Bamboo Doll of Echizen
Kōzaburō Yoshimura: Tides of Emotion
December 5 - 11, 2025
A thickly atmospheric chronicle of forbidden desire, this uncannily frank exploration of sexual politics in 20th-century Japan is at once one of Yoshimura’s starkest and most sensitive works, starring Ayako Wakao as a geisha who becomes entangled with her late lover’s son.
Due to unforeseen issues with the 16mm print we received of the Bamboo Doll of Echizen, several minutes of Japanese dialogue appear not to be subtitled in English. We apologize for the inconvenience.
A thickly atmospheric chronicle of forbidden desire, Bamboo Doll of Echizen is at once one of Kōzaburō Yoshimura’s starkest and most sensitive works. Ayako Wakao stars as a geisha who goes to pay her respects to her recently deceased lover, only to find herself falling into a fraught romance with his son. An exceedingly modern exploration of sexual politics and ethics in 20th-century Japan, this film is an uncannily frank and entrancing melodrama rendered by Yoshimura and DP Kazuo Miyagawa in elemental, high-contrast black-and-white. Print courtesy of the Japan Foundation.
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