1
Presented for the 1967 Arts Festival
A Daiei Film
The Wife of Seishu Hanaoka
Kae was 8 when she first saw Otsugi.
She was with her nurse Tami and peeked into the herb garden behind the house.
Look, there's Otsugi. She's beautiful.
She's not just beautiful. They say she's clever too, Everyone speaks well of her.
Otsugi's father, Naomichi, was a poor doctor and very unkempt in appearance
He would come down from Hirayama and visit Kae's house.
Her grandfather was retired and enjoyed Naomichi's bragging and tales ...
Kae could never believe this man was the husband of the beautiful Otsugi.
You and Otsugi are a real beauty and the beast combination.
You did well marrying her.
I had my eye on her for ages ...
... but she was the carefully protected daughter of a big land owner who dealt in indigo and dyed cloth
She was well out of my league.
But then there was a godsend illness.
She was 16 and had a terrible skin condition which all the doctors tried but failed to cure.
I seized my chance and forced my way into the house ...
... saying I would try to cure her and if I succeeded they should let me marry her.
I used the Dutch medicine I'd studied in Nagasaki and wangled myself a wife!
You're a cunning devil.
But a doctor's job is to save his patients
When a patient dies I always wonder how I might have saved them...
... my regret is enormous if I lose someone.
Anyway, I though I could get a beautiful and clever wife and we will have a kid who'll be a better doctor than me.
So I worked frantically to cure her.
Fortunately Unpei is a splendid son.
He's a brilliant doctor so my plan has borne fruit.
Listening to your bragging really helps me sleep!
When Kae's grandfather died she saw O-tsugi again.
Otsugi next came to Kae's house 3 years later in the late spring.
Is Naomichi well?
He's rather down about the death and it's aged him. So I've come to as his representative.
So formal ....
What is this about?
I'd like to humbly ask for Kae's hand in marriage for Shinpei
This is very unexpected.
Unpei's in Kyoto now, isn't he?
Yes, he went this spring and will be back in 3 years with good training
Ir's my duty to find him a wife who can help him make the most of this.
The first thing a doctor's wife needs is good health, the second is to be firm.
A farmer's daughter shocked by the sight of pus or blood is not going to cope with life as a doctor's wife.
A merchant's daughter will be no good either. There's no call for toting up accounts on the abacus ...
... illness comes without respecting wealth and patients who can't pay are common.
You are respected samurai with a large stipend and a long family history - and Kae would be the ideal wife.
This was unexpected so I want time to think before I reply.
Perhaps it is presumptuous for a country doctor to make such a request but ...
Please ask if she she will marry uneventfully into a big family, or build a castle by developing a poor family ....
Please ask her from me whether she might consider that.
Our social difference is too high.
Hanaoka's bragging has even infected his wife it seems!
They say disease gets worse as it spreads! Otsugi is crazy!
But Kae is 21 now.
None of the proposals to date have been pleasing.
Rather than Kae marrying into a big old family and suffering ...
.. she would be happier in a lesser family ...
That's true but isn't that Naomichi's idea rather than yours?
For generations our family has intermarried with the great families. I must maintain the tradition.
If the dowry worries you we can give her without one! Why not ask about that.
I know the mother's social class is a problem but ...
I was talking with her and although she didn't say it exactly, I think she wants to go to the Hanaokas.
Does Kae know Unpei?
No. But Kae has always said she admires Otsugi's beauty and wants to be her daughter!
What's all this?
In what kind of family does a mother come and ask for a daughter in law like this?
If Otsugi wants her Kae will be ecstatic. If you don't allow it she will be weeping all night ...
Kae, I want you to tell me what you really feel.
I wish to go to the Hanaoka family.
Produced by Masaichi Nagata
Script by Kaneto Shindo after the novel by Sachiko Arikichi
Cinematography by Setsuo Kobayashi, Lighting by Hiroshi Mima, Sound recording by Masao Okado, Art Direction by Yoshinobu Nishioka
Editing by Kanji Suganuma,
Music by Hikari Hayashi, Costumes by Yoshio Ueno. Narrated by Hanako Sugimura.
Starring
Raizo Ichikawa as Unpei 'Seishu' Hanaoka
Ayako Wakao as Kae
Hideoko Takamine as Otsugi
Yonosuke Ito as Nomichi Hanaoka and Misako Watanabe as Koriku
Yatsuko Tanami, Chisako Hara, Chieko Naniwa
Taketoshi Naito, Saburo Date, Kezo Tabu
Kanji Uehara, Kiyoshi Ito, Shinjiro Akatsuki, Mineko Takagi, Noboru Taki
Directed by Yasuzo Masumura
In Unpei's absence I have placed here the guardian deity of this house...
... the great Ming dynasty book of herbs.
My father Unzen Hanaoka copied it and he, and I ....
... and my son Unpei have pored over and handled this book.
All the Hanaokas are here apart from two of Unpei's younger brothers.
One is studying to be a Buddhist priest and the other in a merchant house learning the trade.
This is Ryoan Shimamura, my apprentice
Let us begin.
Unpei was born 23 years ago.
Otsugi was sweating and groaning and the midwife calling for hot water ....
... the mid day sun suddenly grew dark.
There was heavy rain, lightning and thunder which shook the ground.
I held Otsugi and kept saying "you can do it", "you can do it".
In the midst of the storm It was I who delivered Unpei.
I remember it clearly even now.
I remember him wriggling in my arms and the healthy first cry he gave.
Then I noticed the sky had cleared.
A crow was flying high in the sky.
I couldn't help but cry out that here was a genius, a wonder child.
I gave him his name using characters 'tremble' and 'cloud' because of the thunder.
In Unpei are combined my father - a great doctor - and I with my tenacity.
This is no empty boast.
This prodigy will bring glory to the house of Hanaoka and be the genius of Japanese medicine!
Let us conclude here with this anecdote,
The girls around here make cotton to supplement their dowry money.
But our girls are different. They do it so we can send money to Unpei.
I can weave. Please show me what to do.
Don't hurry or the threads will tangle.
The young doctor's wife made this? The stripes are well woven,
She wasn't brought up to do it but does it very well.
We have a good wife for Unpei. I am satisfied with her.
I will pay the money to Unpei when I return to Kyoto.
Yes please.
Okatsu, these are the bran bags that Otsugi uses in the bath.
They're full of molasses and bird droppings. She throws them away after using them just once.
I collect them and use them another couple of times.
Please let me use them too.
I'd like to be as beautiful as her.
Okaasan, what illness are these Datura flowers used to treat?
I wonder if I should tell you ...
They also call them Korean morning glory and Dr Hanaoka calls them Manzara.
They're very poisonous and if you eat them you become insane and die laughing.
But the leaves smoked with tobacco are good for asthma and an infusion of leaves is a pain killer on wounds.
The first time I came to this house they were blooming and so beautiful.
When was that?
I was 8
So long ago. Why did you come?
I heard rumours about your beauty and wanted to see you.
Your not my child by birth but call me mother and I love you perhaps more than a daughter.
This bond is too deep to be measured.
Three years passed. And then, in the spring ...
Such rain. It's late spring and yet this is like winter.
The whole house smells of mould and even my breath is mould-colour.
Elder brother is home.
Welcome home.
Welcome home.
We didn't expect you so soon.
You need to wash your feet. Put hot water in the bucket.
Unpei. This is your wife, Kae.
She's been waiting for you too.
Unpei. I'm so pleased you're back. We've been waiting.
Welcome home.
You've grown a lot, Ryohei.
It's already done. But thank you.
If you want to be a surgeon you have to know about non-surgical medicine too.
As well as learning Dutch surgery I have been studying Chinese herbal medicine.
In order to know the body and cure no matter what difficult disease.
Just like Hua Tuo.
Hua Tuo? The great surgeon who lived 2000 years ago in China?
You're brave to aspire to him.
Hua Tuo opened the skull and removed tumours.
He cut people's chests open and then sewed them up again ...
He also made his patients sleep and it's said he could operate on them without their crying out in pain.
But those stories may not be true.
Those texts are full of exaggerations.
But if it's even half true and the patients could be operated on while asleep ...
... they wouldn't thrash around and even difficult operations would be possible.
I will discover that sleeping medicine and become the Hua Tuo of Japan. I will cure the incurable.
Well said. Unpei, you're amazing.
I can die happy.
Unpei has always done what he's said he will do.
He will probably succeed in this too.
This is a set of Dutch surgical instruments I had made.
Things have clearly moved on from when I studied western medicine.
This is a cotton wrapping for wounds. It has more stretch than bleached cloth.
We could weave these.
Make me as many rolls as you can. We are going to need a lot.
Okatsu and Koriku have become really good at weaving.
Three years they've been working hard so we could send you money.
Thank you. It's really you who bought these instruments for me then.
Kae.
Yes?
Tonight you sleep separately.
You must be tired after the trip from Kyoto. You need a proper sleep.
Sleep well ... but sleep alone!
Unpei, I beg you ...
Let the glory of the Hanaoka family bloom.
This evening go to Unpei.
He's waiting for you.
Take your pillow.
Come in.
Quickly now.
Does it hurt when I squeeze your breasts?
Ouch!
Good morning.
Oh, I see you can sew cloth bags.
Until now making the bags has been my job.
I will make my own.
Do you know what these flowers are called?
I may be wrong but I think they are Datura.
You know a lot!
Shouldn't I pick them?
No, it's the right time.
Let's try the flowers before the seeds.
Where can we dry them without them getting mouldy?
How about hanging them from the kitchen ceiling. They will dry well there.
That's a good idea.
Please wipe them dry with a dry rag.
I will.
Throw away the rags after you've used them
OK
There's poison in the flowers isn't there?
Yes, it's not as strong as wolfsbane but it's best to be careful.
OK
You ... those are ...
Datura, Unpei told me to dry them
What a waste! Why are you doing that?
He told me to wipe them carefully.
They're poisonous so wash your hands carefully.
It's very dangerous if they ended up in the pots and pans.
Can you help me hang these Datura leaves above the stove and dry them?
Welcome back.
Unpei has been waiting for you.
Yonejiro is here.
They're really cute.
You've brought me a lot of cats!
With these rains there's no rice and people have problems finding food. They're more than happy to give me the cats.
I need cats and dogs in order to help people live. Get me as many as you can.
Here you go. Feed it and look after it carefully.
I will.
They're dead!
The amount of Datura was too great.
Sis, it's Kae ...
Kae, what's the matter?
She's pregnant.
Really? That's brilliant.
It just keeps on raining.
Two years of these prolonged rains has made the price of rice double.
Across the whole country hundreds of thousands of people are starving to death.
It's terrible.
These rains have rotted the rice and made the rivers out of control ...
All this has brought all kinds of strange illnesses.
Herbal medicine sellers are doing well though. I'm selling loads of Ginseng.
But no matter how much money you get you can't buy human life.
What kinds of illnesses are spreading?
People's bones are rotting and sticking out under the skin all over the body.
If you press it hurts as if it is rotten inside.
Are these some kind of blister?
No, this is a kind of bone growth like exostosis.
The bones are rotten and fluid builds up.
It's probably because people's diet has been so restricted by these long rains.
Can it be cured?
I can cure it.
You put ointment to kill the pain and cut out the rotten bone.
Thank you.
People have heard rumours about Unpei and are coming from Kawachi and Yamato ...
... and even from as far away as Osaka.
Because of the dreadful times hardly anyone can pay us.
But when people are starving to death we are lucky to be able to eat even millet porridge.
Let's eat!
Mother, please give me the same as everyone else.
You and Unpei are different.
Unpei is the most important person for all of us.
And the next most important person is you.
I understand as the wife that you feel awkward ...
The child you're carrying is a Hanaoka and your job is to bear it safely.
The rice and the fish on your tray are to feed the child ...
... and all of our prayers are with it.
So eat and don't hold back.
This stage of pregnancy is a time when you'll be hungry and want to eat a lot.
It's Datura. The leaves you picked for me.
I dissolved the juice in sake and gave it to them and at first they mostly died.
But now look! They're sleeping.
If I can operate on them while they're asleep I will be able to cut anything.
Look at this!
It's no good.
It's still not enough.
Kae, the baby is due soon.
I wanted to talk to you about it.
Here it's the custom to give birth at home - your own family home.
Unpei said it would be OK - so you can go home.
But you gave birth here and got Unpei's father to deliver the baby.
Back then ...
.. there were no women apart from me.
I'd like Unpei too deliver the baby.
You want him to act like a midwife.
If you really don't want to go home that's fine.
I would like to go home.
You're not looking too worn out. I am so relieved.
Otsugi is looking after you well.
There's a saying that it's a waste to feed the bride ...
... but in these troubled times Otsugi has looked after you well!
We should be grateful.
Yes indeed. We married her to the right family.
Unpei is talked of as the best doctor in the region. He has a very good reputation.
I hear he has had lots of apprentices coming to train with him. It's amazing.
Mum, Otsugi Hanaoka is pretty but it's all on the surface.
Deep down she's cold hearted and eaten by spite.
They say she's clever but it's cunning and she's calculating.
Taking me in as Unpei's bride while he was away was to make me earn money by weaving.
Her sending me home was definitely because she wanted to save food.
It's because I'm pregnant and can't weave any more.
That's just you being bitchy.
If you speak like that about such a wonderful mother-in-law heaven will punish you!
You don't understand ...
Pull yourself together. You will make yourself ill.
Just think about giving birth to a healthy baby.
That's a woman's job.
I will. I'll show her!
Otsugi can do a lot but she can't bear Unpei's child.
Just be a little more patient. A first birth takes half a day of labour.
Be strong.
She's good looking. How about calling her Koben! I thought it would be a girl.
Well done but I'd like a boy next time.
I can't relax until there is a Hanaoka heir.
OK
Next time.
Look after yourself and recover your strength before you come back.
There are enough women to do all the work.
OK?
Please look after our very important bride.
4 years later the the famines and long rains had finished but ...
Okatsu, does it hurt?
When I breathe it throbs.
Since when?
There was a lump around the time of the Doll's Festival (early March)
Why didn't you tell me then?
It's breast cancer, isn't it?
There's no cure.
So I said nothing.
What is it mother?
Nothing. Go into the next room.
Unpei, can you make me one of your painkilling poultices?
They work on cuts but not for breast cancer. You will have to bear the pain.
Then give me the medicine you tried on the cats and dogs. The one that put them to sleep and they died.
It's a doctor's job to save life,
I can't give you a drug that kills, no matter how great the pain.
Then cut me open and do an operation. You're good at that.
If I could do you think I'd leave you in pain like this?
Okatsu wants it so much, won't you put on the poultice just to ease her mind?
Do you want to kill her?
I'm not trying to do that.
If I could trade places with her I would. I wish I could die instead of her.
There's wolfsbane in those poultices. It's fatal to swallow.
If I apply it to her breast she will put it in her mouth. Don't you realise that?
A woman's breasts are her life but can't you cut it out of her with your surgical kills?
She has a tumour the size of a fist and it's spread to her side and shoulder.
If I cut her its not just the breast and she's weak and couldn't bear the pain and loss of blood.
Perhaps if anaesthesia were possible ...
Anaesthesia is possible, isn't it?
Recently the cats and dogs sleep and don't move if you poke them with a stick ...
... and when they awake they can walk and they're fine, aren't they?
The anaesthesia is not ready. I know it's hard for you as her mother but I've done everything I can as a doctor.
I know it's 10 or 100 times worse operate and it twists my guts with frustration.
This cat fell off the veranda and hit it's head and died.
It fell?
It was staggering and its head was hanging and it dropped straight down.
Mother, this cat was brain damaged by the anaesthesia.
If I give it to Okatsu you know what will happen.
Mum, the villagers are saying Okatsu died because we are cursed because of all the dogs and cats we kill.
Shut up. You must never say that again.
If cats and dogs could curse us you wouldn't have been born safely!
It's not a curse that missed Kae and hit Okatsu.
Dr Hanaoka, you'll not be happy to hear it but I think it was just her natural time.
Doctors are not like priests and should not believe in allotted life spans.
Whatever illness people die off it can be prevented by doctors.
What killed Okatsu was me, me!
She died because my medical skills were not good enough.
7 years passed and things were peaceful.
Okatsu and Koriku are working for Unpei and have ended up without much chance of marriage.
I thought I mustn't do that with the younger ones and I got them married off last year.
Ryouhei is in Kyoto studying medicine.
Is that so? I suppose you must be very lonely.
Yes but Unpei's apprentices are increasing all the time and we had to build another house for them all.
Is Unpei's wife well?
Yes, she's always bursting with health.
Mother, Father is playing with the cats. It's quite funny. Look!
Mistress, this cat is brilliant at somersaults.
It slept for 3 days and is exactly as it was before.
There's no damage.
It's been 10 years since you started but anaesthesia is now a reality.
Think how pleased your father would have been.
We haven't succeeded yet. Cats and people are very different.
The amount I used for this small cat would not be effective on a human.
It's a question of how much to increase the dosage to get a human to sleep safely...
... the difficult bit is yet to come.
I see.
Unpei, I want you to listen carefully because I have thought about this a lot...
Why are you being so formal?
I want you to use me for the anaesthesia experiments.
It's the middle of the night so I was worried. Don't scare me.
If you test anaesthesia on a person you'll be able to perfect it.
Being so close to your goal and not going the last stretch would be idiotic.
I gave birth to you ... and I know what you want.
I know that better than anyone else.
That's ridiculous. I want you to use me for the experiments.
I made up my mind a long time ago. Will you please use me.
That's out of the question.
If something were to happen to you I could never face people.
Your life is precious. You must live and see that the family is successful.
The one who couldn't face people is me - the daughter-in-law.
How could I be happy if I was giving drugs to my beloved mother-in-law?
This is my role.
No. I have less life ahead of me ...
... Unpei has a wonderful wife and I am content and my work is done.
You still have an important role to provide heirs.
Until you have done that your body is too valuable to mishandle.
people say a bride should go if she can't have a child after 3 years.
All I have given birth to in 15 years is one brainless girl...
Why is my life so precious?
I want him to use me.
Kae, are you defying me? I am your mother-in-law.
Yes, on this occasion ... I cannot allow my elderly mother-in-law to do this. I am the wife!
Kae, are you telling me that I am old and therefore useless?
Stop! Stop this!
Enough talk of "few remaining years" and whether you're afraid to die ...
Do you think you'll die if you take my medicines? I'm not making something that will kill people!
I'm sorry.
If you're so confident why are you hesitating? Use me!
OK. I will use you both. I need several human subjects.
You say both of us but I spoke first, Start with me.
OK I will. But say nothing to my apprentices.
How long will the effects last?
Less than 4 hours.
It's not as bitter as I expected.
It's strong so please lie down.
There's something I have to say first ...
What is it?
When Ryouhei comes back from Kyoto I want you to adopt him (as the heir)
My younger brother?
That there's been no heir is troubling me.
Very well. He's studying medicine and he'll make a good heir.
That's a relief.
It's your mother ...
Are you in pain?
Mother? Mother!
Unpei?
Does it hurt?
I feel so hot!
That's normal so don't worry.
I'm fine.
It was Kae who decided to call you.
I'll come back later. There are loads of patients today.
Unpei?
Yes?
Unpei, you're my son.
I am.
Unpei. I ...
It looks as if she's started to sleep.
What are you doing?
This is where the body feels most pain. If I pinch it slightly and she groans like that the dose is obviously too weak.
It's too weak.
Is she really OK? She thrashed around so much ...
I just gave her a little juice in alcohol so it's like she's slightly drunk and fallen asleep.
I see.
Keep it secret though!
How long did I sleep?
Only 4 hours.
I didn't know at all.
It's very effective.
Do you have any pain in your head or in your joints?
No, none at all.
Is your vision OK?
I can see. There's nothing wrong with me.
The experiment was a great success.
Thanks to you. Here are some smelling salts.
Kae, you must be relieved to see my condition.
There's absolutely nothing to fear.
But surely you don't need to take the drug now ...
I'm very relieved that you're OK.
Mistress Otsugi is amazing. I take my hat off to her. Being a mother made her able to take the drug.
Good morning.
Otsugi has broken her promise and is telling everyone the experiment has been successful.
This will make things difficult for you.
What will you do if a patient asks you for anaesthesia when you operate?
You're right. It will need 8 times as much as I gave her to be effective.
You can try it on me.
No matter how strong the drug is I 'm not scared to take it if it helps you.
Kae, you'll really do this for me?
Yes
You hair is so long. When will mine get like that?
Why are you crying?
I got dirty water in my eyes.
Take a deep breath and drink it. It makes it easy to swallow in one go.
Do you want some water?
Give her some water please.
Are you in pain?
Are you hot?
Koben ...
Look after Koben.
It's OK. You're not going to die.
But make Koben (the heir) ...
I will.
She's your daughter ...
I promise.
I pinched her inside thigh as hard as I can but there's no reaction.
The anaesthetic effect is excellent.
You've not slept for three days.
You'll get ill.
I'm OK. You go to bed.
The young mistress has not woken for 3 days ...
If she doesn't wake up there'll be scandal.
Kae seems to want to die but it's me who'll be in trouble if she does.
I hope more than anyone that she will be OK.
If something happens to the bride I brought here ...
I ... I could never live with it.
Kae, are you awake?
She'll be OK now.
She'll be able to talk in another couple of hours.
Make her some really delicious rice porridge and give her three raw egg yolks.
She's not had anything to eat or drink for 3 days.
You haven't had anything either.
Really? OK, I will eat the same then.
Why are you making rice porridge?
Kae is awake.
Unpei is delighted.
He wants to eat with Kae.
He wants to eat with her ...
The young mistress has woken up.
The experiment seems to have been successful.
Mistress Otsugi is preparing rice and crying with happiness.
That's great news.
Mistress Otsugi and the young mistress are wonderful examples of womanhood for a doctor's house.
They risk their lives for the master's success.
That deserves respect.
Did you have dreams?
So no dreams.
Headache?
OK
How do you feel generally?
Heaviness in the legs? You can't move them, can you?
No, you mustn't lift them.
Any pain in the joints?
Nothing?
Good! That's good!
By the way, who taught you to tie these knots?
My grandmother. She said it was an important accomplishment for a Samurai daughter.
She said the more you move the tighter they get and they will not come undone.
I see.
Like this?
I see.
It may look like nothing much but it's a very clever way of tying the knots.
It's great for stopping bleeding quickly.
As you'd expect of a samurai daughter. She thought about it carefully.
Yes, she did.
Unpei, Kae has been conscious for two weeks and she's still in bed.
And she's so weakened we can't say that the experiment was a success.
A patient who took that and underwent an operation would probably die.
Is it that she has a particular weakness to datura?
I'm sorry to have caused you such worry.
I'm tougher - I've have had children and never got ill. Do the experiment again on me.
You're my child and so I really want to be of use to you.
OK. Let's do it.
Kae?
She's coming around.
I've slept for 3 days.
is it really 3 days? I've been awake all the time and I'm so tired that I can't remember.
But don't worry about that. I'll get the smelling salts.
Where's Unpei?
He's just stepped out to an emergency patient.
This time it was a great success, wasn't it?
Unlike you I have no exhaustion...
... I feel absolutely fine.
For Unpei's sake you should be pleased too.
Yes, he will be delighted.
Koriku, can you give Mistress Otsugi rice porridge and egg yolks.
She'll be really pleased that it's you.
I need to finish the floors before it gets dark.
Before it gets dark???
Kae?
I thought the weather was good but it's getting slightly dark ...
It would be a shame if the rain spoiled the starch.
Koben? What's the matter?
Is something wrong with you?
Just two days ill with a cold ...
.. and then to die.
She was lucky not to suffer.
Cry. Cry your heart out.
If you can still cry then you're still happy ...
It's when your tears dry up that it gets really lonely.
When Okatsu died I ...
... I wanted to die myself and go to her.
What is it?
You're taking Datura yourself every night, aren't you?
You noticed?
I'm experimenting on myself to try to get the amount reduced to the right level.
What if something happens to you?
Why won't you let me be the subject of the experiment?
If I give you too strong medication ... you couldn't cope.
No. Please try it on me.
I'm frightened that people are going to die.
I suppose it was just Koben's fate ...
... but Okatsu could have been saved if anaesthetic was available.
I want to be used so you can perfect it.
Kae?
Yes?
This last experiment ...
Will you do it for me?
I will.
This is a whole bundle of leaves which I have toasted, crushed and dried.
I've made a powder so it should be easy to swallow.
You did enough experimenting with me. Why do you have to do more?
When you let Okatsu die I said I would do the experiment because I wanted death.
I expect Kae feels the same way now.
Are you conscious?
Yes.
Try to get up by yourself.
OK
Can't you get up?
No I can't.
What's the matter? Tell me?
Tell me.
My eyes hurt. The pain goes really deep into my head.
You eyes?
Kae cried so much when Koben died that she probably weakened her eyes.
It's not the medication. If we cool her with water she'll be fine.
It's not because of crying over Koben.
Kae had pains in her eyes before Koben died. It's the drug that's made her eyes bad.
Why didn't you tell me?
I wouldn't have done the experiment.
Why didn't you say anything?
But it didn't affect me in any way when I had it ...
There's no comparison ...
I just gave you enough to act as a sleeping draft for 3-4 hours ...
Unpei ...
She ...
You ...
Did Kae know this?
I knew.
You knew ... and you lied to me?
You told me I slept for 3 days ...
I'm sorry.
Kae ... you ... I can't believe you did this.
I'm sorry Kae.
I'm a doctor ... I really should have noticed earlier ...
Does it still hurt?
No - at least not in comparison to before.
Is it evening?
Evening?
Why haven't you lit the lamps?
Kae ...
Kae ...
Unpei ...
Please Unpei, do something ...
Kae ... do you hate me so much?
What is it?
I think I'm pregnant.
I see. I'm convinced it'll be a boy this time.
I'd like to give him my name and call him Unpei.
It had been one year since Otsugi died.
Little Unpei is really like his Grandmother Otsugi.
If so he'll be a beauty.
I'd given up hope of having a boy ... and then it just happened.
If Otsugi were still alive she would have been delighted.
Koriku, is something the matter?
Your voice is lower and you're breathless ...
It's strange ...
I see ... maybe I ...
Maybe my hearing is more sensitive because I've lost my eyesight.
Kae, ...
I've got a lump on my neck.
It's painful.
Your neck you say ...
What on earth is it?
Unpei, is it a blood boil?
Hmm ... I need to look more carefully.
What is a blood boil?
It's cancer. It means cancer in the blood vessels.
The same as Okatsu ...
I noticed before but there's nothing I can do.
Could you cut it out? Using the anaesthesia you used on me?
You're a samurai's daughter. You know how a woman kills herself.
Tell me.
I learned I should put my hand on my throat and find the pulsing part. I push the knife in there.
Koriku's cancer is in that place. There's no way to operate. If she's cut there she'll die.
This is the second sister I have to watch die and do nothing ...
It's a terrible thing being a doctor.
I still can't do enough. I am not Kada.
(aka Hua Tuo, a famous Chinese doctor)
Kae, you're crying.
It's strange how my eyes cannot see but they still produce tears.
Why are you crying?
I never got you married and now this illness ...
As for not marrying I am happy. You don't need to console me.
I saw you ...
I saw Otsugi and you and I watched both of you carefully.
Your tense relationship ...
I'm dying of the same thing as Okatsu ...
.. and no matter how tough it has been it can't be as tough as life has been for you.
Koriku ...
Otsugi picked me out and brought me here as a daughter in law.
... and Otsugi was beautiful and clever and loved me like her own daughter.
Why did you and Otsugi compete to take that scary drug?
Why did you drink so much that you lost your sight?
It wasn't competitive.
I and Otsugi ...
As a mother and daughter of a doctor's house we just wanted to be useful.
Is that really true? Really?
You think that because it was you who won.
Because I won ... ???
Kae ...
... Don't you think that men are amazing?
Unpei must have noticed the relationship between you and Otsugi ...
... but he just watched from the side and got you both to drink the medicine.
The struggles of the women of this house ...
... were in the end all just to bring up one man.don't you think?
A weak man caught up in these battles ...
.. would wither like a tree which has been over watered.
I don't want to be reborn as a girl.
The reason I was so happy though I never married ...
... was because I was never a bride and never a mother in law.
3 Years later on a winter's morning ...
Kae, I hope you'll be pleased. Today we have a patient with breast cancer.
But this time we can operate.
That's wonderful ...
She s a tough one. She knows she's going to die so she'd like to have me operate ...
The anaesthesia will be useful.
Yes, it will.
It's been 15 years since I started thinking about it.
They say a woman's breasts are her life and cutting one off is fatal ...
... but I will demonstrate that a life can be saved. I am confident.
I will cure the beriberi and then I can operate.
If you succeed ...
... The spirit of Okatsu who died of breast cancer would be pleased.
What is it?
It seems I'm pregnant again.
In spite of being 40 now ...
That's a good sign!
One joy on top of another.
Bear me a fine child.
Kae, feel this.
The way of tying the cords you taught me. I've made that into a family crest.
It's also useful for tying up the sleeves when working.
The world's first breast cancer operation to be done under general anesthetic took place in October 1805.
Kae, the operation was a great success.
I removed the tumour.
From now I can operate on anything. All kinds of operations are possible.
Now I can do like the famous Chinese doctor Kada did.
(aka Hua Tuo)
Congratulations.
It's thanks to you.
No, it's thanks to Otsugi.
I wouldn't have been here without her.
This is the new treatment space. It's double the size it was.
This is the operating room.
This is where we wash the bandages.
The next room is a medicine supply store.
This is where the medicines are made.
This is the dormitory for the apprentices. There are 50 of them!
I'm going to make a place for you here.
I'd like it the way it has been up to now.
I'd like the back storage room like your mother used to.
The people in the village started telling a new story.
A moving tale about a wife who lost her sight to help her husband.
Kae didn't like it.
She said nothing and hated to go out when there were people around.
The end