Also Directed by Sadao Yamanaka
The story develops in the Tokugawa era of the 18th century, in a poor district of Tokyo, where impoverished samurai live from hand to mouth among equally poor people of lower social classes. One such ronin (masterless samurai) Matajuro, spends his day looking for work whilst his wife, Otaki, makes cheap paper balloons at home. One rainy night, Shinza, a barber, and equally penniless, impulsively abducts the daughter of a wealthy merchant, hiding her at Matajuro's home. Their desperate plan has grave consequences when a ransom attempt backfires. The film, which starts and ends with suicide, is deeply pessimistic, insisting that life in feudal Japan was hellish and short for those at the foot of the social ladder.
Based on a well-known Kabuki drama titled "Kochiyama to Naozamurai", which Yamanaka distills into a masterpiece of jidaigeki (period film) as shomingeki (everyman drama), blending the two into something he apparently had rights to entirely in Japan during the 30s. Through a series of intrigues, Kochiyama, Naojiro (who becomes Hirotaro for the film), Ichinijo, and Hirotaro's sister Onami (played by a young Hara Setsuko) all pretty much have the worst day or two of their lives.
A lost film that tells a story of Jirokichi, a notorious thief
A lost film telling a story of Jirokichi the Rat, a notorious thief
This film tells the story of a ronin's search for his parents, but primarily is a group portrait of life in a Tokugawa-era tenement.
Jirokichi the Rat is a notorious thief. While on the run from the law, he discovers an unexpectedly honourable side of himself, and maybe some form of redemption.
A tragic period film about a gangster who comes out of prison and finds it hard to find a place again in society.
Japanese historical film.
A man gets rid of a cheap pot without knowing it contains a map to a treasure. As word spreads, many join in hunting it.
