Sanjusangen-do, toshiya monogatari - Innkeeper Kinuyo Tanaka raises a boy whose father has committed seppuku after losing the archery competition at Sanjusangendo Temple.
She sees to it that the boy is trained in the art of archery, so that he can redeem his father's honor in a contest to beat the archery record set by Hoshino Kanzaemon of eight thousand arrows in a row. Secretly tutored by Karatsu Kanbei, a Samurai and Master Archer, it soon becomes clear that this apparently selfless tutor has several potentially shady ulterior motives.
A "Grand Samurai movie" (Japanese film critic Sadao Yamane). From director Mikio Naruse and filmed during the final months of World War II, as Tokyo lay in ruins. This Edo-period drama is both remote from the war and marked by its presence. (The production was interrupted by the conflict so many times, Naruse reportedly wondered whether it would ever be finished.)
Director: MIKIO NARUSE
Stars: Kazuo Hasegawa, Kinuyo Tanaka, Sensho Ichikawa
1945 - JAPANESE with ENGLISH SUBTITLES - B&W - FULLSCREEN - 76 MINUTES
In the Edo Period, "Toshiya," or shooting arrows through a 120-meter corridor under the eaves at Sanjusangen-do Hall, was very popular.
