Original subtitles

THE CEREMONY

Screenplay by TAKESHI TAMURA, MAMORU SASAKI, and NAGISA OSHIMA

Music by TORU TAKEMITSU

Cinematography by TOICHIRO NARUSHIMA

Production Design by JUSHO TODA

Sound by HIDEO NISHIZAKI

Edited by KEIICHI URAOKA

Starring

KENZO KAWARAZAKI

ATSUKO KAKU

ATSUO NAKAMURA KIYOSHI TSUCHIYA

NOBUKO OTOWA

HOSEI KOMATSU ROKKO TOURA FUMIO WATANABE

SHIZUE KAWARAZAKI CHISAKO HARA

MAKI TAKAYAMA SUE MITOBE

RYUICHI TSUBAKI YUMIN ARUSHIMA

YOSHIAKI OTA YUKIHIRO TSUBAKI

EITARO OZAWA TAIJITONO YAMA

AKIKO KOYAMA

KEI SATO

Produced by KINSHIRO KUZUI and TAKUJI YAMAGUCHI

Directed by NAGISA OSHIMA

THE CEREMONY

You're in a bind? I'm the one in a bind!

In any case, please hold off a day.

What, are you going to make the plane take off despite the weather?

If we don't hurry, we won't have time to proofread the obituary.

He's more important to me than Grandfather!

In any case, I'm counting on you.

I could have gone to check on Terumichi by myself.

His telegram was addressed to me.

Only I knew where he was.

What were we to each other?

I don't necessarily mean you and me.

When would we arrive if we took the train?

Three hours on the Shinkansen to Osaka,

then the Kirishima express to Kagoshima, arriving tomorrow at 8:19 a.m.

The ship leaves Kagoshima at 6:00 p.m.

We'll spend the night on the ship and arrive...

Maybe I shouldn't go.

I can't endure such a long journey.

Terumichi's telegram might have been a prank.

- He's... - He's not the type to lie.

If it's true, only you and I are left.

You're sure to live to 89, like Grandfather.

Maybe even 100.

- Are you mocking me? - I'm serious.

This is a serious discussion.

Then what do you think we are to each other?

Relatives.

Is that all?

We only see each other at weddings and funerals.

I see.

Ritsuko...

would you be able to say the same to Terumichi?

Relatives...

who only see each other at weddings and funerals.

No, that's not true.

Ever since we met as children, I've loved Ritsuko.

Terumichi... if it hadn't been for you,

I might have been able to turn that feeling into reality.

Terumichi... if it hadn't been for you,

my life would have been different.

Come along, dear relative.

How can you call me that?

I have a name:

Masuo Sakurada.

The man from Manchuria.

I was born in Manchuria.

Terumichi...

you caught me.

It was just after New Year's Day, 1947.

My mother and I had been repatriated from Manchuria.

As we neared the Sakurada family home,

villagers told us my father had died a year earlier.

That day was the anniversary of his death.

Mother said to me...

"It's just the two of us now. Will you be okay, Masuo?"

I nodded.

When we started walking back the way we had come, all of you came after us.

We'd escaped the Russians, Manchurians, and Koreans...

only to return to Japan and be captured by our fellow Japanese.

People keep saying the Russian soldiers are demons,

but were they really that fearsome?

What?

You aren't too bright, are you?

I'm asking if they used you as a prostitute.

That happened to some women.

I'm asking about you.

What about the Manchurians and Koreans?

Had that happened, I wouldn't have returned alive!

Then why'd you try to run?

Well, we wanted to live without relying on you for help.

How can you say that? For the Sakurada family,

Masuo is irreplaceable.

Ah, I forgot to ask.

What happened to your younger brother?

Before we reached Dalian...

I see.

Then it couldn't be helped.

You must live for both, you and your brother.

For some reason I didn't look at my father's picture.

Looking at it would tell me nothing about why he died.

Or, to be more exact, why he committed suicide.

All I knew was that in June of 1945,

shortly before Japan's defeat,

my father returned to Tokyo from Manchuria on important business,

and that he committed suicide the following year,

just after New Year's Day, 1946.

Nobody told me anything beyond that,

and I didn't ask.

But don't think I was being particularly obstinate.

Back then, people didn't really want to discuss

the war, or soldiers, or the war dead.

Mother, I can bathe myself.

Your mother's sleeping.

I'll help you instead.

I'm your aunt. Do you remember me?

I can bathe myself.

Perhaps you've forgotten me. It's been seven or eight years.

I remember you. You're Aunt Setsuko.

You know, I knew your father from when he was your age.

Sit down now, or you'll catch cold.

- I'm embarrassed. - Why?

Because I'm so grimy.

So? We're family.

- What's so funny? - I splashed myself too.

She's my own mother, but she never bathes me.

- Boy from Manchuria! - Who are you?

You're a street urchin. My dad's a war criminal.

Don't spy on people!

"War criminal."

But Terumichi, to borrow your own words,

the grandfather sitting before me

belonged in Sugamo Prison along with Tojo and the others.

The "war crimes" that kid referred to were minor ones,

and his father was still being held in China.

He was my father's younger brother by a different mother.

My father has yet another half brother.

He makes me sick,

the way he slaps Aunt Setsuko's knee during pauses in his lectures.

Later, people told me

he was imitating Kyuichi Tokuda, head of the Communist Party.

You told me he bravely stuck to his principles during the war.

But that's odd, because this communist uncle

seemed like a war criminal to me.

And he wasn't the only one.

My father in photographs, the people drinking sake,

all the grown men - they all looked like war criminals to me.

Masuo, how is your mother?

She's been very weak for a month or two now.

A former nurse shouldn't spend that long resting in bed.

She's my daughter-in-law.

We'll put her to work tomorrow.

But in her condition...

People who've been starving shouldn't eat too much too quickly.

I've heard that starving children in India,

who devour a lot of food in one go,

develop severe diarrhea and soon die.

That goes for you too, Masuo.

Mother, you always eat so little. Hence your excellent health.

Masuo, you should stay here in the country with Grandmother.

In Tokyo there's nothing but the scraps the Americans use to fatten their pigs.

- Yes. - Idiots!

I'm taking Masuo to Tokyo.

I'll raise him in his father's place.

But Father, isn't Masuo actually your...

- My what? - Isn't he your own son?

- What are you taking about? - But...

- But what? - Isn't it possible?

You've recognized me and Susumu, though we were born to mistresses.

No question about Mamoru.

Terumichi's almost surely your son, while Ritsuko's father is uncertain.

And finally, there's seven-year-old Tadashi.

Do I look like such a big shot even to a communist?

Is your communism about giving communal birth?

A former nurse who sleeps for two months? Really, now!

Russia, Russia.

Russia's communist, just like you.

Masuo, did the Russian soldiers wear red uniforms?

No.

Everyone seems to think the Russian soldiers

did something sordid to Kiku.

In other words, that the Russian soldiers are like Grandfather.

Lies! You're all demagogues!

The Russian soldiers were friendly. Weren't they, Masuo?

Masuo, say something.

They... gave me black bread.

In Russian it's called... what was it?

Isn'tit za... za... zakuska?

And you took it?

Yes.

Masuo, did they give your mother anything?

I don't know.

Were you separated from your mother?

In the internment camp, for example.

I see.

Just as I thought.

In front of the child...

Masuo.

Your clothes fit me perfectly.

What are you doing, Terumichi?

Fumigate! Fumigate!

All Japan must be fumigated SO we can begin anew.

All of you.

May I offer Grandfather some sake?

I shall also partake.

Very well.

Have a large cup.

Thank you very much.

Will you have some too?

Terumichi...

that was the first sake I'd ever had.

I have no memory of its taste,

but I do know it made me fall over.

Terumichi...

I was intoxicated by your powerful liquor.

Shouldn't you sleep some more?

What is it?

A mole? A toad?

Masuo, move. Let me listen.

What is it? I can't hear a thing.

- I can hear it. - What can you hear?

Did you eat snakes in Manchuria?

In the red light of sunset in Manchuria

Masuo ate a snake.

You hear something?

What do you hear?

Get up. You're not a kid anymore.

- Buried. - What? A treasure?

- Who's buried? - My younger brother.

They buried a baby who was still breathing,

but I seemed to still hear him crying.

So I put my ear to the ground.

Mother took my hand and yanked me away.

We ran like mad to get back into the column as it marched on.

In the red light of sunset in Manchuria

Masuo buried...

Tadashi, don't tell a word of this to anyone.

Promise me as a man.

Can I make that promise too?

Masuo, make it clear to your mother, that she can't tell anyone about this.

Terumichi...

you asked if there had been baseball in Manchuria.

I was glad you asked.

Fujio Nakazawa of the Manchuria Railway team coached me.

Of course, Ritsuko and Tadashi couldn't hit my pitches.

Your hand seemed to hurt when you caught one in your mitt.

That was the first time I felt any affection for you.

Before then, all I had was the faint notion

that your mother had been intended to marry my father before she died.

She'd been chosen by Grandmother, who insisted that her only son

marry a girl from a good family.

Thus, from a very young age,

you and I were locked in a strange rivalry.

But whom your mother married before giving birth to you...

or why you found yourself alone in the Sakurada family...

these things I had yet to learn.

Strike!

Mother, that was a ball!

Masuo, this is no fun if your pitches aren't easier to hit.

No, Masuo.

Throw it as hard as you can.

Your father pitched with that glove against the Third Higher School in Kyoto.

I went to cheer him on.

When they lost by one run, I broke into tears.

Let's switch places.

Were you able to sleep?

I kept having strange dreams.

What kind of dreams?

They had nothing to do with you.

Maybe you should sleep some more. I have things to think about.

Isn't it better not to think too much?

You remember how we played baseball,

after the memorial service for my father?

The first anniversary, in 19477?

We didn't play baseball.

Yes, we did.

You were in the batter's box. Terumichi was catcher.

No, you've got things mixed up.

You were playing alone, all by yourself.

That's not true.

Your mother, Aunt Setsuko, was the umpire.

She praised my pitching.

Are you saying my mother made you the way you are now?

Setsuko...

Aunt Setsuko...

you looked after me, didn't you?

I'm quitting baseball.

I'm quitting! I've had enough!

Mother, I'm quitting baseball.

Aunt Setsuko...

I mean... Setsuko,

I could feel your eyes on my back.

I was ready to be condemned by everyone, especially Grandfather,

for not having been there when my mother died.

But Setsuko...

the memory of you seeing me in that state

haunts my psyche like an indelible stain.

I'm ashamed to say this,

but your gaze seemed to strike my flesh

with an almost voluptuous sweetness.

It was 1952.

I went to the 34th National High School Baseball Championship

as a pitcher and cleanup hitter representing Tokyo.

The evening before the quarter finals, at the dorm in Koshien,

I'd received the call saying my mother was critically ill.

At the bottom of the eighth in the quarterfinal...

I threw a disastrously easy pitch.

The score was no longer tied at 0-0.

It was right around that time, that my mother breathed her last.

Masuo, if you think about it,

she was a pitiable woman, whose life was nothing but suffering.

She wasn't with her husband when he died.

And she didn't see her son before her own death.

Such are the workings of karma.

In Manchuria she seemed happy.

I wonder.

Don't be silly. She's exceedingly fortunate.

She'll be interred in the Sakurada family tomb.

Terumichi's mother long hoped for the same, but it wasn't to be.

Is it so fortunate to be given a place in the Sakurada tomb?

It doesn't matter where a woman is interred.

But it matters for you, Terumichi and Masuo.

Japan has become independent.

Defeat has temporarily derailed the nation,

and you two must correct its course.

What laughable nonsense!

Masuo and Terumichi should never follow the path, taken by their grandfather or Masuo's father.

What an awful conversation! When do the Molotov cocktails start flying?

Masuo, your father wasn't the kind of simple-minded militarist,

who charged like a bull at anything red.

Still in love with the First Higher School ace, huh?

Be nice now. If anyone should marry soon, it's you, Isamu.

If there's room at your place, I'll invite myself over.

So Ritsuko, will you marry Masuo or Terumichi?

Such a thing is out of the question.

We've lost relatives to war and other things,

and we don't have a single happy couple, just perverse discussions like this.

There is one happy couple:

you and I.

Though we've lived apart for nine years?

As of today you may return to this house.

No, for the sake of Terumichi's education, let's keep things as they...

For the sake of his education, you'll live with me!

Terumichi, will you study law at Todai and join the Home Ministry like Grandpa?

- A nasty education, if you ask me. - I've already given up on university.

Really? So you'll become a worker and pursue practical action?

"Practical action"?

Uncle Isamu is a lecher.

So in that light, I'll take it to mean making lots of babies.

He has women hanging off each arm.

Terumichi, how old are you?

Twenty.

And you, Masuo?

Nineteen.

Grandmother,

I'm 16.

You call such a marriage "out of the question."

But would it really be so terrible?

Ritsuko, are you saying you're in love with one of them?

Setsuko...

I don't know what you and Ritsuko said to each other after that.

But it seems you sent Ritsuko back home.

Setsuko...

did you foresee, that evening, what the future held in store?

Are you going to burn that glove too?

Let me have it.

I'll give you something nice in return.

Something nice?

You think you can give up baseball just like that?

Yes.

I'm starting university next year.

I can see tomorrow's paper: "The Flower of Koshien

Tearfully Vows to Deceased Mother To Give Up Baseball."

Isn't that how it'll be written up?

I don't care about such things.

I've actually hated baseball from the beginning.

But wasn't it the one thing you could hold on to till now?

You're saying I have nothing left to hold on to?

Surely I can't be that thing for you.

- You're wrong. - I cannot.

But there's something else:

This is the last will of your father, Kanichiro Sakurada.

He asked me to give it to you on your 20th birthday.

I haven't read it, of course.

Why have you hidden this from me for the past six years?

I wasn't exactly hiding it.

Shortly before his death, Kanichiro came to me,

and asked that I hand it directly to Masuo.

Kanichiro didn't leave a testament for me.

I have a right to know his thoughts before he died.

I was simply respecting his final wishes.

- I had no say in the decision. - No say in the decision?

Didn't he visit you before his death?

That was an immoral, loathsome act!

Nothing about this situation was ever moral.

You drove a wedge between your son and the woman he loved,

$0 you could possess her for yourself.

If that's morality... - Silence!

Masuo, I'll send for you later.

What else?

I loved Kanichiro...

and I believe he loved me.

Your half sister ran away from home.

I was her illegitimate child by some unknown man.

That's why you wouldn't allow Kanichiro to marry me.

I was 19 and came in tears to plead with you, and you forced yourself on me.

What's your point?

I adopted you as my daughter and married you off

to a powerful pro-dapanese figure in China.

What I'm trying to discuss with you, is what happened after that.

I met with Kanichiro frequently after moving to China...

But we never touched each other.

Am I supposed to believe that?

Kanichiro decided to end his life and came to see me.

We were transported in time. He was 22 again, and I was 19.

What are you boasting about?

I'm not boasting.

I'm just telling you exactly what happened.

In that case, let's reach some kind of conclusion.

Setsuko, come closer.

I'm willing to do so,

but how will that help us to reach a conclusion?

I don't know...

But I'm prepared to face... the ultimate conclusion.

I didn't have the nerve to eavesdrop any longer.

Nor did I have the courage, Setsuko, to rush in to your rescue.

Would that have saved you?

Would it have saved me?

At that moment, I had no idea.

Setsuko...

Even now [I deride myself.

I do so because, in fact, you were my first love.

Grandfather, is this the beginning of my education?

You wouldn't understand,

but it's actually the end of an education.

Then please allow me to watch and learn.

With this we have a conclusion.

Please be my first teacher.

My lips.

My breasts.

Now the other one.

No, don't rush.

Calm down.

- You're finally back. - That's right.

Lots of interesting things happen at weddings and funerals.

It's a shame to miss any of it.

Who is your father?

Why do you suddenly ask that?

When you lived in Manchuria, did my father come to visit you?

Three or four times. I'm not sure exactly.

Why do you ask?

No, you can't mean to suggest...

Your father and my mother... you're suggesting I'm their daughter?

That's not what you're thinking, is it?

I don't think it's possible.

Even if it were, would that be so bad?

- Then you and I would be... - ...siblings?

How wonderful.

Besides fastballs, curve balls, and sinkers, you think about a lot of things, Masuo.

I wouldn't mind being your sister.

Siblings...

That's right.

Say something brotherly to me.

I'm sort of speechless right now.

Then how about some "practical action"?

Kiss me.

Siblings kiss here.

Don't do that.

We wouldn't be siblings anymore.

Mother's funeral was lavish...

So lavish, that people said it was Grandfather's living funeral for himself.

Soon after being depurged,

Grandfather received a government post as president of a public corporation.

Many people gathered to offer their congratulations.

Setsuko...

In his will my father wrote...

"By the time you're an adult, Japan will surely be in chaos under a communist regime.

My son, you must gather like-minded people,

and fight communism."

But his prediction was wrong.

On January 1, 1946,

the emperor renounced his divinity.

My father thought it would be the death of Japan,

and wrote in his will that he wanted to die along with it.

Today I find that sentiment repellent.

Setsuko...

I wanted to start university, quit baseball,

and engage in truly practical action.

But I don't want to think you were part of the reason.

But you, Setsuko...

you wept a long time over my mother's coffin.

Just who were those tears for?

WEST KAGOSHIMA STATION

It's a ways to the harbour, but shall we walk?

What's wrong?

Nothing.

Once you get on the ship, there's no turning back.

Is that meant for me or you?

You.

People often don't turn back when they should...

and end up regretting it later.

Are you speaking for yourself?

Among others.

Have you never regretted anything?

Perhaps the time I kissed you.

- What's that? - It's for seasickness.

I don't get seasick.

We'll be on board over 24 hours.

I've done it before.

When we were repatriated from Manchuria, the boat trip took much longer.

But that was a long time ago.

I remember it like it was yesterday.

It's a round-trip ticket.

We'll go and come back.

Of course.

You're not thinking of...

Thinking of what?

If Terumichi's alive...

I won't need a ticket back.

Ritsuko...

Is this going to be your last stop in a life without regrets or turning back?

The look on your face frightens me.

I've turned back before.

Hasn't our life since repatriation been one long turning back?

Perhaps.

If repatriation showed the Japanese empire's regret,

then we're the children born of that regret.

That's true of you, of Setsuko,

even of that child of a war criminal, Tadashi.

On, on, to the next one!

Two things you think will flow that never do:

An old man's pocket money and an old lady's period

Bring on the groom!

Happy songs, sad songs

Of all the songs I've heard

There's just one I can't forget

And that's the song of labor!

Yes, you young people!

Yes, forward to the future!

Everyone, forward to the future!

The English are clever

So they use rubber or paper

The Russians use their fingers

to relieve their yearnings... - No need to use your fingers anymore!

Hail the groom!

As I left home

I boldly pledged to screw a girl

How can I quit before I've come three times?

Even if I start seeing multiple suns

Even if my back gives out

The beer and sake make me sick

A short rest in the lap of a beauty

I saw Sada Abe in a dream

"I'll cut it off!" she threatened

I awoke and looked down below my navel

When you've done your first girl...

Everyone gets one song. It's my turn.

This is the dorm song of the First Higher School.

"Flowers in a Jade Cup."

Accept these flowers in your jade cup

Accept these flowers

Accept these flowers in your jade cup

The moon's reflection in the green liquor

Steeped in dreams of peace and order

Gazing down at streets of splendor

Rising high above Mukogaoka Hill

Five dorms of stalwart, spirited youths!

Five dorms of stalwart, spirited youths!

Susumu, you're next.

Come on, have a cup of courage.

Forget about the Chinese prisons and sing "Chinese Nights" for us.

Chinese nights...

Susumu isn't ready to sing.

He's struggling with the conflict between the self that committed crimes in China,

and the democratic self, reborn through reflecting on Mao's teachings.

- He's in no mood to sing. - Susumu...

I don't know much, but today I become your sister-in-law.

Let's encourage each other to live for peace, independence, and democracy.

Arise, workers of all nations!

Arise, oppressed of the earth!

For justice thunders condemnation

A better world's in birth! Enough, enough!

Ritsuko, sing a Japanese song!

Even my geisha chignon sways to your lead

Dancing seductively, cheek to cheek

My kimono in disarray

My shame and joy

The geisha's waltz

The waltz of memory

Masuo?

My heart may be fierce

But I am no demon-god

Born as a human being

My heart lacks not compassion

Yet I must abandon my mother

And cross the waves of the sea

O friends and brothers

When shall we meet again?

- What song is that? - "The Manchurian Bandits."

- What's it supposed to mean? - Nothing in particular.

Well, if Susumu won't sing, how about his son?

Tadashi, sing for us!

Hundreds of miles from my native land

In far-off Manchuria

In the red light of sunset

A friend lies beneath a stone in a field

Until yesterday, the saddest of days

He had always charged forward in the first rank

Punishing the enemy without mercy

Can this brave warrior really now be at rest?

In the heat of battle

My friend was always at my side

When he suddenly fell

Without a thought I rushed to his aid

The rules of battle are strict

But how could I just leave him there to die?

Give me a clear answer!

I haven't seen you since I was seven!

How can I know what kind of person you are if you say nothing?

What Uncle Isamu said earlier was a lie, wasn't it?

The self-denunciation you wrote in China was just a ploy, right?

Answer me!

Is China really that great under Mao Zedong?

Is it really better than Japan?

Never mind.

If I don't think of you as my father, there's nothing to ask.

"I'm happy to die for my country

Go back, don't fall behind!" you said with tears in your eyes

Tadashi...

that's how things were in 1956.

I didn't sing, but if I had, I'd have sung "No to Atomic Bombs"

or some other sentimental protest song.

That was the age we lived in.

That year people said the postwar era was over.

Your father was released into that era after serving his time as a war criminal.

it wasn't clear to your father, much less to us, whether he was a ghost held over from the war,

or a harbinger of a new age.

That's why your father said nothing,

not even a single word.

Yet you were so impatient in your questioning.

It may have been a lost era, but it was the era of your youth,

a youth you had to embrace.

You don't drink whiskey like that.

Tadashi just killed his father in front of one and all.

It still wasn't enough.

What's it take to get someone like that to talk?

- You torture him. - How?

Most of the Sakurada family knows how.

Grandfather did it in the Home Ministry.

Uncle Isamu was tortured severely and lost all taste for protest.

My dad was first tortured and then became a torturer.

What a bore... everybody singing with smiles pasted on their faces.

- Go and get... - Who?

My father? - Idiot.

Liquor's wasted, when it's just angry men like us.

- But the only girl... - I told you:

She isn't a girl anymore.

You want to torture Ritsuko?

Depends on the mood of the moment.

Is this all you're up to in here? It's not even worth spying on.

- We're about to go on a rampage. - Then I'll join you for a bit.

You've gotten better at holding your liquor.

You too. When did you start drinking?

Do you drink with your boyfriend?

What boyfriend?

- How would Tadashi do? - What?

Out of the question.

Nothing in this world is out of the question.

Indeed.

Tadashi's angry tonight. Be nice.

Do you really have a right to ask me to do that?

A girl isn't enough. I want...

...to stab someone?

Men not talking about sex? How strange. I came all this way to join in the fun.

I want to kill!

You have a knife?

That thing's for hoodlums.

Tadashi!

That's not how you hold it.

Grasp it with both hands...

and aim for the heart with all your strength.

A person won't die easily unless you plunge it in deep.

I understand why some people want to kill, but there are also those who want to die.

- Like who? - My mother.

Aunt Setsuko? That's not our concern.

It is!

If Setsuko says she wants to die, it is our concern!

Why does she want to die?

She just said she wants to die.

That's crazy talk. It's none of our business.

Yes, it is!

How is it our concern?

Terumichi, you...

I haven't seen Setsuko in the four years since your mother's funeral.

How should I know what she's feeling?

That day four years ago is precisely the reason, isn't it?

I wasn't even there.

This is boring. I'm leaving!

Didn't you lend it to me?

This is old-fashioned. You'll kill one or two people at most. Is your anger that shallow?

Don't pick up a weapon, unless you can massacre, take the world, turn it upside down.

For that you need a gun. - That hurts. Let me go!

Go cool your head.

I can't sleep next to someone who wants to die, so I'll stay tonight with the two of you.

Then I can hear all about the trouble that happened four years ago.

That's my futon.

Then come join me.

Didn't we promise to be like brother and sister?

Now I remember what happened four years ago.

Am I taking too much of the futon?

Now, let's begin.

Who wants to start?

It's hard to begin when you say it that way.

Be a man. It was your idea.

That was the role I wanted...

but Terumichi took my place, right before my eyes.

That's no good. Be more specific.

Like this: "In this room,

Masuo's lying on my left and Terumichi's on my right.

Terumichi's leg is entangled with mine." Like that.

Grandfather embraced Setsuko.

And then what?

He fondled her.

How?

At that moment Terumichi entered the room.

Grandfather left.

Setsuko was lying on her back.

I asked her to teach me.

You did?

She was so kind and gentle.

In what way?

The way I always wanted her to be.

But your mother chose Terumichi.

I see.

And after you saw that, we became siblings.

We aren't siblings!

At that moment, I didn't think of her as Setsuko,

but simply as a tender woman offering her tenderness.

I was longing for the Feminine.

So it was purely carnal?

You think the Feminine is purely carnal?

I don't understand what you're talking about.

And Ritsuko is right here. - Don't hold back on my account.

I too would like to know what this "Feminine" is all about.

Have you ever been with a whore?

The older guys on the team took me to one.

Nobody goes to a whore in search of the Feminine.

Even if you tried, you'd go home disappointed.

Sounds complicated.

There must also be something like "the Masculine,"

and I hope it isn't as complicated.

Terumichi, get up!

The Masculine! The Feminine! You're hiding behind generalizations.

What about Setsuko's feelings?

Four years ago, and even today...

Masuo, you think that that night four years ago is connected with my mother's desire to die, right?

Not directly, of course.

Then why not have her join us in bed and ask her?

We can investigate the Feminine and the Masculine.

Shall I go get her?

You'll get her?

I don't want to investigate anything. I just want to know how Setsuko feels.

I finally understand that.

Now I understand too.

All that's directly connected to what happened four years ago

are your feelings for my mother.

Take it.

It's quite possible that your feelings for Setsuko Sakurada

and her desire to die are directly connected.

Take it. Just in case.

Tadashi...

You saw me enter Setsuko's room.

I could tell.

When I went in, Setsuko was sleeping peacefully.

I sat near her pillow and gazed at her face.

The violent feelings swirling inside me faded at some point,

and I recalled everything that had happened over the previous four years.

That following spring, I entered a university in Kyoto.

Terumichi became Grandfather's secretary.

His settling in at the house was one reason I wanted to leave Tokyo.

Terumichi was supposed to be a secretary,

but I heard all he did was sit around and read books.

Not that I have anything to be proud of.

I'd sworn to give up the world of baseball, but I kept getting drawn back into it.

Maybe there was a direct connection... one that went back more than four years.

Tadashi...

You remember, don't you, that day the four of us played two-base baseball?

I'd had those feelings for Setsuko since then.

And yet, Tadashi,

though you couldn't have known what was roiling in my heart,

you stood there patiently spying on us.

That may have been a sign of your youth.

As for my youth, that was in the distant past.

Masuo, Ritsuko was only joking.

Don't take it seriously.

You should know that young girls don't always mean what they say.

But it's true that I am getting older.

If I were to fall in love with someone now,

I might ask him to die with me.

Please answer one more question:

Could that someone perhaps be Terumichi?

Did he say something to you?

Yes.

I don't know what he told you,

but I was simply yielding to a young man's desire.

It only happened once.

And though I wasn't that young anymore,

something about it still touched my heart.

Setsuko.

What?

I've never done anything extraordinary in my life,

and I don't think I'll ever really amount to anything.

I don't care if I die.

You're embarrassing me.

Your father was never that sweet.

If he had been, I...

But I've lived ten years too long.

And I caused many people a lot of trouble.

Masuo, the next ceremony will surely be my funeral.

I'll take this in appreciation of the gesture.

You won't...

No. It's just for self-defense.

Tadashi...

Did you continue spying on Setsuko after I left?

If you did, tell me what happened.

The next morning, Setsuko's body was discovered

in the hills behind the house.

Grandfather declared it a suicide, and nobody disputed it.

Tadashi...

Take it.

But you didn't move.

It even looked like you were sneering.

Tadashi...

You knew how she had really died, didn't you?

Setsuko's death was treated as a suicide, and she was given a lavish funeral...

but the suspicion that Grandfather actually killed her

has never left my mind.

But that's not why I despise him.

We'll get to the island in about five hours.

I have a feeling...

that once we arrive, you'll be lost to me forever.

Your hand...

your hair...

your lips.

Lips that have only taunted me since I was a child.

You know the story of the Flying Dutchman?

A ship's captain is cursed,

and condemned to sail the Seven Seas forever...

always alone, never dying.

I too...

am a man under a stupid curse.

I want to go on like this...

sailing the sea with you forever...

rocked by the waves.

You haven't been cursed.

You just wished you were.

I can't even taunt you properly in this state.

Shall we get some fresh air?

Ritsuko...

If Terumichi's telegram proves true...

will you marry me?

- Her appendix? - That's right.

We're giving her pills and injections.

Please don't be alarmed.

In the worst case...

Good morning.

I just heard that the bride has appendicitis.

- Tadashi! - Pardon me.

- Should I not have mentioned it? - It's not that. What's this uniform?

It's the semi-dress uniform of the Metropolitan Police.

You aren't on duty. Go change.

I intend to dedicate myself to the public 24 hours a day.

I have nothing to change into but underwear and pajamas.

This is a private affair for the Sakurada family.

You may excuse yourself from the ceremony.

Tadashi, we'll prepare some clothes. Go change.

If she doesn't recover, will the ceremony go on?

That isn't your concern. Go change!

I don't intend to.

- They operated? - Someone must go to the hospital.

No, visitors are strictly prohibited.

Leave everything to me. - What about the wedding?

They could have said something before operating.

I wonder if the bride's a runaway.

Absolutely not!

She'd been having some pains, and with all the stress...

If "runaway" was an injudicious choice of words,

perhaps better to say she's lost interest in a permanent bond?

No, it's really her appendix. Just give her five days.

How convenient it is to have an appendix.

There was no mirror in front of me,

so I couldn't see the face of the man who'd been abandoned by his bride.

Ritsuko...

How must that face have looked?

At the age of 28, without wanting to,

at Grandfather's request I'd decided to marry,

and now I'd been jilted.

But I was actually relieved.

I wanted to run away more than she did.

It would cause a minor scandal, but I'd taken ten days off work,

and the thought occurred to me,

that I could use that time to take a trip somewhere by myself.

The wedding and reception will take place as planned.

Without the bride?

Distinguished guests have come from all over the country.

If we put on a display, that will be that.

Once her appendix has healed, the families can celebrate in private.

You seem confident of catching her.

That'll be hard if she's gone into hiding.

It's not like when you were in the underground.

Japan's police force today is the world's finest.

Exactly!

Tadashi, are you still in that uniform?

He was right.

We'd left the postwar confusion behind.

The year was 1961.

Only I was left to experience the confusion

of exchanging nuptial cups with an absent bride.

Now, allow me to present the bride.

But first I must make an announcement.

The bride returned to Japan after the war,

without having picked up a trace of distasteful foreign customs.

She is a pure, immaculate daughter of Japan.

In preparation for this splendid day, she spent a month,

no, several months, purifying herself by abstaining from meat and fish.

Having endeavored thus,

and having grown quite tense,

after bidding her parents good-bye this morning,

she was about to leave the house when suddenly

she was stricken with acute appendicitis.

She bravely endured the pain

and insisted on attending the ceremony.

But a wedding is a matter of one day, whereas married life spans a lifetime.

After discussion among her extended family,

she was admitted to the hospital.

In my humble opinion, both this decision

and the bride's attitude are to be applauded.

He was a great politician, all right.

For the first time I thought tenderly of the woman, who wasn't beside me.

Hearing him call her "pure, a true Japanese woman,"

I oddly began to believe it.

Where was she hiding right about then?

She probably didn't care one bit about the Japanese police.

We'll now ask the bride and groom to cut the wedding cake.

Please applaud as the knife cuts the cake.

The bride will now retire to change her gown.

Meanwhile, please feel free to enjoy your meal and conversation.

The bride has now returned.

The groom may greet her at the entrance.

We humbly ask the groom to greet the bride.

How long will you keep up this humiliating farce for these big shots poisoning Japan?

- What can I do? - Denounce this sham!

If you don't, I willl

"Blueprint for a New Japan: First, the emperor..."

Ritsuko...

At that time there was a great distance between us.

If the wedding with my invisible bride

and this minor disturbance were all that had happened that day,

you and Terumichi would have been able

to return to your normal lives, regardless of what happened to me.

But the misfortune that was to follow

would force us to speak face-to-face once again.

In the street in front of the hotel,

Tadashi was hit by a car and died instantly.

"Item Six: Plan for Revolt.

First: Acquisition of weapons.

The pistols of our sympathizers on the police force

will form the basic arsenal

of each revolutionary unit.

Second: Our sympathizers in the police,

ammunition depots..."

I know, it's really tough.

Have a drink.

It's a once-in-a-lifetime setback, but you did nothing wrong.

She ran away.

It's alright to cry. - No, it isn't!

Tadashi became obsessed with stupid ideas and did stupid things.

Of course he died. How could he survive?

But Tadashi didn't commit suicide! Somebody ran him over!

Communists or somebody!

Then call the police. No doubt they had him under surveillance.

This wasn't a case of murder.

It was a traffic accident, nothing more.

Like your bride's appendicitis. It was just bad luck, Masuo.

She ran away! Masuo was jilted by his bride.

That's right. I'm not "the man from Manchuria" anymore.

I'm “the jilted bridegroom."

A wake and a wedding night rolled into one - what a mess.

I understand why you're crying.

What are you laughing about?

"Seven: Targets...

First: All national ministers..."

You can't just go on crying like this.

It's actually quite funny.

Isn't it, Masuo?

Maybe it's best that she ran off.

You'd have been called away from your wedding bed.

From that angle, you should feel lucky.

Why exactly was I crying?

Was I saddened by Tadashi's sudden death?

Was I miserable from that humiliating wedding?

You see, I was so drunk, didn't even know what I was feeling.

Ritsuko...

You said nothing, but I felt as if you were by my side.

I could hear Grandmother and Uncle Mamoru

telling stories about wedding nights from the past.

I don't know what made me do what I did.

I must have been drunk.

I hear that, inside the tissue holder in their kimonos,

brides have instructions for their wedding night.

There's no such thing!

It's just folded paper.

On my wedding night, when I saw Grandfather's manhood,

I thought, "Where's he supposed to put something that big?"

Grandmother, your haori half-coat...

- What about it? - Please hand it to me.

Relax.

There's nothing to fear.

Relax your whole body...

and leave it to me.

Masuo!

- It's my wedding night. - Have you gone nuts?

It's all been too much for you.

My true Japanese woman, pure and immaculate...

These breasts, these lovely breasts, are mine, all mine.

Should we call a psychiatrist?

No, this mustn't get out.

We're finally alone.

There's nothing to be ashamed of.

I love you.

Don't tense your thighs like that!

What's all this racket?

Your grandson. See for yourself.

My pure and immaculate Japanese girl!

My body is yours, and your body is mine.

Masuo...

I always knew you were good for nothing but baseball,

but I never knew you were such an ass.

You, the grandson of Kazuomi Sakuradal!

My true Japanese woman.

What are you doing? Are you fucking crazy?

He isn't crazy at all.

My true Japanese woman!

Let go of me!

Get off me, you madman!

My pure and perfect Japanese girl! Relax your thighs.

Are you going to stop?

This is your doing.

You're the one responsible for this wedding night.

"Targets:

1b: All ministers and members of the Diet

shall be sentenced to death.

1c: All ministry bureaucrats,

and all provincial civil servants, past and present,

shall be sentenced to forced labor for life..."

Come on, relax.

If it hurts, just say so.

What are you doing?

My, my, he's really on a tear tonight.

I had my suspicions, but you've really gone crazy!

Get out of there!

Grandmother, please tell him to get out!

If he's gone mad, he's hopeless in or out of the coffin.

If he hasn't, he won't listen anyway.

This is horrible, just horrible.

- Give me a hand. - To do what?

Masuo...

that's enough now.

Ritsuko...

if only you'd agree to marry me...

But I had my wedding night a long time ago.

Terumichil

Masuo, take Ritsuko's hand.

Now we're all linked together.

Still...

I'd hoped I would hear that sound... What does it sound like?

Terumichi, you don't intend to leave here?

Ritsuko...

if you'd agreed to come with me,

I'd have left this house.

Masuo, promise me to hold Ritsuko back until I've left.

Terumichil

He's leaving.

He's really leaving.

I'm...

He's leaving!

Ritsuko...

I held you fast, just as Terumichi told me to do.

You could have broken free and followed him if you'd wanted,

but you seemed to be under his spell, and you stayed completely still.

Terumichi agreed with Grandfather to leave the house,

in exchange for my getting married and living there.

The fact the two of them had made that agreement...

was of course unknown to me, and I guess to you as well.

Ritsuko...

After that night, Terumichi was never seen in Grandfather's house again.

I later learned that Terumichi

was Grandfather's child by the girl, who was supposed to marry my father.

Grandmother, who had adoringly raised him, died shortly after Terumichi left.

I had eagerly expected him at her funeral, but he never turned up.

Speaking of never turning up, the bride who'd abandoned me never turned up either.

And though ten years have since passed,

and though you and I both live in Tokyo, we haven't seen each other since.

My condolences on your grandfather's death.

Thank you.

Please come inside.

It's been a long time.

You look well.

Has every one arrived?

Some of the uncles aren't here yet.

Though I hadn't seen Ritsuko in ten years,

I had no time to speak with her.

I was the chief mourner

at the largest funeral ceremony the Sakurada family would likely ever see.

Politicians came,

and powerful government officials,

financiers,

mourners from the provinces.

I was like a machine, repeating the same words over and over.

In the three nights since Grandfather's condition had turned critical...

between preparations the night before the wake, and then the wake itself,

I hadn't slept a wink.

Even if I'd tried to think about Grandfather's death,

I wouldn't have had the time.

In those four or five days I'd grown as tired,

as if I'd had to relive my entire life over again.

Indeed, my entire life until then had been an attempt

to escape the heavy responsibility of being a Sakurada.

Baseball...

my decision to attend university in Kyoto,

quitting the company I briefly worked for,

coaching my old high school's baseball team...

all seemed directed at that goal.

Yet during the services people kept telling me

to give up baseball and do something to continue my grandfather's legacy.

They offered to pave the way for me.

My uncles insisted I get married and produce an heir.

I was sick of it all.

It's you.

Poor thing.

Masuo, I feel so sorry for you.

I don't need your pity.

No.

You poor thing.

Forgive me.

Please stop it.

Why are you acting like this?

It's heavy... and oppressive.

I feel I'm being buried.

Buried?

I'm being buried alive.

Buried...

Little by little my breath is cut off.

Masuo, I feel so sorry for you.

It hurts.

I'm suffocating.

But it's a good feeling.

No...

I'm being buried.

My eyes are being covered up...

It's the soil...

I can smell the soil.

My ears are being plugged up.

My mouth...

My mouth fills with earth.

All the pores of my skin...

are being clogged up.

The earth...

has completely covered...

my skin.

Above the surface...

someone's listening to my voice.

It's my older brother.

No... it's me.

TE...

RU...

MI...

CHI...

DEAD

STOP

SIGNED

TE...

RU...

MI...

CHI

TERUMICHI DEAD STOP SIGNED TERUMICHI

When we came ashore, Terumichi's cabin

was a warm presence in the dawn light, bespeaking nothing of death.

I thought perhaps we'd been fooled.

At that moment Ritsuko screamed, "He's alive!" and collapsed in a heap.

But when I ran to the cabin and called out Terumichi's name,

there was no response.

Ritsuko slowly approached.

I tried to open the door,

but to my surprise, every door was nailed shut.

Ritsuko called out "Terumichi"

for the first time.

It was a voice calling out for a dead man.

We broke through the doors like lunatics and burst in,

still in our shoes.

It was completely empty.

Terumichi had removed every trace of his life.

Only his corpse lay there.

His last will had been placed upon the newspaper

announcing Grandfather's death.

I began to read it aloud, but Ritsuko stopped me.

This is what was written there:

"I am the only one who can continue the Sakurada line.

By killing myself,

I hereby destroy the Sakurada clan."

Masuo...

you'll be late for your ship. You should go.

You'll be in charge of the funeral services in Tokyo.

I'll stay here.

Ritsuko!

You intend to die here, don't you?

Yes.

But I can take care of everything by myself.

You fool!

You think, I can leave knowing that?

Then you intend to stay and witness my death?

Do you see it?

THE END