A Noh Drama and Ozu’s Late Spring

Abstract

Yasuji Ozu’s Late Spring (Banshun,1949) is considered to be  his finest achievement. The story concerns Noriko (Setsuko Hara), who lives happily with her widowed father (Chishu Ryu) and seems in no hurry to get married. Her father, however, wants to see her settled and conspires with his sister to trick Noriko into believing that he is marrying Mrs. Miwa, a widow.  The climactic scene is set in a Noh theater where father and daughter watch the Noh drama “Water Iris (Kakitsubata),” performed by the Kanze Noh troupe. The Shite, the spirit of water iris, dances in her elegant attire while reciting Ariwara Narihira’s story of lost love and poetry from the Tale of Ise.  While watching the spirit dance, Noriko sees her father exchanges greetings with Mrs. Miwa, who is also in the theater.  Noriko’s mood at once darkens because of jealousy and fear of her uncertain future.  Noriko descends into the darkness while the spirit dances into the Buddhahood on stage. The film’s climactic scene and the Noh drama’s high point converge and diverge.   The film utilizes the Noh drama to illuminate Noriko’s emotional roller-coaster journey.  At the same time the spirit’s message about transient life remains true: “the cicada sheds its brocade gown, / revealing sleeves as white as deutzia blossoms/as white as the snow.”  At the film’s finale Noriko appears clad in her white bridal kimono, ready for a new chapter of her life.