The Ballad of Orin (Hanare goze Orin)

OFFICIAL ENTRY FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS

TOHO CO., LTD.

Your mom hasn't come home?

Since when?

Did she run off with a man?

How could she leave behind a blind daughter?

Maybe she drowned.

No. She must have run off.

Caring for a blind daughter on her own became too much for her.

You're Saito the druggist.

I couldn't find anybody in the village.

Then I heard voices as I was passing by this hut.

You came at just the right time.

We need help from a worldly man like you.

What's your name?

Your age?

Orin.

Six.

What a cute little voice you have.

So you're called Orin, eh?

Here, eat this.

I was told that I was born in the province of Wakasa.

But I've never seen my parents.

I heard that it's a beautiful place.

All I know about the place is the sound of the waves.

When I was six, Mr. Saito took me to Echigo.

There, I became a pupil at a house of goze.

THE BALLAD OF ORIN

A HYOGENSHA PRODUCTION

Produced by KIYOSHI IWASHITA, SEIKICHI IIZUMI

Based on the story by TSUTOMU MINAKAMI

Screenplay by KEIJI HASEBE, MASAHIRO SHINODA

Cinematography by KAZUO MIYAGAWA

Production Design by KIYOSHI AWAZU

Music by TORU TAKEMITSU

Sound by HIDEO NISHIZAKI

Lighting by TAKEJI SANO

Edited by SACHIKO YAMAJI

SHIMA IWASHITA

TOMOKO NARAOKA, KIRIN KIKI

RIE YOKOYAMA, TOMOKO JINBO

KEIKO NAKAMURA, AKO TOMIZAWA

TAKAKO MINEKAWA, SEN HARA

YOSHI KATO, JUN HAMAMURA

TAIJI TONOYAMA KAORU KOBAYASHI

SHOICHI KUWAYAMA MANSAKU FUWA, HATSUO YAMAYA

TOSHIYUKI NISHIDA, TORU ABE

YOSHIO HARADA

Directed by MASAHIRO SHINODA

It has been exactly 20 years since then.

When I was 21, I was denounced as a loose woman.

And I was expelled from the goze house.

I've been on my own ever since.

So you were cast out from the group?

Yes.

Goze is an itinerant group of blind women like me.

We travel playing samisen and singing songs.

And we stay at a house for goze.

Once you're cast out from a group,

you have to travel all alone like me.

And you spend nights in empty charcoal burner's huts

and in shrines with leaky roofs.

Sakuji, isn't the errand man back yet?

GOOD FORTUNE IN BATTLE KOTARO ABE

The comedians are no good.

They're not cheering up the party.

The goze are late.

They promised to come just this morning.

The young master is going to war.

We need samisen for the singing to get going.

It's not time yet It's not time yet

Now is the time You can turn...

- Good luck, Kotaro. - Thank you for coming.

I have information from the village office.

Your regiment might be sent to Siberia, as the troops are used to snow.

Did you hear that a man hanged himself at Shimosatose?

Yeah, I heard about that.

Somebody saw something hanging from a beam in a firewood shed.

He realized that it was a body when he got close to it.

I think the man was a deserter.

The military must be keeping quiet, for it's a shame to them.

If captured, he would have been shot.

She's here!

We have a pretty goze.

Master. Mistress. I brought a goze.

I found another louse on your kimono.

Really? I'm sorry.

She's pretty and accomplished in her art.

She's going to sing many songs for our party.

Thank you for sending for me. I hope to entertain you.

Sing something cheerful. We don't want sad songs.

All right.

Soft seaweeds by the rocky shore

Can she see a little?

- Not at all. - That's what she says.

She may be saying she's blind, even if she can see.

- It makes no difference in bed. - What?

She can make love even if she can't see.

Idiot.

- Don't sneak into her bed tonight. - But she's a lone goze.

She's lone, but not a slut.

I'm sure you won't say no

You want to come with me I know you do

I was born blind. I've always lived in the world of darkness.

When I was six, Mr. Saito said that I should go to Takada

where blind girls like me were living as a group of goze.

And there, I could become a good goze.

He said, "You're blind."

"A blind girl can only live as a masseuse or a prostitute."

"But in the goze group, a kind woman will take care of you."

"She'll teach you music, and you'll be happy."

Kaneko, don't stop.

Any footsteps sound to you like those of Yasuke's?

They're Mr. Saito's.

- The druggist? - Yes, you're right.

Last year, he came after the snow melted.

He's not alone.

Hello.

It's Saito, the druggist.

I'm back once again this year, too.

I'm glad to see you well.

Welcome.

Why, you're Mitsuko.

You've grown a lot since last year.

Thank you for coming in the snow.

It's very nice to see you well, Mistress of the House of Satomi.

I have a request to make again.

- Well, please come in. - Thank you.

The goze house smelled of incense and hair oil.

The mistress was a kind woman.

When I paid my respects to her, she stroked my hair.

Then she introduced me to my goze sisters.

And Yasuko toasted some rice cakes for me.

The rice cakes were warm and made me happy.

I remember them well.

And now...

you have nobody to guide you,

and you're traveling all alone?

Yes.

So...

where did you come from?

I was at Zenkoji till March.

I came here through Arai at the beginning of April.

Here's some water. Drink.

Thank you very much.

- Are you really homeless? - That's right.

I came here to work at the quarry.

The job finished this morning. I'm on the way home.

You're in the mountains. And you're telling me you're homeless?

- You must be from around here. - No, I'm not.

It would get dark before I reached the village.

So I decided to spend the night here.

I'm tired.

Thank you.

Are you really asleep?

All of us living today live in a degenerate age.

In order to live a true life,

we must firmly believe in the Original Vow of Amitabha.

And we shall never waver

but find strength in the chant...

Use your index finger.

Prostitutes...

Like this.

Now, the second string.

Move your finger up.

Tsugiko.

Do you hate me so much?

Why do you say that, Kaneko?

You tried to trip me with that.

What? Why would I do that?

I knocked it down accidentally. I'm redoing blind stitches.

Liar.

Don't act superior.

You're always mean to me.

I know all about it, you know.

You're secretly having dates with Magoji.

- The water is cold. - Yes.

- Doing washing is the worst. - Yes.

Orin.

Yes.

You have good instincts, and you learn quickly.

But there's one thing you mustn't forget as a goze:

to observe the proprieties of goze.

Listen well.

The goze dedicates her ears, nose, mouth and limbs,

all of herself to Amitabha.

That's why we chant the sutra every morning

to pray to Amitabha to protect us from straying from our path.

If you stray, you go to hell.

You will fall into a terrible hell.

- You understand, Orin? - Yes.

After two years, we celebrate the beginning of the third year.

After seven years, a career name is given.

The following year, in the eighth year of training,

you advance to the status of "big sister."

After three more years,

your training is finally completed.

And you become a full-fledged goze.

Despite paying visits over many evenings

I still do not see you