The Mad Fox
| The Mad Fox | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Tomu Uchida |
| Written by | Yoshikata Yoda |
| Starring |
|
| Cinematography | Sadaji Yoshida |
| Edited by | Shintarō Miyamoto |
| Music by | Chuji Kinoshita |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Toei Company |
Release date | |
Running time | 109 minutes |
| Country | Japan |
| Language | Japanese |
The Mad Fox (恋や恋なすな恋, Koiya koi nasuna koi), also titled Love, Thy Name Be Sorrow, is a 1962 Japanese jidaigeki and drama film directed by Tomu Uchida.[1][2] It is based upon a 1734 bunraku play.[3][4]
Plot
During Heian period, an oracle scroll instructs well-renowned fortune-teller Kamo no Yasunori that he should adopt a girl born at a certain time several years ago. His two disciples, Abe no Yasuna and Absiya Doman, separately set out to find this girl. Yasunori finds identical twin girls born at the right time to Lord Shoji of Izumi and returns with the older one, Sakaki.
Ten years later strange omens and his oracle scroll, called The Golden Crow, tell Yasunori the heirless crown prince is cursed and the country will soon be in turmoil, A second prediction is made but Yasunori can tell this only to his successor. Doman arrives late, saying he went to the royal court to urge them to consult with Yasunori, Yasunori publicly denounces Doman for this disrespect and says Doman will no longer be his successor. Yasunori starts a journey to the Court but his wife, who lusts after Doman, has Yasunori killed on the road and blames the murder on bandits.
Sakaki is enamoured of Yasuna. Realising that in the absence of a formal succession document the Court will appoint Doman as successor, she intrigues against Doman by appearing at Court as heir of her adopted father. The Court declares that lots shall be cast to determine the successor. However, when Sakaki opens the oracle's locked box the box is empty. Suspicion is cast all around. Doman imprisons Yasuna and tortures Sakaki who knows nothing. Yasunori's widow privately reveals to Doman that she stole the scroll to help Doman succeed; she initiates an affair with him. Yasuna escapes. he finds Sakaki dead, overhears the deceitful plan, and goes mad. He attacks the couple. Yasunori's widow dies in a fire and Yasuna escapes with the scroll.
Wandering madly in both his and Sakaki's clothes, Yasuna ends up in Izumi where he sees Kuzunoha, Sakaki's identical twin sister. Lord Shoji takes him in and the family overlook his mistaken belief that Kuzunoha is Sakaki. Yasuna does not believe himself mad and wonders why Shoji has not yet permitted them to wed.
At court, Doman says he saw a little of The Golden Crow: it said the Crown Prince's curse could be lifted by him siring an heir by copulating in a room adorned with the blood of a white vixen. A court minister says a white vixen exists in Izumi and a hunting party is despatched. The hunt takes places in a forest where Yasuna is walking with Kuzunoha. They come across an injured old woman from out of whom Yasuna pulls an arrow. The hunting party arrives and ask if the trio have seen the white fox they have shot but Yasuna calls them idiots who can't tell the difference between a fox and a human.
Kuzunoha and Yasuna escort the old lady to her hut. After the young couple depart the old lady, her husband and their granddaughter, Kon, are revealed to be kitsune and as an act of gratitude Kon is ordered to look after Yasuna. Yasuna and Kuzunoha are espied by Doman; Kon watches as the hunting party waylay the pair and Doman takes the scroll. Travelling first as balls of flame, Kon's clan arrives. They fight off the hunting party and make off with the scroll while Yasuna and Kuzunoha are separated. Kon is ordered to shapechange into Kuzunoha's form while she tends to Yasuna's injuries (which she initially does by licking his wounds) after being warned not to do anything which might permanently isolate herself from her own kind.
However, Kon had fallen in love with Yasuna at first sight. She keeps Kuzunoha's form and, with Yasuna still believing Kona to be Sakaki, the pair live in a small isolated hut and have a child together. Kon dreads the day she must return the scroll to him as on that day they must part. Some wandering men see Kon and soon Lord Shoji arrives with his wife and Kuzunoha who is lovesick for Yasuna. Shoji, Shoji's wife and Yasuna become confused at seeing two identical women: Kon and Kuzunoha. Kon admits to being inhuman and says she will leave their child with Yasuna. She departs in the form of a white vixen and their hut disappears leaving Yasuna wondering if it was just a dream.
Upon picking up their child, he finds the Golden Crow scroll but the scene instantly changes to reprise that when Yasuna was alone and wandering madly after Sakaki's murder. He lies upon the ground in foetal position wearing Sakaki's kimono. The scene changes to a Sessho-seki, roughly the size of a human adult lying in foetal position, with a flame looking like that in which the kitsune appeared floating around it. A narrator admonishes the audience that love is empty and never to fall in love.
Cast
- Hashizo Okawa as Abe Yasuna
- Michiko Saga
- Junya Usami as Yasunori Kamo
- Choichiro Kawarasaki
- Yoshi Katō as Shōji
- Kensaku Hara as Nakahira Fujiwara
- Eijirō Yanagi as Tadahira Fujiwara
- Ryūnosuke Tsukigata
Legacy
The Mad Fox was screened in the Museum of Modern Art as part of a retrospective on Tomu Uchida in 2016.[3]
References
- ^ a b "恋や恋なすな恋". Japanese Movie Database (in Japanese). Retrieved 12 July 2023.
- ^ a b "恋や恋なすな恋". Kinenote (in Japanese). Retrieved 12 July 2023.
- ^ a b "Koi ya koi nasuna koi (The Mad Fox). 1962. Directed by Tomu Uchida". Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved 12 July 2023.
- ^ Gerstle, C. Andrew; Clark, Timothy; Yano, Akiko (2010). Kabuki Heroes on the Osaka Stage, 1780-1830. University of Hawaii Press. p. 244.
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