Film," Daily Yomiuri, December

2004.

2J,

inJapan

in

War and Peace: Selected Essays,

the 32. Sato Kenji. "More Animated Than Life," I(yoto News- Journal,No.4l, 1999.

Muahiro. "shinoda Speals on

letter, January-February

1998.

33. Rayns, Tony. Tokyo: Film Fatiuals, 1989, pam-

15. Schilling, Mark. Contem,porary Japanese

Film,

16.

16. Ibid., p.

31. Dower, John. 'Japanese Cinema Goes t0 War",

r995,p.53.

Future of Japanese Film," Japan Society

P.

Film

Wars,p. 191.

13. Gerow, Aaron. "TV and Globalization

14. Shinoda

29. Gide,Andrd. The Countafeitus.

phlet.

34. SatoKenji. 0p. cir.

156.

35. Saro Kenji. 0p. c1.

17. Sato Tadao. "Rising Sons." 18. Richie, Donald. Yanagimachi interview, Aus-

tralian School of Film and Television, May

17

,

Sydney,

1994. For seminar on Yanagim achi,

unpublished. 19. Richie, Donald. "0n Yanagimafhi," The Toronto

Star, Novembe r 22, 1990. 20. Gardner, Geoffrey and Leslie Stem. "lnteryiew: Mitsuo Yanagimachi," Film lVeuts,June 1982.

21. Richie, Donald. "Notes on Mitsuo Yanagimachi: A NewJapanese Director,"

III, No. 1, Fall 22.

Film Criticism,

Vol.

1983.

Itaktra Kimie. "Kore'eda Inteffiew,"

'4sabi

Euming Ncuts, May 12, 1999. 23. Gerow, Aaron and Tanaka Junko. "Kore'eda Hirokazu, Documentarists of Japan, No. I2:' Yanagata Film Festival, Doc Box, No. p.

lJ,

1999,

1.

Documentary

mdAnime

24. AM,Mark Nomu,.Japanese Docummtnry Film: The

Meiji Era tlnough Hiroshirna,2003.

25. rbid. 26. Ruoff,Jeffrey and Kenneth.The Empuor's Naked

Army Marches O/1, 1998, p.

6.

27. rbid. 28. Richie, Donald. "Remarks

Intemational House

of

on Haru Kazt)o," Film Program

Japan

Series, 1998.

J

;\ l' A N I \ [" l] I t Nt

299

in opposition and used as a prime plot-rnover in conventional Japanese dranaturgy.

haha

mono

haiku

generic temr for films about mothers.

a 17-syllable

verse form consisting of three

rnetrical units of 5-7-5 syllables respectively.

anime

generic terrn for futuristic/sci-fi Japanese

animated filnt.

bakufu

also tnango-anitne.

See

Edo-period (1500-1357) shogunate gov-

ernment.

benshi film narrator,

blue

film

cornmentator,

lecturer-a

of early

Japanese

filnt showings.

pornographic film. fihns based on literary novels.

also jutt-bun,qnku

bunrzhu

the "way of the santurai"; the ethical code

through which this military elite was expected to comport thernselves.

chambara

sword fights in plays and filrns, later

a generic term for low-class sallturai pictures.

Chikamatsu Monzaemon Edo-period plaluright

(1653-1724) somewhat facilely called "the

an independent

painted or drawn picture scrolls. something like "artistic director."

a style (in illustratiorr, fashion, film)

which cornbined the erotic with the grotesque.

gendaigeki

generic temr for films about contem-

porary life, as opposed to.ficlnigeki; also genchit7t0n0.

gid,ayu

a narrative chant (.loruri) that greatly influenced kabuki rlnsic, though it originated

with bunraku.

giri-nin'jo personal

300

also

jichrimono. realistic, often anarchist ic y akuza

films much given to entertaining violence. associated with bun-

raku.

jun-bungaku

literature, as distinguished fronr

"popular reading."

kabuki

See also

burryei-eiga.

one of the three major classicalJapanese

theaters (with noh and bunraku) which matured in the eighteenth century.

Kabuki-za

a theater showing kabuki, usually

referring to the Tolcyo Kabuki-za. "shadow dialogue"; an earlier kind of

kamishibai

production.

ero-guro

generic tenn for historical films, mainly

of the Edo period (1600-1867);

film narration,

dokuritsu purod,nkashon

eizo-sakka

jidaigeki

early fonn of lantem-slide show

tusing paper cutouts.

e-maki

"livirrg flowers"; Japanese flower affange-

nent.

hagezerifu

Shakespeare ofJapan."

chiyogami-ei,ga

noh, Japanese dance, ikeban a, andso 0n.

joruri narrative commonly puppet drama which attained

artistic maturity in the eighteenth century.

bushido

the "grand master" of atradilional school:

jitsaroka - eiga See

.

the Japzurese

ientoto

those

earlier American terrn for hard-core

bungei-eiga

traditional Japanese music.

ikebana

naster of ceremonies whose appeanltce wzts au assurned part

hogaku

kanji

later transforrned bv the benshi.

"paper theater"; slide-show.

ideographs, Chinese in origin, applopriated

by the Japanese to form one component of the writteu language.

kata

the way of doing things: the chains of nove-

ment in Japanese dance and martial arts; the discrete units of noh, kabuki, and other forms of drarna; the graduated techniques of using the brr-rsh

in

Japanese-style

painting; and so

on.

Traditional and/or conventional forrns.

katarirnono

recitations, spoken narratives, etc.

keiko-eiga

films with definite (usually leftist)

political aims, sonetimes loosely translated

as

"tendency films."

inclination venus duty, often

hi,maru

the name for the poses in Japanese

order

classical dauce wheu actiou is stopped in to adnire the

tableau'

kishotenketsu

principle.

of whose

of rnedievalwar tales and historical evettts. kokusaku-eiga "natioltal-policy fihns." the live "dubbing" of lines with full

emotion al emphas[5-" vsi6e-colori

n

g"-1159d

in early film presentations.

haltur-film

II iruport

from

nogahi noh

Japan's oldest extant theater, a fonu of dance-

drama originated in the fourteenth century.

for a particularly

kirnono sash.

,

,

interval iu tirne 0r space. 0riginally a musical

a category of

woodblock print. Now a generic term for Japanese illustrated

"colnic" bools.

manga-anirne films.

See also

a generic term for animated

movies about itinerant gan-

blem, ruffians, y akuza.

michiyuhi

the "joum€|,"

a set piece in bunraku

an eurpathetic appreciation of

the transient beauty ruanifest in nature, including human nature.

eaLly (Edo?eriod) house 0r group of row

houses.

realisrn "without tears"; a

realisur which does not stress the nore dile aspects of life as

it

is.

popular form of narrative ballad

based on traditioual narratives; also rokt,oku.

an early twentieth-century form of

see

nuniu,abushi.

roman-pomo

soft-core pomograplry made mainly

by Nikkatsu in the 1950s. rlasterless samurai, "floating men."

sami,sen SCAP

three-stringed banjo-like rttusical instru-

Nso

shontisat.

Sr-rpreme Cornrnand(er) of the Allied Powem.

setsumei

prdcis or explauation.

sewamono

a kabuki genre: "rnodern" plays

as

distinguished froru historical drarua; usually

the lives of ordinary people rather than

gods and heroes.

shakai-tnono

shimpa

nakanad realism

naniwabushi

rokyoku

abor-rt

a Buddhist term meaning "nothinguess."

nagaya

a popular form of cornic mouologue.

drama, part film, part stage preseutation.

ment.

and kabuki; the travellers are usually lovers.

rnono no a,ware

rakugo

ronin

anirne.

matatabi-mono

"pink rnovie"; soft-core pomographic

rensageki

term indicating silence.

originally a generic term for

Laboratories, l930sJapa.ese

film.

aesthetic term designating an artistically placed

mange

pinku-eiga

o

,, i rrrorr nten anrirrrr actittg tlte paLt actresses; i'e''

in pfl photo-chemical lattet filur studio. post-

New

Wave.

the

theater.

kabnki kind of

fo''alize dyakuzafil.rs

advertising, hype.

"old scho'l," lnealling kab,ki a.d used

terrr-r became generic

rnu

idealized,

of a purportedly serious moral c'ncern.

ronrr. *tf:r,#tt

oppositior"t to shintltd ("new school"); the

rna

ninkyo-eiga

obi

comic plays, originally interludes in

rrolr, now evolved into a separate dramatic

kyuha

seegiri-ninio.

Nuberu Bagu tlte "Nottvelle Vague," i.e.,

pre-World War

Germany, a form of documentary filrn.

hyogen

studies on the uniqueness of being

Japanese.

mate- ninio

rial is drawn from Confucian interpretations

kowairo

Japanese classical dance.

Nihonjin-ron

narrative organizing

hoda,n didactic storytelling, much

ni,hon buyo

films with "social" themes.

"uew school," in opposition to the "old

school" of kabuki; au iutermediate theatrical form, partly Western.

shingeki

"uew theater," comparable to that in

Western countries; opposed to classical Japanese theater and distinct

frorl sbirnpa.

301

shinJu

double (or multiple) suicide, usually that

of lovers.

shinhokugehi,

"new National dtama," an off-

shoot of shingeki and mainly concerned with historical drama.

shinsei-shimpa

alater form of shimpa which

purported to be a bit more realistic.

shishosetsu

autobiogr aphical novel.

shomingeki

films about the lower-middle

classes,

the "little people." More strictly, serio-comedy

about the salaried classes. Also known

as

shoshimingeki.

suibokuga

literally, "water-ink-painting," mono-

chrome use of black ink on plain silk or paper.

suji

"plot"; story, nanative,

ari

tachirnaw

taiyozoku

sequence.

kabuki-style sword fi ghting.

"sun tribe," alate 1950s phenome-

non; the "juvenile delinquent" in fiction and films about rebellious youth.

tanka

a 31-syllable poem consisting of five lines

in the pattem

tasuke

5-7-5-7-7

.

a technique (now usually used for W

advertising) in which the same scene is shown several times.

tntarni

reed-covered straw matting used as floor-

ing in the traditionalJapanese room.

tateyuki

"standing role"; male leal,often macho.

tsuma rnono

generic for films about wives.

Tsuruya Namboku kabuki playrvright (1755t82D.

ukiyo-e

"pictures of the floating world"; wood-

block prints usually of the Edo period.

utsushi-e

waha

an early form of lantem slide.

formally identical with the tanka, the waka

is often considered the more colloquial.

yakaza

generic for gangster, gambler, thug, etc.

Zeani [Iotokiyo early playuright and aesthetician (863-1440.

3oz

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Aoi sarnruJ'aku I4l

Shinji

Aoyana

fuaiWagoro

Arnkure

Baltle of

Battler Witbout Honor or

252

Wallace 58 Beijing Walrmelon Beery,

73

Arubigaoha zot Aratama Michiyo

L'

Argat,

A

Nous ta

Abaron

265

Abe Clan, The (Abeichizoku) Abe

Kobo l4o,

Abd

Mark Nomes

102

tg5,zlo,zgo

163,

M1,

Brotber's Wift

228

About Inue,Tok:l,o z4o Actor's Ra,ntge,

Bengal

53

Bergman,

tl,

Big Parade, Tbe

no

kiroku

Aru kmgo no sbogai t73,284 Aru 1o rrc seppun 109

Ahui

satsui

rnint

190

I87,216

Kakita

Akasm

chitai

Akibiyoi

l95o)

,4shura no gotoh.u

183

254

Blossoms Haue

tsucbi tos

Blue

AtsumiKiyoshi 194,209 Atsuta Yuharu I19, 265 Auberye d Tokls, Une. ke Inn irt Toh,to, ?23,265

An

Akira Kurosatua's Dreants. Akutagawa Rpnosuke zaz

Kiyoshi 2o7,2to

All Quiet on the Watmt Front 93 AII Undcr the Moon z3z Altman, Robert l9l Antateur Club (Antachua kurabu) le,zze

kaimasu

fuiderson, Joseph 20,

236

193

218,223,265 125,281

Bad

Girl

Antonio Gaudi z6s fuitonioni, Michelangelo l9F2o0 An1'a

306

koro

137

137

Bordwell, David 4t Boru Fightu SeeE/egl' toViolence. Boro no kasbituri n3 Bory,lP.tt tto ntachi t46 Bozage, Frank z9 Bowie, David 219

BoxuJoe

zz9

2go

A

ztz

Sumrnu fu 1945, A ztz Branrlnd to Kll tst,z6l Bresson, Robert 212,240,241 27 5

ts6

Brirlt of tbe Anda t9l Bright Future 2t9 Brokut DFum, The t4t Brokut-Dou,rt Filrn

Mitsuko n5,zs9 Bakumatsu tctil,oden 185, 185

Brontti,

Ball at the Anjo Houe ll2, 160 Ballad of NarqJuma (1953) t$-44,266 Balkd of Nara)tatna, Tlrc (1989 189,266 Band of Nit{a 254 Bando Tsumasaburo 65,

Battsbun llo, lzo, lzl,

207

kitan

Bad Sleep WelL The t66,266

fulno Hideaki Artscttsu

Bokuto

Bo1, Called Third Base,

BabaAtaru 205 Baba Masaru zs9 Bad Bo1's t92-93 Bad Compaty, 229, 266,

Bangiku tz6,z7t

zs6

Tbe ztt Boiling Point 22t,267 Bod1,,

Bo1,'t

film (anime) zst-ss Anjo-ke no butokai l12, 160 aninated

Fallett. Tbe t52

lllourttaitrs t4l

Bo1'

Bakushu tzt,z69

22

Anderson,leroy 4t Anrltstt no hanal,ome Ani intoto

The

Baisho

163

AndYet Thel Go }tt 79 Anrl Yet We Lh,e I18, 147

AngelDtut

124,

Chikage t31, 269, 287

Awazu

Anata

l19, 120-21,

z6s

Urua

271

85

Boncbi t5+55

Awata

AkutagawaYasushi

Spirit

Blossoming Port, The lo5, l4o

Atarashiki

Akira zsl

Alllrlired Up. See Manji

Rurutu 225 Bona 233

, strobol,

Awashinra

Dreants.

&tn zn

Blacle

Blood and

h,alon

See

Snou, 2lo

Black

,4ssigtaliort, The

210

.30

Black.

Blood ancl

Autttntn of tbe Kohatagatra Farnill,,

28J

Lizard 266 Rain 190.266 Bktck, Rit,u t63

Black,

, ssrusittation of R1,onta The zt'z

265

t20,277

Akimoto Matsuyo

z3z

207

Atrhtmn Aftmtoon,

l3o,283

97

l40

Black

17

,{sano

Atrditiort

6s

Akarui Mirai ztg Akasegawa Genpei

Shiro

A

Birunm no lategoto t52,t53,273 Black Cnt t5l

Att.

Ahanegumo 2054 AkanLshi

Asano

234

Billionaire.

149

Asociation ofJapanese Motion Pictures t7

Ai no h.oridtt 201-2,232,275 Ai to kibo no machi t96 Akahige 168, 175,283 Akai hashi rto sbita no nurui

lt}

Arseniev, Vladimir z6s Aru eiga kantoku no shogai: lllizoguchi

,4ssassination 45

2t2 25

Arm)'Adranca, The 9l

kgmd, The Aftrr Life 24,265 Etnotion, The

Ingnar

Bemhardt, Sarah

Biq,s\t Tbia,a, The ttg Big Collection of Shou,ct Era Songs, The

Tadanobu 226, zl t, 289 ,4shi rti scualtu onna 45 (1926), 139 (1952,

Ai rti tsuite Tokls 24, Ai rto borei zi5

69,225

Bettt,eut War and Peace

Adulteras, Tbe t4g Adt,entura of Chatran, Tlte zt4 Affair, Tbe zo3 Afair at lhnrukura. See Crazed Fruit. Afraid to Die t6t,z65 After Learing Shinagau:a. See J'erl s

Age of

266

267

Bmi kontori benshi tvzz

93

Kali

Art t56,265

233

Being Tu,o Isn't Eas1,

z8t

2t,2t7

Arml'

247

Abe Yutaka .15, 4S AbnormalFamily:

tg4, z7o,

Afigato-scnt 5t fuima Ineko I93,2s9 kiyoshiSawako tz9 Armecl Robber: Sbinizu Sadakicbi

Libertd 5l

Huntanih' It9,

22r,266

50, tz6

ArashiKanjuro

kut'anahajinta, Tbe toz

Battle Roltalg t79,266

zz4

Banhhed.

Uin

t4t,zlg

zo6 l23, zz1,zU,z77

Bara no soretsu 212 Banen lllusiott ztg,zz4

Brcarn

196

Batoru rou'afutru t79,266

Emily

Brolhu

255

208

zzz

Brotbers and Sistus of the TocLt Fantil1,, The t05 Bu,ild-Up, The. SeeGiants ancl Tq,s bungei-eiga 94-96 Bufruel, Luis ztz

See

alnjun-bttngaku.

Bttrakktt empera: goddo Eido yu 239 Burgeson,J. Scott l8t Burntae Harp. Tbe See Harp of Burma, The

Bunted ll[ap, The tgS Burr, Raymond zlz Buruma,

Ian

180

Busittasntan's Scboolroom,

A

228

Buta to gunkan 187,251 Butrana Tosbi no uta t94 BJ,oirt rlp sbinu to iu koto 236

Canan,

229

Caue

Kng,

The.

A

A Curious Story of North

hone

Chi to

rei

233

85

kau,aiteiru

Chi u,a

Chiba Kichizo Chichi

ariki

Cbika

monogatari

Chikarnatsu Monzaemon

in

Hand

13l, 132,

133,

27, 148, 206, 232,

Kunisada

Cbuji

nihki

E

toge

toko

Danr1,x1

94

S6

9Z

Eco, Umberto zt4

lzu

(193il, 16l

(1957)

sbiranai 246 Darknas at Noon 148 Darknas in the Light tsz Davis, Darrell William lol Datln of the Soga Brotbrs' Hunting

Alit,e 223 Hanging

Dedicated Life,

A

Walt

The.

25t

A 69,1t,268

zsz

69,1r,268

Cbuhon giretsu : jitsuroh u chusbingura

dnhuritsu

65

243

EihiShiina z6s Eijanaika 189,269 Eikichi, Cbaufeur ts Eisenstein, Sergei 41,

t034,

26,

225

Empaor and tbe Gmual, The t79

Hat

140

-51

5, 268

lturofukushon 2t543

Tbe

250

Entpire of Passion.

Ser-,

h

the Realm

of

Passiott,

Empire of tbe Smsa See/n tbe Realm

of

lbe Smses,

Emu-maza

242,279

EnchantmeltL The zz9 End of Summu, The zto Enemy of the People,

An ll3

Enjru dnsuto 218, 223, 265 Enjo r5v59,257 Arden

ll.3

288

Enomoto Ken'ichi 247

50, 88, 248

to Violmce l8r8l,27o

Enoken

ka-rlen t55, tl Doing Time 233 Dokkoi ikitru ll8

Dodes'

sutori

Enocb

Doctor

tt

190,216

Eicbi

Empuor's NakedArmlt Marcha At,

Distance 245,26s

Aka$ tg documentary filnr

Eel, The

Emperor's 198, 200, 290

Degas, Edgar z6 Dekigokoro 57-58,124 Dmtir Millinrdaire, 94 Dasu Uzala z& Ddsir Marrtriu. W hteil,tiarc of Murda.

Disney,

Rampo 218,266

EM-Embalming

SeeViolmce at Noon.

t7, t9,3t

Edogawa

Elegy,

zo9

pt*on.

Alva

Edison, Thomas

94

Dare mo

Dru,m

rnura ztz

Eartb (Alekandr Dovzhenko) 248 Eartb (Uchida Tomu) 85,94,r05,249 Eclair, l,'. See Lightuing.

t79, 287

hredo

no naka no bohu no

Earll,Spring 269 Ear$ Sumrner 121,269

Disuntates, The 84

lt

uridasu

Daibosatsu

Dia,n, of Chuji's Trarcls,

tt

Cbuji Mah.a a Namefor Himself Cbuji tabi

zz6

zs4

242

E u,o kaku korlnmotachi t9z,z49

k

tg4

Childrut in tbe Wind 96 Childrm of Hiroshima t49,267 Children of the Beebh,e rro Children Wo Drau, tgz,z49 Cbizuko's Youngu Sistu 2J4 Chuji

4o

Japanae S[4e. ke Funral, Dedrh oa araibu: hanzaisba zz3

Clnsvoom t9z,z49

tbe

Daburusu

2a4

Islnnd

Ganr1,71

94, 95

Death

269.272,286 ht,

Cruel Storl,of

See

Nan'Vrsion,

Death fu,

t62,286

Childrett

crybafu' Apprent'ice Cuckoo, The:A

Dead or

tos

Childrm Hand

Dupont, E. A. 9l 4,ing at a Hospital nG

Da1lig67

251

Cbikamatsu

CruelTala of Youlb.

Duel on

Weeds.

1.38, 168, 186,259

Duo

Day

179

Heart (Chikin hato) n4

Chichen

Aunken Angel ll5,

Grounrh, The 3l

203

23

ChibaYasuki lo9,

l4l

l4o,

Dani t5l

Chmy Blossoms ofJapan, The 2l Cherq, Uchard, Tbe tlz, 227-28

zoS

Drifting Weeds. ke Floating Drire, Tbe zz9

Cruel Slorl,of Youtb, The 196,203,258

Daigaku 1,oi

Anton nz,zz7

Blood

Dried

Duel at lcbijoji Temple

Dancing Girl 64 Dancing Girlfrom

26

lbuth r22 A 68

Dreanty Patriot,

Crucified Lours, The Swstoryfrom Chihamatsu, A.

Daigaku, taa clpta

253

Cbi to

A

83

The zzt

Cqano clc Brgerac 113,284

Blossoms-A Fartla6, of S\nng

Cbew1,

of Udm, A.

Cure 2t9,268

censonhip 92-96, 109-l I Ceremonl,, The 2rn,2l2 Catain Night's Kbs, A lo9 Chabrol, Claude t9z Champ, The 5i Changeling, The Xl Clraplin, Charlie 28, 45, 50 Charistna 2t9,235,267 Chekhov,

)ut

z4a

175,269

Dreams of

Youth. t37

zz

Charles Urban Company

Dreants

t98,26l

18.3,

223

7s, s9,90

Crou,cled Streetcar,

Watr

Spidu's Web, The.See

The:

t53,181,

A.Sire, Page

Crosvoacls

and ftro Womut,

Amrica

Fruil

Craz|,Familt, The

Crim,es of )h.ubo K1,oshi,

Tbe.

Tbrone of Blood, Cal, Shozo,

Crazed

S9

Crdp uscu le d, Toh1,s . See To k1,s Tutiligh t.

Carridre, Jean-Claude zzs Cascading White Threar*. See Castle of tbe

Dower,John llo Douvtfull of }sm, The Douvttou,tt 179

Crazy Page,

Vincent 229 Capra,Frank z9,4t,to9 Carmm Coma Hotne I4l Carntnt's Pure Lorc l4l Canby,

Magicinn,

Dovzhenko,

Place 92 composition, Japanese, defined Conflagration, t5r5g, 267 College Is a Fine

Cabhtet of Doctor Caligari, Tbe 21,85,87

Alekandr

Colbert, Claudette 6z

Entatsu no

106

miuu basbo lls,

135

Quinox Flou'er 120,124 tro-gur0-nanso$u 54,220 Erogoto-sbi-tachi

nJ,umon

yoi : Jinrui-gaku

188,281

Eros Plus Massacre (Erosu purasu

Civil Information and Education Section

Dokuso 3o Donzoko 73, 17 r, 174, 17 5, 2ll Doppelgringu (Dopperugenga) 2t9

(CI&E) tot,tog,z4r Citilization za

Heita 155 Doro no kau,a 231]8,2U

Clair, Rend 15,94, t4t, t4z,z3o

Dostoevsky, Fyodor

Etsuraku zgt Eureka 225,270 h,angelion Sx, Neon Genais: &tange-

Chu,shingura

23,261

Cindmatographe LumiEre t7

initial

Dora

275

gyakusatsu)

203

EsumiMakiko 243,278

Clotba of Deception, The t6o

Dotsuitarunen 229 Double Suicide 206,269

lfon. Erming Stream

Clouds at Surwet

Doubla

Euery,76i7rf That

close-up,

30, 4o

205

zz6

127

Lilta

94,135

307

Exchange Studenb. See Trarcfn Students.

expressionisn I l, 74,84-96, Ectreme Priuate Eros:

199

Inte Song

Kinii

Golem,

179

2zg

GomikawaJumpei

FtkuawaShichiro

t43, 266

Gonin zz3,ztz

Famifi' Gamq The

Fantasia

shiro

Fuku,ro no t95,270

ari

Full Life,

A

to5

Funual, Tbe

Fararcll to the Earth.,4 (Farewellto

the

Funral Parade of Rosa ztz

tand)

Fathr

Funakoshi

239

A

fuTokyq Une. SeeWoman of

Toh.1,o.

Une

z4t

Femma de la Nuit, Les. SeeWoman of

27

|

135-35

Furl's sborrcn 192-93 Futagawa Buntaro 66

Futari

Grou'irtg

15.3

Tomoyuk

229, 266

234

Fighting Frimds,Foreign

Soldin lM, film d'art 25

Gan

tt4,248

Frybling

Frantnise,l-a 2l

Fatiual

Robert

ail . See Cor{hgratiott initial 30, 4o4l

ot,r

Rice, The

.

271

126,128,271

Hard st

ke

G o ba tto

.

onna

bayslli

z6s

94

haba-mono, defined ttz t55

Giort Fatiual Gion

Hakucbu no torima 2oo,29o

Hakujilsumu

130, 160,230,

ttgs, Tbe

His

53

zo6

Hanasaku minato lo5 HanayagiHarumi 34 Haneda Sumiko 249,250 Hani Susumu 192-95, 246, 249, 2l 5, 285 Hara Masato 226

Hara Setsuko

Gishiki zw

73, 108,

lll,

l12, l19, 178,269,

2J0,275,211,280,289

Glory of Life, The

34=35

HaradaMieko

Harakiri 272

235

164,213,282

Harp of Burma, The 152,153,213 Hart, Williarn 24

Empror

239

Godard,Jean-Luc t9z

Kng

Gojira

Uin

HaraKuuo 25v51 45 (1926),

139 (1952, l960)

Go 229 Go Hiromi

152

Hana-bi zzt,213 Hanagata smshu

69, 93, lJg, 206, 209

Girl Wbo Touched

I19

HamamuraYoshiyasu

Mtsic.See,Geisba, A.

no kJ,odni 62,8t,82,83,

209

Hana cbirinu

285

girininjo

57

Hakucbi zls

272

202, 221, 232,

308

ho

Hanare goze

Gohatto

229

TIte

160

Godzilln,

Fuiiyama Naomi

Haha to

HmndaTasuo ll9

Fujiwara Kozaburo zz6

monogatari zt4

Hagiwara Masato

Godzilh: Final Wars t78

Shinii

Hachiko

Hadaka no juk:vu-sai t5l Harlnka no sbima t5o,27g

lo2, 278

FujiTatsuya 275,276 FujimoriSeikichi 9t Fuiita Susumu 213, 280, 2U z6

243

Sbip zsz Giants and To1,s 16l,212 giclal,u narrator 20 Gide, Andrd zsz Ginga tetsudo tto yoru. 256

God Speed You! Black

t25

stor1,

115,283 23, 324?,,

Gbost

Fufu

5l

H

Hakai

Go-bime t96 GobanTadnnobu

Fujiwara

223

Hacbi no su no kodnmo-tachi tto H achigatsu no kyoshi kJ'o ku (rhaPsoth')

uta lo9 ko 149,267

Fuefuhi-gawa t44

sbiratarna

223

z6u

Hakoiri mrcume

Gion

Ford,John to9 Forfi'-Sarm Ronin, The. ke LoJ,al Forb, Seum Ronin, The Forfi, -Satm Samurai. See Chushin gura. Four Saxoru of Cbildrm 96 Four Seasorn of l-are, The tsz Frdre et Soatr. fuOlfur Brotlnr, Younger Sislr. From V(here Chimnq,s 1re Sem ll8 Fue no

an Angel, The

Gmtle Tuelt,e, The zza Gere, Richard zs3 Gerow, Aaron 224, 236, 246, 251 Ghost in tbe Shell, The 256,272

Ginza no

lhlafrs ns

F or birJden .

lo2, 272,282

212

230,279

Focus(Fokasu) 226,zll For

A

Gatle Art of Japanese Erlortion,

Floaling Clouds tzl Floating Weeds 122,2l| Flunh,7,,Worh

Geisba,

Gmji monogatari t38 Gutroktt cbwhingura

286

247

Flat,or of Greut Tea

Flou'ittg

Gate

Gmdarme Mtibius lo

t53-54,250,270

Flnme of Torrn flashback,

Flah,Ihe t8o,27l of Hell, Ihe 32,86,88,

4&

Fiue Scouts 9&-99, 154, 183 Fiue Womm around Utamaro. See Utamaro and His Fh,e Women. Flaherty

284

Gwhufunsha lhzoku

136,279

gutfuiigeki @adnimono)

Firarcrks, SeeHana-bi. Fitzmaurice, George

136

loo

Guryu Hachiro

Gernbaku no

t35

Fira on the Plain,

Guts of

Gehimetsu rto

zSg,zl+

Fire Within, The 228

Firefliw

gurnbin

6z

.

Gate of

filnr stars, emergence of n-zs Fin du Rdgne dc Louis XVl-Rdt,ohttion Fire

qg,50, 135,

.

218

GuniiJironasa Clark Gaicbu 229 Game zz6

Eleg,.ke Eleg' to Violence. Stfle S6

Fighthtg

UP

Grudge, The

Futarizuma 6l Gable,

74

203

Gosho Heinosuke 4G50. 4e-5l,lo5, I 18,

284

the Nigbt.

Feyder,Jacques

273

Gosa de Tok1,o. See I Was Bom BuL Grande llhtsion, In gS Green, Henrv 56 Griffith, D W. 28,41

Furumaya

Femme Douce,

23w3L

FurukawaTakumi

Fathula,nd 9t

Morning

183

Goodfelln tgt Gor$, Maxim 39,174,277

266, 270,278 218,

Furin kazan lo9

4647

Femme

Eiii

Good

Good-for-Notbing Goodbl'g CP 250

193

ButtrflY 252 Farfrom the Land of }ur Parents

Fashionable Wanderr,

190,251,

289

Fantctqt of Madnme

l&,274

Gonin no sehhohei 9&-99, 154, Gonza the Spearman 208,272

zog

Fukushu stffurra u:are ni

nt4z,Zl,

254

s6

22t,266

Fukuro l5l Faa, Tbe

Fau of Anothu, The

Dr

179,

Fukasaku

z5o

Golden Demon, The 2L3940

FukaiShiro zzs Fukasaku Kenta

of the

Morrters

118,272

21 2

Hasebe

t78,272

Gohuda kuro sbakai reini clagS4u

Keiji

Hasegawa

ztl

S.

28,65

Haru no genso. W Char1, Blosoms-A Fantaq,of SWvg Haruka narifubo no kuni lo5 Haruka, nosutaruji 234 Harukawa Masumi 187 ls7, 267, 276,280

Kazuo

65, t57, 265, 212, 286

Hasegawa Shin 64,

179

Hotarubi B5

Hasegauw to Roppa no lemitsu to

Hikoza

loz

hau,a

Hasbi no nai

Hashinoto Shinobu

148

138, 148,

t65,t66,213,

282,294,297,299

Hasurni Shigehiko

z4

Hatachi no seisbutt lo9

jigokuhen t94, 276 Hatntt no ugohu sbiro zS6 Halsukoi

kaism

Ha.u'ai-mare ohi

Hawk, Howard Ha,vasaka

Chojiro

Hayashi

Fumiko

I

Being,

I

Bul

Wcu

Ichikawa Danjuro

IchikawaJun 228

Ichikawa

a'

59,

zlt

zz3, 226

Lou, t6g,z74 Higb School Panic zz3 Higuchilchiyo t35,t47 Hiko shojo 186 Himutsuri 239,274

ll5 Hideluki Hiroki Rprichi zs9 Hiroshima l5o

150,243

277 112

Histon' oJ-Postu,arJapan ,as Told b1' n Bar Hostess,l (Histoire du Japon Racontde par une H0tesse de Bafl t8g,z74

HokusaiTokitaro See

7o

Aibanu.

HomnaYohei 270 HommaYuji 239

Ishiro ]8,272 Honjitsu hyushin t4o Hortrto l5l

Iftrkube Akira zs4 Ii emtt embamingu

Iida Choko 283,286 Ijitt-tachi to no natsu Ikebe Ryo 269,?Bt,z86 Ikeda Tadao 57,95,286

Iwaya

Izo

163

215, 223,2q9,

250,251

Inamura Shohei (DVDlVideo Guide) 269,214,276,28r,

266,

289

impresionism 11,84 In tbe Realm of Pcnsion zl5 tu tbe Realm oJ'tbe Senses z0l-2, z3z,zi5 Inagaki Hiroshi 62-5s,,257, zB3, 284 Thomas

Japanare Tragedl', A (1946) 114-15, 250 Japanae Traged1,, A (195]) ttl,276

Japanae Village. Furryashiki, A 249 'Japanesenes" l0-ll, 42, 101-2, I18, 213, 2v,259 Jasei rto

in

36

jidaigehi lj irlai mono) n-,24, 64-96 Jigokl t mon 32, 86, 212, 282 Jingi nah.i tatahai ]9,22t,266 Jinno Hiroal,s zzl

28

film

255

.lapanae Derih zSo .lapanae EEerlition to lhe South Pole, The z4t Jaltane,re Girls at tbe Harbor 5z

94,13s

Inta hitohtbino t35 Imai Tadashi n3, t45-l9,256 Imanrura Shohei 59. 151, 185,

Jinro u

t6-43

h{rno

Art 51,216 An 5l

Inomoto Masami

Hosoyama Kiyomatsu J0

zz4

JanQirtgu

t09

ikuu ntono

Inoue Masao

206, 265, 269, 272 285

Janguru taitei 255 Japan and theJapanae t57 Japan's Longal Da1' 179

173, z5t, z8z

Irtnocent trlaid,

2zz

San'ichi

lo9, n4,159,248

e6

hn in

Chikako

225

Izu rto odoriko 94 Izumi Kyoka 79 Izuniya Shigeru 269

234

Hori Kyusaku Hosokawa

Shunji

Iwaslrita Shirna 225

Hoodlum Soldis, The t6z-63 92, lo3, lo5

160

62, ro4,

Tohyo,

279,

94

281

independent

t,

zs4

Itsuu,arqu seiso

Honoo Kayoko za;

Horses

Ito Einosuke

IwasakiAkira

Ince,

270, 27

Ito Sachio t4z

278

of First Inre, The t94,z16 Inn in ]saka, An 49,51, 135, 136

97, lo8, lo9

t8-t9, zz9-3t,

Itanri Mansaku 5z-6s,91, 108, 133,22g,248 Ito Daisuke j5, 69-10,72, 133, ti,6, t7g, zz4,

Ito Kisaku

t6z,z6l,zll

huztuna 129,217

Honda

z

httasbi.q,unto

I'll BuyYou

Tbe

246

6s,

Ide Toslriro 117, 147, 184,271,271 Idiot. The zts

Ikitosbi

z:S

Amour

Eijiro nt,

236,

Ikirtr t59, t73, zo4, 27 5 Ikitgi t43

Hirayama

Itani Juzo

Iwai

Ihinafuraibo

Hirano Kyoko

Hisaita

159,

Ikeru shikabane 34 Ihimono no kirokr,t t61,

l5r

Kimie

Itakura

Ide Masato zsz

Ihru ningto

Hineida Tadayoshi zso Himeyuri no to 141

Iskutd, The. See Nahed hlattd, Islartd Womm 40 It Happmed Arc Night 47,62

248,268

Ichikawa Utaemon

Higb and

Kuuo

tsz-59, t55, zt4, zzz,

267, 27 0, 27 3, 27 8, 280, 288

120,124

Hirotstr

23d37

215,

Kon

z4s

281

18,25

Ichikawa Kon (DVDAideo Guide) 265,255,

zza

Hirosbirna, lllon

IX

250,253,254

HidariBokuzen 278 Hidari Sachiko 187, 193, 276,2s5 Hidnrikihi rto sogekisha: Tok.to tlail HidrJst Forlras, Tlte 75,112,213 Higashi Yoichi ztz,

205, 281

Ishioka Masato zzg,z}5

TIte.

Iclrikawa Raizo

Higanbana

l8l.

268

zz3,z7?,

Ishimoto Tokichi

Born, 45,51-59,96,230,215 Masuji 266 Icbiban utsuktuhihu to6,2tg

Girls t4t

Hidaka Shinya

Ishii Takashi

Me.SeeTransfn

You Ant,

Ibuse

Clouds.

Hole, Tbe.

lbu,

,.

Hantai hazoku:Aniki no yomesail

Himo

Are

I Graduated, But. 56 I Lit,e in Fear. See Record of a Liuing

Su nt m

153,

Yujiro 182, IshiiKuniko zz6 Ishihara

Studails.

HmtutheWind,A ll9

Ha'oic Ptu'gatory, 293 H m'h rybon e Cl o u rh. See

t64, 173

Ishihara Shintaro

Ishii Sogo zt8,zz3,265

HasegawaKuuo

64, 179,277

HayashiHikam zTg,z9t Hayashi Kaizo 235 HazumiTsuneo 99 He arul Life 4S Hearn, Lafcadio t65,276 Heitai y6afr47o t6z-63 Helpla.s zz4

Ha'e's to the

Akira

Ishihama

282, 287, 289

See

28,39

Irezunti icbicki fto Irie Takako 279 Isaka Satoslti 226,211 IshibashiRyo 265 Ishida Tarnizo 152

15-76, t86,274

36

Funio

Hayashi

httoluance

Httnger Straits g6 Hurttittg Rifle 85 Husbuncl and Wife tz6 Huston,John 109

lo2-3

z3o

Hayakawa Sessue

hsect WomAtt, Tbe 187,190,276 htentions of tlurdu tB7,276

Hotil's Mot,ittg Ccntle 256 Huntun Anguish l7 Hutttan Bullet 179 Httntan Condition, The t64-4S,zl4 Huntan Suffering 77 Huntattitl,and Papu Balloons 72,

243

30

Inoue Yasushi nS, n7,zB4

256

ai

Jfusei no

45

Jirokichi, the Rat JisoiiAkio ztz

Jout

69

203

Joiuchi Josd

Kid

165,282

Toma

Jot'Girls.

t96

See Jlo41,

of a Prostihte

Joyce,James l5o

309

Judo Saga.

Ssnshiro Sugukt.

See

KawazuYusuke

Juliro ts,t9 chizu

Juh.1,tt-sui tro

JunQing

239

?55

jun-bungaku

Kodnmo no

Ittzoh.u

Keijo See Crazecl

Kabe ubu,ki be1,a Kabuki, influence

Fruil

Kerrka

n.v3-44

.32-34

137, 166,266, z7s.zt9.

286

ktgentusha

l0'2.

17

5, 276

Kaiko Ken

no

borei

krkituAkardshi

aktnin

krkusbi loricle n0 s(nt

75,V2,

'J]3

kunncbi

Kamehara Yoshiaki 36 KameiFumio lo4, ll.3-14, 248,258

ktmiganti nofukaki l,okubo

Koneko

46

l,aro

knakuri musume

Isao

171,287

Kindai Eiga, fonnation

ktral,spi-tnn:

The

ll{aking of a Prosti-

tute l5l to jinsei 45 ktrisuma ztg,z35,z6j I(arummjunjosu 14r I(arutnen kokt'o ni

kauu

Kataoka Chiezo 65,

67

Kataoka Teppei

Daisuke t7t

Kato

Tai

t7s-19

Karo

Yuii

226

Kirsanoff,

Kiru

Dimitri

l4l

lttoku

toS, 14o-/5, 266,

13.3,

4S

84, 8{t

Kishida Kunio

94

Kishida Kyoko

162, 278, 290

Kawaguchi Matsutaro

Kawakita Nagamasa to8

kru:anakajima Gassat 102 Kawarasaki Chojuro zzs Kawase Naomi 24142,281 Kawashima Yuzo 46. ls3-86 Kawatake Mokuarni 7'2,274 Kawaura Ken'ichi 3t

Kunieda

Kanji 2s!

KunimuraJun

287

Kunisach Chuji 7l Kuragejima: Ihlat Jiom a Southent 188-89,230

ztl

Kurihara, "Thomas" 36,226 Kurishima Sumiko 7s

Ku.roi

59, 179,

zo9,zt5,zt6,

Kitano Takeshi (DVD/Video Guide) z6t, 273,286,291

272

ktu,aitct hana 204,281 Kawakita Kashiko zrz

Tatsuni zlo

272,278,219

zzz

z3z

Mie lsz,25s

Kitano Takeshi

Kitaoji

Krrya

239,27+

Kitayana Seitaro

Ktockout

z5z

?29

Kizaburo 3 l-.32 Kobayashi Masaki l4l, 16}-65, 261,273, Kobayashi

274,276,282 Kobayashi

Sachiko zst

KobayashiSetsuo z7t

Toshiko z6t Kobayashi Yoshinori 270 Kobayashi

249

Kuttto to cburippu 253 Ku, monosu-jo t7 3-t 4, zB8

220-23, 224, 225, 233, 234, 24t, 259, 266,

Kitahara

286

48,

Kurita Toyomichi zo3 Kuro tokage 266 Kuroda Kiyomi 281 Kuroi ame t90,266 Ktroi jurtin ?to otma Kuroi hau'a t63

Kishinoto Kayoko

z8l,

98, 247

Kunai Kei l5l Kumashiro

Island

Krusar t6t

53, 54. 87-ss,

z5z

KuraharaKoreyoshi

234

KishitaniGoro

KawaguchiHiroshi zzt

36

278

Kurnagai Hisatora lo2, lo8

179

179

Kishibe

Slrintaro t63, 216, zgt

KawabataYasunari

310

218

181,267

179

Kujira 252 kultur-filnt

flS

Kishi Keiko t54,269,286

!l

Kato

ttg

95,J31,264

Koku ga tnhinatrureta toki z,tl Kirihara, Donald 69

ktre

Katsu

tear

of

Yuko

KouchiSumikazu kou,airo 2t Koyama Akiko zso Kubo Akira zsz Kucbizuke t6t

Kinugasa Teinosuke 32, 86-90, 102, 156,212,28t

50

265,

zotl

Kotani, "Henry"

Koto

t79

276,289

16l, 265

l5l,

Kosbikei 198,200,290 Koster, Henry tZ8

Kotegawa

Kinoshita Keisuke 44,91,

Ifunojo to knre 193,285 ktrtzo sensei t9o IQto zz9 Ifutrahh,aze

166, 213, 265, 285, z8.g

282

Kintba tbe Wbite Lion zss

Knokau'a

106

104, 108, 109,271

rnkuin

KosugiMasao

Kuuo

knmriu

jichti

)l

24317,149,

gambure 5t

Kosbiben

Kill 179

Kirtg

Hirokzu

Kore'eda

Koroshi tto

zz5

King, Stephen

Knngeki

13

?68,178

KnemaJtmeo

zz9

ntonogtturi zt+

KonishiRyo

a6

hcnnisbibai tM ktmo l5l

kulincho

244

Delirrt' Sen,ice 256

Kimura

188-89

Koyo t7, tS,:6 Hiroshi 44

Konratsu

Kini no n(t t(a Kmiko 186

zza

Komada

68

Kono buba u'o mi-1,o

Kikuta

6a

tnuso

)cld )bswsiorr.

Kikushina Rluzo

85

Kohushi

Konjikirarha 'tt

Kktrjiro

zt9

Kaiser, Georg

lo2{

kokusuku eigct

180-8t.270

Kku antl Isemtu 148 Kikuchi Kan 51,78,86,99,

179

287

zlo

kiclotai 256,'nz clnipurtihhu 223

Kid, The zs Kido Shiro M46,47,60,96, ro9, 124, 129,

Kiki's

zzz

aki

Kikuchi Kan t72

Kiga haik.1,o

ktgi t59,zso kidan t65,276

Michiyo t38.272,283,

Kokaku 146

196,197

kagezerifit 2t

ktitlttn )iun

See

shiki 96 futhur t4s

Kohalugauw-h.e tto

265

g6

Kiarostami, Abbas

Mariko zst Kagawa Kyoko l.lr, Kaga

Kogure

z3t-32, zio

Koko

mji

Kq,, Tbe.

65

Koestler,

lo5

Keisctlytkan

te,

Kaeriyitna Norimasa

u

Gnegon

heiko-eiga genre 90,91, ll3-15, Keimusho rto ttaka 233

163

of

145

g,ent

Kedzierski,

6o

Jtt-on ztt Jttt,uile Palssiort,

(diro

kofuin

Ihzahana

7z

KodaAya ztt

ktze no nakct no koclomo 96 ktze no naka no menclari ttg

49,60, 134-39, 179

Jungle Enlteror Leo 255 Jurtirtin rro .tutsubii rtihonjin zzt

Jurtjo

Kocbil'nma Soshutt

268.287

krlvrko no lame ni 238 Kayama Yuzo 283, 287

tails

154

21,

Kuroi yuki zto KurokiKazuo 66,ztt KurosawaAkira zg, 50,65,72,102, ll0, ll9, 16G76,2?2.255 Kurosawa Akira (DVD/Video 263, 269, 280,

l8l,

Kurosawa

27

3,

27

4,

27 5, 27

Guide) 266,

6, 217,

27

8, 2t g,

282, 283, 284,285,286, 288, 2go

Kiyoshi zt+ts, zt6, zte_tg,

235,24t,267,268

icbipqi Ktrtttilt kajiLut Kttru,lta Kusa

Hiroshi t4z

.32,

85-90,

153,

l8l,

281

183, 198,267

z?4,

Kutsukake Tokijiro: vuh1,o

Miyuki

Kuwano

Klaidnn 27

tll

t65,2j6

Machiko l30, 13l,

Kyo

ippihi

258,280

138, 157, 160,270,

2, 280, 281, 282, 283, 289

Takahide

Kyogoku

249

Kyojin to gangu 161,272 Kyohusbiteki a'osu: Koiuta 1974 zso Il,oshitsu no kodamotacbi t9z,z49

I9,oto

nise)

35,78

IA,ua zt9,z58 kJ'uba zz,z4 I$'upora no ctrlt macbi tg5 ['Herbier, Marcel

tnr,

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ztl

235

of Musasbi, Tbe

283

of tbe Forest, The

zs4

Mann, Der el Lieutnmnt's Daughter, The 30 Ltfe of a Film Director, The t49 Ltfe of a Tattooed Man, Tlte t8o Ltfe of a Woman, by Saihaku, The. See Life of )haru. Life of Budd,ha, The

rtr

lllike

Maiku Hama 235 Majo no takfuubirt zs6 Makino Masahiro lo2, lo9, 2lz Makino Slrozo 24, 29, 6445, 222 Makioka Sisters, The t59,z7g Mallet-Stevens, Robert 53 Malraux, Andr6 t54 Man Blou,n by tbe Wind, A. keAfraid to Man Vanisba, A 187-88, 189-90,251 Man lVho kfr His Will on Film, The zot Man Witbout a Map, The tgs Man'in dtnsba l4o Man-Slasbirry, Horse-Piercing Su,ord

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The

Corpse,

Liring Puppel

A

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Long-Sougbt

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t5t Louefor a Mother Lost Seu Loue

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23

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I94I 1962

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267 I 1,29, 45, 62,230

Lttkatctrm Watn undm the Bridge t9o

1*,,r, / Jobn Rice MayamaSeika to2,27s

See

Cin6matographe Lunidre.

Lust of tbe White

Srpat4 Tbe 36

Kiss,

The t9

218

Tomokuu

243

Kuuo

231

267, 27

l,

27

9, 280, 286, 287,

MiyagiMariko 250 Miyajinra Yoshio 27 3, 277 Mfi,amoto Musasbi zt3 Miyamoto Nobuko 230,219,287

Teru

244,278

Hay

ao

zo4 256, 257, 219, 281 272

g7

SteP

105,

ll0,

199, 225, 230, 232, 240, 255

Mizushina Kaon 229 Mizutani Hiroshi zn MochizukiRokuro zzg MochizukiYuko 276,277 nrodemism, defined 55-56, 58

suzaku 241,242,287 chizu l9s Momijigari tt Momoi Kaori 189,259 Momotaro-Dhtine Troolts of the }cean

Moe no

Moehukita

on the Tigu's

Tail.

8

253

136

Sea Eagle 253 Claude z5 mono ns auaTg $l-64 Mononohe-bime 256, 257, 282 Moreno, Ruby 82,233 Mori Masayuki tzJ, t30,131, 138, 167,266,

Momotaro's

Merry Cltristmas, Mr. Lauryutce 221,226, 64,11

l[etropolitan Sympbony 7&-79, 9l 152

Mifune Toshiro sl,

Zz

279

289,290

274

keThE'Who

193

286

Mizuki Yoko tz5, t47, t65,211,219,281

Wbo Tread on the Tail of the Tiger,

michil'sfr;

178, 222,291

Mizoguchi Kenji (DVD/Video Guide) zzz, 277, 2J g, 27 g, ?81, 282, ?83, 2u, 785, n6, n7,

Mellen,Joan t46 Mm of Tobohu, Tbe t57

lvlahi

Kenji

t2y34,

Ma1'

zenzai

Misumi

Mizoguchi Kenji 35,51,91, l0l-2,

?70

Lubitsch, Ernst Lumidre.

198, 265,

z7s

Mayuzumi Rintaro

ll9

5t

Mistras, The 86,219

MiyoshiMasao

202,278

Meoto

Mr.ThanhYou

MiyuawtKaz;uo

lvlat Mott Amour

Me?illmontanl

Mr. Fortune lvlah,u

Miyazaki

142, 27 4

The.

Miss O1,u 81,279

28g,2gl

z7o

Matsuyama Tnnzo

Mat

illiwhu no tehi tt3 Mishima Yukio 158, 152, 255,266,267

Miyauchi Fukiko

McBain,

rg07

249

Miyamoto

45

Lou,tr Depths, Tbe 73, ] t, n 4, t7 5,211 Loyal For\,Satnt Ronin, The

zt4

Minato no nihon musume 52 LIinbo: Or the Gmtle Art of Japanae Etctortion 230,279

Miyagawa

zz6

Matsumura Tatsuo

Ed

1tis

Mimbo no utna 230,237 Mimura Shintaro 66,274 Minamata: The Victims andTheir World

Akihiro 256 Miyagawa Ichirota

Mata au bi

Mayuzumi Toshiro 267,290

LoueSuicidcs at Sonezaki t5z

Milo and

Miwa

Masumura Yasuzo 65,Bq, t50-63,

225

Inue of Life

Pol, The 72,74

Miura

Matsumoto Toshio 212,249

86,91

75

R1,o

Miura Mitsuo

MasuiMinoru z5o Matsumoto Miku zsS Matsumoto Reiii 255

255

Brothr t5l

k

Millian

Mitsumura Shintaro

Marusa no uma 230,287 Marusa no onna zohu 287 Masaoka Kenzo 252,253 Masuda Toshio 255

MatsudaYusaku 23t,

3, 283. 287, 289

Million,

Mitsui Hideo

Viadng tt tularital Relatiorx t36 Madnge Cirde, The 29.48 Martin, KarlHeinz 77

Matsuda

Little

27

93

Mitasareta seihatsu

152,278

Ligbhting

Like, sura 232 Lion King, The

66

m,anga 251-58

Eiko

235,

235

kwis

Milestone,

64

mafu t4t Mata no hi no Chika zst Matatabi tSl

129,217

Hamntr

Mikuni Rentaro 2M,

49

Lifeline ABC 9t Ligbthouse, The r43

t32,277

8, 282,

Mikkai tsl

212,278

)baru, The 81, l3l,

27 5, 27

265,289

trlademoiselle Q,u. See MN O1'u. frlahiru no anhohu 148

Manji

8, 266, 257, 269, 2l 3, 2t 4,

2u, 285, 286, 281, 288, 290 Miike Takashi r79, 2t7, 220, 223-24,

Maple

Letzte

Life of

t7

283,

Die.

81,277

I^akwifu fulurder Case zz5 ktscitioustrcs of the Viper,The 36 Inst ktugh, The 4t Inte Autumn t20,271 Ittte Clrysanthemums 125, 277 Inte Slning ll0, 120, t?t,t23,228,244,211

kgutd Ingad

Madndals Us,ztv frlaclame Yuhi t3l Madnmu to nyofio

rtlaihime

t51

I(J,oJ,a Collar Shop, The (Kyoya eri

ktdl'

l[i aborosbi 243-44, z5g, lllabucLtchi 229,266 Mabuta no bana 179 Macbetb t13,28

138, 155, 155, t67, t72,

Monet,

275,281,282,289

311

trlorino denselsu 254 Mori0gai t\6,279,284

hknul, Tbe 150,279 Nakimushi hozo 9/t Narurmi: First Lore. See hfmto of Firsl Nnked

Morinoto Kaoru 152 Morishige Hisaya 136, 137

loshinitsu

Morita

Fatnih ttt

trforuingfor lhe }sone

Ilorocco

Lore,

Beuutiful, Tlte tol,'zlg llost Tarible Time in tr|1' Life

Itrlolhn

Nm'q,amn bushiko (1958) t$44,266 bushih.o (1983) 1s9,266 narrative, beginnings

t26,219

237

Nathan,John

tl,lujo ztz Mura no sansei 4l MuraiHiroshi zsz MurakamiRyu 223 Muramatsu Shofu zs6 lllura.wki ztthin: ukiyoe-shi Murase Sachiko 204,283 Murata

Minoru

Neu'Age of Fools

See

F.

W,

Muro Saisei

29,41.87

krjin

Wave"

newsreels

zss

See

Tala of

l, ltlo

246

ztl3

Yurniko 272,286

Nogiku no gotohi kimi narihi rut Nomura Hotei zt t NomuraYoshitaro 2ll Nora htu 119, 286 NosakaAkiyuki 188, 189. 281 Nostalgie 234 Not I'el. See Xlachfun's

Hitoni

172

223

Koji 282 N tuna nt llfiliktn, Autderny. 71t Numata

(Numazuheigakko)

tI

llj

26

Nicbh'tu et

8t,ztl

II

ts3-t54,250.270

Nudo no yoru

192

274

Kogo 54, l19, 120,177,288 Noda Shinkichi z+s, 249

Nozoe

Neu'Roacl to5

"New

281

99- ttto

Nuaga d'Ete. See Sunnter Clouck "ntrberu bctg1i' 192

Neu' Tales of the Tah'a Clan. tbe Tairu Clan.

MuroiShigeru 229,235 lllusasbino

tt6

Island

Neu' Parucli,se

hlailiorts of

lllurdr Mumau,

See Potr

Neu'Eartb. The rca

34,77-18, 102,227

lllurderous Desire

195

waku eiga l,,leighbor's Wife and lllirte, The 48 Ittreho to Sbozo toftilari ilo onna 137 Nenttrrtt otoho 88 Neon Gcilesis: Etvutgelion 256,259 neo-realisnlo cinema, influence of t t6-tz 64

Nobi

Nogawa

zoz

"national poliry" films.

244

dcn

)ur lbutb

NogamiYaeko

279,281,187.290

99

-38,

29-.32

Greata'Lorc

llo Regreh for

Noda

Narushima Toichiro

Rirer

to-t l,

No

Nobodl'lhtou's

tlloring

zs3

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Mikio 44, 59-/&, ttg, t25-29,240.259 Naruse Mikio (D\DA'ideo Guide) 27t,271,

Naruse

zz7

i

Narusawa Masashige 2l l, 266, 2i9,283

tllotba' and Cbild g4,gs Ilolfu,e, Tbe n4 MotokiMasahiro zzz

M urJl"t,

of

u nt

No Cortsuiltrtiort.s Todctl' l4o

Nuru'tAnn

%5

242,279

tlIucl unrl Soldiers

Nishioka Yoshinobu N[shiz

Nortb z4t

Nurtooh of lhe

19

Xlost

tl/)thn

Tbe.

Nani ga knrojo u'o so sctselaku 9l Naniu'a ereji tt,82, 281

23t, 210

Niplton no kurainatsu: enzoi tsz N ippo r r sen go -s h i-tl I a dn nt u 0 m boro no seikatsu t89,274 Nishida Naomi 235

\atsttrae Jirokichi goslti Oba Hideo $,t79

69

lllusume Dojoji t56,253 IIy Neighbor, Totoro 256,J79

Night and Fog irt Jctpan

tllt,Sin

Nigbt

Buttatlies t6o

0bayashi Nobuhiko

Nigbt

Drum

)cbnzuke no aji 271 Occupation, film under to7-15 )cho-fi(itt tn genso 252

Tlte ZB

148

l{ighlin Nude Nagai

NagaiTatsuo

59

126,271

NagasakiShun'ichi

zz9

NagashirnaToshiyuki Nagata

Masaichi

zzz

283

27 3, 27

4,

21

6, 282,

281

Ko

153,

no higehi

(1953) n7,276

tto ichiban nagai bi t79 n0 )'lnt to hiri 45,197-98,199,200,

l,,lihort to

nihonjin-ron

NakaizumiHideo 285 Nakajirna Hiroko zzs Nakarnoto Ryota 274 Nakamura Gan'enon

Nijusbi no hitonti t45,289 Nikkatsu 3J,tl-18,?21

iro

Nakanrura Katsuo

Nikucltrn Nihutcti no

278

t59,

270, 27

281

Nakamura Kichiemon

269

Nakamura Kinnosuke

284

I,

218, 280

1oo

nton

l8o,271

49

Nirrirr

Dojoji

konchuki

283, 288

219,2i2+

193.285,290 203,287

24041,280

)kasan

Nipport hoku Fm'u1'ashihi-mura

312

249

Okamoto Kihachi $,284,287

Toichi

Nippott

Eiii

)haei

tz

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185

236

Saburo :st Okada Yoshiko 226

Hideo zts

Kaizan 64,287 Naked Face of Nigbl, The t6o

2.31

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Nakata

Nakazato

OgataNaoto

0kada Mariko

Ninju bugei-cho zs+ ninjo See giri-ninjo Nittjo h.nnt ifusen 72, 7 5-7 6, 186,

Minoru 6t

57

223.265

0gawa Shinsuke

Okada

Ningut jobahu 187-8s, 251 Nhrym hu 77

Nakanrura Nobuo Nakano

)dishort

)iu'a's Gbosl 179 )josan kampai t4t

Nineteen-I ectr-)ld's lllap, Tbe

Ningm no joken 1M\214 Ningm no.l,aktrohu 204

Nahano Army School t6z

)rle to u Sctlesnttut

)fuaru gat'ei

179

Nakamura Noboru 46,179 287

135

l59, z8o

0guni Hideo t r8, 166, z8z, Oguri Kohei 231-38,244 Ohays '273 )bihkosbi zzt

178

nihottjirt t5l

Nakai Asakazu t74,z8s

Nakanrura Ganj

]dd )bsasion

Ogita Yoshihisa 278

Nihon tanjo

l8l-s3,267

Oda Sakunosuke

n344

0fuji Noburo uSz 0gata Ken 190,266,2s9

no higehi(1946) lt4-15,250

280

NakagarniKenil ?9,274 Nakahara Shun zzz-zg Nakahira

Nihon Nihon l{ihorr Nibort

t79

0e Kenzaburo

249

97, to8, lo9, 213

Nnga.lvr sbinsbi-roku ll5,

NakaboriMuao 244 Nakadai Tatsuya t29, 210,

zz3

Nighl of lhe Galav, Railroad zs(t Night Rilu t6o Nigblittgule 94 lVigorie t+l Nihorr kctiho sensut: Sanizuka no ncttsu

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Nagaru'u,

)brm

i00,280

z3

/[1.1'57^' of RurnPo,

45, 197-98, 199,

187, 190,275

Nippon nankyohu tankeil

241

t26,219

Okiura Hiroyuki 27

4 249

zs6

0kiyana Hideko 239 0kochi Denjiro 65, 69-70, 12,13.280 )hoto and Sasuke 94

)kubo Kyosbi no hanzai

221

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Pale Flou,er zo4,zqt

ratsageki zt

pan-shot 3F40 Passing Fanc1,

Repcnt U,n7,125,t27

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2t5-t6,258 Resm,oir Dogs 222,223

Okuyama Kazuyoshi zt8,zzl

Pathd zt,

0kuzaki Kenzo z5t

Pebble b.1'the Wa1tsifu,

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Onna ga kaidan uo nobont

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tz7,z9o

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tsuni

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OsawaYoshio tos

0shii Mamoru 256, z65,ztz Oshina Nagisa 45, t6t, 19{203, 2t2, 22t,

Ril,u

0shima Nagisa (DVDlVideo Guide) 268, 27

2.

27 5, 27

)sone-he no

256

Robe, The

Go

Prohino

n-tl,

2{21, 215-16,

Pure

Inue

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64

Otani Takejiro

Quiet Life, 64

195

138,

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Rashomon 47

278

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Rebellion t&,t65,zqz Record of a Lidng Being, The 161,173,

27

0, 2l t,

27

3,

21 5, 21

6, 217, 283, 286, 289,

290

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32,85-90,281

Pain. SreScoutman.

(Page of

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See

the

49

251,282

Gmtleman

Masaru z9t

l16,

SakamotoJunii 229 Sakarnoto Ryuichi zz9 Sakarnoto Sumiko t89, 256, 282 Sakamoto Takeshi 58,276,286 Saki Ryuzo 289 Sakuma Yoshiko zls

Sahura

283

Bat, The 69,zzj

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38

Reiniger, Lotte

252

roika

zo3

Renoir,Jean 84,93

253

sono 221-28 soruja 196 Samma no aji fi9,tzLzt,tz4,z65 Sarnurai 284 Sakura no Sama

Red

Rutgohu

Saito

81, 131, t32,217

Torajiro 54,t39 Sakai, Furank 185

Ou,l t5t

Red

Saito

dnraibu zz9 ln?xa Ichiro zlt,ztl

Saito

25-27,38, 99, I 16,258

Record of a Tettemmt

t42,t43

Saihaku ichicla,i

256

realisn I l-12,

zt7

Saigo no

138, 139, 170, 228, 2l 5,282

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235

Keiii

265, 259,

Sado ztz Sae Shuichi zM Saga Michiko zt t SaiYoichi zo3,z3z

Ranpo zt9 Ran 102,175,226,282

0towa Nobuko

)ur

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231

Rampling, Charlotte

)tosan 464t )toshiana ototo t5l

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0sugi Ren 22t-22 0,uiet Duel, The zsz

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153

60

Osugi Sakae zM

Rohugalsu no

The.

z4s

Purple Hood, The: Woodbloch

37-.39, to9

45,46,77,85, l5o,

Rohudenasbi zo3

195

Pudovkin Vsevolod Punishmant

)loko uta tsuraiJ,o 209 )tomegokoro sannin shimni Otorno Katsuhiro 256, 257,265

Z4

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z4g

asa

1soshih.i 2t8, 230-3t, zl I

148

178

Roberts, Stephen

188, 281

Princas Mononohe 256, 257, 282 Princas Yang Ktei Fei, The Bt,z8z Profound Desire of the Gods, The t?s49

9, 280, 28t, 287, 290 III

Bildge

234

Road to Etmtit1,, The zl4 229

Promise zM

232,249,254

119

t78,259

Prhtcess

34

230,287

Rfu,r K, The

259

1saha

zz4

Riuer Fuefuki, The tM

Potemhin 88,248 preserrtational ethos

Nata t49 Elegl 8l,82, z8l )saka no yado 49,51,135,136

281

Riuer Without a

Pontographers, The

Osada

Rimbaud, Arthur

3o

Poisonous htsects

za

250

93

Ring ua Rio Brauo

EdgarAllan 2t8

Uochi

Storm

ke Actor's

175, 283

Rikugtn Nahano gakko t6z

tl

256

Pokdmon Police a6

0sanai Kaoru

Ribm guizi

182

Shohei 153, 270,217 Origirt of Ser, The tSt Orizuru ]sm 83 66

Attgust

Rihytt t02,t96,283

A

Monstm

Poisoned

248

Ooka

Otphans of tbe

Rhapsody in

Rikugun

Plal'er, The t9t Pleasura of fue flab, Tbe Pochet

tlg

Ra,en ge of Yuhinojo, TIte.

Rerarye, An.

Night Bt

Pilgrimage at

Poe,

23

Onuma Tetsuro

macbi t45

Pmsion Mimosa l4 Pictu,res at an Erbibition zS4 Pigs and Battlahips rll,25o

Place in, the Sun,

V

Ra,utge of Tarzan, The

233

Pitfall rls

zzs

Atoga

68

Pisutoru Goto Sbimizu Sadakichi

z3

l5l,28l

Onoe Kikugoro

Resnais, Alain 150,243 Raurrection 30.40

tr ,t

Pett itsutuartzu: borysp'Lt no

255

Arc Gettnation of Tattooed lllut 180 Arc Thousand and Arc Nights tsz One Wondnful Sundaj, 2s1 One's Ouytt

z6

Peerless

24s

ethos ll-12, 26-27,

representational

-58, 124

57

Manji

See

zz5

Samurai,4ssassin 284 Samurai Banners 284 Samurai Rebellion. fu, Rebellion. Samurai Saga t73,284

313

221,257 She and He 193,285 She Was Like a Wild Cln'santhemum t42 hachiban shokan: bolryo) 151 Sheidi gurobu zZ5 Sanjuro 72,172,284 Shiba Ryotarg 203,208 Sano Shuji t42 ShibakiYoshiko za3 Sano Tetsuro 256 Shibata Tsunekichi 17, Sanshiro Sugata 93,t67, t79,284 Shibuya Minoru 94 Sarchiro Sugata, Part Tuto 106,284 Shichinin n0 samurai 133,17F11,285 Sansho the Bailifi (Sansho dayu) l3l, 132, Shiga Naoya 68, 2M shigehara Hideo t22 Saraba itoshiki dnichi z1g Shigeta Shigemori 283 Sararimanh,oshitsu zzg ShiinaRinzo ll8 SasakiYasushi 109 Sbikamo karra u,a 1,uhu 7) Sasame yu,ki t59,z7g Sbiki no aiysp, t8Z SataniAkiyoshi zzo Shima n0 ,nnq 40 Sato Kenji 254,257-58 ShinazakiToson 28,60 Sato Koichi zZz Shimazu yasujiro 38,4il8,91 Sato Makoto zSo Shinizu Hiroshi 44,51-54,96, ll0, z34,z3} Sato N{asaru 273,218,283,284 Shir'izu Kunio 193,285

San tai yon ekkusu ju-gatsu Saniltkan 8 (Sandakan

18, 26

123

Sato

Tadao 27,29,72,8F81, 125,221,232, Shimizu Takashi

218

oten

252

238,241

Shimokawa

39 SawamuraSadako zzz SaJ,onara CP 250 Scanckl zaS Haruko

Sawanrura

Tbe 208

wilherm

Schwartz,

Robert

Scorsese,

Martin

Scott,Ridrey

Buraikan,

3e

'tt6'/ov

229,285 152 249 Season of the Sun 153 Segawa Hiroshi 196,290 Sei no hagayaki 34-35 Sei no kigut l5l Seikatsusm ei-bi-sbi gt Sehtut no umi 249

Scoutman Sea and Poison, Tlte Su of Youth

t57

Sekikawa

Hideo

l7l,

263,269,?79,

t45

Seil to Chibiro no kamikahusbi

Shin baka Sbin heike

tt6 monogatari z1l

Sleeping

Nigbt (Sukinresu naito) 228 Man, The z3s

sbin Takaraiima

Flurq'

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Sohohu 91 Soldirs at the Fronl to4

zS6

sbittju

ni

Sorto otoho kyobo

zm1,a

lo9

tsuh.i zzt

73

269

Koch[,ama 72,73

Road

.38,4o-41, 45,46,77,85,

Sounds of the

Mounlain

Jwtice

64

za

Battlahip Yctmato

Spirited Auta1,

255

206,269

204-8 ,236,269,

Star Atblete,

A

Steamboat

Willie

Steamboy

256

Stein, Gertrude

234

53

252

S6

Stenrberg,Josefvon

Shirueihi Ebangeliort

Storm Ater

255

19

248

'4sia Storyfrom Cbikamatsu,

254

253

256

Stevens, George tsz

A

Akihito zz9 Shirai Kanzo t7 Shirai Marsujiro 37-38 Shirakasa yoshio 272

hostitute

Story of a Storyt

sl pltrting weeeb, The 57,27t,286

The g9-tw Storl' of tbe 84,

l0l,

ktst Cbrysanlhemum,

A

Straigbt-fontard Bot,,

56

Dog 119,286 Street of Mastdas Samurai, The 66

Stray

Street of Sbame. See Red Ligbt District.

Shochiku 37-38,4346,2t6 Shogun lemitsu and His Mnttor Hikozaemon roz 153

Street

of Violarce t46

Street u'itb tbe Cupola,

Strike

The 86

?s

Strindberg, August

85

SturJmt uon Prag,

Der

Ghibli

s6

sbontbtgeki 41,48,116-19,237,244,219

Studio

Shortm

Subarasbiki nichiJ,obi zst

zoo

285

Shumpu

dut

zs6

Shunkfusbo: )hoto to Sasuhe Sica, Vittorio

SugaiKin

234

255

230

Sugata Sansbiro

Sbubun

de ll5

The

102,286

Story of tbe hJ,ol Dog, Hachiho, The 2r4

Sho u,o sute1,o, macbi e cle1,s 2t

clnizensbu

132, 133,

286

Story of Tanh Commanclm NLsbizttmi,

Shizuhanaseihatsu z3l Shizukanaru ketto zgz

Shou,a haTo

l3l,

t62,286

Shiota

heya

The t%

Oatructiort

of ,lllied

Songs

223, 225, 286

t62

ShinozakiMakoto 24Cl'1,280

Shoheirto

242

Loue zz9 Sonatine (Sonachine) zzt, Some Kincln,

Spider and the Tulip, The

13 216,242 253

to5 1U,273,282 Su,enSamurai 133,17v11,285 Satmth Heaum z9 Shadnu, of China z4o Sbadnu,s of tbe Yoshiu,ara 89 Sbady Groue 225 Shaha ns sbakaimono t46,l5l-52,166 Shakespeare, William t56 Sball We Dance? 228,285 Sbane 49 Shara z4z Sbarahu, zog Sharasoju z4z Sbaru ui dnrwu 228,285

274

Shinii 226-27 Somaucln monogatari Sonrai

Space

amijima

Shinsutptnti

196,203,

A

Soldier's Prayer,

160, 178,259

?55

Shinoda Masahiro 80,82, z7z,z8l

7s

145

hariba no ahebono 3l

Soga kl,odai

Sosbun

shinhohugehi 6+65

77,

248

Countn,(Oba Hideo) r79 Srtltt, Countn, (Toyoda Shiro) n7,286

Srtott:

Soutbmt

Shinohara Tetsug

2t9

Counfi' (lshirnoto Tokichi)

Snou:

Soshm

t!{::#t#:ffiii;:iT:#KlrT'

Shinju ten no

A

Snake ofJune,

Sontag, Susan 26, z9

Sa{o no meri kuri,sumosu 221,226,219 Shirano Butjiro 173 Smso to beiu,a I10, I Shirato Sampei 254 SentoTakenoi ShiroMasa'rurrc 256,212 Seo Mihuyo ShishidoJo z9r Seoul Shitamacbi gg Seppuku Sbitsurahum Z3Z

314

Skinless

Sono

jirtai

Zl0,Zl8,Zlg,Z8l shingeki z7,zy3z Shingun gt

tsuma)

Seisbun Seishun zankoku monogatari

268

138,

130, 160,

230,285

Souls on tbe

rgr,zt..,z6g

Seisaku's Wife (Seisaku no

ShiniuraTakashi

Lusitanin 2tl Gion 62,81,82,83,

Sislers of the

Song of Bu,ana Toshi,

ZZ_23,24,7144

t!"(:"u{Yr:f;r,:i,

221

zz5

of

The t55

Sonezaki

282,2g5,286

Scandalous Aduentura of the schnidtbaum,

sbimpa,influence

Sin,

Sinking of the

94

93,

16l, 119,2&

SugiiGisaburc 256 Sugimura Haruko 36, l19, 269,271,277,2U Sugiyama Kohei 88, 212,218,282

Sugiyama

Miuami

z4s

SuicirJe Trolps oJ'tbe Watchtoua',

Tbe tt3

Michio tsz,273 shiraito 79-so,8l

Throne of Blood, The

Tahi no

Tltrotr Attctl, lbur Books,l,et's Go ittto the Streets ztz

hornu zt9 Sukuoku z4

Takiguclri Yasuhiko t64, t65,213

Summer Clouch zsl Sutnnter in Nariltr:TIte Front LbteJbr the Liberstion ofJafan 249

Tules of the Tuira

TamakiKoji

Sttntmer.lis/a' 201 Sttmmu'Solclius t96 J'an s Bm'iaL the t96,nl

Tarnura

Siuito

Tale of

Jirn

lr

Stut's Legud al the End of tbe Tokugctuut Period. See Jzol's Legancl, The.

Sunless

otnt6

Street

195,290

146

Sunrire 29 Suo Masayuki zza, ztls Sultuntarkel Woman (Supa no onna) 230

boi zsi

Sutirn

Ckut

zg7

r29

Tampopo 230,281 Tarnura Masaki z4o, z4t,

Taijiro

153

Toda Shigernua,

Tanaka Kinuyo 46, ll9, 128, 130, l3l, l 5 l, 266, 271, 277, 279, 285,389, rgo

77

Suzuki

Koji

z70,Jlt,286,

288,291

Tanaka Tsumhiko

Tohkankozo

6g, zz4,'2:t5

fange Sazctt )tlttvt: hi,nkuman no ilo

lsubo

Suutllou,tuil Su,eel

Honte

Tanikawa Shuntaro

157

Tokyo

Bay

Tohyo

boshoku

Tok1,o

Difter

Sl,ntlthony

heitui

in Grq,

206

Tonoko

Tabiynkusba

tctchimcurari

z4

Taguchi Oson

36

240

filn in

Tengoku Tenjo

to

See

32,.3S

Ta*osei

234

Tessier,

Tezuka

270

zlt

Takarnine Hideko

127, 128,

t1t,r42,t43,

,ztg,28g,2go

TakechiTetsuji 209-10 Takekura,be 49, 50, 135, 1.36

Tonr

195, 205, 207, 208, 240, 165,

267, 268, 269, 273, ?l 4, 217, 281, 2S2, 3go

Takenaka Naoto

zss

saibnn

157-58, 188

t65

e

Siblirtgs

biuur zot

236

u'(nt 2ll r'tPttk.u

Toler, Emst

2t6

Tomiyanra Katsue

z7z

212

Tonari no Totoro 256,219 Tonari no I?rc-chan

harau,nkt 223 Shuji 208, 2u,,275

4J

Gigio 156 Toru tto o u'ofumu otoko-tachi Topo

102, 195-96, 265,210,

Tora-san: It's Tough Being a

zo9

Lilia, Tbe t4i

Tou'er of

Toun of Lot,e attd Hope,

254

0sarnu 254-55

Shiro

Toyoda

Studmts

Transfer

Traueling Actors Trichl,

A

196

46, 136, r37, 279,286 234

92

Girl So Watrs

Troubled

t41

Truffaut, Frangois t9z See Crazecl

Fnit.

h'ansiail Life ztl See Wbere

Tsubaki

Sat{uro lz, nz,zs4

Tsuboi Sakae Cbinmq,g

Are Seen.

uith tllaiden Hearts [hree Treasura, Tlte 178 Tlmee Sisters

106,288

lllan

Torikaeko z3t

Atomu

Chirnzalc

zStt

85

Tonioka Taeko 206, 269, Tonita Tsuneo 93,284

9s

254

Th* Scorchirry Seu. Three

Tok1,o

Tokys

Third ztz T'ltis

Tokl's )\1'ntPiacl

Tohyo 6s

Thne Wt$ u Fathu tos TltE Who Step on the Tiger's Tctil to6,zas Thick-Vhlled Roont, Tbe t63 Tbief of Bagdnd, TIte 9q

135

290 51,216

Trial, The t6s Tok1,s Tu,iligbt tzz, 289

Ma,r t46

Tetsuuan

uum :tvtdo

Tok1,o Stot'1, 36,lzo, 125, 186,204,

283, 290

zs6

t.33,

heiko-eiga

Banzai Tutno no boshi t4o Tensbi no

no

Tokyo no

Toh.to

168, 274

Tetstro 219,281,259

Takenitsu

281

180, 288

Tokyo

tctil,ozoku 153,258 TakahashiAkio 276 Takahashi Hideki l8l, TakahashiTeiji 256

27r,271

A

zz3

Tenno Heika

Tmranh.ai no

120, l15, 186,204,

288

154

jigoku

Tenkatsu

7a

Tohlo n(q1urenturc Tok1,o

Teslrigahara Hiroshi

TakaniJun

Tokyo

230,2s7

bakaba tg6,z8l hisetru t53 Tail,o rto nai macbi t46 Taiyo no

Takakura Ken

ltlarigokl nt monogatari 36,

Sajiki ztz

Terayama

43-46

fqi:1,o rto

Hajine

llurcb

Tokyo

Tokyo senso settgo

"

Imka Taeihih.i

Taifit kurabu zz(' Taii no ntusurne 30 Taikatsu 33,35-31 Taira CIan Saga See Sbin Heihe lllonogatari.

Takaiwa

Lullaby zt6

Tokto

tsttnagu ho-ra l()4 television, effect on film industry 171-78 Temple of the Goklm Pafiliort, TIte. See

Tengan Daisuke

Taboo SeeGohstto.

Taisho era,

Tok.to

3S,85

"tendency films

zz7

Pao-JiartgHu

Tabisttrtt

h_yockti 236

Conflagration.

gz

oku ]s

Tok1,6

Te tt,o

Tbe n9,287

122,289

180.288

104

Tateoka Kennosuke 79

A

.16

145

220, 225,230

91. 95, 98-99,

t7()

21t

Tok1,o koshirtk.t

l,

I

to4

Teil Dark Wornen Tabata

36, 86,

lhkuzct

6o

Tokunaga Sunao

Tming Womcm's Retum,

219

Su,ord of Doorn,

Tokuda Shusei

zsz

t62,209,278,279,280

s-7 9

s6

Taniguchi Senkichi

Tayama Katai

zz5

7

Tokunaga Bunroku

7z

Ta.ring Wornan,

Suzuki Shigekichi 9t Suzukita Rokuhei 64

zulnmu-tuchi tsl

ko k.t'ok-yoku

Tohijiro of Kulsuhake: Lone

Tatuhutt 1s3,267.

Tohoktt no

Tanaka TomoyLrki zt4

Tomotaka tctsuke t9

l8ml,

Suzuki Seijun

132,

Tokai

Tasaka

218

277

k.)'ocltti to5 Tobo sen'ichitut t52

Tanaka Suntie n7,z1 t,zl7

Tarantino, Quentin

Suzuki Kensaku

235

Tocln-he no

Sttzaku

241,242,281

D'ennt

lo

fur Samurcti. Die na Tocqueville, Alexis de lo Tiichter

Tanitt no kao 195,270 TanizakiJun'ichiro 16, 19, 33-34,

46

To Sleep so cu

z4z, zt 4

271,286

Suwa Nobuhito 24243, 211) Su,u'aroteiru 225 Suzaki Paraclise-Red Lighl Dislrict ts4

Suzuki Denmei

143

Titruic zn

Tanaka Eizo 34-35,221 Tanaka Keiichi tsS

Legend, The tts, tg6

Suna no

Tiga lllan. The za Till We trleet Again t47 Tinter of|oJ,and Sonou'

Gutji, The 6l,rls

Tamura Takahiko

tl

Sun's Coronu, Tbe

tl3-t4,zu

Takeyama

Tsttchi to 64

145,289

Tsuchi 86,94,t05,249

Heitai

99

Tsuchinoto Noriaki

249

Tsuchiya Shoiu 2l

315

Tsugrwa Masahiko

l6ti

182,

Vidot,

TsuiitaJun'ichi t.ll Tsukarnoto Shinya ll9, ll9, ts7.189 Tsukrua Yoko :lo, 177. 281. l8{ Twki u'u dotchi ni deleiru t3l Tsukigata Rvunosuke

Iisumt

65

127,

lltt

Wtontn ol'Tok.yo tgo ltrlontnr Who Toucbetl lhe Legs, The Girl Wbo Touchecl His Legs. The

t.l+

oJ'Dreuns ztJ

l'illuge

l16

Tsunt to btru no lotti 60, lsunu-mono, defined Il7

King 97

Vigo,Jean

l'illuge T'elcher, A +l I'iolertce ul Nootr 100, 190 l'iolent (,:olt lzl

llbnett

l'itul

World War II, films durirrg 9(r_l06

17,

Koji

Tsuruya Nanrboku l7 Tsuvuguchi Shigeru ls9

lATtgt

lidlighlslorlt' Tirirr

See

oulh

Wakarnalsu

tt

'fu'o lYit'es.SeeW'ile. Be Like

t

Club

T.l,phootr

Tontu

senktrt lhmulo Lleda Akinari .36. 289 Ueda Hoteikan t9 Llchu

Llekusa Keinosuke

Miho

.tu, t.to,

t.il,

sz, zs6

[/nrurele u'n milu keredo 180

Yoko 28, ul, ls6 LInre),a Shokichi .tt Umi to clokututhu I5l Unl14i l90,ll6 Llniler lhe fuutner oJ'fumurni

Utrletmed 60, t26 [hlensbtt Eikichi

tlnlil

lbe Du.ylV'e

Llrabe

Kunteko

Kirio

onna) I10, 1.30, tllsuhushii nulsu Kirishimu JtJ wo nregLrru gonin no

(llsuhushisu lo kanashitni

to

)05

199

lline

Dziga

316

28t)

:z-zt)

W'ife, Be

llt)

lt

u

Rose 6o,ll7,

See

J+.9

J3o

190, 145. 251, 2u9

llislress.

ll8

The

LiJb nt Wl[ to Lire 14.]

W'ild

97

Beuult'and Sorrol/' lo5 W'ilhoul illemorl' )q+15 lAolf Bfigade, The ts6 Wbman

in

tbe

rro Gottztr

lo8,l7l

Toshio

I1.1, 1.16,

Io.johurr

1.17,

liil l'+

lti6

lj l. lll, I'r, l'9,

fusumu tro uruburi )lo

YokonriLsLr

It?

Tbe

Like

I.i.i, ll.{,

1.39-10. l.{1.

lbki-bi r3l,lrl

Wilh

)khrcntu

Iribralor

initial

Seen I llJ, 135

Wild Gee'^e

1.10.

lbjimbo

Whteiiill SeeWrler

Win14s

Vurietti 9l

\'fu

gz

lV'hite Th'earLs o.l the

Robert WlJt l16

ll+

Ibidore lensbi ll6. t69 65.6s. l7l-7.j, lfiq. 190

tt5

Ntm{/

Wiene,

1.96

l.i.i.

18l. i8+, 286, 2tt9. 190

lYbere Cbitnnel's Are

tlltrlqicitnt.

77

Ihri

l-'7.

l5+

Yoda Yoshikata 78, .sl,

190

Kivohiko .ts, qt Ulunmo uul Hi,t Fire lYonten (Utanraro

Vertov,

25J

9l Womnn AscenrLs lhe Sluirs l2l.

u

I

Yanaginrachi Xilitsuo Ylusunti

vorr

Wltrtl illarle Her Do W'hen

Lishih'.rra

llury4eunce Is

266

von {l

William

Toyoko

Yamazaki Tsutornu

rri-sui

lour

Whul Is

ileelAguitt l+l

65,

Yanrazaki

:+.1

Western influences,

s6

J22

Watanabe tr4akiko

Welhnen,

6a

Yoii

\':rnranaka Sadao

Itnuilo :ttkuru )l Yanrazaki Kuuo l7.l

Jttlt

I08

Yamanroto Shugoro :s.i

Fumio l8o Vatanabe Ken l.ll

Wedekind,l'rmz

ts of' ll I u rder

lol,

Yanranrr-rto

166,166

lVhule. The tsz

See h r I en t i ot

15,{, I60.166 .14,

Wtu'tri lurlsu ltodo l'olau nemuru lVtsei kenku lomodtlclti 56

Webern. furton

2s+

Fuiiko

Yanranroto Salstro I l()

Weber, Karl Nlaria

[hulercurrenl t6o tltulyitrl4 Peurl st,s3

Yusaku I l3

Yanraguchi Yoshiko :ss Yrmamoto Kaiiro

235

Weuld. Tbe 2q)

Llnrenrura

Urayanra

Yarnagata

ltt3

ltktler llulqiciutt, Tbe 7r)+o,tl,16l, tti6

r75

66

Yanngata Docunrentan, F'ilm Festival :5t

Yamanroto

furcru

lVtrksbi uur

45, 57-59,96.

Yoji s7 Itaro

Wunn Currenl 9,i (\'oshinura), t6t (Masunrura)

WatariTetsuya

Hero. The

lttT

Yuniaganri

aul Petce lllt, lll

W'uruu

lst

l8l,l7l,l7lt,ll3l,

Yrrnada Nobuo lo7

Wtr trl Set fi'om Hauuii lo,lltlu.lvt.'lhe

t22,211

[hritulerl

Koichi

Yanrada

Watarrabe

Desi re

81. 128, 1.i7,

lrJ6, ln9

9q

Wt ul Siet, The

t)2.l(13

t I r r ho[.t'

6q

lA?r

281

Miho

olo

Isuzu

J55

t1+

Llnrentura

ITttttrt tto Yanrada

l0l-.1, l0s

Ukikttst tttotrol4ulttt'i

1.10,

)7t, )jJ.

t49

Uhiguttto lJl

(ltttl

157, 160, 16l, 165,

ll5, )2t,22+

Pupers. TIte llL).121,166

Yamada

l3l,llt9

ttkiktrsu

Inku:t

lVandufirru ruilir tq+. 265 Wttnderers.I'he 157 W'rrnderin14 Perkllers. The tqo

Ugelsu ([getsu Nlonogatari) Utrquisu

Koji ll0

218, t64, 167, 168, r70,28s

Yanrada Mir.sahiro zo4

lst

Ueda Keinosuke

Llenrura

66, 179, l()9,

Walt Disney ts;

27s

.37, 51, n6,

94

YagiYoshitaro l50 lTrju rro sei.thurt 291

Koii

Raoul

Walsh,

Rose

kuroneho l5l

Vthu:rt

ilo vtme IJJ

Wrkorlo

lz(t

Uchida Hvakken Llchida

Yada Tsuneko

378, lS.i

fu'o People ul Dojo Tenple

no

driho tql

Yakuslro

Avako

Wakao

179

Duo

Inbure

9+

hito

WLrkai

l09

l.t7

oJ'K1,olo

Sislers

2/Dtro

I

r57. r59. 166,267. r70,

jinsei viuku tto loki Xs Wtttl4u seishtm ni kui tutshi llt.luo lVuirurlo rrifu tt4

T'unt li5 Tu'enlt-Fotr Eyes l{5, lttg Tu'enly-I'eur-0lcl

nrftt

Yubu tto Wada Natto rsr-r5.i, llr0

I.13,llJ4

2to

'i7.s5

Tsunriki N'liho ztg Tsuruta

lhe

Heigltls tos

ltilr lberi ng

l8

lbrr llorgetn bis Ililletuuchl

l6o

lVil4bl n6, l.to.l9o

Workl o|Geisba.

Jtg, Js9

Vitrucope

Gin::u

oJ lhe

Wbmen of'tbe

See

Dunes I95,l9tt

Wotrtutt oJ'Puri.s.

A

lS,4ll,

195

Riichi sr

l+,.it Yorrki-no-Kai 165 lbrokobi no kuttusltitni mo ikulosltilsuki Yokota Einosuke

14.1

Ibru Ibru Ioru loru Ibru Ibru

cho 160 kuuur 160 trc nagare lJ7 no onnu-lrcbi ll6, l9o no

no

rto su{yuo l60 no lsu:utrti l+8 Yoshida Akio ll7 Yoshidr Kiiu l9l, 20.3-4 Yoshida Shigenr I 14 Yoshikawa

Eiii

183, 2lt7

YoshinriYutaka 24s YoshimuraJitsuko l5l, lti7, 2sl yoslrinrura Kozaburo 4+.46,()t). t04, 160-61

l0lJ.

Yoshinaga Yoshizawa

Sayuri 27s Shokai 26,3t

Young People

94

Youngu Brotbr t5i Ibuth tst Youth of tbe Baast 290

Yuki

zs6

Yuki Saori t3l Yukiguni (lshimoto

Tokichi) z4B Hideo) r79 Itukigtmi (Toyoda Shiro) Bt.286 I\&ittojo burye 156,265 lukisada lsao zz9 I\tki"1,ukite sbingurt z5o Itume n5,269 Ifume mint to ni nettturitai zl5 lfureisut 252

I7&igtni

Ituriika

(0ba

zz5,27o

Itusbu heiyct

t3l

lTtuutkusba

229

Zangiku monogatar? 84, 101, toz,

ktrtjitr zantba ken

zs6

66

Ztloichi (Kitano) zzz, zgr Zatoichi ntonogatarz

(Misumi)

zzz, zgt

Zatoichi:The Life and )pinions oJ' llasseur lcli (Misumi) zz?,zgt Za u'a - zatttA Shim

okitnzaua

231

Zensbitt shosetsuka z5t

Zigomar

9z

Zoku Sugata Sanshiro Zola, Emile

106,284

85

Zucknayer, Carl Zukor, Adolph

ss

zs

317

Tlre nrajority of film stills in this book are taken from Donald Richie's

The Japanese rtlouie (Kodansha Intemational, revised edition). Many of these were in tum obtained from the Donald

Richie collection of Japanese

film stills in the Museurn of Modern Art, New York; those

.rdded

Htndrecl Yesrc of Japunese Filnt were supplied by Bitten Erd.,)kaai; Gunro Productions, Frz Festfu,al,The PIan oJ'o Nilrcteert-l7ar-0ld; Ichikawa Ju't, D.1,irtg at u Hospital, for A

Tok.t'o

Siblings; Itami Productions,Tlte Funa'al,Tarnpolto;Oguri Kohei, Tbe Sleepittg

trfudtl1, Riuer;Osltitna Productions/Shochiku,

lltut,

Gohatto; Shochiku, Berjing Watumeloz; Somai

Shinji, lllottirtg,Tl,phoon Club; Studio Ghibli, Prhrcess tllortonoke @ 1997, Nibariki-TNDG; The Kawakita Memorial Foundation, T'be Chern, A'chard, Duo, Hattabi,Japartese Girls at lhe Harbor,The Stut's

Legud,suzaku,lliu

LiJb,Maboroshi;

There's Enteryrise,

lnc.,lrilctl

@

2004 SHIMA TSUMMOTO/MIJru THF.ATER; TV Man Union, Inc., DLsturtce @ Distrtnce Prcject Team All Rights Reserved, Nobodl' Krtous @ 2004 Nobodl'

Kttlu's Production Committee

All Rights Reserved; W0W0W, Helpless O W0W0W and Bandai Visual, Ri1,u @ WOWOW and Bandai Visual.

(lt;ihlilift r s

Xfi m r".{

}."

A Hundred Years ofJapanese Filrn /Revised 1127

l; ft {i 'ftlit;ft

l.'J-;t, l-'' 'Iruryx /i

ttli

and Updated

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200s+ s

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