The End of Summer (1961)

The family of an older man who runs a small sake brewery become concerned with his finances and his health after they discover him visiting an old mistress from his youth.

Director:

Yasujirô Ozu

Writers:

Kôgo Noda (screenplay), Yasujirô Ozu (screenplay)

Stars:

Ganjirô Nakamura, Setsuko Hara, Yôko Tsukasa

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ganjirô Nakamura	...	Kohayagawa Manbei
Setsuko Hara	...	Akiko
Yôko Tsukasa	...	Noriko, second daughter
Michiyo Aratama	...	Fumiko, eldest daughter
Keiju Kobayashi	...	Hisao, Fumiko's husband
Masahiko Shimazu	...	Masao, third son
Hisaya Morishige	...	Isomura Eiichirou
Chieko Naniwa	...	Sasaki Tsune
Reiko Dan	...	Yuriko, her daughter
Haruko Sugimura	...	Katou Shige
Daisuke Katô	...	Kitagawa Yanosuke
Haruko Tôgô	...	Kitagawa Teruko
Yumi Shirakawa	...	Nakanishi Takako
Akira Takarada	...	Teramoto Tadashi
Kyû Sazanka	...	Yamaguchi, Chief clerk

Storyline

Approaching his senior years, widowed Manbei Kohayagawa is the owner of a small family run sake brewery in Kyoto. Hisao, his daughter Fumiko's husband, works for the company. Another daughter, Osaka based Akiko, who works at an art gallery, is widowed, her deceased husband who decided not to work in the family business, but maintain his own career as a college professor. Kohayagawa's third and last daughter, Noriko, a clerk in an office, has never been married, but is now of marrying age. Because the business is not doing well as it cannot compete with the larger sake companies, Kohayagawa wants to ensure that all his daughters are taken care of financially, which means finding husbands for both Akiko and Noriko, that task which is aided by Kohayagawa's younger brother-in-law, Yanosuke Kitagawa. Akiko and Noriko know about the arrangements with the potential husbands - although Akiko's first "date" is more of a surprise to her - and generally go along with the dates as are requested ...

---

Plot Keywords:

infidelity | unfaithfulness | adultery | aging | father daughter relationship | 

---

Genres:

Drama

---

Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese English

Release Date:

February 1962 (USA)

Also Known As:

The End of Summer

Company Credits

Production Co:

Toho Company, Takarazaka Productions

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The last of six collaborations between Yasujiro Ozu and Setsuko Hara.

---

Quotes

Kitagawa Yanosuke: We humans can't come to terms with death until it's too late. Even people like my brother, who did as he pleased. On his deathbed, even Toyotomi Hideyoshi said: "It's as if my glorious life was but a dream within a dream."

---

Connections

Referenced in I Lived, But... (1983)

---

Soundtracks

Xin Nián Hao Ya (Happy New Year)
(uncredited)
Melody: 'O My Darling Clementine'
Japanese lyrics
Performed by Yôko Tsukasa and other cast members

User Reviews

ozu's colour masterpiece

After his second experience with colour, a light, happy "Ohayo", secretly epic and impressed, Ozu shot one of the milestones of his career: "Kohayagawa-ke no aki" is in my recollection, with "Banshun" and "Munakata shimai", his best work. Most of the themes exposed in previous films (father's intervention in his daughters' lifes, love (in the hands of others), solitude) are here integrated in a comedy-structured film that becomes a drama. It's perhaps his unique melodrama and it is shown with the desperate of the last breath for some characters, as usual in Ozu, doubtful and seeking a place for their quiet happiness.

There is no Ozu film nearest Sirk's or Minneli's universe like this one.