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Spring on Leper’s Island
Spring on Leper’s Island
Japanese name
Kanji	小島の春
Directed by	Shirō Toyoda
Written by	Yasutarō Yagi; Masako Ogawa (book);
Produced by	Shigemune Kazunobu
Starring	Shizue Natsukawa; Ichirō Sugai; Haruko Sugimura; Yuriko Hanabusa;
Cinematography	Kinya Ogura
Music by	Shūichi Tsugawa
Production; company	Tokyo Hassei Eiga
Distributed by	Toho
Release date	31 July 1940 (Japan);
Running time	88 minutes
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese

Spring on Leper's Island (Japanese: 小島の春, romanized: Kojima no haru, lit. 'Spring on a Small Island') is a 1940 Japanese drama film directed by Shirō Toyoda. It is based on the memoir of Masako Ogawa, a Japanese doctor who specialised in leprosy treatment, and is noted by film historians for its humanist and compassionate theme in contrast to the militarist national film policy at the time.^[3]^[4]

Plot

Mrs. Koyama, a young female doctor working at the Nagashima Aiseien Sanatorium, travels the islands of the Seto Inland Sea to talk leprosy patients into moving to the sanatorium where they can be treated and live together with other people affected by the disease. Many patients and their relatives are reluctant to the move; while family father Yokogawa is still trying to work to support his wife and children, others are hiding in their family's homes or in deserted shacks. In the end, Yokogawa gives in to the doctor's advice and follows her to the sanatorium. His saddened and angered son Kenzo watches his departure by boat from the island's harbour.

Cast

Shizue Natsukawa as Mrs. Koyama
Ichirō Sugai as Yokogawa
Haruko Sugimura as Yokogawa's wife
Yōtarō Katsumi as mayor
Kan Hayashi as Horiguchi
Yuriko Hanabusa as Horiguchi's wife
Fudeko Tanaka as landlady
Meiko Nakamura as Kiyoko
Ken Mitsuda as Miyata
Misako Shimizu as Toshi
Shiro Mizutani as Kenzo

Historical background

Spring on Leper’s Island was compliant with Japan's public health policy and its Leprosy Prevention Laws (last widened in 1931), which saw the increasing segregation of leprosy patients from their communities, a growing number of sanatoria where they were hospitalised,^[5] and the launching of the No Leprosy Patients in Our Prefecture (muraiken undō) campaign^[6] which Ogawa advocated. The film received a recommendation by Japan's Ministry Of Education.^[2]

Awards

1941 Kinema Junpo Award for Best Film of the Year

References

^ "小島の春". Japanese Movie Database (in Japanese). Retrieved 2 August 2023.
^ ^a ^b Galbraith IV, Stuart (2008). The Toho Studios Story: A History and Complete Filmography. Lanham, Toronto, Plymouth: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0-8108-6004-9.
^ Anderson, Joseph L.; Richie, Donald (1959). The Japanese Film – Art & Industry. Rutland, Vermont and Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle Company.
^ "The best Japanese film of every year – from 1925 to now". British Film Institute. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
^ Ferber, Sarah; Wilde, Sally, eds. (2011). The Body Divided: Human Beings and Human 'Material' in Modern Medical History. Burlington, Farnham: Ashgate Publishing Limited. ISBN 978-0-7546-6834-3.
^ Miyasaka, Michio (2014). "Leprosy Control Policy in Japan". Niigata University. Retrieved 7 January 2021.