Mori no Ishimatsu / 森の石松 (‘Ishimatsu of Mori’, 1949)

Obscure Japanese Film #267

Susumu Fujita

Takashi Shimura 

Ishimatsu (Susumu Fujita, best-known for playing the title role in Kurosawa’s Sanshiro Sugata) is a poor tenant tea farmer fed up with working like a slave for a pittance. After losing the little money he had in a dice game against gambling boss Shimachidori (Takashi Shimura), he resolves – with the encouragement of tea house hostess Oshin (Kyoko Asagiri) – to abandon agriculture and turn to crime despite the objections of his mother (Choko Iida) and best friend Gosaku (Taiji Tonoyama). He finds employment with the famous yakuza Jirocho Shimizu (Komei Minami) but has little success in his new endeavour until, determined to make a name for himself, he shows reckless bravery in a fight but loses an eye in the process. Now with a formidable reputation to live up to, he falls in love with Ofuji (Yukiko Todoroki), but she won’t marry him unless he gives up his life of crime…

Yukiko Todoroki

Mori no Ishimatsu was said to have been a subordinate of the real life Jirocho Shimizu (1820-93), but it’s unclear whether Ishimatsu was, in fact, a real person. In any case, he had already been the subject of at least half a dozen movies by the time this one was made and would go on to inspire many more, most of which seem to be comedies, which is understandable given that Japanese Wikipedia states that he was traditionally portrayed as ‘a lovable character who is a drunken ruffian but has a strong sense of loyalty and compassion, and is somewhat absent-minded.’

This Shochiku production was based on an original screenplay by Kaneto Shindo and directed by his regular associate Kozaburo Yoshimura. Also frequently comic in tone, with a rather dim-witted hero and the sword fighting scenes emphasising the clumsiness and reluctance of the opponents, their film nevertheless has its serious side and criticises both gangsterism and the exploitation of workers by the old feudal system. Indeed, it was probably these themes that saw it approved by the censors of the Occupation authorities, who prevented many period films from being made at the time (this was Yoshimura’s first) as they felt that such stories often gave tacit approval to feudalism, the mindset of which had allowed the military to take over the government of Japan and lead it into war.

Taiji Tonoyama

As a film, this is no lost masterpiece, but it is a well-made and enjoyable watch which clearly had quite a lot of effort put into it – the period details, for example, look quite authentic, and there is some effective use made of real locations, nifty tracking shots (courtesy of Yoshimura’s regular cinematographer at the time, Toshio Ubukata) and a number of complex, well-staged scenes in which elaborate sets and large numbers of extras are also used. Another asset is the cast, in which Shimura makes a fine villain, while Choko Iida stands out as Ishimatsu’s put upon, sutra-chanting mother. Other notables featured are Koji Mitsui, Sadako Sawamura and an almost unrecognisable Chishu Ryu. 

Choko Iida

Chishu Ryu

Note on the title:

Although it’s often translated as ‘Ishimatsu of the Forest’, there’s no sign of a forest; apparently, the ‘Mori’ of the title actually refers to Mori-machi village, in what was then the Enshu region, and is where Ishimatsu was said to be from.

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A Descendant of Urashima Taro / 浦島太郎の後裔 / Urashima Taro no koei (1946)

Obscure Japanese Film #82

Hideko Takamine

Taro Urashima is the mythical hero of a Japanese folk tale who rode on the back of a turtle which took him to an underwater palace where he stayed for what he thought was a few days before returning home to find that centuries had passed. The hero of this Toho production, Goro Urashima (Susumu Fujita, the star of Kurosawa’s Sanshiro Sagata films), is a former soldier newly returned to Japan after being stranded for 18 months on a south seas island. Sporting an impressive beard, he yearns for peace and democracy now that the war is over. When he is interviewed on the radio about his experiences, he tells of how the island natives would sometimes gather and let out a haunting, mournful cry which moved him deeply. He demonstrates the sound over the airwaves, after which it resonates with Japan’s workers, who begin imitating it. 

Susumu Fujita

 

Meanwhile, young reporter Akiko (Hideko Takamine) – accused of having ‘pretty face, empty head’ by her boss (Haruko Sugimura) – spots an opportunity and tracks down Urashima for an interview. Hoping to milk the story for as long as possible, she suggests that he perform his cry from the roof of the Diet building for several days, and she runs a series of articles in which she claims that he is a descendant of Taro Urashima. Goro’s wail becomes a rallying call and the workers build him up into their champion. But soon he is being unwittingly used by a fake democratic group called the Japanese Happiness Party, who actually intend to exploit the workers mercilessly once they get into power…

 

With its obvious pro-democracy, beware-false-prophets message, this is the sort of film that the occupying Americans strongly encouraged after the war. In fact, the story owes much to the Frank Capra movies Mr Smith Goes to Washington (1939) and Meet John Doe (1941), but here it’s all a bit po-faced. This type of material was clearly not director Mikio Naruse’s forte and it remains a real anomaly among his films – he did not repeat the error and only collaborated with screenwriter Yasutaro Yagi on one further occasion for the more enjoyable comedy Conduct Report of Professor Ishinaka (1950).

 

Apart from Hideko Takamine, it’s hard to find much to like about this film – Fujita seems uncomfortable in his role, while the music score is quite poor, perhaps explaining why it would be the final of just three screen credits for composer Toshio Yamada. Worse still, Goro’s cry sounds like a bad Tarzan impression and, unfortunately, it soon becomes grating and is repeated ad infinitum.