(English titles include: ''Growing Up'', ''Adolescence'', ''Growing Up Twice'', and ''Child's Play'') is a 1955 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

Heinosuke Gosho was a Japanese film director and screenwriter who directed Japan's first sound film, '' The Neighbor's Wife and Mine'', in 1931. His films are mostly associated with the shomin-geki (lit. "common people drama") genre. Among his most noted works ...

. It is based on Higuchi Ichiyō's 1895-1896

novella A novella is a narrative prose fiction whose length is shorter than most novels, but longer than most short stories. The English word ''novella'' derives from the Italian ''novella'' meaning a short story related to true (or apparently so) facts ...

Takekurabe , English titles including ''Growing Up'' and ''Child's Play'', is a novella by Japanese writer Ichiyō Higuchi, first published in 1895–96. It depicts a group of youths growing up in Shitaya Ryūsenji-chō, Yoshiwara, Meiji era Tokyo's red ligh ...

''.

Plot

In a downtown area of

Meiji era The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization b ...

Edo Edo ( ja, , , "bay-entrance" or "estuary"), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo. Edo, formerly a ''jōkamachi'' (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the ''de facto'' capital of ...

, in the

Yoshiwara was a famous (red-light district) in Edo, present-day Tokyo, Japan. Established in 1617, Yoshiwara was one of three licensed and well-known red-light districts created during the early 17th century by the Tokugawa shogunate, alongside Shima ...

red light district, teenage boy Shinnyo, son of a buddhist priest, helplessly witnesses not only his sister Ohana being sold as a concubine by his money-loving father, but also the fate of Midori, a neighbourhood girl to whom he has an unspoken affection, who is destined to become a courtesan like her older sister Omaki.

Cast

Hibari Misora was a Japanese singer, actress and cultural icon. She received a Medal of Honor for her contributions to music and for improving the welfare of the public, and was the first woman to receive the People's Honour Award, which was conferred posthu ...

as Midori *

Keiko Kishi is a Japanese actress, writer, and UNFPA Goodwill Ambassador. Life and career She made her acting debut in 1951. In the 1950s, David Lean had proposed her for the main role in ''The Wind Cannot Read'', which is about a Japanese language instru ...

as Omaki *

Mitsuko Yoshikawa was a Japanese actress who played in over 250 films, often under the direction of Yasujirō Ozu and Hiroshi Shimizu (director), Hiroshi Shimizu. She joined the Shochiku film studios in 1924 and gave her film debut in 1926 in ''Kujaku no hikari' ...

as Orin, Midori's mother * Zeko Nakamura as Gosuke, Midori's father *

Eijirō Yanagi (16 September 1895 – 24 April 1984) was a Japanese actor. He appeared in more than 160 films from 1940 to 1975. Career Starting out in shingeki theater, Yanagi moved to shinpa (also rendered ''shimpa'') is a form of theater in Japan, ...

as owner of the Daikokuya * Takashi Kitahara as Shinnyo * Setsuko Shinobu as Shinnyo's mother * Takamaru Sasaki as Shinnyo's father * Kurayoshi Nakamura as Sangoro *

Yūko Mochizuki was a Japanese film and theatre actress who already had long stage experience, first with light comedies, later with dramatic roles, before making her film debut. Mochizuki often appeared in the films of Keisuke Kinoshita, but also worked for pro ...

as Sangoro's mother * Takeshi Sakamoto as Sangoro's father * Akira Hattori as Chokichi *

Kyū Sazanka was a Japanese actor. Career Sazanka debuted as a singer in Asakusa is a district in Taitō, Tokyo, Japan. It is known as the location of the Sensō-ji, a Buddhist temple dedicated to the bodhisattva Kannon. There are several other temp ...

as Tatsugoro, Chokichi's father * Matsumoto Kōshirō (credited Somegorō Ichikawa) as Shōtarō * Kikue Mouri as Shōtarō's grandmother * Atsuko Ichinomiya as messenger *

Iida Chōko Iida Chōko (飯田蝶子) (April 15, 1897 – December 26, 1972) was a Japanese actress. Her real name was Shigehara Tefu. She played working class women and grandmothers, and appeared in more than 300 films. Her husband was cameraman . Biog ...

as Baayaotoki *

Isuzu Yamada was a Japanese stage and screen actress whose career spanned seven decades. Biography Yamada was born in Osaka as Mitsu Yamada, the daughter of Kusudu Yamada, a shinpa actor specialising in onnagata roles, and Ritsu, a geisha. Under her mother ...

as Okichi * Hatae Kishi * Kyū Sakamoto (uncredited)

Production and legacy

''Takekurabe'' was independently produced by Tsūjin Fukushima's company "New Art Productions", which resulted in budgetary constraints and compromises in the filming. It received mixed reviews during its initial run for being "overliterary" and the casting of pop star Hibari Misora. Film scholar

Donald Richie Donald Richie (17 April 1924 – 19 February 2013) was an American-born author who wrote about the Japanese people, the culture of Japan, and especially Japanese cinema. Although he considered himself primarily a film historian, Richie also dir ...

and Gosho biographer Arthur Nolletti later called ''Takekurabe'' an "outstanding example" (Nolletti) of the ''Meiji-mono'' (Meiji period film) and "one of the finest due to its excellent sets" (by Kubo Kazuo), "its superb photography and the nearly perfect performances" (Richie).

Awards

* Blue Ribbon Award for Best Supporting Actress Isuzu Yamada in ''Takekurabe'' and ''Ishigassen''

References

External links

* {{Heinosuke Gosho 1955 films 1955 drama films Japanese drama films Japanese black-and-white films Films based on short fiction Films directed by Heinosuke Gosho Shintoho films Films scored by Yasushi Akutagawa 1950s Japanese films