Original subtitles

You like me?

Say so sooner.

Oyuki told me to rest here.

Sorry about this. Come in.

Wow! You're trembling!

Ouch! This is your first time, right?

He postponed his graduation for the army.

I asked him if he had

a fiancée or a girl friend.

He said he had no one.

It made me feel kind of sad.

He might never come back.

So I told him to have a woman.

He could have any of the girls here.

But he said he wanted Oyuki.

So I had to ask you to cooperate.

I'm sorry about this.

He's the only child 1 have.

1 adopted my nephew.

I can't have children of my own.

If... If Satoru dies, 1 think...

I might go insane.

He's my only treasure.

I once had a brother like you.

Do your best for our country.

Shall we do it again?

I hate war.

To the country, we're mere trash.

We kowtow and obey orders.

But if Satoru's killed, I'll do something!

Welcome back.

I told him to come home alive.

Then, he said...

“"ll come home alive. So you take care, too.”

You're...

kind, aren't you?

He said he wouldn't mind dying.

I'll leave for tonight.

I won't let you leave. Let's go upstairs.

I'll leave because I think of you as a nice woman.

On October 21 a ceremony was

solemnly held to send off drafted students

at Meiji Shrine Stadium

in light autumnal rain.

Prime Minister Hideki Tojo

appeals to the drafted students.

To His Majesty the Emperor!

Banzai!

I changed my way of dressing so as to equal Oyuki.

I wish I could be like the Tamanoi regulars.

Mister...

Oh, it's you!

I was worried.

Look! An erotic photo vender was busted.

I'm glad you're all right. I was really worried.

I never bungle. I'm always careful.

I don't feel anything special

when I see you, but 1 missed you.

How's the madam?

In a daze. She neglects her business.

Another woman was to move in, but she hasn't yet.

Look at this!

Autumn will come soon, then the end of the year.

We have to get a year older again.

Hey, I'm here.

Give me two dishes of rice dumplings.

You want rice dumplings? T'll treat you.

Hi, kid! You're getting together, huh?

Want a bite? Open your mouth.

Cyanide? I don't want to die yet.

When you're flat broke?

Cheap hooker!

Damn garbage!

Fool!

Squad, halt!

Right face!

Return here in an hour. Got condoms?

Good! Get going!

“Get going,” huh?

Let us “get going.”

Isn't it time to stop this?

The police are strict, right?

I'm really worried about you.

Come earlier tomorrow.

Earlier? In the evening?

Earlier than that.

Tomorrow's medical exam day.

It'll be simple.

I'll be through by eleven. Let's go to Asakusa.

We can get back by four.

Wait at the temple gate at noon.

May Oyuki always be healthy.

May Oyuki attain happiness.

This sword was made by Komatsu.

He was a super swordsmith from Kaga.

It was tempered in melting snow.

All my life I"ve had you.

You've been my friend.

I realize that now.

Thank you very much.

We went to a theater. I drew a mystic lot for you, too.

Thanks.

It says “Lucky.”

“He will return.” Does this “he” mean Satoru?

Také-san is waiting for you.

He's been waiting?

Even though I told him you're off today.

Will you eat first?

Excuse me, then.

Have some tea.

Hello, Také-san.

I'm taking the day off.

I'm sorry, but I had to talk to you.

The Army Ministry called me in.

The district official too.

They're setting up “comfort” houses in China.

They want half the women here. They said,

“If you refuse, we'll flatten Tamanoi.”

They treat us like trash. I said no.

My children agreed. So did my mother.

I want to marry you legally. All right?

How can a woman like me be your wife?

You can, if you try.

I'll never be able to return to what I was.

You once asked me to marry you, right?

I changed my mind.

I want to marry you.

I'm running the liquor shop Dad left to me.

I'm wealthy. It's a chance for you to become decent.

I don't think I want to be decent anymore.

I'm sorry, but I have a lover now.

Where is he?

He'll come again.

What a drag!

When I woke up from a midday nap,

someone came to see me: my cousin Sosen Nagal.

He asked me to go with him

because my mother was dying.

At least show yourself.

This is my fervent wish.

I'd always been firmly resigned to it

I told him I'd change clothes and go later.

I lied to make him feel assured and leave.

My brother Isaburo is deeply critical

of my ideas and writing.

When I married a geisha, he refused

to live in the same house with us.

He persuaded Mother to have it rebuilt,

to get rid of us.

So, I didn't want

to see Isaburo even though Mother was dying.

A messenger came.

He told me Mother had passed away and that

only Isaburo and his family would hold her funeral

My condolences!

“Alas, the night has arrived to keep me weeping!”

Hey!

Mister!

Oyuki is trying to depend on me

to change her living circumstances.

But the one to bring her happiness

will not be me, but

a young man whose life is just beginning.

I got permission to enter

a vaudeville house dressing rooms.

It was wonderful seeing half-nude dancers.

I did it to avoid Oyuki.

Hurry!

I'll do it.

Come here.

Your face.

One more.

Lotus roots, konjak, boiled mackerel, julienne carrots...

Will you snap me too?

If you like.

Thanks.

Let me borrow that.

I'll help you.

Where did you get the medal?

The Russo-Japanese War. The 8th Order of Merit.

Put out your chest.

In exchange for a leg.

I was a PFC.

A medal for bravery, huh?

The Jokanji Temple was dedicated to dead prostitutes.

“Hell when alive, the temple when dead.”

The poor women!

It saddens me to see the lines of their graves.

TAMANOI

It was hot, as if summer had returned.

As though drawn by an unseen rope,

I ended up heading for Tamanoi.

How have you been?

I've been busy working.

I was afraid the cops finally got you.

T'll treat you brutally this evening.

I forgot! The madam's son was killed in action.

Ma'am, my man wishes to pray for him.

Thank you.

I don't feel like doing a thing.

I stay in bed all day.

My son was more important to me

than anyone else...

even the Emperor.

He was that precious.

And he's gone from the world.

He'll never return.

I found a letter in his things:

“Mother,

“I'm going to charge the enemy. Goodbye.”

The madam doesn't even eat.

She might starve to death.

No relatives?

No. Seen her eye? A guy cut it when she was a whore.

Oyuki, you in?

Not today! Leave!

You'd refuse an imperial soldier?

I detest soldiers!

Hey, open up!

It's been seven whole days.

I told you. I was busy.

A person dies, right?

Will you stay with me tonight?

Sure.

It's hot tonight, like summer returned.

Lightning!

I wonder if it'll rain.

Listen...

After I've repaid my debt, will you marry me?

Marrying me won't do you any good.

Not qualified to be my husband?

I'm not, because I can't feed you.

You don't like whores?

There's a poem:

“As I heard Tamanoi women wash themselves

“at a well, I shall try the well myself.”

What does it mean?

“Once washed, you're always clean.”

You think so?

I never lie.

Thanks.

I wish [ were ten years younger.

I'll make a good wife for you.

Are your parents all right?

Yes, thank you. I have many brothers and sisters.

The man who makes you happy

will be as young as you.

Whatever you say, you're tired of me.

Certainly not!

You've brought me happiness.

You revived my fading energy...

if only briefly.

When young you staked your life on someone.

You talking about this tattoo?

“Koh, my life”

When I was young...

I think I was thirty-one...

I did it for my favorite geisha.

It was youthful passion.

I had someone to die with me, too.

When a man gets old,

everything that happened becomes just a dream.

Look, will you marry me?

I'll make a good wife for you.

Will you?

Will you?

Will you...

really marry me?

I'm glad. Darling, I'm so glad!

Bean curd.

Promise me.

Say it aloud: “Yes.”

Yes.

You sound uncertain.

I'm certain.

I mean it.

Madam, I'm engaged to Mr. Nagai.

Mr. Nagai?

His family name. He told me last evening.

But isn't he too old?

He's sixty but has the energy of a man of forty.

I'll visit him tomorrow.

Visit? Where?

I'm not sure where.

May [ stay with him overnight?

Of course you can.

I have one more year to work.

I'll work hard to cut it short.

What's his line of work?

I'll know tomorrow.

Maybe he sells pornographic pictures and stuff.

Can you really get along with him?

T'll try no matter what.

I feel so thrilled.

This is...

your deed.

You were sold to me for 1,300 yen by Seikichi Matsuda,

who lived in Kami-kawachi Village

of Tochigi Prefecture.

I'll return it to you.

I wish you happiness.

Hasn't he come yet?

Oyuki, you in?

She took today off.

Madam, I'll wait forever.

He isn't the kind of man who'd lie.

January 1, 19465.

Cloudy but no wind.

This diary has reached its twenty-ninth volume.

No air raids this evening.

“Should someone ask me where I'm from,

“I'll say Tamanoi's 'well of jewels.””

Oyuki...

January 18, 1945.

A fine day, all quiet.

There's no charcoal.

To boil rice people gather wood from bombed-out houses.

They burn it.

I wonder how Oyuki's doing.

January 24.

I went to a public bathhouse.

I saw some petty officials

putting a poster on a notice board.

It said people should prepare to evacuate their homes.

This ugly war...

the people's misery is caused by the government..

Japan's stupid militarists.

“Blood! A surviving mosaquito bit my forehead!”

One more time..

Air raid warning has been announced!

Madam!

Air raid!

You all right?

Madam!

March 10, 1945. Four in the morning.

My house was destroyed by fire.

I turned back and saw my venerable house burning.

My collection of books turned to ashes as well.

What a sight! My house is gone.

The only thing left was

a seal given by Junichiro Tanizaki.

Most of Tokyo was reduced to ashes.

The Tamanoi red-light district...

Ovuki's house... everything was burned.

You must be mistaken.

Look at his umbrella.

He's too old.

Good afternoon.

Sweet potatoes.

It looks like him.

The wrong man. He's in pornography, right?

He couldn't have won the Order of Cultural Merit.

March 1, 1959. Sunday.

At noon in Asakusa...

I became so ill I could scarcely walk.

April 2. A clear day.

I received 450,000 yen as part of

the Order of Cultural Merit.

April 19. At noon...

I had pork cutlet on rice for lunch

at an eatery near the station.

April 29.

The Emperor's Birthday. Cloudy.

1959

April 29. The Emperor's Birthday. Cloudy.

When I die, and if you wish

to make a grave for me, just pick

a space among the graves of

prostitutes at the Jokanji Temple Cemetery.

The gravestone should

not be more than 150 cm high.

And just carve on it,

“Here lies Kafu Nagai.” That'll be enough.

April 30, 1959.

Kafu Nagai dies at age seventy-nine.

Cause of death: chronic ulcers.

Producers: Jiro Shindo & Manabu Akashi

From books by Kafu Nagai

Title backgrounds by Sohachi Kimura

Planned by Shosuke Taga

Music by Hikaru Hayashi

Cinematographed by Yoshiyuki Miyake

Lighting by Hiroshi Yamashita

Art Direction by Shigemori Shigeta

Recording by Susumu Take

Edited by Yukio Watanabe

Screenplay and directed by Kaneto Shindo