Japanese films - Shin Hebihimesama

Initial scenes

The swordsman Ittosai meets the actress Oshima, who had fallen asleep on the side of the road as a result of her excessive alcohol consumption.

Movie Data

Title: Snake Princess - Oshima und Sentaro
Original title: Shin Hebihimesama - Oshima Sentaro
Published: 1965
Length: 88 minutes

Staff
Director: Tadashi Sawashima
Script: Tadashi Sawashima, Nobuaki Nakajima
Original Story: Matsutaro Kawaguchi

Cast
Misora Hibari: Oshima and Prinzessin Koto
Hayashi Yoichi: Sentaro
Ogawa Tomoko: Suga, Sentaro's sister
Shimura Takashi: Juzo, Boss of the actors' troupe
Ohki Minoru: Ittosai, swordman
Arikawa Masaharu: Saeki Saemon, councillor

The story

The plot is based on the folk tale "The Snake Princess (蛇姫さま)" from Nasu District (那須郡). The story by Matsutaro Kawaguchi (1899-1985), which is very popular in Japan and was published from 1939 to 1940 in the Tokyo Nichinichi Shimbun and the Osaka Mainichi Shimbun, is based on this tale. There were at least five film adaptions between 1940 and 1965. The story is well known to the audience and that explains some of the plot twists in this film.
In the fairy tale, a daughter who serves a princess is murdered by a head servant. As a result, she turns into a white snake to save the princess from various dangers. This is where the title "snake princess" comes from. In Kawaguchi's version, Suga is this daughter and Kotohime is the princess.
This film "Oshima and Sentaro" is mainly about the relationship of two traveling actors who fall in love. The main roles are Oshima (an actress), Sentaro (Suga's brother), Suga, the Princess Kotohime, Juzo (the head of the theater troupe), an evil councillor and the famous swordsman Ittosai (1560-1653). Sometimes outdated clichés are used and sometimes there are interesting, refreshing moments.
The protagonist Misora Hibari (1937-1989) plays both the actress Oshima and Princess Koto in a dual role. She was well known as an excellent entertainer in Japan and died at the age of 53 as a result of her alcohol consumption. She tragically demonstrates this here in her last major film. During her lifetime she recorded 1200 songs in 675 albums and singles. 68 million copies were sold. After her death, that number rose to 80 million. Acting was just a sideline for her. However, the stage shows in the film fit more into the 1960s than into the Edo period.
Overall, the film is well done.

From 1975 to 1994 there was the anime series for children "Manga Nippon Mukashi Banashi (まんが日本昔ばなし)", the first anime television series with Japanese fairy tales. The story “The Princess and the White Snake” was told in this series in 1987. Parts of the series were also broadcast in Italy, Poland, Portugal and Germany. Refurbished versions have been running since 2005.

An application of Bo

Oshima is looking for her beloved Sentaro in the clan's residence in Edo. She is pushed away by the guards.

Kuroda Bushi 黒田節

From the stage show

酒は飲め飲め飲むならば
日の本一のこの槍を
飲みとるほどに飲むならば
これぞ眞（まこと）の黒田武士

See Bosco Gurin 2013

Karaoke

The first verse of the theme song
花はさいても他国の春は
どこか淋しい山や川
旅の役者と流れる雲は
風の吹きよで泣けもする

Flowers bloom everywhere in spring,
also where the lonely mountains and rivers are.
The traveling actors are like clouds that move along.
The wind blows and makes me cry.