The Seburi Story (瀬降り物語) 39 years old

The culturally isolated, nomadic Seburi people of western Japan are the subject of this tragedy about a few of the community's members who especially experience difficulties as modern Japan encroaches on their world. The setting is World War II, and conflicts have already arisen when the military police come to take Seburi men away into the army. Still following their own customs that can be harsh at times, and are particularly cruel to women (women must give birth alone and unaided, a woman's adultery is punished by burying her up to her neck in the earth and then leaving her for days), the Seburi are mainly treated with fear and animosity by the non-Seburi townspeople of the region. Along with the hardships arising from cultural clashes, nature's own vagaries present other challenges to the Seburi -- who still lived in tents until the 1950s. Winter avalanches and snowstorms cause as much havoc as the tensions engendered by the slow encroachment of the modern world.

Credits

The Seburi Story Cast

Name Character
Taiji Tonoyama He was 69, 73 years old when he died as Kamezo
Kenichi Hagiwara He was 34, 68 years old when he died as Hajime Kinoshita
Rei Okamoto She was 5, now 33 years old as Tome
Takashi Naito He was 29, now 69 years old as Kazuo
Asao Uchida He was 64, 76 years old when he died as Ayutachi
Ken Mitsuishi He was 23, now 62 years old as Jiro
Hideo Murota He was 47, 64 years old when he died as Kuzushiri
Ai Saotome She was 26, 51 years old when she died as Hana
Yumiko Fujita She was 39, now 78 years old as Kuni
Nenji Kobayashi He was 42, now 81 years old
Eiko Nagashima She was 29, now 68 years old as Mitsu
Yoshio Ichikawa as Imasuke

The Seburi Story Crew

Name Department
Sadao Nakajima as Director. He was 50 (now 89) years old Directing
Sadao Nakajima as Screenplay. He was 50 (now 89) years old Writing
Takayuki Inoue as Original Music Composer. He was 44 (77) years old when He died Sound
Masao Satô as Producer. Production
The Seburi Story poster
The Seburi Story (39 years)

  • Release day: Saturday, May 11, 1985
  • Runtime: 125 minutes