MOVIE MUSIC UK

GREATEST SCORES OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

Original Review by Craig Lysy

Politically, director Kenji Mizoguchi was a leftist and a frequent critic of Japan’s historical patriarchal and misogynistic culture, which persisted after World War II. He wanted to make a morality film that would force audiences, particularly men, to confront and pity the suffering of marginalized women. He found inspiration in the 17th-century classic The Life of an Amorous Woman by Saikaku Ihara. He and longtime collaborator Yoshikata Ihara wrote the screenplay, and Koi Production Company agreed to finance the film. Hideo Koi and Mizoguchi oversaw production, with Mizoguchi also directing. For the cast, Kinuyo Tanaka starred as Oharu Okui, joined by Toshiro Mifune as Katsunosuke, Hisako Yamane as Lady Matsudaira, Jūkichi Sugai as Shinzaemon Okui, Tsukie Matsuura as Tomo Okui, Eitarō Shindō as Kahe Sasaya, and Eijirō Yanagi as Kikuoji.

The film is set in 17th-century feudal Japan during the early Edo Period. It follows the tragic life of Oharu, a woman of noble birth known for her beauty, who serves as a privileged and respected lady-in-waiting in the imperial court. It comes to pass that she falls in love with the dashing Katsunosuke, who is of a lower class and serves as the retainer of a neighboring lord. They are caught, Katsunosuke is executed for violating class boundaries, and Oharu and her family are banished from court because of her forbidden romance. This begins Oharu’s lifelong descent, a tragic fall from grace that sees her become little more than a physical possession, repeatedly exploited by men. She is forced to become a concubine and bears a son for her lord, only to be banished afterward. She is then forced to become a courtesan by her father, who is bitter and blames her for the family’s misfortune. She eventually turns to street prostitution until, at the age of fifty, she is unwanted, even as a prostitute. In the end, she becomes a wandering Buddhist nun, begging for alms on the city streets. The film won the International Award and the Golden Lion at the 1952 Venice Film Festival. It also won the 1953 Mainichi Film Concours award for Best Film Score. It failed to secure any Academy Award nominations.

By the 1950s, Ichiro Saito had established himself as one of Japan’s most versatile and respected film composers. He worked frequently on major Japanese studio productions, and director Kenji Mizoguchi believed he was well suited to this period drama. Mizoguchi instructed Saito that he wanted a richly textured orchestral score combined with traditional Japanese instruments. He also indicated that he wanted the score to maintain emotional and narrative rigor, draping the tale in somber tones while offering an unflinching testament to Oharu’s tragic and unrelenting fall from grace.

Upon viewing the film, Saito conceived the architecture of his soundscape. As directed, he would primarily use traditional Japanese instruments, including the shamisen (three-stringed lute), biwa (fretted lute), koto (zither), shakuhachi, nohkan, and hichiriki flutes, and taiko, kotsuzumi, and ōtsuzumi drums. With regard to character leitmotifs, Saito decided against using them, instead crafting instrumental moods that reflected Oharu’s emotional states and shifting circumstances. To that end, he conceived passages performed by solo instruments to express contemplative and tragic moments. He understood that his music must not overwhelm the visuals. As such, his score achieves the narrative rigor Mizoguchi sought by shifting naturally from quiet, dignified string arrangements to harsh-sounding wooden blocks, which punctuate the various oppressive male characters and the heroine’s grueling physical labor. He also conceived a mournful solo-instrument theme for scenes of departure and journey, underscoring Oharu and her family’s agonizing banishment from Kyoto. In a masterstroke, Saito decided to use the broken, poignant singing of the haunting ballad Oharu hears from an aged courtesan as a reflection of her suffering as she descends to the nadir of her life, discarded among society’s outcasts. Oharu is banished by her lord after bearing him a son. She never recovers from this loss, and Saito expresses her heartache with throbbing, harp-like arpeggios that accompany Oharu’s fleeting, painful glimpses of her lost son as he grows up. Finally, at Mizoguchi’s urging, Saito incorporated the Noh theatre concept of ma (silence) into scenes of profound heartache and pathos. One striking example occurs when Oharu experiences an emotional breakdown after spotting her son from afar on the road. These interludes of silence allow the raw emotion of the scene to stand on its own.

There is no commercial release of the score. As such I will use film time indices and scene descriptors to provide film narrative context to the music. The Criterion, Janus Pictures, Toho Company, and Shintoho-koi Company logos display unsupported by music. At 0:39 the “Main Titles” commence against ornate Japanese calligraphy displayed on a fan. We bear witness to a score highlight, where Saito masterfully establishes a somber, haunting tone, which grounds the film in 17th century Edo realism. This emotional prelude presages the film’s tragedy, using stark, traditional Japanese sensibilities to capture a sense of deep isolation and inevitable fate. A fragile, solitary shakuhachi flute, supported by rhythmic taiko drums and hyoshigi, shamisen, and koto, floats, carried by the cruel currents of fate. At 1:11 Saito in a masterstroke captures the nexus of director Mizoguchi’s vision. We hear Oharu’s Song, sung in Dayu Joruri style, voiced by the fragile and broken voice of a Oharu, who is now an old, derelict street woman playing a shamisen. She sings; “Bitter is the floating world”, which refers to the Buddhist concept of ukiyo, which translates to the “floating” or “transitory world”. She expresses the pain, and impermanence of human life, the illusion of earthly desires, and the underlying sadness of a transitory existence that fades away. Through this song Oharu evokes the desolation, misery, and a weariness of living, by a woman abandoned by all to live in a lonely and unforgiving world of an exile. At 2:29 we enter the film proper with a fifty-year-old Oharu, a prostitute, walking in the courtyard of a brothel. It is nigh time, and she exits into a cold, grey world. A fellow prostitute joins and asks if she could not find a customer either, to which Oharu replies that a woman of fifty cannot make herself a woman of twenty.

4:23 “Oharu Alone” opens with sharp wood block percussion sounds as the women all joke about the ups and downs of their profession. They join an old man to warm themselves from his campfire. A woman asks Oharu, who she knows used to work in the imperial palace, did she ever think you would end up like this? Another asks her how she fell so far? Oharu asks that they not ask about her past. At 6:05 harsh drum strikes join as a man complains of making fires again, but then relents as it is cold. The drums shift to a seven-strike ostinato with metallic accents, which serve to draw Oharu away. At 0:725 a Buddhist monk strikes Keisu (singing bowls), which draws Oharu into the temple. The camera pans to reveal a vast collection of statues of Arhats (people who have gained insight into the nature of existence, achieved nirvana, and by doing so, been liberated from the endless cycle of rebirth). She kneels as some of the faces transform into people she knew in her life. In 9:17 “Flashback”, she slowly pulls off her headscarf and a flashback take us back to her as a young maiden in the imperial court. Saito supports the scene with a sparse, and haunting minimalism, which mirrors the physical and spiritual austerity of the Buddhist temple, and Oharu’s exhausted world-weary state. Traditional Japanese Gagaku instruments are used to evoke an ethereal and otherworldly aura, including a shō, biwa, and hichirki and ryuteki flutes, as Oharu crosses the vast expanse of time to return to her past. The musical narrative is sustained as we return to the vast estate of the imperial palace in Kyoto. The camera pans the grounds revealing ministers, veiled court ladies with their hand maidens, and workers tending the grounds. Oharu enters the temple courtyard and Lord Kikunokogi asks what brings her here. She bows her head and replies that she makes an offering on behalf of her master. He commends her and suggest she see the sights as she rarely gets out. He then confides to her and says Nishinotoin is anxious for your reply to his poem. After they go their separate way, Katsunosuke, his samurai retainer, seems agitated and fights following Oharu. He runs after a palanquin, introduces himself as Katsunosuke and says Lord Kikunokoji begs her indulgence to discuss a certain matter, and ask her to visit the house of his friend Teramachi. She agrees to visit after visiting the temple.

13:16 “Katsunosuke Pleads” reveals him asking Oharu if she had read his note? She replies; “Why would I read the note from a lowly retainer? I burned it without reading a word.” He self-deprecates his talent as a writer, but he says his heart is true. He says you may look down on my lower rank, but not upon my sincerity. She continues with class distinctions, yet he asks, has any noble professed love to you as I have? Has any asked to marry you and give you a happy home? She asks him to leave. Yet he persists, saying that if she truly dislikes me as a person, to say so and he will leave her alone. She replies, she does. He persists arguing that a woman can only be happy if she marries for love, that rank and money do not mean happiness. She again refuses and asks him to go, saying she will wait for Lord Kikunokogi. He then admits he lied as a pretense to see her. She tries to leave, he grabs her, and then admits she read the letter. She says we can never be together as neither her father or court would permit it. He says let’s elope, grabs her, and says he will do anything for her love. She finally relents, falls into his arms and faints. Katsunosuke picks her up and carries her away, with the camera remaining affixed to where she made a fateful decision. Saito supports with a melancholic atmosphere, a subtle cosmic warning, using a traditional ensemble, which includes a koto, shamisen, shakuhachi and percussion by Tsuzumi and hyoshigi.

Later, and imperial minister arrives at the house of Teramachi and advises the maid that he is investigating rumors that prostitutes work in the house. He opens the sliding panel and finds Katsunosuke and Oharu together. Katsunosuke identifies himself as a retainer for the Todo clan of Iga province, serving Lord Senuemon Yasui. He asks why a whore dresses like a noble woman, and Oharu says she is the daughter of Shinzaemon Okui, a samurai serving Chio-in Temple. He orders her taken to the magistrate, as Katsunosuke tries to hold her. 20:20 “Banishment” reveals the magistrate declaring that Oharu Okui, while serving the imperial court, violated protocol by associating with a personage of low birth. As punishment for this illicit liaison, you are sentenced as follows; You are banished from the city of Kyoto never to return. Your parents, Shinzaemon and Tomo, for failing to provide proper guidance, are also hereby also sentenced to exile. This judgment is effective today, 7 November 1686. Oharu, and her parents all bow in shame, and are escorted by guards, followed by their relatives, out of the imperial enclosure. At the entrance, relatives are advised to bid farewell here, and then return. The scene closes with the three-departing cloaked in shame. Saito supports the extended scene with sparse, minimalism offering random wails by shakuhachi flute.

The family has procured a modest farm house and Shinzaemon is seething with rage. He shouts to Oharu that she has single-handily destroyed our noble family’s honor and house. He calls her a horrible child. Oharu asks why is immoral for a man and woman to fall in love? He says that she slept with a man without our consent. If that isn’t immoral, what is! She again argues love, but he yells for her to shut up! We shift to the field of execution where a bound Katsunosuke is asked if he has any final words. He says yes. Please give Lady Oharu the following message. “Please find a good man, and make a happy home. But be sure to love only for true love”. He ends saying; “I hope for the day people can love freely regardless of rank or class’. Katsunosuke yells “Oharu!! As the executioner’s blade strike him down. The scene ends with plaintive bird calls. Later, the magistrate departs the Okui house and Oharu asks mother Tomo what happened? She relates he brought Katsunosuke’s will. Oharu reads it and breaks down, grabs a knife, and tries to kill herself. Tomo disarms her, but a distraught Oharu says she is going to join Katsunosuke and runs away. Again, Tomo catches her and they fall exhausted crying. An aged courier, Shinozaki Kumon sent by Lord Matsudaira in Edo, arrives at the Okui house. Shinzaemon orders the house prepared and greets him in the reception room. He advises that his lord seeks a concubine as Lady Matsudaira’s illness has left her barren and the clan will be ruined if the lord has no heir. 31:36 “The Perfect Concubine” reveals a portrait of the ideal woman, followed by the courier detailing every physical feature desired. Saito supports with pentatonic minimalism using a mournful, drawn-out shakuhachi flute, a plucked shamisen set to a metronomic tapping by a kotsuzumi. I discern subtle tonal shifts in the musical narrative, using slightly dissonant harmonies that instill a quiet, underlying sense of dread and entrapment for the young woman whose fate is being decided.

33:06 “The Inspection” reveals Shinozaki’s inspection of the women assembled for consideration of concubine. He callously declares each candidate’s ‘flaws’ aloud completely unconcerned of their feelings. After eliminating all fifty candidates, Shinozaki expresses his frustration. Saito uses minimalism, devoid of any hint of romanticism due to the objectification, and transactional humiliation suffered by the women. A shamisen, shakuhachi, koto, and Hyoshigi offer a cold, and stark musical narrative. Back at Okui house, Shizaemon argues with Shinozaki, that if the goal is an heir, then any healthy girl should do. At 36:15 reveals music wafting into the reception room. Shinzaemon explains that it is a blind man from Edo who teaches singing and dancing to the daughters of good families. Saito again utilizes uses sharp, rhythmic percussion and lively traditional instrumentation consisting of shamisen, and shakuhachi to support the scene. It underscores the tragic irony of a blind street musician attempting to teach Oharu singing and dancing, framing her final path to become a humble street performer. As the old blind man sings, Oharu performs the highly stylized dance;

“The town
Is laid out in a grid
Just like a Go board
Facing each other
Your hand
Clasped in mine
All is well,
Let us lie
In each other’s arms”.

The folk melody offers counterpoint to Oharu’s fall from grace, which now humiliates her by forcing her into learning ‘Street Arts’ to aid the family fortunes. Shinozaki pulls Oharu out, examines her, and declares her the chosen one. He informs Shinzaemon he will buy her and the deal is finalized at home over tea. Afterwards Shinzaemon tells Oharu that she has redeemed herself, and that all is forgiven. Disagreement arises as she does not want to be a concubine, while her parents argue that her status, and the family’s will be elevated. When she says Katsunosuke would be displeased, Shinzaemon become enraged and man-handles her saying the deal has been made. The next day Shinozaki and Oharu are transported by human carried palanquins across the countryside. 42:00 “Oharu is Received” reveals her arrival at Lord Matsudaira’s palace. Saito grounds the scene in historical period realism, supporting with traditional Japanese wooden blocks. The striking percussive sounds directly mirror and punctuate the rhythmic grunts and footsteps of the men carrying the palanquin. Later, a physician physically examines her and communicates that she is healthy and capable of bearing children. Lady Kasai is ordered to instruct Oharu in court etiquette and then take her for an interview with Lady Matsudaira. Later, Lady Kasai informs Lady Matsudaira that a messenger has arrived from Kyoto with a woman selected to be a concubine. She is clearly displeased, and Lady Kaisa asks that she endure this for the sake of the clan. She is introduced as Oharu Okui. Her head is bowed, and Lady Matsudaira orders her to lift her head. She does so, bows again, and is dismissed. Lady Matsudaira is clearly unsettled by her beauty as the scene shifts to a banquet.

46:42 “Banquet” reveals a banquet for Oharu’s reception at court. Lord Matsudaira invites Oharu to sit by him, and asks if she did not expect to see Bunraku plays here in Edo? She answers, no I did not. (Banraku is a traditional Japanese, stylized puppet theater.) The three puppets for this performance are Lord Matsudaira, Lady Matsudaira and Lady Oharu. The puppeteers recite the poem;

“Princess Morning Glory answered the nobleman
She plucked the flowers and offered them
For a long time she stares pensively
At the flower in her hand.
Can This be real?
It is her fate to wither in the shade.
Day and night she stare at the deutzia blossoms
They fill her heart by good fortune.
To the imperial palace.”

Lord Matsudaira offers Oharu any food she would like as Lady Matsudaira stares coldly at her.

“What a lucky flower, how enviable
How fortunate you are
Reluctantly she offers the flower in her hand
But this flower is only a go between
That captured my heart”.

The last stanza reveals the Oharu puppet moving in between the Lord and Lady Matsudaira puppets, the implications clearly voiced by the poem’s final words. Lady Matsudaira becomes incensed and bolts the room as the scene shifts to black. Saito supports with the three puppeteers singing each of their character’s lyrics, supported by a plucked solo futozao shamisen, a larger, thick-necked version of the shamisen, which emotes with a deeper, low register resonance. The poem offers a metaphor, with the morning glory and deutzia blossoms symbolizing Oharu herself. Historically, the flowers represent beauty, innocence, purity, and vulnerability. Plucking the flowers and offering them presages Oharu’s lack of control over her own body and destiny. While “They fill her heart by good fortune, to the imperial palace, what a lucky flower, how enviable, how fortunate you are”, would seem to bestow good fortune, when in reality it marks the beginning of her exploitation by powerful aristocratic men, and a harbinger of her gradual, heartbreaking descent to a social outcast.

50:34 “An Heir is Born” reveals Oharu giving birth to an heir. A message is sent to the clan privy council, who in turn bring the auspicious news to Lord Matsudaira. Saito supports with simplicity with a duet of shamisen and woodblock percussion as Oharu relates the happiness of her life here. Lady Matsudairu arrives, and says this is an auspicious day for the clan, as Oharu bows her head. She says you have done well, but then orders the child taken for nursing. Oharu’s pleads that she would like to nurse the heir, but is ignored. A bleak, wailing shakuhachi flue supports as she falls to the mat with sadness. Back at the Okui home, Shizaemon briefs his subordinates that his grandson is heir and will inherit a fortune. He announces he will open up a new business that will enrich House Okui. Returning to Edo, the clan nobles in a meeting discuss that since the birth of an heir, his Lordship’s love for the concubine has grown. At the same time the doctor say he has grown weaker as he continues to share his bed with her. They say they cannot allow this to shorten his life. They say with the heir born, that Oharu is of no longer needed. The head clan man orders Shinozaki to send Oharu back to her family. That night two human carried palanquins arrive at the Okui home. Shinozaki expresses his disappointment at her dismissal. Shizaemon is furious and slams Oharu into the palanquin. He then falls to the ground weeping, devastated that once again House Okui has fallen into disfavor. The next day, Shinzaemon reproaches Oharu for being too affectionate. He then says, at least the 300 Ryo will make us rich. When he opens her envelope, he finds 5 Ryo and is devastated. He says he went into debt buying fabric and so, to help the family you must work in Shimabara as a courtesan. He promises to buy back her freedom after he pays off the creditors for the fabric. Oharu is stunned, while Tomo strongly argues against this, to no avail.

58:28 “A Fateful Meeting” reveals a wealthy merchant visiting the Shimabara brothel in search of a good time. With no appointment, he buys one by emptying a sack of gold coins. The owner gives him his best room and best courtesan Shizuhata (Oharu) to entertain. The merchant dumps coins over the floor and everyone scrambles for them, except, Oharu. He asks why and hands her some coins. She slaps them away and insults him saying he has no manners, and that she is not a beggar. She walks out enraging the patron and the owner. The owner fires her and says when word gets out, no one else will hire her. She relents, begs to be reinstated, but to no avail. Then his assistant enters and says the patron likes her spirit and offers to buy her and take her home, which makes the owner ecstatic. As they return, he says smile as he just bought your freedom. Saito scored the scene to express the melancholy of Oharu’s degradation and isolation. A small ensemble of traditional Japanese instruments evokes these feelings, including; shamisen lute, koto zither and a shakuhachi flute. As they dine, Oharu asks if he will indeed by her freedom. He says yes, I came here for a wife and have chosen you. She says if your feelings are genuine, that she will serve him faithfully. He lies on the floor and revels in his wealth, saying people will do anything for money. In 1:06:50 “Counterfeiter!”, the moment is shattered when the owner burst in and calls him a fraud, saying his money is counterfeit. He flees to prevent arrest, but is overcome in the courtyard and taken into custody. Traditional Japanese instruments are used in the frenetic passage including; piercing shinobue flute, and sharp, rhythmic percussive strikes from hyōshiki (wooden blocks) and taiko drums.

1:07:41 “The Twighlight of Life” offers a poignant score highlight. It reveals Oharu and her mother walking home. Tomo is happy that she is free and that her daughter is returning home. Her father greets her at his street vender stall and a solitary woman is heard singing while playing a shamisen. Oharu commends her voice, and the woman relates that back when there were pleasure quarters in Rokujo, I was a courtesan named Katsuragi. Oharu gifts her money, and departs saying; “Take care of yourself”. As she leaves, the woman resumes singing the song. Saito understood that this scene presages Oharu’s fate; the coming twilight of her life, where she, as a former, elderly courtesan, will lament with a broken-voice, the same sorrowful words of her stolen youth and destitute misery. The lyrics focus heavily on the harsh reality of losing beauty, aging out of the pleasure quarters, and being discarded by society. While Oharu is yet young and beautiful she will not be able to escape from the scourge of patriarchy, or cycle of suffering from decades of cruel exploitation, humiliation, and the degradation of forced prostitution. 1:11:08 “A Dark Secret” reveals Oharu providing services for a middle-aged couple. Owasa, the wife asks that she attend to her hair and they depart to her private quarters. She asks her to write a solemn oath to not reveal her secret. As she unties the binding, it is revealed that this is an ornate piecemeal wig that hides her secret – she is bald. She said last year she was seriously ill, and although she recovered, she lost all her hair. In Japanese feudal culture, female baldness is a profound and deep humiliation, as women’s hair is celebrated as the ultimate symbol of her femininity, social standing and marital status. If discovered by the husband, she becomes marked, and must be ostracized from civil society. The scene is very tense as the near hysterical wife is hiding a terrible secret from her husband. Saito evokes the drama, psychological tension and vulnerability of the mistress with Japanese minimalism, using sharp accents by plucked shamisen, nohkan flute, with taiko and tsuzumi percussion. Later her husband Kahe Sasaya, returns home and compliments Oharu for her beautician skill. The woman asks her husband to adopt her and then find her husband. One of the master’s workers Bunkichi is smitten by Oharu and earns a rebuke for leering at her. Later as she is making tea in the kitchen, Bunkichi begin flirting with her. When he places his arm around her, she tells him to get away. As she serves tea, the guest, the forger, recognizes her and advises Kahe that she was a Shimabara courtesan. Owasa becomes jealous with the revelation and accuses Kahe of knowing she was a courtesan. She has a hysterical melt down, and throws herself on him.

Later, Owasa orders Oharu to cut her hair, accusing her of trying to steal her husband. She forces her to cut her hair, and Oharu acquiesces. But it is not enough, and so she forces her to the ground and cuts it off herself. The next day while Owasa is at the cemetery, Kahe makes an advance on Oharu, “his naughty girl” while she serves breakfast. 1:22:33 “False Piety” reveals Oharu making a discreet exit, as Kahe kneels at his home’s Buddha altar to pay homage supported by a rin (Buddhist altar bell), a solo plucked koto and mokugyo (wooden temple blocks). He joins these with his ritualistic chanting of the Nembutsu, a traditional unornamented monotone Buddhist invocation addressed to the Amida Buddha. He leaves the altar and returns to Oharu, saying I bet you had some fun times? He then says to himself, I could enjoy a quality courtesan without even having to pay for it. 1:24:09 “Oharu’s Revenge” revelas Oharu later that night, exacting revenge on Owasa by teaching the house cat to remember the smell of ornamental hair, and then releasing it into her bedroom. Saito supports, stoking tension, with Japanese minimalism using plucked shamisen and hyoshigi wood block percussion. We see the silhouette of the cat running off with the wig, and at 1:25:24 a shamisen frenzy supports Owasa waking up to discover her wig is gone. She screams, her husband wakes and sees her bald. She runs out seeking Oharu, and the husband runs after her. The commotion wakes the entire household. He covers Owasa’s head and takes her back to the bedroom, advising it was just a bad dream. The following day Oharu gives tea at her father’s home to a suitor, Yakichi Ogiya a fan maker. He departs and her father says he would be a good match for her, and that he loves her. Yakichi does in deed love her, marries her, and Oharu works dutifully in his shop.

1:28:14 “Oharu’s Happiness” reveals Oharu packing the days fan shipment, and then affectionately tending to Yakichi’s kosode before he departs. After he leaves a woman enters seeking a dancing fan for her daughter. They chit chat and Oharu is complimented on her look, and handsome husband. It is nightfall and a man enters the shop saying he bears awful news. Oharu gets up, and men bring a liter in with Yakichi’s dead body. She is advised that he was probably killed by a robber. 1:31:36 “Yakichi is Dead” reveals Saito supporting with solitary hyoshigi strikes to sharply punctuate the sudden shock and heavy, rhythmic pacing of the men carrying Yakichi’s dead body into the shop. Shinobue, metallic rattles join as they hand her a sachet he died clutching, and she collapses with unbearable anguish on him weeping with complete devastation. At 1:31:46 haunting, wordless women’s vocals express Oharu’s grief as a Buddhist nun stands in a Buddhist Temple courtyard with her head covered by a veil. A choir infuses the scene with a solemn, ritualistic, and unbearable spiritual weight. They sing with a somber, unembellished performance, which avoids operatic peaks, instead remaining grounded in a narrow, flat, and mournful pitch register to reflect Oharu’s emotional numbness, desolation, and despair. A nun picks a flower and ascends steps into the temple where she finds Oharu. The nuns say; “A handsome youth at morn, Is by dusk, a heap of bones. All is truly impermanent in this world.”

She asks Oharu, what do you plan to do now? She says he late husband’s uncle sold the shop, which means I have to go back and live with my parents. She asks if her husband left her anything to remember him by? Oharu answers, no. She says I do not need anything, and would like to become a nun and serve Buddha. The nun is surprised, but Oharu weeps, bows, and begs the nun.

We shift to Kahe’s business and he discovers Bunkichi has extended credit against his policy. He demands collection by tomorrow and the identity of the person he extended the loan. Bunkichi panics, and runs out. Jehei visits Oharu and demands the fabric he lent her. When she said she made it into a kimono, he demands it back and calls her a whore for seducing Bunkichi. She is offended, and so takes off the kimono she is wearing. She throws it at him and demands he leave. He becomes flustered having seen her undressed and flees the house. He pays off and sends the boy who came with him, telling him that he will return later. He then returns to the house. Later a nun enters and finds Oharu undressed, and flees. She then returns and tells Oharu to leave at once. When she says it was an attempted rape, she refuses to believe her. She says she betrayed her and screams for her to get out. 1:40:04 “Banishment” reveals Oharu’s forced banishment from the temple. A shrill nohkan mocks her as she exits with a slow, drum punctuating her tragic march into exile. She sits on a street bench and is approached by Bunkichi. She informs him she was banished from the temple. He says he was dismissed, and they both laugh at their circumstances. He begs her to join him, saying he knows he can make her happy. He says he has 50 gold Ryo, and laughs that they all think he ran off with you anyway. She says no, but is whisked away anyway. 1:42:04 “Oharu’s Despair” reveals Bunkichi trying to share a rice bowl with Oharu at a roadside shop. She sits despondently and does not respond. Saito scores the scene with Japanese minimalism using plucked shamisen, a harp-like koto and loud hyōshigi wood block percussion. When he goes back to get a chicken, Jehei sees him and they apprehend him calling him a thief, and Oharu, a whore who should go off and die.

1:43:43 “My Son” offers a poignant score highlight, with a perfect cinematic confluence achieved. We see Oharu, shorn of her beauty, and forced to living on the street and begging for alms while she plays her shamisen. She sings the song, which broadly speaks of the impermanence and inescapable suffering of the human condition;

“This fleeting world
Is full of pain,
And I, oh I,
Am a thing of pity,
This life
So full of regrets
Will vanish
Like the morning dew.”

Yet on a personal level, the lyrics speak to Oharu’s fall from a high-ranking court lady to a homeless street prostitute. It posits that her pain is caused by a rigid patriarchal society, which punishes her when she tries to find love and stability. She is exhausted and weary from being repeatedly used, discarded, and judged by lovers, family and strangers alike. She bears regrets for forbidden love, as well as the weight of her lost child, and ruined family name. Lastly, it speaks of the brevity of life, where she will soon vanish like dew, ending her misery to return to nothingness. Musically, Saito has Oharu play diegetically, a Pathetique, a fragile mournful melody sung with a life weary and broken voice. She stops as a Palanquin and procession exit the Matsudairu palace. When it happens to stop, the door opens and a servant brings him water. Oharu walks closer and sees a glimpse of her adolescent son. And we bear witness to one of the film’s most profound moments as she beholds her estranged son supported with dead silence, which brilliantly expresses the unbridgeable distance between them, and her deep maternal emotional longing. As the palanquin departs, a forlorn Oharu returns to her shamisen carried by traditional Japanese hogaku borne by bamboo flute and shamisen. She kneels, bows her head and weeps for a life of unending pain and misfortune. Two women approach and ask what is the matter. They say to come with them and rest. Inside, the women while cleaning themselves, worry that she has not eaten in three days. They are all old courtesans who still manage to find humor in their circumstances. They tell Oharu, drink some sake as it will lift your spirits. They ask their old man caretaker to bring some clothes for the newcomer. He looks at her and says I’ll rent you a kimono and undergarments as I believe you can make us some good money. She drinks some sake, dons the kimono, and then heads out. She meets a man, solicits, but is pushed away, with him saying; “Old hag! Are you crazy?” She tries again with another man, but is cast to the ground. She despairs, but a third man comes, an old man. He examines her, and then asks that she follow him. In his house she is asked to sit. He takes her to a table of men as a test of their purity as they are on a pilgrimage. They all pass, and the old man thanks her, and then gives her some coins. She thanks him and then departs. 2:01:22 “Rejected” reveals her walking back to the brothel, supported by traditional Japanese hogaku borne by bamboo flute and shamisen.

2:02:29 “Return to Temple” reveals the end of the flashback as we see Oharu sitting in the temple as a 59-year-old prostitute. Two other prostitute’s join and they ask why is she here. Oharu says look at the arhats and you will see men you know. They do, and each laugh, saying she is right. Oharu now does the same, and Saito supports with traditional Japanese instrumentation, however, with this visit, the musical narrative has changed to reflect Oharu transcendence from a life of pain, disappointment, and despair. She begins with her lover Katsunosuke, a fateful choice that forever changed her destiny. A solitary shakahachi flute emotes a mournful melody, which speaks to her desolation. It is draped with the sparse plucks of a biwa and koto, isolated string strikes, and decaying chords, which evoke the cold stone interior of the temple. There is also adornment with gongs and hyoshigi wood block percussion, which ground the musical narrative. Oharu is overcome from seeing Katsunosuke and faints. The two other courtesans then pick her up and carry her away. Back at the brothel, they bring Tomo, and the mother daughter reunion is bittersweet. When she asks about father, Tomo says he passed away, adding that he worried about her to the very end. Oharu cries, but Tomo says to have faith as you will find happiness again. She then informs Oharu that her son has succeeded to the Lordship, and that he has sent out word that he wants his mother to live with him. Oharu is happy that he has grown to be a good man.

The next day, a palanquin brings Oharu to the palace. She attends the clan elders counsel, which declares that Shinozaki and Tashiro should deliver a stern rebuke. They disparage her for ingratitude, declaring that the Lord’s lineage runs from Tsunemoto Genji, grandson of Emperor Seiwa through the Nitta clan. He declares that she was the Lord’s concubine, but then reduced yourself to a courtesan, and then, a prostitute. She is asked do you have any excuse? Are you not ashamed? Oharu understands that the word of a woman, a mere commodity under Japanese patriarchy, means nothing, and will change nothing, so she remains silent. He adds if word of your life emerged, that it would besmirch the clan’s name. Therefore, we sentence you to lifetime confinement where you must pray daily to our late lord for forgiveness. They add, that as an act of mercy, they will allow her a brief viewing of his Lordship. 02:10:14 “My Son” offers a heartbreaking score highlight. It reveals Oharu has been granted a brief, agonizing glimpse of her son who has grown into a man. Saito introduces throbbing, harp-like arpeggios played on koto. This rippling, fluidic wave effect expresses her heartache, and desperate maternal longing to embrace her sone. Yet guards prevent this, thus elevating her personal grief into a profound cinematic tragedy. Later at 2:13:05 an alarm is declared as it is reported that Oharu has escaped within the palace. This shifts the koto driven musical narrative into a more frenetic and dissonant rendering. The camera focuses on a container with a backdrop of frantic searching. 2:14:14 “Finale” reveals Oharu wandering as a mendicant Buddhist nun who has embraced monastic life, and detachment from the material world. In the final scene of “The Life of Oharu”, Saito’s shifts to a solemn, austere choral chant of the Four Bodhisattva Vows;

“Sentient beings are innumerable, I vow to save them.
Delusions are inexhaustible, I vow to extinguish them.
The teachings of dharma are immeasurable, I vow to master them.
Buddhahood is incomparable, I vow to attain it.”

The score reaches its emotional apogee in this final scene. As an elderly and decrepit Oharu walks the streets seeking alms, her weak, solitary Buddhist chant gradually builds into a solemn and powerful, non-diegetic choral arrangement. In essence, Saito elevates her indomitable spirit into a profound and transcendent act of feminine defiance of patriarchy, which culminates with, “The End”.

Ichirō Saitō’s score to “The Life of Oharu” offers a quintessential example of the utilization of traditional Japanese instrumentation, infused with Gagaku, Noh Theater, Bunraku, poetic, and Nembutsu chanting accents, to culturally ground this 17th century, feudal period piece of the early Edo Period. To the western ear, this minimalist score will seem stark, random, amelodic, harsh, dissonant, and devoid of formal thematic development and interplay. Yet upon close examination, we find that Saitō composed a timeless, flawless and transcendent musical score, with a masterful emotional and narrative rigor, which achieves a profound cinematic confluence that brings home the desolation, sorrow, and despair found in the tragic tale of Oharu’s life.

Director Kenji Mizoguchi’s visual style relied heavily on distant, and medium shots, long takes, and a strict avoidance of close-ups. Saito understood this, and masterfully mirrors this emotional distance. His score actively resists pulling cheap tears from the audience. Instead, of romanticizing Oharu’s tribulations, he maintains a quiet, detached, and respectful dignity that underscores the systemic cruelty of feudal Japan without sensationalizing it. Saitō also drew inspiration from Buddhist liturgy and chanting. Throughout the film he integrates mournful diegetic songs, music occurring within the world of the story, which act like a Greek chorus. These tracks vocalize the moral hypocrisy and inescapable fate surrounding Oharu. I found Saitō’s employment of Ma, which in Japanese Noh Theater is known as the power of absolute silence, one of his most effective, and profound choices in conceiving his score. The silence of Ma embodies a dynamic, charged space between physical movements, musical notes, or spoken words. Within the void of its apparent empty nothingness, is the deliberate pacing, stillness, and tension, that gives the actor’s performance emotional weight, allowing the audience to internalize the unfolding drama. Folks, Ichirō Saitō’s score to The Life of Oharu is the road less traveled. Many of you who seek consonance, melody and thematic storytelling will upon listening to the score, believe they have wandered into an aural desert desperately seeking water. Yet, as explained above, the confluence of director and composer sensibilities achieved in this film is profound, and sublime. I highly recommend you take in the film on a streaming service to bear witness to a cinematic masterpiece.

For those of you unfamiliar with the score, I have embedded a YouTube link to the Opening Theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4-Le_dj9lM&list=RDc4-Le_dj9lM&start_radio=1

Track Listing:

• NOT AVAILABLE

Music composed and conducted by Ichiro Saito. Orchestrations by Ichiro Saito. Featured musical soloist Masako Hagiwara. Recorded and mixed by XXXX. Score produced by Ichiro Saito.