The Tangled Webs of Debt and Adultery

The problems in loveless marriages may come to a head in surprisingly complicated circumstances. But life is reliably complicated, as we can see in 1954's Chikamatsu Story (近松物語). Based on an 18th century story by Chikamatsu Monzaemon, this is part of a series of Kenji Mizoguchi films of the 1950s that criticised Japanese society. In this case, he takes aim at the taboo against adultery, and he delivers his argument effectively. Though, unlike issues he confronted in his other films, like prostitution and feminism, I think he was likely preaching to the choir.

Mohei (Kazuo Hasegawa) works for a wealthy scroll maker in Kyoto called Ishun (Eitaro Shindo). Ishun presides over a vast household of apprentices and servants and he provides all the official calendars for Edo and Kyoto. It's Mohei who bears most of the labour, forced to work day and night despite being sick with a cold.

Meanwhile, Ishun's beautiful wife, Osan (Kyoko Kagawa), is having some embarrassing financial trouble. Her brother has appropriated some deposited funds to pay off a loan and now needs to borrow money from his sister. Ishun is too hard-hearted to help her so she goes to Mohei.

While this drama is unfolding, Ishun is trying to seduce a servant girl called Otama (Yoko Minamida) whom he has been raping repeatedly, sneaking into her room at night. She's traumatised and can't think of accepting Ishun's offer of a private house to become his official mistress. Also, she happens to be in love with Mohei.

This movie can't be called a melodrama because all of these circumstances are plausible, so when all these stormclouds clash at just the right moment, it's an effectively horrific tragedy. It ends up with Mohei and Osan on the run together, fugitives accused of adultery when the only real crimes that have been committed are Ishun's selfish actions.

Once again, Kyoko Kagawa, who's renowned for her work in Mizoguchi's Sansho the Bailiff, delivers a terrific performance. Chikamatsu Story is available on The Criterion Channel.

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The warmth of velvet cooled behind the fence.
A future past was blown above the flame.
A quiv'ring string declared the air was tense.
The woods at night would never sound the same.
Important teas could break the hardest tin.
A game of cards destroyed a sense of pace.
The number nine accounts for more than ten.
A counting duck could save the human race.
A many pointed hand was half at fault.
The ancient map was missing half the roads.
We took the dancing clowns with heaps of salt.
A student said the moon was holding toads.
The cloud of cotton eats a human eye.
The guiltless snow became a cherry pie.