is a 1977

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

ese film directed by

Masahiro Shinoda is a retired Japanese film director, originally associated with the Shochiku Studio, who came to prominence as part of the Japanese New Wave in the 1960s. Early life Shinoda attended Waseda University, where he studied theater and also partici ...

. Its alternate English-language titles are ''Banished Orin'' and ''Symphony in Gray''. It details the life of a ''

goze is a Japanese historic term referring to visually-impaired Japanese women, most of whom worked as musicians. Etymology The ideographs for mean "blind" and "woman." The kanji are so because the individual ideograph for already existed. is m ...

'', a blind female minstrel (played by

Shima Iwashita is a Japanese actress who has appeared in about 100 films and many TV productions. She is married to film director Masahiro Shinoda, in whose films she has frequently appeared. She won the award for best actress at the 2nd Hochi Film Award for ...

, the director's wife), in early 20th-century Japan.

Cast

as Orin *

Yoshio Harada was a Japanese actor best known for playing rebels in a career that spanned six decades. Career Born in Tokyo, Harada joined the Haiyuza Theatre Company in 1966 and made his television debut in 1967 with "Tenka no seinen" and his film debut in ...

as Heitarō - Big Man *

Tomoko Naraoka is a Japanese actress and narrator. The daughter of a painter, she was born in Komagome, Tokyo, Komagome, Hongō, Tokyo, Hongō (present-day Bunkyō, Tokyo, Bunkyo), in the city of Tokyo City, Tokyo, Japan. She graduated from Joshibi University ...

as Teruyo *

Taiji Tonoyama was a Japanese character actor who made many appearances in films and on television from 1939 to 1989. He was a close friend of Kaneto Shindo and one of his regular cast members. He was also an essayist. In 1950 he helped form the film company ...

as Charcoal Man *Tōru Abe as Bessho *

Jun Hamamura was a Japanese actor. He appeared in more than 130 films between 1938 and 1995. Selected filmography * ''Wolf'' (1955) * '' The Burmese Harp'' (1956) * '' The Hole'' (1957) * ''The Temptress and the Monk'' (1958) * ''Enjō'' (1958) * ''Odd Obs ...

as Saito

Awards and nominations

2nd

Hochi Film Award The are film-specific prizes awarded by the ''Hochi Shimbun , previously known as , is a Japanese-language daily sports newspaper. In 2002, it had a circulation of a million copies a day. It is an affiliate newspaper of ''Yomiuri Shimbun''. ...

* Won: Best Actress -

References

External links

* * 1977 films Films directed by Masahiro Shinoda 1970s Japanese-language films Films set in the Taishō period 1970s Japanese films {{1970s-Japan-film-stub