''Apostasy'' () is a 1948 Japanese

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by

Keisuke Kinoshita was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. Ronald Berganbr>"A satirical eye on Japan: Keisuke Kinoshita" ''The Guardian'', 5 January 1999. While lesser-known internationally than contemporaries such as Akira Kurosawa, Kenji Mizoguchi and ...

, based on the novel '' The Broken Commandment'' by

Tōson Shimazaki was the pen-name of Haruki Shimazaki, a Japanese writer active in the Meiji, Taishō and early Shōwa periods of Japan. He began his career as a Romantic poet, but went on to establish himself as a major proponent of Japanese Naturalism. The ...

Plot

Segawa, a young school teacher in rural

Meiji era The was an Japanese era name, era of History of Japan, Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868, to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feu ...

Japan, hides his

burakumin The are a social grouping of Japanese people descended from members of the feudal class associated with , mainly those with occupations related to death such as executioners, gravediggers, slaughterhouse workers, butchers, and tanners. Bura ...

roots, as he had promised his father, who had hoped for his son to live a life without social discrimination. His promise conflicts with his wish to confess his secret to his fiancée Oshiho. Segawa's mentor and future father-in-law Kazama, ancestor of an old samurai family, has just been forced to retire for plain monetary reasons, thus losing his pension. After meeting with prominent burakumin writer Inoko (who is later killed by a group of villagers), rumours about Segawa's descent are spreading. Put under pressure at a public meeting of the townspeople, he finally reveals the truth. With the majority, including Kazama, turning against him, he is forced to resign. Upon leaving the town together with Oshiho, who has decided to stay by his side, he is waved good-bye by his single loyal colleague Tsuchiya and the town's children.

Cast

Ryō Ikebe was a Japanese actor. He graduated from Rikkyō University and originally wanted to be a director, but ended up debuting as an actor at Tōhō in 1941. He did not achieve popularity until starring in a series of youth films in the late 1940s. H ...

as Segawa * Yōko Katsuragi as Oshiho *

Osamu Takizawa was a Japanese actor. He was born in Ushigome, Shinjuku, Tokyo. Starting at the Tsukiji Little Theater, Takizawa participated in a number of theatrical troupes before forming Gekidan Mingei with Jūkichi Uno. His was praised for his performa ...

as Inoko *

Jūkichi Uno (real name ; 27 September 1914 – 9 January 1988) was a Japanese actor. In 1950, he formed the with Osamu Takizawa was a Japanese actor. He was born in Ushigome, Shinjuku, Tokyo. Starting at the Tsukiji Little Theater, Takizawa particip ...

as Tsuchiya *

Eitarō Ozawa , also credited as Sakae Ozawa (小沢栄), was a Japanese film actor and stage actor and director. He appeared in more than 200 films between 1935 and 1988, directed by notable filmmakers such as Kenji Mizoguchi, Mikio Naruse, Keisuke Kinoshita ...

as Takayanagi *

Ichirō Sugai was a Japanese actor and film director who appeared in more than 300 films in his 45 years spanning career, working with directors such as Kaneto Shindō, Kenji Mizoguchi and Kōzaburō Yoshimura. Biography Sugai was born in Rukahara (now Hig ...

as Kazama *

Chieko Higashiyama was a Japanese stage and film actress. She appeared in more than 60 films from 1936 to 1967. Career Graduating from the girls' school at Gakushuin, she married a businessman in 1909 and spent eight years in Moscow. In 1925, at the age of 35, ...

Awards

Mainichi Film Award The are a series of annual film awards, sponsored by ''Mainichi Shimbun'' (毎日新聞), one of the largest newspaper companies in Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of t ...

for Best Director Keisuke Kinoshita (for ''Apostasy'', ''

Woman A woman is an adult female human. Before adulthood, a female child or Adolescence, adolescent is referred to as a girl. Typically, women are of the female sex and inherit a pair of X chromosomes, one from each parent, and women with functi ...

'' and ''The Portrait'')

References

External links

* {{Keisuke Kinoshita 1948 films 1948 drama films Japanese drama films 1940s Japanese-language films Japanese black-and-white films Films based on Japanese novels Films directed by Keisuke Kinoshita Japanese-language drama films