''aka'' ''Tora-san's New Romance'' is a 1972 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 ...

. It stars

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 ...

as Torajirō Kuruma (Tora-san), and

Sayuri Yoshinaga is a Japanese actress and activist. She has won four Japan Academy Best Actress awards, more than any other actress, and has been called "one of the foremost stars in the postwar world of film." Career Her first media appearance was in the radi ...

as his love interest or "Madonna". ''Tora-san's Dear Old Home'' is the ninth 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, and the first to employ an opening dream-sequence, which became a standard feature of the series. It is also the first film in the series in which Tatsuo Matsumura plays Tora-san's uncle, a role he took over from Shin Morikawa who died after the eighth film.

Synopsis

Tora-san meets three women on vacation when he travels to Fukui. One of the women meets him at his home, and he believes she has fallen in love with him, unaware that she hopes to marry a potter in the countryside.

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 *

as Utako * Tatsuo Matsumura as Kuruma Tatsuzō *

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) *

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 * Hayato Nakamura as Mitsuo Suwa *

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 * Gajirō Satō as Genkō *

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 * Masaaki Tsusaka as Noboru

Critical appraisal

Stuart Galbraith IV Stuart Eugene Galbraith IV (born December 29, 1965) is an American film historian, film critic, essayist, and audio commentator. Early life and education Raised in Livonia, Michigan, Galbraith first worked professionally as a film reviewer and ...

writes that ''Tora-san's Dear Old Home'' is a "typically fine early entry in the series' run", which shows Yamada and Atsumi still experimenting with the Tora-san character and stories. Galbraith singles out Yamada's portrayal of "fleeting friendships" in this film, pointing out, "Yamada's camera lingers on little details, especially the sadness of departing trains and the pain of saying goodbye." He points out that the film is also very funny, with

performing an especially humorous scene as the Buddhist priest. The German-language site molodezhnaja gives ''Tora-san's Dear Old Home'' four out of five stars.

Availability

''Tora-san's Dear Old Home'' was released theatrically on August 5, 1972. In Japan, the film was released on videotape in 1995, and in DVD format in 2008.

References

Bibliography

English

* * * *

German

Japanese

* * * *

External links

''Tora-san's Dear Old Home''
at www.tora-san.jp (official site) {{Yoji Yamada 1972 films Films directed by Yoji Yamada Films set in Fukui Prefecture 1972 comedy films 1970s Japanese-language films Otoko wa Tsurai yo films Shochiku films Films with screenplays by Yôji Yamada Japanese sequel films 1970s Japanese films