In postwar Tokyo, beloved writer-professor Hyakken Uchida retires and is buoyed through hardship by the fierce devotion of his former students, who honor him each year with a raucous “Not yet!” birthday toast. Told in warm, gently comic vignettes, Kurosawa’s farewell celebrates aging, friendship, and the sustaining ritual of teacher and pupils refusing to say goodbye.
Direction
Kurosawa's patient, loving final bow at 83
Writing
Vignettes that build to devastating cumulative power
Acting
Tatsuo Matsumura's twinkling, stubborn warmth
Director
Akira Kurosawa
Tatsuo Matsumura
Prof. Hyakken Uchida
Kyōko Kagawa
Professor's Wife
George Tokoro
Amaki
Masayuki Yui
Kiriyama
Akira Terao
Sawamura
Takeshi Kusaka
Dr. Kobayashi
Asei Kobayashi
Rev. Kameyama
Hidetaka Yoshioka
Takayama's Son
Yoshitaka Zushi
Neighbor
Mitsuru Hirata
Tada
Noriko Honma
Old Lady Holding a Cat
Shigeo Katō
Stationmaster
Kōjirō Kusanagi
Man Who Bought the Land
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The title refers to a children's game meaning 'not yet!' — players hide and shout it when found, refusing surrender. Kurosawa saw it as his own artistic refusal to quit cinema.
Based on real professor Hyakken Uchida; the annual 'madadayo' parties continue to this day with his actual students' descendants. Kurosawa's own former assistants and crew attended his 1993 premiere.
JP
