Original subtitles

written and directed by Shuji TERAYAMA

One a lacquered box, two a tiny drum,

three a long sleeved kimono.

For whom you bought it?

It's for Oharu...

LABYRINTH IN THE FIELD

Today I had a visit from a strange young fellow.

He said he was from the noble Kuromon family.

You were a servant there.

He has been looking for you for over a month.

It's strange,

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

How did you reply?

The lyrics...

I was so busy.

He asked for my wife.

I hit him and kicked him out.

"I bought it for Oharu."

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

After that, just the melody.

It seems my mother sang it with her friends.

Why don't you ask your mother?

I have no mother.

They say she died in her native land.

Dead?

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

With a red ribbon in her hair,

my aunt was very pretty.

Obliged to marry a tailor at 19,

she went crazy the night of the Girls' Festival.

She is still in a mental hospital.

I wrote her to ask for the lyrics.

She answered a month later.

She sent me a lot of love poems.

Did you find the song you were looking for?

Not a line of the song of hand ball.

I'm sorry but

I don't know the words.

I have had many pupils.

I can't remember your mother.

Besides, these days, very few kids sing

those songs.

One a lacquered box, two a tiny drum,

three a long sleeved kimono.

Who did I buy it for?

I bought it for Oharu.

Where did she die? I wonder.

Akira!

What are you thinking about?

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

Leaving your body behind,

you go on a trip to a faraway land.

Welcome home.

Do you want to take a bath?

Or do you want to eat first?

Who are you?

Why are you here?

Eat.

Chopsticks...

My dear Shin.

One a lacquered box, two a tiny drum,

three a long sleeved kimono.

It's that song.

Searching for the handball song

which his mother left him.

He travels

through the labyrinth in the field

three thousand miles

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

That was nice.

Mom!

Look, Mom!

Mom.

My underpants...

My underpants...

Mom... who is that woman

in our neighbour's storehouse?

You...

Did you meet Chiyojo?

Don't go near her.

She is a nymphomaniac,

- a devil. - A devil?

She went crazy waiting for a man.

For a long time here,

when a girl is 20 on the day of the Bull

the cursed year of the Bull,

she purifies her body,

wears almost no lipstick,

closes the door and hangs a woman's soul

praying to the wicked Bull.

In her hand mirror,

the girl sees the man she is destined to marry.

But...

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

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

she finally went mad.

Shut away in the storehouse, as if in prison,

sometimes on a beautiful moonlit evening,

she comes out in search of a man.

What if she comes out again and

tries to take me away...

Don't worry!

Your mother will always be here.

Your new mother? Does she really exist?

You know there is

nothing new in the world.

Sometimes forgotten things wake up.

That's it.

Please, please tell me.

Why am I so obsessed with that song?

Why should I go on travelling?

Why do you ask me that question?

Maybe, I have another mother.

To find her. I have continued to travel.

What a silly idea.

Look at a bird,

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

Akira!

Akira!

You never listen to me.

I told you not to go near her.

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

You are not my son, anymore.

I'll never go there again.

Sorry, excuse me.

I'm going to town.

You leave me like this?

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

I'll write magic words.

The handball escapes from her grasp

and runs away from her.

One a lacquered box, two a tiny drum,

three a long sleeved kimono.

Whom

did I buy it for?

It's for Oharu

that I bought it.

Oh, Oharu,

where did she die?

Now, no devil can approach you.

You will remain my son forever.

She's an awful woman, who

10 years ago shut away the servant her husband raped.

She treats her like a nymphomaniac.

In any case, like a bird in a cage.

Someone said "Catch the floating ball."

On the sunset reflecting river

floats something round.

Yes, a hand ball.

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

A policeman passing by

takes off his cap and turns it,

easily catches the ball.

The policeman is also a lover of Akira's mother.

She says Akira's father is

a naval officer. No one saw him.

Precisely. No one saw him.

Odd ties between mother and son.

No, there is nothing odd

where there is a school.

Ready or not?

Not yet.

Ready or not?

Ready.

Her dead body was swept upon the shore.

She committed suicide with the deserter.

Impossible!

What a bitch!

Don't waste your time.

Come on, hurry up!

It's your turn.

There is another one.

Sleep well, little sweet boy.

Ten pounds for a whore,

one pound for the whole basket of flowers.

It's a lullaby!

That's right.

What about this one?

Shut up.

Stop singing.

That's it.

What comes next?

No, I want to know the words.

Let's see...

Visited a temple of dead.

Peonies, lilies, poppies.

The same melody with different lyrics.

You wanted to hear other lyrics.

Yes?

I made them up.

I want to know the rest.

Well, I'm at a loss.

How does it go? I don't recall.

Please, please remember.

Please sing.

Forget that song.

And now...

For Oharu, for Oharu,

I bought it

to give to Oharu.

Where did Oharu

die?

Where did she die?

My dear, the umbrella...

Umbrella?

Mom!

The girl who ran into your house,

the girl playing with a ball, where is she?

A girl? There is no one here, besides me.

Have a cup of tea.

I've lived here alone for the past 30 years.

That looks like a hand ball.

That one?

It's called a pregnancy stone.

Some very small ones exist

and some as big as that one.

When a sterile woman touches it

she becomes pregnant right away.

These days,

old women sell these stones

at their street stands...

"Old lady, I don't need a child,"

"but give me a woman,"

young fellows tease her.

Still, quite a lot of young women buy them.

It was my mother, and her partner

was me.

Mother!

Don't worry.

Your mother is near you.

Is it Akira?

I am pregnant with you, once again.

Darkness fell in front of the graveyard.

Where shall we sleep

tonight?

There is a temple over there.

Waking up in the temple

the lady with a bridal headdress is my mother.

Using the clouds as my guide,

crossing oceans

and mountains,

walking from one country to another

all that to find the meaning...

Don't ask me the reason.

I want to hear the handball song.

I continue to travel...

cast:

Hiroshi MIKAMI (Akira, as a child) Takeshi WAKAMATSU (Akira, as an adult)

Keiko NIITAKA (Mother)

Yasumi NAKASUJI (Crazy girl) Miho FUKUYA (Midori)

Juzo ITAMI (school director, old man, priest)

with the collaboration of TENJOSAJIKI

cinematography: Tatsuo SUZUKI

music: J. A. SEAZER

production design: Isao YAMADA

production co-ordination: Eiko KUJO and Yumi GOVAERS

production: FILMS DU JEUDI

producer: Pierre Brannberge