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written and directed by
Shuji TERAYAMA

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One a lacquered box,
two a tiny drum,

3
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three a long sleeved kimono.

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For whom you bought it?

5
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It's for Oharu...

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LABYRINTH IN THE FIELD

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Today I had a visit
from a strange young fellow.

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He said he was from
the noble Kuromon family.

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You were a servant there.

10
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He has been looking for you
for over a month.

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It's strange,

12
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he asked me if I knew the lyrics
of the handball song.

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How did you reply?

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The lyrics...

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I was so busy.

16
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He asked for my wife.

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I hit him and kicked him out.

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"I bought it for Oharu."

19
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"Where did she die?"
That's all I remember.

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After that, just the melody.

21
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It seems my mother sang it
with her friends.

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Why don't you ask your mother?

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I have no mother.

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They say she died in her native land.

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Dead?

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She sang it with my aunt.
My mother loved her a lot.

27
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With a red ribbon in her hair,

28
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my aunt was very pretty.

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Obliged to marry a tailor at 19,

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she went crazy the night
of the Girls' Festival.

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She is still in a mental hospital.

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I wrote her to ask for the lyrics.

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She answered a month later.

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She sent me a lot of love poems.

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Did you find the song
you were looking for?

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Not a line of the song of hand ball.

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I'm sorry but

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I don't know the words.

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I have had many pupils.

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I can't remember your mother.

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Besides, these days,
very few kids sing

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those songs.

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One a lacquered box,
two a tiny drum,

44
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three a long sleeved kimono.

45
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Who did I buy it for?

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I bought it for Oharu.

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Where did she die? I wonder.

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Akira!

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What are you thinking about?

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Once in a while,
you disappear right in front of me.

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Leaving your body behind,

52
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you go on a trip to a faraway land.

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Welcome home.

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Do you want to take a bath?

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Or do you want to eat first?

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Who are you?

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Why are you here?

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Eat.

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Chopsticks...

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My dear Shin.

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One a lacquered box,
two a tiny drum,

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three a long sleeved kimono.

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It's that song.

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Searching for
the handball song

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which his mother left him.

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He travels

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through the labyrinth in the field

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three thousand miles

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for one year, for two years
and for three...

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That was nice.

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Mom!

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Look, Mom!

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Mom.

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My underpants...

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My underpants...

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Mom... who is that woman

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in our neighbour's storehouse?

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You...

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Did you meet Chiyojo?

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Don't go near her.

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She is a nymphomaniac,

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- a devil.
- A devil?

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She went crazy waiting for a man.

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For a long time here,

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when a girl is 20
on the day of the Bull

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the cursed year of the Bull,

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she purifies her body,

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wears almost no lipstick,

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closes the door
and hangs a woman's soul

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praying to the wicked Bull.

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In her hand mirror,

92
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the girl sees the man she is
destined to marry.

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But...

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this woman couldn't see a man
in her mirror.

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While waiting for the man,
one, two, three years

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she finally went mad.

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Shut away in the storehouse,
as if in prison,

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sometimes on a beautiful
moonlit evening,

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she comes out in search of a man.

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What if she comes out
again and

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tries to take me away...

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Don't worry!

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Your mother will always be here.

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Your new mother?
Does she really exist?

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You know there is

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nothing new in the world.

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Sometimes forgotten things wake up.

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That's it.

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Please, please tell me.

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Why am I so obsessed with that song?

111
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Why should I go on travelling?

112
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Why do you ask me that question?

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Maybe, I have another mother.

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To find her. I have continued to travel.

115
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What a silly idea.

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Look at a bird,

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but don't you see the huge sky
across which the birds fly?

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Akira!

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Akira!

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You never listen to me.

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I told you not to go near her.

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You forget your homework.
You are attracted to that nymphomaniac.

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You are not my son, anymore.

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I'll never go there again.

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Sorry, excuse me.

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I'm going to town.

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You leave me like this?

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Don't worry.
To prevent her from approaching you,

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I'll write magic words.

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The handball escapes from her grasp

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and runs away from her.

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One a lacquered box,
two a tiny drum,

133
00:16:05,965 --> 00:16:11,528
three a long sleeved kimono.

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Whom

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did I buy it for?

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It's for Oharu

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that I bought it.

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Oh, Oharu,

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where did she die?

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Now, no devil can approach you.

141
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You will remain my son forever.

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She's an awful woman, who

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10 years ago shut away the servant
her husband raped.

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She treats her like a nymphomaniac.

145
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In any case, like a bird in a cage.

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Someone said
"Catch the floating ball."

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On the sunset reflecting river

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floats something round.

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Yes, a hand ball.

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I want to catch it
but I don't want to get wet.

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A policeman passing by

152
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takes off his cap and turns it,

153
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easily catches the ball.

154
00:17:36,956 --> 00:17:40,722
The policeman is also a lover
of Akira's mother.

155
00:17:41,194 --> 00:17:43,253
She says Akira's father is

156
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a naval officer. No one saw him.

157
00:17:47,500 --> 00:17:48,967
Precisely. No one saw him.

158
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Odd ties between mother and son.

159
00:17:51,337 --> 00:17:53,430
No, there is nothing odd

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where there is a school.

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Ready or not?

162
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Not yet.

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00:19:09,749 --> 00:19:12,741
Ready or not?

164
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Ready.

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Her dead body was swept
upon the shore.

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She committed suicide
with the deserter.

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Impossible!

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00:22:11,797 --> 00:22:13,128
What a bitch!

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00:22:13,299 --> 00:22:16,393
Don't waste your time.

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00:22:16,602 --> 00:22:19,093
Come on, hurry up!

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It's your turn.

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There is another one.

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Sleep well, little sweet boy.

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Ten pounds for a whore,

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one pound for
the whole basket of flowers.

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It's a lullaby!

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That's right.

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What about this one?

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Shut up.

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Stop singing.

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That's it.

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What comes next?

183
00:23:43,389 --> 00:23:46,051
No, I want to know the words.

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Let's see...

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Visited a temple of dead.

186
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Peonies, lilies, poppies.

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The same melody with different lyrics.

188
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You wanted to hear other lyrics.

189
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Yes?

190
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I made them up.

191
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I want to know the rest.

192
00:24:15,688 --> 00:24:18,122
Well, I'm at a loss.

193
00:24:20,226 --> 00:24:24,185
How does it go? I don't recall.

194
00:24:25,264 --> 00:24:28,233
Please, please remember.

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00:24:31,403 --> 00:24:32,802
Please sing.

196
00:24:33,139 --> 00:24:35,266
Forget that song.

197
00:24:37,476 --> 00:24:39,569
And now...

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00:25:33,165 --> 00:25:37,966
For Oharu, for Oharu,

199
00:25:38,204 --> 00:25:40,672
I bought it

200
00:25:40,873 --> 00:25:43,205
to give to Oharu.

201
00:25:45,077 --> 00:25:49,104
Where did Oharu

202
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die?

203
00:25:51,817 --> 00:25:58,154
Where did she die?

204
00:26:20,546 --> 00:26:22,639
My dear, the umbrella...

205
00:26:22,948 --> 00:26:24,347
Umbrella?

206
00:27:44,129 --> 00:27:44,993
Mom!

207
00:28:40,519 --> 00:28:43,511
The girl who ran into your house,

208
00:28:43,889 --> 00:28:46,653
the girl playing with a ball,
where is she?

209
00:28:47,092 --> 00:28:50,493
A girl? There is no one here,
besides me.

210
00:28:53,532 --> 00:28:55,727
Have a cup of tea.

211
00:28:57,403 --> 00:29:03,239
I've lived here alone
for the past 30 years.

212
00:29:03,442 --> 00:29:08,175
That looks like a hand ball.

213
00:29:09,248 --> 00:29:10,738
That one?

214
00:29:11,784 --> 00:29:14,252
It's called a pregnancy stone.

215
00:29:14,453 --> 00:29:17,047
Some very small ones exist

216
00:29:17,322 --> 00:29:20,655
and some as big as that one.

217
00:29:20,959 --> 00:29:24,360
When a sterile woman touches it

218
00:29:24,897 --> 00:29:28,628
she becomes pregnant right away.

219
00:29:28,834 --> 00:29:30,631
These days,

220
00:29:30,836 --> 00:29:33,634
old women sell these stones

221
00:29:33,839 --> 00:29:37,605
at their street stands...

222
00:29:37,810 --> 00:29:39,607
"Old lady, I don't need a child,"

223
00:29:39,778 --> 00:29:43,145
"but give me a woman,"

224
00:29:43,348 --> 00:29:45,111
young fellows tease her.

225
00:29:45,984 --> 00:29:49,818
Still, quite a lot of
young women buy them.

226
00:30:05,003 --> 00:30:09,497
It was my mother, and her partner

227
00:30:10,275 --> 00:30:11,401
was me.

228
00:33:16,595 --> 00:33:17,459
Mother!

229
00:33:21,433 --> 00:33:22,695
Don't worry.

230
00:33:22,934 --> 00:33:25,368
Your mother is near you.

231
00:36:16,007 --> 00:36:17,167
Is it Akira?

232
00:36:17,843 --> 00:36:22,246
I am pregnant with you, once again.

233
00:37:30,916 --> 00:37:37,253
Darkness fell in front of
the graveyard.

234
00:37:38,123 --> 00:37:43,322
Where shall we sleep

235
00:37:43,662 --> 00:37:46,654
tonight?

236
00:37:46,898 --> 00:37:52,495
There is a temple over there.

237
00:37:53,438 --> 00:37:59,399
Waking up in the temple

238
00:38:00,145 --> 00:38:07,642
the lady with a bridal headdress
is my mother.

239
00:38:07,852 --> 00:38:09,820
Using the clouds as my guide,

240
00:38:10,088 --> 00:38:12,147
crossing oceans

241
00:38:12,357 --> 00:38:13,949
and mountains,

242
00:38:14,159 --> 00:38:16,753
walking from one country to another

243
00:38:17,028 --> 00:38:20,088
all that to find the meaning...

244
00:38:20,432 --> 00:38:22,457
Don't ask me the reason.

245
00:38:22,901 --> 00:38:26,837
I want to hear the handball song.

246
00:38:27,238 --> 00:38:29,103
I continue to travel...

247
00:39:26,131 --> 00:39:28,258
cast:

248
00:39:28,800 --> 00:39:31,963
Hiroshi MIKAMI (Akira, as a child)
Takeshi WAKAMATSU (Akira, as an adult)

249
00:39:32,404 --> 00:39:35,601
Keiko NIITAKA (Mother)

250
00:39:36,174 --> 00:39:39,302
Yasumi NAKASUJI (Crazy girl)
Miho FUKUYA (Midori)

251
00:39:39,778 --> 00:39:42,941
Juzo ITAMI
(school director, old man, priest)

252
00:39:43,415 --> 00:39:46,612
with the collaboration of TENJOSAJIKI

253
00:39:47,118 --> 00:39:50,281
cinematography: Tatsuo SUZUKI

254
00:39:50,789 --> 00:39:53,986
music: J. A. SEAZER

255
00:39:54,426 --> 00:39:57,623
production design: Isao YAMADA

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00:39:58,096 --> 00:40:01,224
production co-ordination:
Eiko KUJO and Yumi GOVAERS

257
00:40:01,433 --> 00:40:03,833
production:
FILMS DU JEUDI

258
00:40:04,069 --> 00:40:06,435
producer: Pierre Brannberge