From 1928 to 1946, the lives of 12 young people and their school teacher in a poor Japanese village are profoundly affected by historical events and personal circumstances.

In Kabuki style, the film tells the story of a remote mountain village where the scarcity of food leads to a voluntary but socially-enforced policy in which relatives carry 70-year-old…

At the close of the war in Japan, a widowed mother makes every possible sacrifice to bring up her ungrateful son and daughter who are unimpressed with their poor standard…

A jewelry store president begins to fall for the doctor treating her husband’s illness.

Part 2 starts where the first film ended, with Iemon disposing of the bodies of his wife and Kohei, marrying upward, and being blackmailed by the evil Naosuke.

Iemon Tamiya is an impoverished masterless samurai who craves a better life, which he cannot have because of his marriage to Oiwa, who is completely devoted to her husband.

After her mother runs away from home, Tomoko is raised to be a geisha. One day Tomoko meets her mother in a red-light district in Tokyo and her life deeply…

When a wealthy, selfish family decides to take care of an elderly hobo who collapsed near their home, they are beset by visits from his numerous friends.

A father curries favor with his bosses to further his career, but his wife has lost faith in him. She returns to her family home while they rent out their…

August 9, 1945. An atomic bomb drops on Urakami, Nagasaki at 11:02am. The story of Dr. Nagai and his family.

The plans of a trio of burglars are continually thwarted by the arrival of visitors to the house they plan to rob.

A fishing union depends on two brothers to make up the losses caused by the dishonest captains they replaced.

When a family has to relocate due to the war, they are ostracized by their new community.

A teacher at a Japanese school tries to hide his outcast upbringing.

A man whose son has been murdered pushes to create laws to financially protect victims’ families.

A middle-aged man’s family loses patience with him as he struggles with his seemingly directionless life.

A Japanese war widow recalls her love affair with her deceased husband.

A young widow, made world weary by her abusive, neglectful husband, finds herself in a minor scandal when she’s seen with her intense, no-nonsense childhood sweetheart.