Muddy River (泥の河)

MUDDY RIVER

This isn't your toilet, you know.

Manure gramps, Shit grandpa,

Got no paper, so he wipes with his hands.

Don't wanna waste it, so he just eats it.

Give me some crushed ice, too.

It's too hot for bean cakes!

Don't have any, then.

I'll give you half of mine.

Making bean cakes is your dad's hobby,

regardless of the season.

Eat!

I'm buying a truck next month!

- Shall I give you that horse? - Really?

Do you really mean it?

- He's giving me the horse! - That's great.

Kids don't understand jokes.

He's had three crows run away already.

And now a horse!

And he'd really give it to him, you know.

You're the one who doesn't understand jokes.

The war's been over ten years.

Carts are things of the past.

So you are getting a truck?

It's second-hand. I can't afford a new one.

I've got a heavy load today.

I see.

Second-hand or not, a truck is a truck.

You've worked hard for it.

The horse did.

- Thank you. - It was good.

Uncle...

The horse-cart man is dead!

It's true! He was crushed under the cart.

Uncle! Uncle!

Mr. Shioda!

Stay here!

Call an ambulance!

Come back here, Nobuo!

His child is still young...

His poor wife.

He was our first customer.

I was pregnant with Nobuo.

He gave me a charm for easy births.

It's been ten years already.

This area was still a burnt-out ruin.

We never know when or how we'll die, do we?

As the war had already killed him, he used to say,

he'd never die again.

Rather than die such a horrible death,

he should have died at war.

It would have been better for his family, too.

There must be lots of people out there

who wish now that they'd died in the war.

Do you feel that way too?

What about all our hard work?

Our shop is doing well now.

Although manual labour was all he was good at,

he went at it with such determination and patience.

I admired him.

If Nobuo hadn't been born,

I'd be selling bean cakes.

Darling... are you regretting it all?

For too long, I saw people dying all around me.

And then, from nowhere, Nobuo appeared.

My first child, with me already in my forties.

He's my only achievement.

That woman in Maizuru...

she must still hate me.

You left your house and everything behind

to live in poverty with me in burnt-out Osaka.

I'm always grateful to you for that.

- I'm going. - Where to?

Where else? To see the dead man's family.

At this time of night?

I've got to see them.

How much money have we got?

Give me all of it.

Please.

What are you doing?

This should fetch a fair bit.

It belongs to someone. You can't sell it.

I know that. I wouldn't sell it."

The monster! The monster! It's him.

It's the monster carp!

Look over there.

Can you see a big carp moving around?

This is the third time I've seen him.

He's about as big as me.

Isn't he huge, like a monster?

Don't tell anyone about him. It's our secret, all right?

- That's my house. - Where?

You see that boat? That's it.

We moved here yesterday.

You live in a boat?

- Are you cold? - No.

That shop is my house.

Oh, I see. A noodle shop.

Go on, eat up and go to school.

He'd better stay home today.

Summer colds are serious.

Not like your hangovers?

Go into your room and stay in bed.

Where's you manners?

My head hurts.

Look...

- There's a strange boat there. - It's been there for a day.

- How do you know? - I can see it from here, too.

It's a houseboat.

Life on that must be hard.

What's a houseboat?

Unlike the barges that go up and down a river,

a houseboat stays still and people live in it.

Go to school!

Have you come to play?

You have, haven't you?

I wondered if that monster carp was still around.

Don't say it so loud.

That monster is our secret.

I'm sorry.

Will you come to my place?

Come on in.

Ouch!

Are you all right?

You have to be careful.

- Who is he? - He's from the noodle shop.

There's mud on your shoes.

Wash them for him.

What's your name?

- Nobuo Itakura. - What grade are you in?

- Third grade. - Same as Kiichan, then.

- Is your name Kiichan? - It's Kiichi Matsumoto.

Which school do you go to?

I don't go to school.

- You're clean now. - Thank you.

Come inside while they dry. It's cooler inside.

Did you get some water?

The park's water is cut off until the afternoon.

I see...

We must have some left. I'm very thirsty.

- Is there someone here? - It's Kiichan's friend.

Friend?

- Where's he from? - He's from the noodle shop.

Give him some of those raw sugar pieces,

and tell him not to come here very often.

Nobuo!

Wake up!

Don't let go yet!

- Good morning, Granny! - Good morning.

Granny, Would last year's horoscope be all right?

That'll do.

He went to the toilet late last night,

so I thought he'd be all right.

They say that an old parent

produces defective children.

Please take these home, Granny.

They're wonderful. Thank you.

You know what? You're remarkable.

A little plot of land, and you can grow anything.

Although we run a restaurant,

I can't forget the time when food was scarce.

People make much of our "new prosperity."

They're in for a rude shock one of these days.

If it wasn't for that post-war black market,

we wouldn't be together now.

You and your romantic nonsense!

I've got it!

Well? What does it say?

Never mind his bedwetting.

What do you mean, never mind? I do mind.

But Nobuo is going to be a great man.

He's a tree that grows in water.

As a child, he'll be washed away by the current.

But once he puts down roots in the water,

he'll be nourished by it and grow into a big tree.

Perhaps we should have him tied up until then.

So Nobuo is a tree that grows in water...

It's my turn!

Hurry up!

Give him some of those raw sugar pieces

and tell him not to come here very often.

The old boatman is gone!

- He's not there! - Who's not there?

The old boatman! He disappeared!

You're right. He's not there.

He's fallen in!

What is it?

I'll ask you again. Try to remember.

The old man was definitely on the boat?

Good.

The next bit is important.

Did the old man fall in?

Or did he jump?

- I don't know. - But that doesn't help us!

I wasn't watching then.

But you saw him catching worms, didn't you?

Why didn't you see him fall?

He looked away when he fell. Isn't that plausible?

I'm talking to your son!

We don't know where he lived.