is a 1957 Japanese

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

directed by

Yūzō Kawashima was a Japanese film director, most famous for making tragi-comic films and satires. Career Kawashima was born in Mutsu, Aomori in the Shimokita Peninsula. From his youth, he suffered from a paralysis that affected his right leg and arm. He was ...

with a screenplay by Kawashima,

Shōhei Imamura was a Japanese film director. His main interest as a filmmaker lay in the depiction of the lower strata of Japanese society. A key figure in the Japanese New Wave, who continued working into the 21st century, Imamura is the only director from J ...

and Keiichi Tanaka. It was voted the fifth best Japanese film of all time in a poll of 140 Japanese critics and filmmakers conducted by the 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 ...

'' in 1999.

Plot

It is set during the last days of the

Bakumatsu was the final years of the Edo period when the Tokugawa shogunate ended. Between 1853 and 1867, Japan ended its isolationist foreign policy known as and changed from a feudal Tokugawa shogunate to the modern empire of the Meiji government ...

era (1862), six years before the shogun

Tokugawa Yoshinobu Prince was the 15th and last ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan. He was part of a movement which aimed to reform the aging shogunate, but was ultimately unsuccessful. He resigned of his position as shogun in late 1867, while aiming ...

returned power to the

Emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...

. The plot is centered around the rogue city dweller Saheiji (played by comedian

Frankie Sakai (13 February 1929 – 10 June 1996) was a Japanese comedian, actor, and musician. Career From his days at Keio University, Sakai worked as a jazz drummer at American Army camps during the Occupation of Japan, often doing comic routines with his ...

), who arrived to have fun with three friends. They visit a brothel in the Shinagawa entertainment district. After spending the night, he was forced to admit that he lacked money to pay. So he must stay in order to settle his debt. Saheiji seeks to outwit the inhabitants of a brothel in order to survive in straitened times. Meanwhile, a group of

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 ...

seek to destroy any foreigners that cross their path. Saheiji attracts all employees, from brothel owners to prostitutes, successfully resolves any disputes with clients by using his inherent brilliance, wit and fill his pockets. However, gradually it turns out that the seemingly life-loving Saheiji suffers from tuberculosis and his future is uncertain.

Notes

Parallels are drawn between the world of the samurai and the world of Kawashima's Japan. The hypocrisy surrounding prostitution, about to be outlawed in Japan at that time in 1950s Japan, the abuse of power, and financial greed at a time of crisis, are all portrayed.Moviemail catalogue, April 2013, p.13

Cast

as Saheiji *

Yōko Minamida was a Japanese actress. She was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in November 2008, and a television documentary was made about her condition and the efforts of her husband, actor Hiroyuki Nagato, to care for her. She died in Tokyo. Select ...

as Koharu *

Sachiko Hidari was a Japanese actress and film director. Life Hidari was born in Asahi, Toyama, as the eldest of 8 children. She graduated from Tokyo Women's College of Physical Education and gave her film debut in 1952 in ''Wakaki hi no ayamachi''. Betwee ...

as Osome * Yujiro Ishihara as

Takasugi Shinsaku was a samurai from the Chōshū Domain of Japan who contributed significantly to the Meiji Restoration. He used several aliases to hide his activities from the Tokugawa shogunate. Early life Takasugi Shinsaku was born in the castle town Hag ...

Nobuo Kaneko was a Japanese actor. His wife was actress Yatsuko Tanami. He appeared in more than 200 films between 1950 and 1993. Career Kaneko was a versatile character actor, playing roles ranging from comedic buffoons to hardened yakuza bosses. He is es ...

as Denbei, the owner of the Sagami-ya *

Masumi Okada was a professional actor, singer, stand-up comedian, and film producer. Also known by his nickname "Fanfan", he was born in Nice, France, to a Japanese father, Minoru Okada, who was an artist, and a Danish mother, Ingeborg Sevaldsen, who was the ...

as Kisuke *

Tomio Aoki ''aka'' was a Japanese film actor. Aoki became famous as a child actor after debuting at the age of six in silent films directed by Yasujirō Ozu. His leading role in Ozu's 1929 short comedy ''Tokkan kozo'' gave Aoki his nickname. '' I Was Bor ...

as Chusuke *

Shōichi Ozawa was a Japanese actor, radio host, singer, and prominent researcher and expert on Japanese folk art. He also founded the Shabondama-za theater company. Ozawa, who was born in Tokyo, graduated from Waseda University. He began acting after college, ...

as Kinzō, the book lender *

Shōbun Inoue was a Japanese actor. Inoue started his acting career at the Haiyuza Theatre Company. Later, he signed his contract with Nikkatsu film company. Filmography Films * ''Throne of Blood'' (1957) as Tsuzuki's messenger * ''Sun in the Last Days of t ...

as Genta *

Toshio Takahara was a Japanese actor. Notable film appearances were '' Seven Samurai'' and ''Twenty-Four Eyes''. He is also known for his role as Commander Gonpachi Edogawa in the tokusatsu superhero series ''Himitsu Sentai Gorenger''. He started his acting ...

as Kaneji *

Izumi Ashikawa is a Japanese actress. Ashikawa was called the Japanese Audrey Hepburn. In 1953, Ashikawa was scouted by director Yuzo Kawashima and joined the Shochiku studio. She made her film debut with ''Tokyomadamu to Osakafujin'' directed by Yuzo Kawashim ...

as Ohisa *

Akira Nishimura is a Japanese composer from Osaka. Biography Nishimura studied composition and musical theory on a graduate course at Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music. He also studied Asian traditional music, religion, aesthetics, cosmology and ...

as Shinkō *

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 Ki ...

as Kurazō *

Hideaki Nitani was a Japanese actor. Career Born in Kyoto Prefecture, Nitani attended Doshisha University but quit before graduating. He first worked as an announcer at Nagasaki Broadcasting Company, but in 1956 made his debut as an actor at Nikkatsu. Gaining ...

as Shidō Monta (a.k.a.

Inoue Kaoru Marquess Inoue Kaoru (井上馨, January 16, 1836 – September 1, 1915) was a Japanese politician and a prominent member of the Meiji oligarchy during the Meiji period of the Empire of Japan. As one of the senior statesmen (''Genrō'') in Jap ...

) *

Akira Kobayashi is a Japanese actor and singer. His nickname is . Biography Kobayashi attended Meiji University but left before graduating. He became an actor at Nikkatsu and made his film debut with "Ueru Tamashii" directed by Yuzo Kawashima in 1956. He so ...

Kusaka Genzui , (born Kusaka Hidezaburō; May 1840 – 20 August 1864) was a samurai of the Japanese domain of Chōshū who was active during the Bakumatsu period and a key proponent of the ''sonnō jōi'' movement. Early life He was born Kusaka Hide ...

References

External links

* * New remaster Ver(2011) http://www.nikkatsu.com/bakumatsu/english.html 1957 films 1957 comedy films Japanese black-and-white films Japanese comedy films 1950s Japanese-language films Films directed by Yuzo Kawashima Nikkatsu films Jidaigeki films Samurai films 1950s martial arts films Films about prostitution in Japan Films set in Bakumatsu 1950s Japanese films {{1950s-comedy-film-stub