Thousand Cranes
Cast & Crew
Yasuzo Masumura
Mikijiro Hira
Ayako Wakao
Eiko Azusa
Machiko Kyo
Yoko Namikawa
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Kikuji Mitani still recalls his father's two lovers with bitterness. When he was about 9 years old, Kikuji briefly met the first, Chikako Kurimoto, a woman with a large birthmark on her breast. That affair was brief; his father then was involved with a widow, Mrs. Ota, until his death. Kikuji's mother died a short time after his father, and he now lives alone. Out of curiosity, he accepts an invitation from Chikako to a tea ceremony, where he meets Yukiko Inamura, a girl whom Chikako intends for him to marry. He is also shocked to find Mrs. Ota and her daughter Fumiko at the ceremony, because Chikako was envious of Mrs. Ota during her affair with his father. Kikuji is embarrassed by Chikako's presumptuousness and yet is attracted to Fumiko. After the ceremony, he finds Mrs. Ota waiting for him, and as they talk, he senses that she cannot distinguish him from his father, so happy is she to see him. At a nearby inn, they make love, but Mrs. Ota is unable to believe that Kikuji does not intend to marry Yukiko, and she commits suicide. Satisfied that she has rid herself of one rival, Chikako thwarts any possibility of romance between Fumiko and Kikuji by constantly berating them until Fumiko moves away, leaving Kikuji alone.
Director
Yasuzo Masumura
Cast
Mikijiro Hira
Ayako Wakao
Eiko Azusa
Machiko Kyo
Yoko Namikawa
Eiji Funakoshi
Crew
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
Released in Japan in April 1969 as Sembazuru.
