Firefly Light (1958) [N/A]

Release Date:
March 18, 1958

Original Title:
螢火

Alternate Titles:
Hotarubi
The Fireflies

Genres:
Drama

Production Companies:
Shochiku

Production Countries:
Japan

Ratings / Certifications:
 N/A

Runtime: 123

Set in the 1860s, the final years of the Tokugawa Shogunate, The Fireflies focuses on Tose (Awashima Chikage), the mistress of the Teradaya, a small inn in the Kyoto suburb of Fushimi. She does not have an easy life. Her husband, Isuke (Ban Junzaburo), is a wastrel who fancies himself a kabuki singer and who is obsessed with cleanliness. Her mother-in-law, Sada (Miyoshi Eiko) dislikes her because of her humble origins (her family are farmers) and because she fears that she will inherit the inn instead of Sugi, her daughter. Sada's hopes for Sugi, however, are dashed when she runs off with a con artist and leaves her child behind for Tose to take care of. When Sada becomes seriously ill, it is Tose who nurses her. On her deathbed, Sada asks her daughter-in-law's forgiveness. Meanwhile Isuke spends most of his time with a mistress he has taken, forcing Tose to manage the inn by herself

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Art Direction:
Hidetetsu Hirakawa

Director:
Heinosuke Gosho

Director of Photography:
Yoshio Miyajima

Novel:
Sakunosuke Oda

Original Music Composer:
Yasushi Akutagawa

Producer:
Yoshishige Uchiyama

Writer:
Toshio Yasumi

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