, also titled ''Flowers Have Fallen'' and ''The Blossoms Have Fallen'', is a 1938 Japanese

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by

Tamizō Ishida was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. He is most noted for his 1938 historical drama film ''Fallen Blossoms'', which is now regarded as one of the outstanding works of 1930s Japanese cinema. Biography Ishida was born in Masuda (now Yok ...

, based on a play by

Kaoru Morimoto was a Japanese playwright, screenwriter and translator. He is famous for his critically acclaimed play '' A Woman's Life'' (''Onna no isshō''), which became one of the most often performed plays in post-war Japan. Biography Morimoto was born i ...

Plot

Set within a

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...

geisha {{Culture of Japan, Traditions, Geisha {{nihongo, Geisha, 芸者 ({{IPAc-en, ˈ, ɡ, eɪ, ʃ, ə; {{IPA-ja, ɡeːɕa, lang), also known as {{nihongo, , 芸子, geiko (in Kyoto and Kanazawa) or {{nihongo, , 芸妓, geigi, are a class of female ...

house against the backdrop of the 1864

Kinmon incident The , also known as the , was a rebellion against the Tokugawa shogunate in Japan that took place on August 20 unar calendar: 19th day, 7th month 1864, near the Imperial Palace in Kyoto. History Starting with the Convention of Kanagawa in 1 ...

, the film follows the lives and relationships of the women who work there, while battles rage in the streets outside as rebel factions attempt to restore the emperor's reign. Akira, daughter of the house's

madam Madam (), or madame ( or ), is a polite and formal form of address for Woman, women in the English language, often contracted to ma'am (pronounced in American English and this way but also in British English). The term derives from the French ...

Tomi, hopes to escape her milieu with the help of a young

samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They h ...

rebel whom she met. After the women witness a killing at their front door, Tomi is taken away for an interrogation by the

shogunate , officially , was the title of the military dictators of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, though during part of the Kamakur ...

's secret police and does not return. In the end, the women leave the house, with only Akira left behind, who realises that she may never see her mother and her lover again.

Cast

Ranko Hanai was a Japanese actress. Her birth name was Shimizu Yoshiko. She appeared in more than 190 films between 1931 and 1961. She died of a cerebral hemorrhage in 1961 at the age of 42. Selected filmography * ''The Million Ryo Pot'' (1935) * ''Fallen ...

as Akira * Reiko Minakami as Tanehachi * Rikie Sanjō as Tomi, Akira's mother * Kimiko Hayashi as Miyako * Rumi Ejima as Harue * Fujiko Naruse as Oshige * Chieko Ishii as Shimewaka * Ginko Ii as Okiyo * Ryōko Satomi as Michiyo * Reiko Sanjō as Otoyo * Hisako Fujita as Hinako * Kayoko Minakami as Kochō * Teruko Hamada as Mitsuyū * Mitsuko Sakai as Satogiku * Shigeko Shijin as Ochobo * Ryōko Hamaji as Abohan * Setsuko Horikoshi as Kichiya * Ayako Ichinose as Matsuba

Production

Morimoto's play had originally been written for and performed by the Bungakuza theatre troupe. The films consists of an entirely female cast, showing no male characters at all; also, all scenes are filmed solely within the geisha house, and not one single

shot Shot may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Shot'' (album), by The Jesus Lizard *''Shot, Illusion, New God'', an EP by Gruntruck *'' Shot Rev 2.0'', a video album by The Sisters of Mercy * "Shot" (song), by The Rasmus * ''Shot'' (2017 f ...

in the film is repeated.

Reception and legacy

In his 1979 book ''To the Distant Observer: Form and Meaning in the Japanese Cinema'', film historian Nöel Burch rated ''Fallen Blossoms'' as "one of the most remarkable ''community portraits'' ever filmed", and Alexander Jacoby (in ''A Critical Handbook of Japanese Film Directors: From the Silent Era to the Present Day'', 2008) titled the film the "acknowledged masterpiece" of its director. The

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

included ''Fallen Blossoms'' in its 2020 ''The best Japanese film of every year – from 1925 to now'' list. A print of the film is preserved at the

National Film Archive of Japan The is an independent administrative institution and one of Japan's seven national museums of art, which specializes in preserving and exhibiting the film heritage of Japan. In its previous incarnation, it was the National Film Center, which was p ...

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, id=0860424 1938 films Japanese black-and-white films 1930s Japanese-language films Japanese drama films 1930s Japanese films Toho films Films set in feudal Japan