is a 1941 Japanese

comedy-drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

film written and directed by Hiroshi Shimizu. It is based on the short story ''Yottsu no yubune'' (四つの湯槽, lit. "The four bathtubs") by

Masuji Ibuse was a Japanese author. His most notable work is the novel '' Black Rain''. Early life and education Ibuse was born in 1898 to a landowning family in the village of , which is now part of Fukuyama, Hiroshima. Ibuse failed his entrance exam to ...

Plot

A diverse group of people is staying at a remote spa, including grumpy professor Katada, who regularly scolds young husband Hiroyasu for not being strict enough with his wife, an old man with his two grandsons Taro and Jiro, and soldier Nanmura. When Nanmura steps on a

kanzashi are hair ornaments used in traditional Japanese hairstyles. The term refers to a wide variety of accessories, including long, rigid hairpins, barrettes, fabric flowers and fabric hair ties. In the English-speaking world, the term is typica ...

, a woman's ornamental hairpin, in a well, he has to extend his stay. After the owner of the hairpin, Emi, a former resident, is located, she returns to the spa to apologise. Together with Taro and Jiro, she supports Nanmura with his daily exercises to regain his health. Although Emi and Nanmura share an unspoken mutual affection, they both know that their time together is finite: Nanmura will have to return to the military service, while Emi, a

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 ...

who has fled her patron, faces an uncertain future.

Cast

Kinuyo Tanaka was a Japanese actress and film director. She had a career lasting over 50 years with more than 250 acting credits, but was best known for her 15 films with director Kenji Mizoguchi, such as ''The Life of Oharu'' (1952) and ''Ugetsu'' (1953). W ...

as Emi *

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 Takeshi Nanmura *

Tatsuo Saitō was a Japanese film actor and director. He appeared in more than two hundred films between 1925 and 1967. Career Saitō joined Nikkatsu studios, where he made his film debut in 1925, before moving to Shochiku two years later. He appeared in many ...

as Professor Katada * Shin'ichi Himori as Hiroyasu * Hideko Mimura as Hiroyasu's wife * Kanji Kawahara as the old man * Jun Yokoyama as Taro, grandson of the old man * Masayoshi Ōtsuka as Jiro, grandson of the old man * Hiroko Kawasaki as Okiku, Emi's geisha friend *

Takeshi Sakamoto was a Japanese actor. He appeared in more than 100 films from 1926 to 1965. Selected filmography External links * 1899 births 1974 deaths Japanese male film actors Actors from Hyōgo Prefecture {{Japan-film-actor-stub ...

as spa owner * Kōji Matsumoto as staff manager * Munenobu Yui as Toku, a masseur * Tsuneo Ōsugi as Tsune, a masseur * Kayoko Terada as maid

Reception

Upon its initial release (at the height of the Sino-Japanese War and shortly before Japan entered

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

), critic Akira Shimizu attacked ''Ornamental Hairpin'' as a "la-di-da" film in times when

film stock Film stock is an analog medium that is used for recording motion pictures or animation. It is recorded on by a movie camera, developed, edited, and projected onto a screen using a movie projector. It is a strip or sheet of transparent p ...

was precious.

Legacy

Film scholar Alexander Jacoby describes ''Ornamental Hairpin'' as one of Shimizu's "richest and most complex achievements" which "boasted outstanding performances from Kinuyo Tanaka and Chishū Ryū". 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 the film in its list of the best Japanese films since 1925. ''Ornamental Hairpin'' was screened at the

Berlin International Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (german: Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin), usually called the Berlinale (), is a major international film festival held annually in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festi ...

's "Forum" section in 2004 and at the

Cinémathèque française The Cinémathèque Française (), founded in 1936, is a French non-profit film organization that holds one of the largest archives of film documents and film-related objects in the world. Based in Paris's 12th arrondissement, the archive offers ...

in 2020 and 2021.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ornamental Hairpin 1941 films 1941 comedy films 1941 drama films Japanese comedy films Japanese drama films Japanese black-and-white films Films based on short fiction Films directed by Hiroshi Shimizu Films with screenplays by Hiroshi Shimizu