Director Yoji Yamada's "Resolution": "Tora-san, Our Lovable Tramp: Nostalgia" (August 25, 1970, Shochiku Ofuna, Yoji Yamada)

Text by Toshiaki Sato (Entertainment Film Researcher) Illustration by Koji Kondo

I served as the host of the interview program "My Tora-san" on Satellite Theater for about two years from 2008 to 2010, spanning 22 episodes. There, I had Director Yoji Yamada appear as a guest, and we examined and discussed the period surrounding the birth of "Tora-san, Our Lovable Tramp".

How the television version was born, the significance of creating "Tora-san, Our Lovable Tramp" in the era of 1969, and the unexpected nature and impact of having a tekiya (itinerant peddler) appear in the living room—for a generation that did not experience it in real-time, hearing from Director Yamada, who was directly involved, was truly a valuable experience."Tora-san, Our Lovable Tramp"

Sato: "Even though home dramas are typically dramas about settled people, 'Tora-san, Our Lovable Tramp' features a wanderer. Isn't this something that hadn't been done in home dramas at the time?"
Yamada: "Well, it is a home drama, and by having a wanderer come and go, the settled world is highlighted, and the joys and sorrows of the wanderer also emerge. I think I was able to depict a very contrasting world."
Sato: "There was a working title 'Foolish Older Brother, Wise Younger Sister.' Within that concept, Tora-san and Sakura are siblings, but one is a wanderer and the other is a settler. This was probably the really big driving force for the series that would later continue for 48 films."
Yamada: "Well, I didn't set it up perfectly from the beginning, but I guess I was lucky. The sister's world and the older brother's world became very contrasting, and while being contrasting, they were attracted to each other and continued on. The wanderer always has a longing to settle down, and the settler always has a longing to set off on a journey, you see."

Satellite Theater "My Tora-san Special" (August 2008)

"Tora-san, Our Lovable Tramp" is a story of a wanderer and a settler, a drama established by connecting the "older brother and younger sister"—a tekiya and a respectable citizen—a setting that could hardly coexist in television dramas until then. I believe this is precisely because it was the era of 1968 to 1969 when it was broadcast.
The Vietnam War was becoming a quagmire, and the student movement had spread even to high school students. The world was in turmoil, and in my childhood memories, clashes between demonstrators and riot police were an everyday occurrence. The daily reality of Molotov cocktails flying was reported on television news. In such an era, creating a home drama with a tekiya as the protagonist was, on one hand, a natural reflection of the times, and on the other hand, wasn't it quite an avant-garde attempt?
That television series reached a shocking conclusion in the final episode where Torajiro Kuruma is bitten by a habu snake and dies, and as I have conveyed in this column in chronological order, the film series was born because of that. After directing the first film "Tora-san, Our Lovable Tramp" and the second film "Tora-san, Our Lovable Tramp: Sequel," Director Yoji Yamada had the third film directed by Azuma Morisaki, who was a co-writer of the screenplay, and the fourth film by Shunichi Kobayashi, who was a producer and director of the television series, while he handled the screenplay. What you can see by watching the works is that "Tora-san, Our Lovable Tramp" from the first to the fourth film, including the episodes, was THE MOVIE in an extended or developed form of the television version.
The series became an unprecedented hit in the sluggish film industry, and the "Tora-san, Our Lovable Tramp" that became a cash cow would be produced one after another. The excitement in movie theaters around this time was incredible. Around the end of my first-grade summer vacation, I watched this fifth film, "Nostalgia," at the Ginza Shochiku with my father, but it was almost entirely male customers, just middle-aged men. The theater was filled with uproarious laughter at every gesture Tora-san made. Along with the smell of popcorn, I still vividly remember that heat.

Yamada: "So, when it was decided that I really wanted to do one more, the third and fourth films had different directors, and strangely enough, it's not about whether they were good or bad, but even though I wrote the script with the same casting and they were wearing the same costumes, strangely, when the director changes, the color changes completely. So, I wanted to make a film with my own seasoning and my own favorite colors one more time and finish it. So for the fifth film, I said, 'Then I'll shoot it,' and in 1970, I was making a film called 'Family.' I interrupted that 'Family' and made the work called 'Nostalgia.'"
Sato: "In that case, 'Nostalgia' is a work you tackled as a 'finale' within Director Yamada's mind."
Yamada: "Yes, that's right."
Sato: "And there, Tokuko Sugiyama as the aunt from the TV version, Aiko Nagayama as Sakura, Hisashi Igawa as Hiroshi..."
Yamada: "Yes, yes, Ms. Nagayama appeared, and Mr. Igawa appeared."
Sato: "So it was decided to be made with the intention of decorating the end with glory."
Yamada: "Yeah, so there was that enthusiasm, that this would be the end. I think that enthusiasm of mine, and the enthusiasm of Atsumi-san and the others, became a kind of force, and a very energetic film was made. Then, this became an even bigger hit than before, so, well, it became a situation where I couldn't end it even if I wanted to. This time, it felt like I was being pushed by the audience, and I felt like I couldn't quit now."

Satellite Theater "My Tora-san Special" (August 2008)

Director Yamada included every essence of the series in the fifth installment, "Cherished Mother", as a "curtain call." In the opening "Tora-san's Dream" sequence, Tora-san rushes to Oichan's deathbed. After the title sequence, as an extension of that "dream," Oichan is exhausted from the heat, and Oba-chan jokingly carries Tora-san, claiming Oichan is on his last legs. Tora-san hears this over the phone from Ueno and, on his way back to Shibamata, makes arrangements with funeral directors and others. He tells the local priest and neighbors that Oichan is in critical condition, leading to a hilarious opening scene that spirals out of control.
Come to think of it, in the second film, "Tora-san's Runaway", Tora-san is left in a daze after his beloved teacher, Mr. Sanpo (Eijiro Tono), passes away, and is scolded by the local priest, who tells him, "This is exactly when you need to be strong." At the funeral the next day, Tora-san's attitude changes completely; he takes charge of everything with such vigor that it is a pleasure to watch.
Tora-san's flair for managing all aspects of ceremonial occasions becomes a recurring theme in the series. In "Cherished Mother," although we don't see Tora-san making the arrangements after hearing Oichan is critical, we can easily imagine his efficient handling of the situation. Why does he go to such lengths?
"What else can I do? If Oichan doesn't die, I can't repay my debt to him. This is the funeral of the master of Toraya! I wanted to give him a funeral that people would envy, a truly magnificent one!"
This logic is absurd, but the laughter in the theater reaches its peak during this living room argument scene. As a seven-year-old, I was laughing so hard I could barely breathe and nearly fell off my chair. In the next sequence, his follower Noboru (Masaki Tsusaka) visits Shibamata after a long time and informs Tora-san that Boss Masakichi (Michio Kida) in Hokkaido, who took care of Tora-san when he was young, is in critical condition.
Eventually, Tora-san borrows the 5,000 yen that Sakura gave to Mitsuo in "Tora-san's Runaway" and heads to Hokkaido to fulfill Boss Masakichi's final request. Tora-san sets off for Otaru to grant the boss's wish to see his son, Sumio (Shoji Matsuyama), who works as a train engineer, one last time.
From this point on, the sequence shifts from a comedy based on a "funeral" to a serious story about "father-son conflict." The heroic depiction of the D51 steam locomotive is truly careful and dynamic, conveying the passionate feelings of Director Yamada, who has been a railway fan since boyhood. Even when told about his father's illness, Sumio stubbornly refuses to see him. Sumio's own words explain why he is so resentful toward his father.
Father-son conflict is a theme often depicted in Yoji Yamada's works, not just in "Tora-san". Examples include the communication breakdown between Hiroshi and his father, the relationship between Tora-san and his late father, the conflict between the lord (Chokuro Arashi) and his late son in the 19th film, "Tora-san Meets Lord Daigoro," and "My Son" (1991). Furthermore, "Tokyo Family" (2013) also depicts a strained father-son relationship.
This episode with Sumio in the fifth film, "Cherished Mother," is actually a refrain from the 10th episode of the TV series (written by Yoji Yamada and Azuma Morisaki). In that story, Boss Ginzo of Shinonome in Kumamoto, who took care of Tora-san in the past, is in critical condition and asks Tora-san to find the son he had with a geisha. That son is now a train engineer. This evolved into the Sumio sequence in the fifth film, and the power of the locomotive depiction in the movie version is exciting no matter how many times I watch it. This is the true power of cinema.
It is understandable that Tora-san, upon seeing this engineer, resolves to "work hard, sweating and covered in oil." In the latter half of the film, set in Urayasu, the episode with Setsuko Miura (Aiko Nagayama) features the full cast of TV series regulars, including Tokuko Sugiyama, Hisashi Igawa, and Gajiro Sato.
The co-starring of Chieko Baisho as Sakura and Aiko Nagayama, who played Sakura on TV, as the "two Sakuras" was the ultimate gift for fans who watched the show in real-time.
As Director Yamada said, "I think my determination to end it here, combined with the determination of Atsumi-san and the others, became a single force, resulting in a very energetic film." The fifth film became a powerful work, and the world of the "Tora-san" films began to expand from this point on.