A fugitive walks into an inn. A father sells his daughter. Postwar Japan doesn't flinch.
This happened at a post station on the Shinshu road. Takizo Hoshigoe, a wanted man who has been missing since breaking through the Oto checkpoint, came to this post station longing for his hometown and stayed at Shinanoya. A farmer named Sakubei, who was struggling to pay his taxes, came to sell his daughter Omitsu.
Acting
Denjirō Ōkōchi's haunted stillness as the wanted man Takizo.
Cinematography
Snow-covered Shinshu landscapes that feel like purgatory.
Director
Taizō Fuyushima
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Released during Occupation censorship, the film smuggles critique of systemic poverty through personal tragedy. The 'wanted man' archepe allowed filmmakers to explore rootlessness without explicitly attacking authorities.
Director Taizō Fuyushima largely disappeared from film history; this survives as his most accessible work, largely due to Ōkōchi's star power from his iconic roles in 1930s jidaigeki.
JP
