''Spring on Leper's Island'' () is a 1940 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

Shirō Toyoda was a Japanese film director and screenwriter who directed over 60 films during his career which spanned 50 years. He was denoted for his high-quality adaptations of works of many important twentieth-century Japanese writers. Career Born in Kyo ...

. It is based on the memoir of Masako Ogawa, a Japanese doctor who specialised in

leprosy Leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease (HD), is a Chronic condition, long-term infection by the bacteria ''Mycobacterium leprae'' or ''Mycobacterium lepromatosis''. Infection can lead to damage of the Peripheral nervous system, nerves, respir ...

treatment, and is noted by film historians for its

humanist Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential, and agency of human beings, whom it considers the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "humanism" ha ...

and compassionate theme in contrast to the

militarist Militarism is the belief or the desire of a government or a people that a state should maintain a strong military capability and to use it aggressively to expand national interests and/or values. It may also imply the glorification of the mili ...

national film policy at the time.

Plot

Mrs. Koyama, a young female doctor working at the

Nagashima Aiseien Sanatorium The , or the National Sanatorium Nagashima Aiseien, is a sanatorium on the island of Nagashima in Setouchi, Okayama, Japan founded in 1930 for the treatment of leprosy. Currently, only former leprosy patients reside there. History Background In ...

, travels the islands of the

Seto Inland Sea The , sometimes shortened to the Inland Sea, is the body of water separating Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu, three of the four main islands of Japan. It serves as a waterway connecting the Pacific Ocean to the Sea of Japan. It connects to Osaka Ba ...

to talk leprosy patients into moving to the sanatorium where they can be treated and live together with other people affected by the disease. Many patients and their relatives are reluctant to the move; while family father Yokogawa is still trying to work to support his wife and children, others are hiding in their family's homes or in deserted shacks. In the end, Yokogawa gives in to the doctor's advice and follows her to the sanatorium. His saddened and angered son Kenzo watches his departure by boat from the island's harbour.

Cast

Shizue Natsukawa was a Japanese stage and film actress who appeared in works of directors Kenji Mizoguchi, Shirō Toyoda and Keisuke Kinoshita. Biography Natsukawa was born in Tokyo and first appeared on stage at the age of seven. She gave her film debut in ''T ...

as Mrs. Koyama *

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 Yokogawa *

Haruko Sugimura was a Japanese Theatre, stage and film actor, actress, best known for her appearances in the films of Yasujirō Ozu and Mikio Naruse from the late 1940s to the early 1960s. Biography Sugimura was born in Nishi-ku, Hiroshima, Nishi-ku, Hiroshima. ...

as Yokogawa's wife * Yōtarō Katsumi as mayor * Kan Hayashi as Horiguchi *

Yuriko Hanabusa was a Japanese actress. She appeared in more than 80 films between 1920 and 1970. Selected filmography * '' Souls on the Road'' (1921) * '' Wife! Be Like a Rose!'' (1935) * '' The Daughter of the Samurai'' (1937) * '' Young People'' (1937) * '' ...

as Horiguchi's wife * Fudeko Tanaka as landlady * Meiko Nakamura as Kiyoko *

Ken Mitsuda Ken Mitsuda (29 April 1902 – 28 November 1997) was a Japanese film actor. He appeared in 53 films between 1940 and 1983. Selected filmography * ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'' (Grumpy) (voice Japanese version) * ''Lady and the Tramp'' ...

as Miyata * Misako Shimizu as Toshi * Shiro Mizutani as Kenzo

Historical background

''Spring on Leper’s Island'' was compliant with Japan's public health policy and its Leprosy Prevention Laws (last widened in 1931), which saw the increasing segregation of leprosy patients from their communities, a growing number of sanatoria where they were hospitalised, and the launching of the No Leprosy Patients in Our Prefecture (muraiken undō) campaign which Ogawa advocated. The film received a recommendation by Japan's Ministry Of Education.

Awards

* 1941

Kinema Junpo Award , commonly called , is Japan's oldest film magazine and began publication in July 1919. It was first published three times a month, using the Japanese ''Jun'' (旬) system of dividing months into three parts, but the postwar ''Kinema Junpō'' ha ...

for Best Film of the Year

References

External links

* * {{Shirō Toyoda 1940 films Japanese drama films Japanese black-and-white films Films based on books Films based on biographies Films directed by Shirō Toyoda