Sadao Yamanaka's "Kochiyama Soshun" (1936)

[David Hopkins]

I only saw it one time, several years ago, but was very impressed with it.
The plot, as I remember it, is about young Setsuko, who has some kind of
street stall. She has an irresponsible brother who keeps getting into
trouble. The local gangsters who control the street market (led by Kochiyama
Soshun) all like her and protect her. Her brother has an affair with a young
geisha and they plan to commit a double suicide, but he either chickens out
or survives, which means he is responsible to pay her masters for the loss
of her services. Naturally, he and Setsuko don't have the money for this, so
she agrees to sell herself into the same business. Kochiyama Soshun, the
kindly yakuza boss, knowing how wonderful and innocent she is, can't allow
this, so he sets up a big scam to bilk money out of a samurai house. He has
come into the possession of a knife or short sword (maybe pickpocketed?)
that the samurai family would be very embarrassed to lose, and so, posing as
a priest, extorts money from them. That's enough to pay Setsuko's debt, but
the scam will be easily discovered (they know they will be pursued when they
pull the scam) and they will face certain punishment, even death. Big chase
scene and the end.
Anyway, that's how I remember it. A few details may be missing or wrong. A
really great movie. One of my favorites from the 1930s, and number one on my
video get-list.

I believe I have 78rpm records of a naniwa-bushi version of the story, but
I'd have to check. I may only have part of a set.

It's very common in kabuki and bunraku to have large sections of old plays
that are no longer performed (or therefore summarized in reference books.)
David Hopkins
Tenri University
-----Original Message-----
·ol : Michael E Kerpan Jr <kerpan at attglobal.net>
ˆ¶æ : KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
<KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu>
“úŽž : 2003”N7ŒŽ27“ú 13:18
Œ–¼ : Sadao Yamanaka's "Kochiyama Soshun" (1936)


>Theoretically, this has some connection to a kabuki play:
>
>http://www.kabuki21.com/kochiyama.htm
>
>I read the summary of the play -- and this confused me.  It says the play
has
>7 "acts", but only summarizes 4 "scenes".  It does not seem to match
>very well with what one sees in the film -- though a couple of items do
seem
>to match.  Anyone know anything more about the plot of the film?
>
>Even If I figure nothing else out, it is quite nice to see Setsuko Hara at
the
>age of 15 or 16.
>
>Michael Kerpan
>Boston
>