- Source: Ornamental Hairpin
Ornamental Hairpin (簪, Kanzashi) is a 1941 Japanese comedy-drama film written and directed by Hiroshi Shimizu. It is based on the short story Yottsu no yubune (四つの湯槽, lit. "The four bathtubs") by Masuji Ibuse.
Plot
A diverse group of people is staying at a remote spa, including grumpy professor Katada, who regularly scolds young husband Hiroyasu for not being strict enough with his wife, an old man with his two grandsons Taro and Jiro, and soldier Nanmura. When Nanmura steps on a kanzashi, a woman's ornamental hairpin, in a well, he has to extend his stay. After the owner of the hairpin, Emi, a former resident, is located, she returns to the spa to apologise. Together with Taro and Jiro, she supports Nanmura with his daily exercises to regain his health. Although Emi and Nanmura share an unspoken mutual affection, they both know that their time together is finite: Nanmura will have to return to the military service, while Emi, a geisha who has fled her patron, faces an uncertain future.
Cast
Kinuyo Tanaka as Emi
Chishū Ryū as Takeshi Nanmura
Tatsuo Saitō as Professor Katada
Shin'ichi Himori as Hiroyasu
Hideko Mimura as Hiroyasu's wife
Kanji Kawahara as the old man
Jun Yokoyama as Taro, grandson of the old man
Masayoshi Ōtsuka as Jiro, grandson of the old man
Hiroko Kawasaki as Okiku, Emi's geisha friend
Takeshi Sakamoto as spa owner
Kōji Matsumoto as staff manager
Munenobu Yui as Toku, a masseur
Tsuneo Ōsugi as Tsune, a masseur
Kayoko Terada as maid
Reception
Upon its initial release (at the height of the Sino-Japanese War and shortly before Japan entered World War II), critic Akira Shimizu attacked Ornamental Hairpin as a "la-di-da" film in times when film stock was precious.
Legacy
Film scholar Alexander Jacoby describes Ornamental Hairpin as one of Shimizu's "richest and most complex achievements" which "boasted outstanding performances from Kinuyo Tanaka and Chishū Ryū". The British Film Institute included the film in its list of the best Japanese films since 1925.
Ornamental Hairpin was screened at the Berlin International Film Festival's "Forum" section in 2004 and at the Cinémathèque française in 2020 and 2021.
References
External links
Ornamental Hairpin at IMDb
