Sakuran
さくらん
Storyline
The whole story, ending included.
A girl sold to Yoshiwara rises to top courtesan on her own terms — pop-art Edo with Shiina Ringo on the soundtrack.
A girl of eight is sold into Yoshiwara, Edo's walled pleasure quarter, and taken into the Tamagiku house. Named Kiyoha, she is put in the care of its proud star courtesan, Shohi, and hates everything about the place. She runs away and is caught by Seiji, a young man of the house, and punished. Under the only cherry tree in the quarter, one that is said never to bloom, Seiji tells her that when it flowers he will get her out; she answers that she will get herself out. When Shohi tells her she could never become an oiran, Kiyoha swears that she will. Shohi is bought out of the house and leaves Kiyoha her hairpin.
At seventeen Kiyoha is a sensation, beautiful, foul-mouthed and adored. She was sold as a child and works the trade while still a minor: the sexual exploitation of a girl. She falls in love with a gentle-seeming client, Sojiro. The jealous courtesan Takao arranges for a feudal lord to find her with him; the lord strikes her, and Sojiro slips away without a word. In the rain Kiyoha goes to find him, and he only smiles at her. She understands that he was playing with her, cries alone by the river, and tells Seiji she will never cry again. Takao, tormented by her love for the painter Mitsunobu, turns a razor on him and dies in the struggle. The house needs a new top courtesan, and Kiyoha takes the name Higurashi.
A samurai, Kuranosuke, offers to buy her out and make her his wife. She says she will go when the cherry trees bloom in Yoshiwara, and he fills the house with cherry trees. She is pregnant, by whom she cannot say, and refuses to give up the child; Kuranosuke says he will take her all the same. Then she miscarries, and Seiji, himself a courtesan's son, nurses her. The house arranges for him to marry the owner's niece and inherit the business, the wedding set for the day Higurashi leaves. That morning the two meet under the old tree. Two small blossoms have opened. They run away together. The owner rages, Kuranosuke only smiles, and Higurashi and Seiji run laughing through fields of cherry trees in full bloom.
Starring
Anna Tsuchiyaas Kiyoha (Higurashi)
Sold to a Yoshiwara house as a child, a defiant girl who becomes its top courtesan and never stops meaning to leave.
Kiyoha (Higurashi)’s story
Kiyoha fights the Tamagiku house from the day she arrives, aged eight: she runs, is caught by Seiji, and swears under a cherry tree that never blooms that she will get herself out. Told by Shohi that she could never be an oiran, she vows she will. By seventeen she is made to work as a courtesan while still a minor, the sexual exploitation of a girl. She falls for Sojiro, who slips away when a lord strikes her and only smiles when she finds him in the rain; she tells Seiji she will never cry again. As Higurashi she becomes the top courtesan, loses a child and is nursed by Seiji. On the morning Kuranosuke is to take her away, two blossoms have opened on the old tree, and she runs away with Seiji.
Masanobu Andoas Seiji
A young man of the Tamagiku house, himself a courtesan's son, who has watched over Kiyoha since the day she arrived.
Seiji’s story
It is Seiji who catches the child Kiyoha each time she runs. Under the cherry tree that never blooms he promises to get her out when it flowers; she tells him she will do it herself. After Sojiro has made a fool of her, he finds her crying by the river, and hears her swear she will never cry again. When he sees that Higurashi is pregnant, he tells her to end the pregnancy; when she miscarries, he nurses her, and holds her while she grieves. The owner means him to marry his niece and inherit the house, the wedding set for the day Higurashi is bought out. The night before, the two wish each other happiness and part. At dawn, under the old tree, two small blossoms have opened, and he runs away with her.
Kippei Shiinaas Kuranosuke Matsumoto
A samurai client who offers to buy Higurashi out and make her his wife rather than his mistress.
Hiroki Narimiyaas Sojiro
A gentle-seeming client Kiyoha falls in love with, who is only amusing himself with her.
Yoshino Kimuraas Takao
A jealous rival courtesan who schemes against Kiyoha and is consumed by her love for the painter Mitsunobu.
Miho Kannoas Shohi
The proud courtesan who takes in the child Kiyoha, is hard on her, and leaves her a hairpin when she is bought out.
Why it matters
Sakuran looks at the Yoshiwara pleasure quarter through the eyes of a girl who was sold into it and never agrees to be grateful. It was the first feature by the photographer Mika Ninagawa, known for brightly coloured pictures of flowers and goldfish, written by Yuki Tanada and scored by Shiina Ringo, and its saturated colour is the colour of a cage as much as of a festival. The film does not hide that the quarter runs on the sale of girls, on punishment and on rivalry between women who have no other way up. What it adds is a heroine who refuses to be broken or tamed by it, and an ending that is a love story and an escape at once. One small scene says the rest: a goldfish that jumps from its bowl is put back, because it can only live in there. Kiyoha does not go back.