Hero of the Red-Light District

Hero of the Red-Light District (妖刀物語 花の吉原百人斬り, Yoto monogatari: Hana no Yoshiwara hyakunin giri), also titled Yoshiwara: The Pleasure Quarter or Killing in Yoshiwara, is a 1960 Japanese jidaigeki and drama film by Tomu Uchida.[1][2]

Hero of the Red-Light District
Directed byTomu Uchida
Written byYoshikata Yoda
Produced byJun'ichirō Tamaki
Starring
CinematographySadaji Yoshida
Edited byShintarō Miyamoto
Music byToshio Nakamura
Production
company
Distributed byToei Company
Release date
  • 4 September 1960 (1960-09-04) (Japan)[1][2]
Running time
109 minutes
CountryJapan
LanguageJapanese

Plot

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Jirozaemon, a successful textile merchant from the provinces, cannot find a wife because of his disfiguring birthmark. Even the courtesans in Yoshiwara refuse to entertain him. When he meets enslaved street prostitute Tamatsuru, who treats him with kindness, he falls in love with her, intent to free and marry her, which leads to his downfall.

Cast

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Legacy

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In his Story of Cinema, David Shipman declared Uchida "the equal of Mizoguchi and Kinugasa" for this film, while film historian Alexander Jacoby rated it as "ultimately one of his [Uchiwara's] most conventional" works and "academic".[3]

Hero of the Red-Light District was screened in the Museum of Modern Art as part of a retrospective on Tomu Uchida in 2016.[4]

References

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  1. ^ a b "妖刀物語 花の吉原百人斬り". Kinenote (in Japanese). Retrieved 12 July 2023.
  2. ^ a b "妖刀物語 花の吉原百人斬り". Japanese Movie Database (in Japanese). Retrieved 12 July 2023.
  3. ^ Jacoby, Alexander (July 2005). "Uchida, Tomu". Senses of Cinema. No. 36. Retrieved 12 July 2023.
  4. ^ "Yoto monogatari: Hana no Yoshiwara hyakunin giri (Killing in Yoshiwara). 1960. Directed by Tomu Uchida". Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved 12 July 2023.
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