Seiichi Funahashi

雪夫人繪圖

1975 Toei movie.

I'll Cry Alone

"Though still young, Natsuko gave up the life of a geisha to become the mistress of the president of a shipbuilding company. When he is about to re-marry she insists he either wed or stop seeing her. Returning home, she again meets the man she first loved and for a time thinks of married happiness."

The Story of a Blind Woman

At sixteen, due to illness, Tsuruko goes blind, and has no choice but to become a massage therapist. One day, stumbling on a staircase, he meets a businessman named Tsuruko and falls in love with him.

What Price Love?

Set in the middle of the Edo period (1603-1867), this tragic love story takes its cue from a celebrated historical case tried by magistrate Tadasuke Ooka, whose shrewd legal decisions became the stuff of legend. Okuma Shirokoya, the daughter of a lumber merchant in Edo (today’s Tokyo), embarked on an affair and was executed after conspiring with her maid to murder her husband. (Source: https://festival.ilcinemaritrovato.it/en/proiezione/shirokoya-komako/)

Ejima and Ikushima

This period film is inspired by one of the most notorious scandals to have taken place in Edo-period Japan. The heroine, Ejima, was a lady of the Ooku, the harem of Edo Castle in which the Shogun’s mother, wife and concubines resided, forbidden from contact with any other man except in the presence of the Shogun. The institution played a key role in the Byzantine world of Japanese court politics during the Edo era. In 1714, Lady Ejima was sent to pay her respects at a Buddhist temple in the city, and chose to pay an unauthorised visit to the kabuki theatre – a violation of protocol that was to have tragic consequences.

Hana no shôgai

In 1842, in the Umemoku Mansion within Hikone Castle, Naosuke Ii, despite the tumultuous times, was engrossed in the world of tea ceremony. His friend, the Kokugaku scholar Nagano Shuzen, introduced him to a captivating shamisen master named Murayama Taka. Naosuke became deeply infatuated with her, disregarding the jealousy of his consort Shizu and the warnings of his senior retainer, Gaiji. However, upon discovering Taka's relationship with Shuzen, Naosuke promptly ended his ties with her.

The Woman’s Reflective Pool

Tozai Electric president Minamoto (Yanagi) is about to be pursued by the public prosecutor's office and tries to bribe Manabe (Saburi), the man in charge, but fails. His daughter Naeko (Takamine) finds out and takes on the role herself. This is a love romance adapted from an original story by Seiichi Funabashi that appeared in the magazine "Romance.”

Portrait of Madame Yuki

A young woman takes up her new job as the servant of a noblewoman and soon discovers that underneath her facade of luxury lies great unhappiness.