Your mother ran away?
When?
With a Iover?
How couId she leave her child?
Maybe drowned
She eloped.
She couldn't live with a blind girl.
Saito, the druggist.
The streets were empty. l wondered why.
l heard voices from this hut.
You came at the right time.
We need a wise man like you.
Your name?
Age?
Orin.
Six.
You have a fine voice.
Your name is Orin.
l was told l was born in the Province of Wakasa.
l've never seen my parents.
l heard it was a beautlful place
But l couldn't see it.
When l was six years old,
Mr. Saito took me to a house of "gozé. ''
"MELODY lN GRAY"
Producers Kiyoshi lwashita and Seikichi lizumi
Story by Tsutomu Mizukami
ScreenpIay by Keiji Hasebe and Masahiro Shinoda
Director of Photography Kazuo Miyagawa
Music by Toru Takemitsu
Starrlng Shima lwashita
Tomoko Naraoka
Kirin Kiki
Yoshio Harada
Directed by Masahiro Shinoda
lt was twenty years ago
When l was 21, l was denounced as lewd
l was expelled.
l've been alone
So you were expelled from the gozé group?
Yes. We, blind itinerant singers, make groups
We visit houses to sing.
We stay at inns for gozé.
But once expelled from the group,
we have to travel alone
We must spend nights at deserted huts and shrines.
lsn't the errand man back yet?
The comedians can't cheer the party.
The gozé are late.
They promised to come
The young master is going to war. We need music
Good luck.
l got information.
Your regiment might be sent to Manchuria.
You know a man hanged himself at Shimosatose?
l heard the news.
A woodsman found the body in his hut.
lt was hanging there.
l think the man was a deserter.
lt was a shame to the regiment.
lf captured, he'd be shot.
She's here!
We've a pretty gozé!.
Master. Mistress. l've brought a gozé
You have Iice on you!
Really? Sorry.
She's pretty and talented
She's going to sing many songs for us.
Thank you, everybody, for sending for me
Gozé, sing romantic songs.
Can she see?
No.
She can say she's blind even if she isn't.
She can make love.
Even if she can't see us
Don't sneak in her bed tonight.
But she's a lone gozé.
She's lone, but not lewd.
l was born blind. l live in darkness.
When l was six, Mr. Saito told me
to join a group of blind girls,
so l'd become a good gozé
"You're blind."
"A blind girl can live only as a masseuse or a whore"
"But a gozé can lead a decent life."
"You'll have a mother to teach you music."
Kaneko, don't stop!
All footsteps sound like your lover's to you?
lt's Mr. Saito.
The druggist?
He came after the snow melted last year.
He's not aIone.
HelIo. l'm Saito, the druggist.
l'm back again. l'm gIad to find you well
Welcome
HeIlo, Mitsuko
You've grown up.
Thank you for coming so far.
Hello, Mistress of the House of Satomi.
l have a request to make
Please come in.
The house of gozé smeIled of incense and hair oil.
The mistress was a kind woman. When I kowtowed,
she gentIy stroked my hair and introduced me to them.
Yasuko gave me a rice cake
lt was warm and delicious. l remember lt well.
Then..
You travel alone without anyone to guide you?
Where from?
l was in Nagano in Maroh
l came to this district in April
Water here. Drink.
Thank you.
Are you really homeIess?
Yes.
l came to work at the quarry.
The job was finished today.
You were walking in the mountains.
You must live around here
No.
The sun was in the west. l decided to stay here.
l'm tired.
Thank you.
Are you asleep?
Tsugiko!
Why did you do that? Why hate me?
What do you mean?
You tried to trip me with that
No, l didn't.
l'm just trying to sew a kimono
Liar!
You're mean and wicked
You blame me, but
l know your secret.
You had secret dates with Magoji
How cold!
Orin.
Washing is like torture.
You're learning quickly
There's one thing you mustn't forget.
The manners that gozé must respect.
Gozé dedicate their eyes, ears and limbs
to the Amitabha Buddha.
They must chant the sutra every day
so they won't disregard their important manners.
lf they do, they'll fall into hell in this world.
You'll be feted in two years.
Receive a new name ln seven years.
You'll be a regular apprentice the next year.
In eight years.
ln three more years, you'll be independent.
Then you'll be a full-fledged gozé.
Lovely girl.
YYou sang well, but do you know what the song means?
How old are you?
She joined us at age six. Now she's eight.
Maybe the socks caused the trouble
We wear sandals on our bare feet.
We feel warm even waIking on the snow.
She was right.
At first l feIt l was freezing.
But as l walked, l began to feel warm.
lt was strange.
I stopped wearing socks even in wlnter.
When will you stop folIowing me?
Somebody's waiting for you at home.
l'm alone.
Like you.
l have no parents. Nobody's waiting.
Nobody?
A lie.
Why ?
Why else would l have come to work in the mountains?
Maybe there'll be a festival in Tokamachi tomorrow.
Let's go.
l'll guide you.
Let's go to town and eat something nice.
Don't waste money.
I'll carry you on my back.
l want to run with you.
You're funny
Come on.
People wilI laugh at you.
Nobody's around.
We've just passed it.
Turn right and walk through the coppice.
Cucumber trees bloom in spring there
How can you remember the road without a guide?
When l was eight,
Yasuko carried me on her back along this road.
Every night you sneak out to your man.
Do you think l didn't know what you were doing?
l've been taking care of you for years What for?
Slut!
You betrayed my trust.
l'll expel you!
Go to your man and drop dead!
We had a poor crop last year. We have no rice.
Only dried taro stems.
l didn't know. l'm sorry
l'm blind, so l couldn't see. Forgive me.
They're having a hard time. Don't trouble them.
Please don't leave now.
My father is ill
He wants to hear you sing before he dies.
He's been waiting for you
Please accept this and sing for him.
Thank you.
l'm glad l've kept this job for this moment.
Thank you.
Pregnant
Can you feel it?
This pass is called Physician of Souls
Mountains smeIl of v oung green leaves in spring.
The leaves wash our eyes with their tears of mercy.
People come into this world, thanks to their parents.
But Buddha mercifully made us blind
so we can't see the hell of this world.
Tsugiko, you're a girl.
l understand you wanted to be happy.
But why couldn't you feeI the mercy of Buddha?
Orin, it's your first period.
Orin is a woman now. Let's celebrate it.
Orin, you've grown enough to have a baby
Every woman has a monthly period. lt's women's destiny
But gozé aren't allowed to sleep with men
We shouIdn't have babies
Remember?
Tsugiko had a baby and ran away when you were eight.
Orin, you're pretty. A nice woman
Orin, the men are laylng a trap.
The young men are drooling for your body.
lt's fun
l'Il leave tomorrow.
Where to?
Fushimi?
To work at a brewery
She's a child Don't make her drink
Don't be strict. Drink a lot.
l'll sing "lso Song."
"The plane is taking off with the honeymoon couple."
"Darling, what's that place?"
"The shrine on Miyajima."
"What's that big open pIace?"
"Bakan Strait"
"Where are we?"
"ln the cloud."
"Nobody's watching us, then?"
"That's right."
Don't sleep with a man.
lf you do, you'll be expelled. That's the rule.
You were given a new name at thirteen.
It was your ceremony to marry Buddha.
Don't sleep with a man.
lf you do, you'll be expelled.
Good! I'll sing "Wajima Song.''
l couldn't help it.
l couldn't contain my excitement and joy.
lt was fun.
l pitied the mistress who had refused the pIeasure.
Gozé are on an endless trip led by Buddha.
We'll heIp them not get lost
l'm a relative l'lI stay here.
You a virgin?
Take a good bath, gozé.
Thank you.
lt'd been my secret desire to sleep with a man.
Maklng love made me feel warm. It was good.
l deserve divine punishment.
l was glad to work last night.
You were beside me while l sang
l reIaxed and sang well
You made me happy, too.
Thank you.
Joking again!
The customers thought you were my guide.
You must have felt you'd burdened yourself.
You're wrong
Your songs fascinate me.
You're prettv, too.
Why not make love to me?
We've been together since we met at ltsukodaira
We slept side by side, but you didn't take me.
Any reason you can't Iove me?
After l was expelled from the gozé group,
l had a stranger to guide me for weeks.
lt happened many times.
They all wanted to have me.
I couldn't refuse them.
They were big and strong. No use to struggle.
l let them have me and wished they'd pay me.
Some men tried to make fun of me.
l couIdn't forget the warmth of a man.
l asked them to come to where l was staying
l even begged them.
When l slept alone in winter, l was cold.
I was afraid l'd freeze to death by morning.
Don't leave me, please!
l'm old.
l don't mind.
Warm me with your body.
PIease!
When I was lonely, l asked any man to make love to me.
A fire!
A rice dealer's shop.
The mistress said Buddha mercifully made us blind
so we can't see the hell of this world.
An old woman visited me with rice.
She said l was traveling like a priest
who saved peopIe from damnation long ago.
Didn't you ever have a child living Iike that?
l had one The baby died.
Where?
Noto
Suzu Village.
lt was winter.
l couldn't raise a ohild. My man ran away.
The baby froze to death.
lt was my sin.
Let's save money and buy tools.
l'll mend clogs and give you hot rice.
My mother was good at it
She worked at a clog shop. l helped her as a child.
She was a great woman.
What are you to her?
l'm her guide.
She picked me up.
She picked you up? You picked her up.
Don't eat anything you aren't given! l told you!
Even if you're hungry!
Why not tell me your name?
Tell me
Tsurukawa
lt means a crane in a river. Senzo Tsurukawa.
l hear cranes come to swamps.
Do they oome to rivers, too?
What are you doing?
Hold me in your arms l want you
Don't make love. lf l do, we can't travel together
Why not? What's wrong with holding me?
l want to travel with you.
l'm coId Why not hold me and warm me with yourself?
You don't have to make love. Just hoId me and warm me.
Orin.
Good girl
You were born blind, and that's why you must suffer.
That's the hell of this world
l can't take you.
lf l do,
l'll have to Ieave you like all the other men.
l want to keep you company:
Let me guide you a little longer.
Be stiIl.
You're like Buddha in the evening gIow.
Don't stay awav. Come closer.
You're Buddha.
lt's as smooth as an egg shell.
lf my business succeeds,
you won't have to work
You'Il polish cIogs beside me.
l won't sing?
Not as a gozé anyway.
You'll be the clog dealer's sister.
"Sister?"
You know.
You're my sister. l'm your brother.
From tomorrow on call me brother.
You're not my brother.
You're the man l love!
Take a look at this!
This fine silk shirt is only a third the regular price!
Buy my medicine! lt'll warm the lower haIf of your body.
lt's good for women.
lt's like a dream.
You made me an ordinary woman.
l don't have to slave for meals.
l can rest.
Not so loud
But l'm so gIad
Don't be funny Look like an ordinary woman.
The sea and
...Mt. Yoneyama.
l'm happy for the first time in my life. lt's like a dream.
Not a dream.
l wish you'd make love to me once.
l'd have no regrets if l died.
Then we'd have to part
You're always Buddha to me.
l'm not Buddha. Nor your sister!
l've been wondering. Are you really his sister?
Yes. Why?
The samisen.
l used to be a gozé
l became one in Echigo as a child
He was away from me then.
Since we met again, we've been traveling together.
Don't be frank with him.
Why not? Mr. Bessho is kind to me
You can't telI.
Beware of men.
Keep away.
Keep away? But his stand is next to ours.
l think you should be nice to your neighbors.
Don't get so famiIiar with him.
Familiar? No!
He's laughing at us.
l envy you.
You can sell your old drug as brand-new medicine
No!
You call pIain fabric silk.
You buy rabbits, and sell both the meat and the fur
Soldiers need them
l'lI do it, too
When the war ends, you can't sell them.
No good business for the poor.
Permission?
Where are you going, brother?
He went to the gangsters who control this place
He needs their permission.
Cover your things before they get wet.
lt won't stop raining l'Il go back to the inn.
Your brother will return to the inn in this rain
The shirt dealer got information
Tsurukawa was arrested
Why ?
The gangsters took him to the temple.
They argued and fought.
Tsurukawa is a big man. He injured the gangsters.
So the polioe arrested him?
That's right.
Keep it a secret.
Or Orin wilI be worried
We're unluoky.
Any news about my brother?
No He'll be back
l heard he was arrested
Gozé have good ears
lt was just a fight with hoodlums. Not serious.
l hope so.
l wonder if he realIy considers you his sister.
Why ?
The shirt dealer told me
He saw Tsurukawa at the post offioe in town
making a remittance.
His mother or family must be alive
He has no family.
He said his parents are dead.
''He said?''
Then you aren't his sister.
You're his woman.
He never made love to me.
He's been in jail for days lt wasn't just a fight.
Maybe he was a criminal.
Don't speak ill of him.
You're a fool.
Someday he'll desert you. And you'll be old
This is your chance.
When you're old, it'll be too late
You'll have to die alone on the road.
You'd better come with me and start a new business
l don't mind sleeping in deserted huts.
l don't need nice cIothes.
l can't go with you, Bessho l'lI wait for my brother.
Can you be patient? Living with him that way?
Sometimes you hunger for a man's touch, don't you?
We're brother and sister. l'm happy and content.
l'm no longer a gozé.
lt'lI be a Iong wait
l'm not a slut.
l was expelled from the group.
But my brother made me an ordinary woman.
l see l've said my piece.
l'Il be going.
Thank you for taking care of me
You've been kind. Thank you.
Don't do that, Bessho.
l've been depending on your kindness
Don't betray my trust.
Nobody's around. Your man is with the poIice
Just this once. Nobody will know.
Wait.
l'll prepare myself.
Goodbye.
Don't tell my brother that you took me. Never!
lf he knows, l'll have to kill myself.
lf he's your brother, he won't punish you for this.
But l won't tell anybody.
Never.
Brother!
Did you see it? Did you?
The druggist?
Bessho?
Don't be angry with him.
He wasn't to blame. lt was my fault
Forgive me!
Orin How thoughtless you are!
You slept with a man.
You violated our rules.
You're expelIed.
This is an important party.
You're disgracing our group of gozé.
Go away!
Get on.
No. l want to stay here alone
Alone?
We didn't meet here
l hit Bessho, the druggist
l hit the gangsters.
They want revenge.
l don't want you to be molested Let's part
l'll find you when things are settIed
We'll meet again.
Where are you going?
South To Wakasa Provinoe
l'Il be waiting for you.
You go south, too.
Not north.
lt's Bessho.
The druggist
Who?
A gozé?
You, too?
Are you entirely blind?
l can see things vaguely on sunny days
Where from?
Nagaoka.
Expelled? When?
Three years ago. Were you expelled, too?
The villagers want me to sing for them.
Can l leave my things here?
Orin?
l'm the poIice Name's lmanishi
l have some questions.
ls Senzo Tsurukawa your brother?
WhiIe he was away with the police,
whom did you meet on the beach?
Bessho
Bessho, the druggist?
You walked with him along the beach.
What did you do after that?
l returned to the inn
To see Senzo?
No.
Why not?
He was released that day
l returned to the inn, but
my brother had checked out.
He took the cart with him.
l went back to the beach, but he wasn't there.
Why didn't he look for me?
Where is he now? Tell me
l don't know
Where is he? What is he doing at sunset like this?
Can you see?
l can teIl by the smell of the air.
Let me introduce Detective lmanishi.
l'm Military PoIice Lieutenant Hakamada.
One of the men standing
..PFC Heitaro lwabuchi.
We can't identify him by this picture.
So we made his desoription
He deserted
When?
April, 1917.
Two years ago.
The number of deserters and draft-dodgers is increasing
They don't like going to Siberia
Does Tsurukawa, who killed the druggist, look...
..Iike the deserter named lwabuchi?
We trailed him to Niigata, then lost him.
He's around here.
Then the murder.
Tsurukawa is nearly six feet tall.
He stammers and is tanned.
The same man
l questioned the peddlers who were with him.
He left the inn saving he'd go north
But he didn't We lost him.
Maybe he was afraid of being identified
Then, he must be the deserter.
l'll show this description to the landlady of the inn
The investigation should be as a search for Tsurukawa
as a suspect in the murder of the druggist.
lt's a secret that he's a deserter.
lt's shame to the lmperial Army.
There's somebody else.
My friend
You said you were aIone. You want to cheat me?
Never mind. l'll be going.
Thank you.
He's my customer. Forgive me
Blind?
Can't see anything
What's your hurry?
My friend kindly excused herself.
Leave some money.
Are you asleep, gozé?
What is it?
What do you want?
l have a request.
What is it?
This girl is my granddaughter
She was born blind.
Her father died in Korea, and her mother fell ill.
She died last spring.
This girl became an orphan.
l have to take care of her But l won't live Iong.
l can't ask strangers to raise her.
l don't know what to do.
l heard you played the samisen at the inn.
My husband left some money for me.
Please make this girl a gozé like you
l can't accept your money.
Please take care of her.
But, as you see, we're lone traveling gozé.
All we can do is write a letter to a group leader
PIease!
Put your hands together.
Let's go to your mother.
Pray to Buddha.
Trouble?
What is it?
Are you gozé?
That's right.
Two persons were drowned
One is a blind girl.
The other is a gray-haired old woman.
They jumped off the cliff
Why did they have to die? You tried to help them.
You were going to write a letter of introduction.
But l didn't say l'd take care of the girl.
The old woman was weak.
l was expelled. All l could do was write a letter.
Who is it?
The police. Tell me. Are you the mistress?
Yes. Name's Teruyo
Who is the other gentleman?
This is a detective from Fukui.
Really? You came from Fukui?
A long way from Fukui.
We want to know where Orin is
What did she do?
She did nothing wrong.
We're after the man traveling with her.
She left us nine years ago
Hasn't she returned since?
Never.
l'd like to talk with her, too.
Where is she?
We lost her
We trailed her to Toyama, but...
She's been missing since last year.
Where is her hometown?
Hometown?
She came from Obama in Wakasa.
Orin!
Who?
A clog dealer.
Orin, you know him?
Brother!
lt's you, Orin!
l thought you'd come here.
l've been working here waiting for you.
l wanted to see you.
Orin. Be happy
The police are after you
l had to see you.
l had to come.
Merciful Buddha let us be together again
You're no brother to me now.
l was told l'd lived in a seaside hut.
Who knows?
But l still remember the sound of the sea
Any sea sounds the same.
No. The sound l remember is very clear.
Even if it's true, the sound can change in thirty years
Besides, there are trains and sirens.
You can't hear the sea.
l can, after everybody goes to sleep.
He looks exactIy like the description.
That's right. The woman is a gozé.
They're passing our shop.
ls this the sea you remember?
Anything wrong?
lt was a saber
Saber? What about the saber?
The police.
Run!
Heitaro lwabuohi?
You killed the druggist?
Confess!
Don't cry like a kid, deserter!
Orin's statement
Blind and stubborn.
As long as you refuse to taIk,
she'll be tortured as an accomplice.
Okay?
Bessho invited you, but you didn't go with him
Because your man had been with the police.
You were worried so much you couldn't leave him.
Right?
That's right.
After the druggist started for the station,
you saw your man on the beach.
TeIl us the truth.
l didn't see him. l'm blind.
Fool!
You're lying
You said he was your brother. That was a lie
He's a deserter
"Deserter?" What does it mean?
He neglected his duty.
l'm blind. l don't know a thing about it.
l've never seen faces or hands.
You say ''forest,'' but...
...l don't know exactIy what it's like
There are many things l don't know.
l can feeI and smell things, but that's all
Buddha leads me when l walk
l can't understand you.
Don't get wise!
But l didn't see what l didn't see.
Somebody saw you and the man in the forest
l didn't see my brother.
What l saw was his heart.
A warm heart full of kindness...
.like the one only a brother could have
l kilIed him.
He raped Orin
So l killed him.
l got drafted in place of the son of lchibei Terada
a oompany president in Daishoji.
He paid me for it.
l did it for money.
You can dodge the draft
...if you have money
But poor men like me have to selI ourselves for money.
War sacrifices the poor.
l won't go to Siberia even if l get killed for it
ls that aIl?
You're a murderer and deserter. No excuses.
l'm ready to be executed
But before l die, let me see Orin
The audacity!
Let him see her for the last time.
Orin. lt's me.
l owe you an apology
l lied to you.
l said l had no parents or family. l said l was alone
lt was a lie
My mother is alive.
ln Daishoji. l was born there
She runs a clog shop there... alone.
l lied.
Forgive me.
Nothing to forgive. lt's naturaI you have a mother.
l have one, too. l have a mother.
Mother!
Who..?
Don't break the door.
lf it isn't Orin!
Mother in?
The mistress?
She died toward the end of last month.
She died? lt can't be true
She's inside.
Open the door, mother!
Mother..
Where are you?
Orin is back.
Mr. Saito toId me your mother lived...
...in Obama Village, Fukul.
She might be stilI alive in a vaIley there.
Lunch time!
l've been wondering what it is
Look at the tip of the point.
l can see something red What is it?
Where?
To the right of the tip of the point.