Appassionata
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This story is based on the novel "Jo no mai" by Tomiko Miyao which is based on the life of painter Shōen Uemura (1875–1949), the first woman to be awarded the Order of Culture. The title refers to the masterpiece bijinga ("picture of a beautiful woman") that Uemura painted at the age of 61. The main character, Tsuya Shimamura, is born in Kyoto as the second daughter of a tea trader who dies before her birth. Tsuya, who loves painting more than anything and is hopeless at housework, attends art school and at age 15 receives the name Shōsui (from the characters for "pine" and "green") from her teacher. The crown prince of England purchases one of her works, propelling her to fame overnight. The novel portrays the remainder of her stormy life, during which she is impregnated by her teacher and raises a fatherless child; through it all she devotes herself to her painting, undaunted.
Cast
Yūko Natori
Tsuya Shimamura
Morio Kazama
Kunihiko Mitamura
Aki Mizusawa
Shima Shimamura
Mariko Okada
Sei Shimamura
Mieko Takamine
Yoshiko Mita
Ayako Kobayashi
Sei as a girl
Shirō Ōsaka
Kōjirō Kusanagi
Sei's uncle
Kin Sugai
Junkichi Orimoto
Tomiko Ishii
Midwife
Shingo Misawa
Eizō Kitamura
Takashi Ebata
Takashi Noguchi
Ryoichi Kusanagi
Ken'ichi Nagira
Yoshiro Ichikawa
Tokuko Miura
Naoji Iwata
Mineko Maruhira
Neighborhood lady
Kojin Tokuda
Masaharu Arikawa
Kojirō Kawanami
Kōjiro Shirakawa
Yoshihiro Igarashi
Gorō Ōki
Michiko Tsujima
Tsuyako Okajima
Mitsue Wakabayashi
Sei's grandmother
Kayoko Tominaga
Kura Shimamura
Mieko Hoshino
Neighborhood lady
Aki Sawa
Neighborhood lady
Mayumi Tokunaga
Neighborhood lady
Tankurô
Junichi Hosokawa
Mayumi Eda
Waitress
Katsuko Ōkawa
Keiko Nanase
Girl
Yuka Monma
Hiroshi Tanaka
Postman
Momiji Yamamura
Yoshiki Yamada
Shintarō Mibu
Shunji Kotani
Rantaro Mine
Michihiro Kinoshita
Rickshaw man
Yasushi Amaeda
Makoto Asai
Rickshaw man
Hiroyuki Sugaya
Sozaburo Yoshimi
Kozo Kotani
Etsuko Ichihara
Narrator (voice)
Mikio Narita
