Come and enjoy the spectacular World of Japanese Cinema at The Japan Foundation, New Delhi.

Theme of the month : ” Summer – Praying for Peace”

 

Color / Vista Vision / 1989 / 96 min/ KYOHDOH  EIGA / KOHYAMA  PRODUCTION

CAST:

Sadako Sasaki ….. … .. .. Tamami Hirose

Kenzou Sasaki……………. Gin Maeda

Shigeko Sasaki……………. Chieko Baishoh

Kyohko Ohzeki…………….. Mako Ishino

Yukiko Amamiya………….. Mamiko Tayama

Doctor……………………….. Takahiro Tamura

Narrator……………………… Tomoe Hiiro

 

PRODUCTION GROUP:

Executive Producer………Kaichiroh Nohara

                                           Seijiroh Kohyama

Planning………………….  Masaru Takimoto

Producer…………………  Teishaku Kyoh

From a novel by………..  Yuusuke Tejima

Screenplay………………  Shohzoh Matsuda

                                            Seijiroh Kohyama

Photography…………….  Fuminori Minami

Art Director………………  Akira Haruki

Music…………………….  Masao Haryu

Director…………………..  Seijiroh Kohyama

 

SETTING:   Hiroshima, early 1950s.

SYNOPSIS:

At the age, of two, Sadako Sasaki’s home in Hiroshima was bombed. Miraculously she survived with barely a

scratch and grew up to be a healthy, active girl with a love of sports until…

April,1954,Hiroshima. Sadako has entered the 6th grade of elementary school. Her new teacher is strict but

also very kind, so that Sadako enjoys her school life, especially sports. She is even crucial in helping her class

win the championship in the autumn sports day running her favorite race. But toward the end of fall Sadako

has caught a bad cold, which makes her lymph nodes painful. Even so, she remains the most cheerful

girl in her class. Because she didn’t seem to recover, she was eventually examined by a member of the

A-Bomb Casualties Commission on the advice of a neighborhood doctor. It was discovered that it was

not a cold she was suffering from,  but leukemia, caused by, the A-bomb that was dropped on her city

when she was an infant. 

 

Suddenly, her life is changed. After bidding farewell to her classmates, Sadako enters the hospital. There, her

spirits undaunted, she becomes a great favorite due to her cheerful and positive personality. However, she is

concerned because her special treatment is expensive and is causing financial hardship for her family. And

although she had hoped to enter junior high school, her continuing, fatiguing illness makes this impossible. 

She is moved to a new room for only two people where she meets Yukiko Amamiya, a girl two years senior to

her and therefore appearing very grown up. At first they do not get along, due to the differences in their

character. But gradually they become as close as if they were sisters. 

 

One day a package of hand folded cranes arrives from a girl in Nagoya. For, if one folds 1000 paper cranes,

one can recover from one’s illness. With the dedication typical of her, Sadako began to fold cranes from

the paper wrappers of the various medicines she was taking. But the more cranes she folded, the more 

her condition worsened. 

Yet, lying tranquilly in her hospital bed, Sadako patiently continues to fold the paper cranes….

 

NOTES:    Based on a true story,   the film was directed by Seijiroh Kohyama who also directed  ‘Song of the

Spring Pony’ and ‘Hachiko.’