"Hear ye!" "We bring you now for your viewing pleasure," "The Ballad of Narayama, based on the ancient legend of Obasute." "BALLAD OF NARAYAMA" "KINUYO TANAKA TEIJI TAKAHASHI" "YUKO MOCHIZUKI DANSHI ICKIKAWA" "SEIJI MIYAGUCHI YUNOSUKE ITO" "WRITTEN  DIRECTED BY KEISUKE KINOSHITA" "Amidst towering peaks in the land of Shinano" "Where a Brooklet winds through" "The valley of the forgotten" "Cicadas sing the mournful tale of this secluded mountain village" "Good day!" "Does Orin of the tree stump live here?" "Ah, you must be Orin." "That I am." "Hello there." "Who might you be?" "Well, I have come from the other village." " Then you must be..." " I bear tidings to you." "That's very kind." "Please, come inside." "It must have been an exhausting climb." "Inviting in the weary courier" "Impatient for the news he Bears" "My message concerns the new widow in our village." "Well, well..." "Her man's funeral was held three days ago." "And her age?" "Forty-five." "Why, the same age as my Tatsuhei!" "The most favourable match." "True, true!" "Things could not be more favourable." "When can she come to live with us?" "Grandma." "Before the other can reply Grandson Kesakichi enters" "I'm hungry!" "What is there to eat?" "There's some boiled beans there." "Who wants belly-churning beans?" "Old man Amaya was saying to me," ""Your grandma has such strong teeth." ""She can eat anything, even pine cones. "" "Nonsense!" "You have 33 good teeth." "I have no more than 28!" "You have more." "You just can't count beyond 28." "Kesakichi!" "Old Granny has 33 teeth!" "Kesakichi!" "Granny hid herself in the shack" "Along with 33 devil's teeth" "How fragile and ephemeral This life of mortals" "It will soon be a full year since your mother died." "Listen, you mustn't play where it is dangerous, or you'll fall over the cliff like your mother." "Let's go." "Tatsuhei, rejoice!" "You'll soon have a new wife." "Why the strange look?" "A man from the next village came to tell us." "She's only been recently widowed." "Her name is Tama-yan." "Is that so?" "How old is she?" "Your age." "She's 45!" "And she can come after her 49 days of mourning." "Show some signs of rejoicing!" "Why?" "I've already passed that stage." "The Festival of the Dead is almost here." "I knew someone would sing that song." "If three years pass, we're three years older." "When the New Year comes, I'll be 70." "I must make my pilgrimage to Mount Narayama." "Such was the custom among the village elders" "The summit of Narayama Beckons all of that age" "Even the songs of the Festival count off the years" "Reminding all mortals that their time is also approaching" "Tatsuhei!" "Such timidity makes you bad company for my sacred ascent." "You're going to have a new wife." "Show some excitement!" "Mother, shall I carry you?" "All right, let's try it." "How is it?" "Am I too heavy, or am I light?" "You've grown lighter, Mother." "Mount Narayama is very steep." "It will take all your strength to carry me up." "What's wrong?" "Too early." "Your time is yet to come." "Don't be silly." "I'll go to Narayama when the New Year comes." "Your bride is chosen, so I'm ready now." "That's right, there's still my teeth!" "What are you doing?" "I'm ashamed of my teeth." "At my age, to visit Mount Narayama, I can't have such plentiful teeth." "Tatsuhei, I want to go to the mountain as a toothless old woman." "Tree-stump Orin hid in the shack" "Now she has 33 devil's teeth" "Amaya!" "I need you to come over now!" "You need to count how many teeth she has." "I meant no harm." "I heard it from your son, Kesakichi." "I'm sorry." "Kesakichi!" "The Festival comes But once a year" "Bringing rice to our humble table" "Granny hid herself in the shack" "Granny with her 33 devil's teeth" "After all she's gone through to raise you!" "Scum!" "You say she has devil's teeth?" "Granny has devil's teeth!" "Fool!" "No dinner for you tonight." "The seventh month" "Brings the mist and rains" "As one dines on simple fare" "One's heart grows heavy" "And the spirit Becomes listless" "As each night one's dreams" "Become yet another stepping stone" "Here." "Oh, yes." "We must also tell Kesakichi." "Your new mother will be here soon." "A bit early, perhaps, but she may be here for the Festival." "When she comes, it'll make life easier for you." "Just a minute!" "We don't need a mother!" "I'll take a bride." "We don't need her." "My bride can cook for us." "She'll do everything." "What a fool!" "No more food for you." "Brother wants to marry Matsu-yan." "Fool!" "Keep your mouth shut." "Even at 30 it's not too late" "One newcomer means another mouth to feed" "Before the Festival thrice has come" "Chestnut seeds into flowers Bloom" "Granny hid herself in the shack" "Granny has 33 devil's teeth" "Rice!" "I smell cooked rice!" "Don't be so silly." "If you're so hungry, I'll feed you." "Despicable." "You're like a child!" "Mata-yan, as a neighbour and my old friend, let me tell you what people are saying about you." "Mata-yan, they say you're so stingy you've set nothing aside to celebrate your ascent of Narayama." "You're one year older than I am." "You should have gone long ago." "Rumour had it that you'd go this spring, but spring has come and gone." "It's already summer." "Yes, you are truly unfortunate." "You probably have no intention of going to Narayama." "So, your whole family refuses to feed you any more." "That's why you've fallen to scrounging." "What a miserable, wretched creature!" "Rice!" "More rice!" "Go ahead, eat." "We only eat white rice once a year." "I've cooked plenty for the Narayama Festival tonight." "Begging food from neighbours, eh?" "You're a disgrace." "You're coming with me." "It's you who should be ashamed!" "Feed him, at least at Festival time." "Stranger, have you come to see our Festival?" "Is this the home of Tatsuhei?" "Yes." "You must be from the next village." "Are you Tama-yan?" "Yes, I am." "They insisted I arrive in time for the Festival, so I came today." "Welcome." "Please come and enter your new home." "With a hearty welcome for her son's new Bride" "Her whole heart rejoices as only a mother's can" "Though death awaits atop the mountain" "For her, now, there are no regrets" "Now, eat your fill." "This much?" "I'll go and hurry my son home." "They insisted I should eat here instead of at home, so I left this morning without eating." "Well, eat your fill here." "No need to be polite." "They hurried me off, saying that you are a kind-hearted woman." "Why didn't you come earlier?" "I expected you yesterday." "The messenger who came here was my brother." "He told me how wonderful you were and I wanted to come right away." "Why were you sitting on that stump?" "Why didn't you come right in?" "I was all alone, and it was rather embarrassing." "My brother promised to come with me, but he drank too much last night." "All he could do was encourage me by saying how nice you were." "If I'd known, I would have gone for you myself." "I wish you had." "I could have carried you back here." "Tama-yan!" "My mother." "Is it stuck in your throat?" "Eat slowly, and take as much as you wish." "My, that was painful!" "When the New Year comes, I will go up the mountain." "My brother mentioned that, too, but he says there's no hurry." "He's wrong!" "The sooner I go, the more the gods will favour me." "Go on, eat everything on your plate." "After all, I caught the fish myself." "Really?" "You mean you can catch fish?" "Yes." "Tatsuhei and Kesakichi are hopeless." "I am the best of all the villagers." "Is that so?" "It's almost a waste to eat so much right now." "I know where the fish hide." "I'll show you someday." "Go ahead, eat!" "I still have many dried fish set aside." "I'll go get Tatsuhei." "Very pleased with her son's new Bride" "She departs in search of him" "As a Blushing Bride in days gone By" "None could match her Beauty" "In her days of widowhood no scandal marred her honour" "During those painful years Never an accusing finger" "Why ruin a faultless life for a mere set of teeth" "Which is But an outward sign of a hearty appetite?" "With such shame cast upon my name" "I dare not face the mountain gods" "Granny?" "Is anything wrong?" "Eat without haste and dine well." "I'll soon bring Tatsuhei home." "My destiny awaits me on the mountaintop, now that my teeth are gone." "Festival time comes once a year" "Bringing rice to our humble table" "In our deaf and shivering dotage" "All our human Bonds are severed" "Tatsuhei!" "Tatsuhei!" "Tatsuhei!" "Where is Tatsuhei?" "Mother!" "Tatsuhei, your bride..." "This is Tama-yan, your new bride." "Go, join her and dine together." "White polished rice!" "Our annual festive dinner!" "Just once a year." "Damn it!" "Mother, gorge yourself!" "I'll eat, too." "If you can't chew, just swallow it." "And more for you." "This miserable, wretched life!" "A thousand curses!" "Old hag of the tree-stump!" "You brats!" "You dirty urchins!" "The glowing crimson of the autumn maple" "Brightens the pathway of young ones in love" "You should help with the rice harvest." "Nonsense!" "Without food, it's smarter not to work up your appetite." "I'm hungry, too, but my belly keeps growing larger and larger." "I eat and eat, but it's never enough." "Have some of these beans." "My folks want me to move in with you." "Can I go eat at your place tonight?" "Yes!" "Your belly will send Granny into the hills." "Nobody wants a great-grandchild." "Even the autumn harvest of the gold-tinted grain" "Serves only to remind one of the passage of time" "The peaks of Narayama seem so close." "Stop dreaming." "Finish reaping the rice." "The golden heads droop Wet with tear-like dew" "With such a tiny plot of land, why reap in such haste?" "Mother, would you mind going ahead?" "What's wrong?" "An odd feeling that I was carrying her on my back." "What ails you now?" "Hurt your leg, have you?" "That son of yours refuses to feed you but forces such a load on you?" "Come!" "It's not far now." "Hold on to me and walk slowly." "You are a foolish one!" "Instead of suffering so, go to Narayama." "Narayama is the abode of the gods, a place of bliss and blessings." "I plan to go at the turn of the New Year." "Never!" "I won't go to Narayama." "They can't make me!" "Grandma, when will you go to the hills?" "I plan to go next year." "Next year?" "Winter may bring early snow." "Wouldn't it be wiser to go sooner?" "The path winds through seven gorges." "Snow will make it impassable." "I have always been lucky." "It will surely snow after I arrive, as it did for Otori of Shioya." "My grandpa went up in midsummer." "That's stupid!" "You'll live too long." "It's wisest to go when snow is expected, but before it becomes too deep." " Sooner the better!" " Later the better!" "Sooner the better!" "It's better not to rush it." "Hey!" "Thief!" "Thief!" "Make the culprit do penance to our sacred Narayama!" "Tatsuhei!" "Kesakichi!" "Don't panic!" "Matsu-yan, get up!" "Make the culprit do penance!" "Leave your sandals!" "The thief must do penance!" "Carry off all their food!" "Let's go!" "Father." "Amaya was the thief?" "The cur!" "Making off with my bale of rice." "It's in his blood!" "His father was also a thief." "We'll divide up the spoils." "Line up here!" "Come on!" "Hand it out." "Look!" "This one dares to wear sandals." "Wretched dotard!" "My leg is injured!" "You mountain-evading dotard!" "Come, give him a beating!" "Wait, control your rage!" "He has come prepared to do battle despite a lame leg." "Take his share and let him go." "After we pay the land-taxes, we won't have enough food for the winter." "Amaya has 12 mouths to feed." "I have 8." "But we have more adults with bigger appetites, so it's the same." "For one thing, we're too careless about how we eat." "Unless we ration the food, Matsu-yan's appetite will be our ruin." "She didn't come to be Kesakichi's wife." "The way she eats, her family probably drove her out." "The villagers are saying stealing is in the Amaya blood." "Without our help, they won't be able to sleep at night." "When Amaya's father did penance in the wilds of Narayama, he survived the winter by eating roots." "They say he hid food up there for such an emergency." "Beans again?" "Why, they're all done!" "Where are your manners?" "No loss!" "Just add water and the volume increases." "But if one doesn't eat, it decreases?" "Really?" "Is that true?" "Kesakichi!" "Slap that girl's face." "I'm first in line and deserve the biggest share." "Eat all you want." "Here!" "All the potatoes we divided up last night were tiny." "I thought my crops were rather poor, but I was being robbed." "Everyone says they lost more than they got back." "It was our own food that was returned to us." "We must take revenge for this." "After dark, they'll be sneaking out to steal more." "Unless we do something, we'll never sleep well again." "We must wipe them out." "But, how?" "There are 12 of them." "Dig a big hole and bury them all." "Nonsense!" "Where could we bury so many?" "It's no laughing matter." "The villagers are serious." "Such ill-omened chatter." "Even the crow cries ominously." "I've a feeling Death will be out stalking tonight." "I wonder if the Amayas will begin disappearing, one after another?" "Granny, perhaps it's time to go to the mountain next year." "I'm glad you finally begin to understand." "It's such a relief to me." "My mother in the next village made the ascent." "My mother-in-law also went that way." "It's only natural I should go, too." "In such squalor, there's even a song about me." ""Gin-yan of the reeds, a shameless hag" ""who lived to see her great-grandchild. "" "I don't want people saying this about me." "Don't worry." "I'll abandon the newborn child in the hills." "They'll not sing such songs about you." "Nonsense!" "I'll desert the brat myself." "Didn't I promise I would?" "Yes, you did promise!" "Father dear, the day now nears" "For you to make the fateful trip" "That's the spirit!" "To Bear old Granny into the hills" "Where land-craBs crawl about" "Through our door no crab may enter" "Only Birds that sing at night" "Tatsuhei, let me take a good look at you while it is still possible." "Does the thought still disturb you?" "But you will take me up next year?" "Tama-yan, you're a far better wife than the one who is now dead." "Tonight I shall teach you where to catch the river fish." "This is the spot." "Reach into this hole and you can snatch the fish out." "But never tell anyone." "Right under that boulder." "Now, don't you forget." "Kesakichi is out, too." "It will be wise not to speak of the Amayas any more." "Like unto a Bright spring day" "The pleasant glow of one's abode" "Where one's dreams live on" "Throughout the fleeting years" "Perhaps this daily life we lead" "Is naught But a passing dream" "Tonight, I'll invite the elders who have been to Narayama." "The New Year is still four days away, but I wish it was over with." "Wait until next year." "Don't be silly." "What's a few days?" "I'd like to go before my great-grandchild comes." "Go inform the elders." "Hurry, before they go to their daily work." "Look." "The snowflakes already begin their winter dance." "It will surely snow on the day I ascend the mountain." "Go, now!" "Or tomorrow I shall go there by myself." "Away with you!" "The climb will be a difficult one, and we are greatly obliged to you." "During the ascent, one must abide by the formalities set forth." "Upon arrival at the mountain, no words shall pass between you." "During the ascent, one must abide by the formalities set forth." "When departing on your journey, no eyes must see you leave." "During the ascent, one must abide by the formalities set forth." "When returning from the mountain, one must not turn to look back." "The path to the mountain skirts the foothills." "It then passes the holly tree and winds onwards." "As one ascends the third mountain, a lake will appear." "Pass the lake and climb the fourth mountain beyond the stone steps." "From the top thereof," "Narayama may be seen beyond the gorge." "Proceed onward with the gorge to your right and a hill to the left." "The distance there is five miles." "The path then winds upwards past the Gorge of the Seven Bends." "The path through this gorge will lead you on to Narayama." "The path to the peak of Narayama exists, yet does not exist." "Proceed upward among the oaks and the gods will be awaiting you." "If one wishes, one may turn back at the Gorge of the Seven Bends." "You know well that I tell you this because it is customary to do so." "As simple as such duties may appear" "A companion's lot is not an easy one" "The heavy Burden on one's Back" "A leaden weight upon one's heart" "What are you up to?" "You dare to escape?" "Help!" "Help me!" "Wait!" "Filthy dotard!" "Granny." "Tatsuhei?" "What's going on here?" "What is it?" "He escaped and ran off!" "Mata-yan, don't you know this song?" ""In our deaf and shivering dotage," ""all our human bonds are severed. "" "Do you wish all ties with the gods and your son to be cut off?" "No, I won't go!" "Damn you!" "Put it off tonight." "Come!" "I'll take you home." "No!" "I will never go." "Come with me!" "Shut up!" "Why all the fuss?" "Send all the old ones into the hills!" "Kesakichi!" "I plan to go tomorrow night without you needing to tell me." "The cold moon of a dying year" "Overlooks the anguished parting" "Plucked into ragged shreds The clouds above float By" "Torn now all human heartstrings" "Between love and filial affection" "Bonds linking a mother and son" "are interwoven, like fine spun yarn" "With the fleet passing of the months" "Comes this fateful parting day" "Hoisted high upon his shoulders" "A son carries off his loving parent" "You must Be Thama-yan!" "Come, enter your new home." "No need to Be polite." "Eat slowly." "Have as much as you wish." "When the New Year comes, I shall go up the mountain." "For this kind and loving mother" "Comes the fateful day of parting" "Mother, are you cold?" "Is there a mother's son" "Who would not agonise on such a day?" "Mother, the moon hides behind the clouds." "nearby looms Narayama" "above the cold and whistling winds" "Mother, it is getting colder." "It will bring snow." "Mother, why will you not speak to me?" "This is not Narayama." "We may speak without offence." "Mother..." "This must be the Gorge of the Seven Bends." "We will soon be there." "Mother, speak to me!" "Just one word will suffice." "We now ascend Narayama." "Speak to me just once more!" "Help!" "Save me!" "How can you do this?" "Mata-yan!" "Mother!" "Mother!" "It's starting to snow!" "Mother!" "Mother!" "You must be so cold!" "Mother, you have been so fortunate!" "On the day of your ascent!" "The snow did come, after all..." "When we reach three score and ten, we, too, shall go to the mountain." "ABANDONING PLACE" "THE END" "ANNOUNCING" "BALLAD OF NARAYAMA" "The path to the peak of Narayama exists, yet does not exist." "Proceed upward among the oaks and the gods will be awaiting you." "ILLUSTRATING THE BEAUTIFUL WAYS OF THE JAPANESE" "AND THE EXTREMES OF POVERTY" "THE ETERNAL POEM OF LIFE" "BASED ON THE NOVEL BY SHICHIRO FUKAZAWA" "WRITTEN  DIRECTED BY KEISUKE KINOSHITA" "UNIQUE AND PERFECT STAGE SETTING KISAKU ITO" "STANDOUT FUJI-CAMERA CINEMATOGRAPHY BY HIROYUKI KUSUDA" "KINUYO TANAKA AS ORIN" "TEIJI TAKAHASHI AS TATSUHEl" "YUKO MOCHIZUKI AS TAMA-YAN" "DANKO ICHIKAWA AS KESAKICHI" "YUNOSUKE ITO AS MATA-YAN'S SON" "SEIJI MIYAGUCHI AS MATA-YAN" "WITH A SHOCKING SCREENPLAY ADAPTATION" "TELLING THIS PAINFUL STORY" "AS A PRAYER TO HUMANITY!" "KEISUKE KINOSHITA" "AN UNPRECEDENTED MASTERPIECE" "CARRIED ON THE BACK" "HARD TO LEAVE THE MOTHER BEHIND AS SHE LIVES..." "BASED ON THE ANCIENT LEGEND OF "GRANNY DUMPING"" "Mother, are you cold?" "Mother, speak to me!" "Mother, just one word will suffice." "Mother!" "BALLAD OF NARAYAMA"