The World of Geisha (Yojōhan Fusuma no Urabari)
四畳半襖の裏張り
Storyline
The whole story, ending included.
A Taisho-era geisha quarter in the middle of political upheaval — Kumashiro's Roman Porno as art cinema.
Tokyo, the summer of 1918. Rice riots are spreading across Japan and troops are about to be sent to Siberia, but in the Umegae, a teahouse in a geisha quarter of the city, the madam is waiting for the geisha Sodeko. Her client tonight is Shinsuke, a handsome man in his mid-thirties, a born pleasure-seeker raised among courtesans, who has come out to play while newsboys cry special editions in the street. Sodeko is coy with him at first: it is their first time, she says, and she is shy, and she dims the lamp. She gives herself half out of duty. As the night goes on the duty falls away, and the two keep going long past what either expected. The rule of the geisha house is that a geisha must never fall for her first client. Sodeko falls anyway.
The film keeps this one long night at its centre and cuts away from it again and again. In another room the geisha Yuko has a few short hours with a childhood friend, a private about to be shipped to Siberia. At the Hana-no-ya, the geisha house Shinsuke frequents, Hanae sits without clients and drills the newcomer, Hanamaru, in the tricks of the trade. Between the scenes come titles and news: the riots, the revolution in Russia, a police order suppressing reports of the unrest, casualty lists from Siberia crossed out.
That first night ends in marriage. In the last scene Sodeko is Shinsuke's wife, and Hanamaru comes to her, pleading to be found a patron for her mizuage, her first paid night, as soon as possible. The picture freezes, and the film is over.
Starring
Junko Miyashitaas Sodeko
A geisha who plays shy with a new client out of professional habit and ends up breaking the rule against falling for him.
Sodeko’s story
On a summer night in 1918, while rice riots spread and newsboys cry special editions in the street, Sodeko is called to the Umegae teahouse, where the madam has been waiting for her. Her client is Shinsuke, a practised pleasure-seeker. She tells him it is their first time and she is shy, dims the lamp, and gives herself half out of duty. As the long night goes on, the duty falls away. The geisha's first rule is never to fall for a first client, and she breaks it. The night ends, in time, in marriage. In the last scene Sodeko is Shinsuke's wife, and Hanamaru, the new geisha from the Hana-no-ya, comes begging her to find a patron. The picture freezes, and the film ends.
Eimei Esumias Shinsuke
A handsome pleasure-seeker in his mid-thirties, raised among courtesans, who spends a long night with Sodeko while the country riots.
Shinsuke’s story
Shinsuke comes out to play at the Umegae teahouse on a summer night in 1918, paying no attention to the newsboys crying special editions about the rice riots. The geisha sent to him, Sodeko, plays shy, and her shyness frustrates him; she dims the lamp and gives herself half out of duty. He takes his time, watching her and holding himself back, until the duty falls away and the two keep going long past what either expected. The night leads, in time, to marriage: in the film's last scene Sodeko is his wife.
Naomi Okaas Yuko
A geisha who spends a few short hours with a childhood friend, a private about to ship out to Siberia.
Moeko Ezawaas Hanae
An older geisha at the Hana-no-ya, left without clients, who trains the newcomer Hanamaru in the trade.
Meika Serias Hanamaru
The new geisha at the Hana-no-ya, who in the last scene begs Sodeko to find her a patron.
Why it matters
The World of Geisha takes its night from an erotic text attributed to the novelist Kafu Nagai, and when the film came out, that text was at the centre of an obscenity case after a magazine printed it in 1972. Tatsumi Kumashiro answers with form. He keeps the camera on one encounter between a geisha and her client and cuts away to riots, soldiers bound for Siberia and news the police have banned, and he crosses out Sodeko's cries on the title cards the way the censors crossed out the casualty lists. The question is who decides what may be shown, of bodies and of the state. Kinema Junpo ranked it sixth among the Japanese films of 1973. Nagisa Oshima called it a little too refined, yet acknowledged it as the film he drew on most for In the Realm of the Senses. Beneath the argument are the women of the trade, waiting for clients and training the newcomer.