Appassionata
序の舞
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.
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Cast
Etsuko Ichihara
as Narrator (voice)
Mikio Narita
Momiji Yamamura
Ayako Kobayashi
as Sei as a girl
Shirō Ōsaka
Kin Sugai
Kei Satō
Kunihiko Mitamura
Michihiro Kinoshita
as Rickshaw man
Tsuyako Okajima
Masaharu Arikawa
Yūko Natori
as Tsuya Shimamura
Junkichi Orimoto
Eizō Kitamura
Kōjirō Kusanagi
as Sei's uncle
Takashi Ebata
Mariko Okada
as Sei Shimamura
Ken'ichi Nagira
Mieko Hoshino
as Neighborhood lady
Aki Mizusawa
as Shima Shimamura
Tomiko Ishii
as Midwife
Katsuko Ōkawa
Rantaro Mine
Ryoichi Kusanagi
Yoshihiro Igarashi
Mieko Takamine
Takashi Noguchi
Morio Kazama
Yoshiko Mita
