Children of Hiroshima (1952)

Post war Hiroshima: It's been four years since the last time she visited her hometown. Takako faces the after effects of the A-bomb when she travels around the city to call on old friends.

Director:

Kaneto Shindô

Writers:

Arata Osada (novel), Kaneto Shindô

Stars:

Nobuko Otowa, Osamu Takizawa, Masao Shimizu

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Nobuko Otowa	...	Takako Ishikawa
Osamu Takizawa	...	Iwakichi
Masao Shimizu	...	Toshiaki, Takako's father
Jûkichi Uno	...	Kôji (scenes deleted)
Akira Yamauchi
Takashi Itô
Jun Tatara
Tsutomu Shimomoto	...	Natsue's husband
Hideji Ôtaki
Eiken Shôji
Shinsuke Ashida
Shin Date
Chikako Hosokawa	...	Setsu, Takako's mother
Tanie Kitabayashi	...	Otoyo
Yoshiko Sakurai

Storyline

Six years after the atomic bombing of 06 August 1945, the school teacher Takako Ishikawa returns to Hiroshima on her vacation to visit friends and to honor her parents that died in the bombing. Takako was raised by her uncle and aunt. While in her hometown she stays with her friend, Natsue Morikawa, who has become infertile due to the side effect of the A-bomb. While walking along the destroyed city, she sees a former family friend, Iwakichi, who worked with her father, and is almost blind and has become a beggar. She pays a visit to his shanty in the slums and discovers that his grandson, Taro, is living in an orphanage since Iwakichi's shanty is no place to raise the child. When Morikawa tells her that three former pupils from the kindergarten have survived to the bombing, Takako pays a visit to each one of them and finds how the A-bomb and the radiation have affected their lives. Before returning home, Takako asks Iwakachi to let her bring Taro with her; but their bond is very ...

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Plot Keywords:

hiroshima | atomic bomb | post war | japan | grief | 

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Genres:

Drama | War

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

6 August 1952 (Japan)

Also Known As:

Children of Hiroshima

Filming Locations:

Hiroshima City, Hiroshima, Japan

Company Credits

Production Co:

Kindai Eiga Kyokai, Mingei

Technical Specs

Runtime:

97 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The film was sponsored by Japan Teachers' Union.

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Quotes

Toshiko, former pupil: [Takako is visiting her in a church, where she lies critically ill with radiation sickness] Ah, Teacher.
Takako Ishikawa: You still remember me.
Toshiko, former pupil: I didn't at first but it came to me.
Takako Ishikawa: Have you live here all this time?
Toshiko, former pupil: Yes, for six years. The priest saved me the day of the bomb. I've been here ever since.
Takako Ishikawa: And your mother and father?
Toshiko, former pupil: Everyone was killed. And I decided to stay here. Here I can say prayers for them. I ask God to grant us peace forever.
Takako Ishikawa: That is a very good thing to do.
Toshiko, former pupil: Now I understand that war is the ...
[...]

User Reviews

Pretty good, but a tad two-dimensional

Takako Ishikawa stars as a woman from Hiroshima who left it shortly after the bombing to live with her aunt and uncle on a nearby island. She lost the rest of her family in the disaster. Four years afterward, she returns to check up on old acquaintances. Ishikawa is basically an audience surrogate, as we see how the people of Hiroshima are doing. The answer: not that well, as you might expect. The city is still devastated, people are dying of radiation poisoning, many are horribly injured. But life goes on, represented by the children of the city, many of them orphans, but they live their lives as carefree as they can. Ishikawa feels guilty for leaving the city and not being able to help her townspeople, but she finds hope in a young boy, the grandson of one of her father's employees. Osamu Takizawa is now a blind beggar, and can't really take care of the boy himself (he lives in an orphanage). Ishikawa offers to adopt the boy, but he is understandably reluctant to leave his grandfather behind. This is a touching film, but it is pretty two dimensional. It kept reminding me of the far superior Grave of the Fireflies, and the only tears I shed during it came about because I was thinking of the Isao Takahata anime (a rare film which I just cannot recall without tearing up). Takizawa gives a pretty good performance. Ishikawa went on to star in Shindo's three most famous films, Onibaba, The Naked Island and Kuroneko. The very unsubtle score is by Akira Ifukube, who would go on to score Gojira and tons of other kaiju eiga.