(Am I Trying) (Tora-san Our Lovable Tramp) is a 1969 Japanese comedy film directed by

Yoji Yamada is a Japanese film director best known for his ''Otoko wa Tsurai yo'' series of films and his Samurai Trilogy (''The Twilight Samurai'', ''The Hidden Blade'' and '' Love and Honor''). Biography He was born in Osaka, but due to his father's job ...

and starring

Kiyoshi Atsumi Kiyoshi Atsumi (渥美清 ''Atsumi Kiyoshi''), born Yasuo Tadokoro (田所康雄 ''Tadokoro Yasuo'', 10 March 1928 – 4 August 1996), was a Japanese actor. He was born in Tokyo, and started his career in 1951 as a comedian at a strip-show the ...

. It is the first entry in the popular, long-running ''

Otoko wa Tsurai yo is a Japanese film series starring Kiyoshi Atsumi as , a kind-hearted vagabond who is always unlucky in love. The series itself is often referred to as "Tora-san" by its fans. Spanning 48 installments released between 1969 and 1995, all of the ' ...

'' series.

Plot

Torajiro Kuruma returns for the first time in 20 years to the neighborhood where he was born, Shibamata in

Katsushika is a special ward located in Tokyo, Japan. The ward calls itself Katsushika City in English. As of May 1, 2015, the ward has an estimated population of 444,356, and a population density of 12,770 people per km². The total area is 34.80 ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

, He comes back in the middle of Taishakuten temple's Koshin Shinko Festival. After jumping into the festival procession, he has a teary reunion with his uncle, aunt, and his sister Sakura. The next day, he joins his sister at her at a matchmaking meeting with the son of a company president. Tora's boorish and drunken behavior at the meeting ruins Sakura's chances of marriage. After getting into a huge fight with his uncle over his behavior at the meeting, he leaves home and heads to Nara. While there, he meets and falls in love with a young woman named Fuyuko. They return to Shibamata together and spend time together as if they were couple. At the same time, Sakura meets a print shop worker, Hiroshi. While Sakura and Hiroshi get married, Tora's relationship with Fuyuko is fleeting, as she is engaged to another man. Broken-hearted, Torajiro leaves after writing a letter of advice for Fuyuko, asking her to help take care of his sister and her new baby.

Cast

as Torajiro *

Chieko Baisho is a Japanese actress and singer. In Japan, she is well known for her performance as Sakura in the ''Otoko wa Tsurai yo'' series from 1969 until 1995. In addition, she has acted in many films directed by Yōji Yamada since the 1960s. She won th ...

as Sakura * Sachiko Mitsumoto as Fuyuko Tsubouchi *

Chishū Ryū was a Japanese actor who, in a career lasting 65 years, appeared in over 160 films and about 70 television productions. Early life Ryū was born in Tamamizu Village, Tamana County, a rural area of Kumamoto Prefecture in Kyushu, the most southe ...

as Gozen-sama *

Takashi Shimura was a Japanese actor who appeared in over 200 films between 1934 and 1981. He appeared in 21 of Akira Kurosawa's 30 films (more than any other actor), including as a lead actor in ''Drunken Angel'' (1948), ''Rashomon'' (1950), ''Ikiru'' (1952) an ...

as Hyōichirō Suwa *

Shin Morikawa Shin may refer to: Biology * The front part of the human leg below the knee * Shinbone, the tibia, the larger of the two bones in the leg below the knee in vertebrates Names * Shin (given name) (Katakana: シン, Hiragana: しん), a Japanese ...

as Kuruma Tatsuzō *

Gin Maeda (born February 21, 1944) is a Japanese actor. He had a regular role in the ''Otoko wa Tsurai yo'' films, beginning with the first in the series (1969), as Sakura's husband. Filmography Film *''Otoko wa Tsurai yo'' series (1969–2019), Hiroshi S ...

as Hiroshi Suwa * Masaaki Tsusaka as Noboru Kawamata * Gajirō Satō as Genkichi (Man at the Temple) * Keiroku Seki as Master of Ceremonies *

Chieko Misaki Chieko (written: , , , , or ) is a feminine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *, Japanese sprint canoeist *, blind Japanese computer scientist *, Japanese actress and singer *, Japanese voice actress and singer *, Japanes ...

as Tsune Kuruma (Torajiro's aunt) *

Hisao Dazai Hisao (written: 央生, 久生, 久雄, 寿雄, 寿夫, 尚雄, 尚久 or 尚勇) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *, Japanese voice actor *, Japanese government official *, Japanese baseball player *, Japa ...

as Tarō Ume (Print Shop) * Shunsuke Ōmi as Manager *

Taichirō Hirokawa was a Japanese voice actor and narrator. He was born in Tokyo on February 15, 1939, and died on March 3, 2008, in Shibuya from cancer. His death was announced at the beginning of the 2nd Seiyu Awards. Roles Film * Lupin the Third: Pilot Film (1 ...

as Michio * Fusatarō Ishijima as Michio's father * Matsuko Shiga as Michio's mother

Critical appraisal

The

Mainichi Film Award The are a series of annual film awards, sponsored by Mainichi Shinbun (毎日新聞), one of the largest newspaper companies in Japan, since 1946. It is the first film festival in Japan. History The origins of the contest date back to 1935, ...

s and the

Kinema Junpo Awards , commonly called , is Japan's oldest film magazine and began publication in July 1919. It was first published three times a month, using the Japanese ''Jun'' (旬) system of dividing months into three parts, but the postwar ''Kinema Junpō'' ha ...

chose

as the Best Actor for his role in ''It's Tough Being a Man'', and

was given the Best Director prize at the Mainichi Film Awards. The Japanese academic film magazine ''

Kinema Junpo , commonly called , is Japan's oldest film magazine and began publication in July 1919. It was first published three times a month, using the Japanese ''Jun'' (旬) system of dividing months into three parts, but the postwar ''Kinema Junpō'' ha ...

'' gives ''It's Tough Being a Man'' a rating of five out of five stars.

Availability

''It's Tough Being a Man'' was released theatrically on August 27, 1969. In Japan, the film was released on videotape in 1995 and 1996, and in DVD format in 2008.

AnimEigo AnimEigo is an American entertainment company that licenses and distributes anime, samurai films and Japanese cinema. Founded in 1988 by Robert Woodhead and Roe R. Adams III, the company was one of the first in North America dedicated to licensi ...

released the film on DVD in the US along with the other first four films in the ''Otoko wa Tsurai yo'' series on November 24, 2009.

References

External links

*
''It's Tough Being a Man''
at www.tora-san.jp (official site) {{Yoji Yamada 1969 films Films directed by Yoji Yamada 1960s Japanese-language films Otoko wa Tsurai yo films Shochiku films Films shot in Tokyo Films with screenplays by Yôji Yamada 1969 comedy films 1960s Japanese films