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