Memories of railroad
The railroad crossing between Ozu residence and the elementary school in Matsusaka was a light railway. Light railways are generally small-scale railways that use narrow 762mm tracks, and are characterized by the fact that they can be constructed with a small amount of capital. Based on the Light Railway Law promulgated in April 1910, construction progressed with the aim of popularizing and developing local railways.
Matsusaka Dentetsu (commonly known as Matsu-Den) opened in August 1912, extending from Matsusaka to a mountain town about 20 km southwest. That was just six months before the Ozu family moved to Matsusaka. It was built to transport gravel used for wood and cement, and for factory workers to commute to work, but since it was a brand- new means of transportation, it must have been of great interest to Yasujiro, who was at a curious age.
In fact, at the time there was another young man who showed an interest in this railway. He was Kajii Motojiro, a novelist who had been enrolled for a year from April 1913 at the former No. 4 Junior High School, where Ozu would enroll a few years later. Kajii later wrote a novel “On the Castle Town” set in Matsusaka, in which he wrote the following about this train.
A small light railway is coming from the sea. ...It looks like a toy train is running with the shape of the smoke fixed upside down.
Hirao-Machi, the station closest to Ozu's house and right next to the elementary school, is lined with shops and movie theaters, and this area was the busiest in the city before Matsusaka suffered a devastating fire in 1951.However, unable to resist the times, Matsu-Den was abolished in December 1964, exactly one year after Ozu's death.
The light railway that departed from Matsusaka, the starting station, branched off at Hirao-Machi Station into the main line heading for the mountains, and the branch line that switched back here and headed for the port. There is a diary left behind that confirms that Ozu was actually on the train heading to the port. It happened in 1918, during the summer vacation of his third year of junior high school. Ozu rode this light railway and went to the port to play.
I took the 9 o'clock light railway to Oguchi Port.
When I got to the station, the light railway had already departed and I walked on the tracks. (July 27th)
I took the 9 o'clock light railway to Oguchi Port with Inui and my elder brother.
It's crowded because today is Summer Ox Day. (July 29th)
For one year starting in March 1922, Ozu worked as a substitute teacher at an elementary school in a mountain village about 30 km southwest of Matsusaka. At that time, the only way to travel between Matsusaka and the village was to ride on this light railway, so Ozu used it for various reasons, such as when going back to his parents' house in Matsusaka from his boarding house in the village. When he was in elementary school, Ozu used to cross this railroad crossing on his way to school every morning, and when he eventually became a substitute teacher, he often rode the light railway back to Matsusaka. There's no way this railroad wouldn't remain in Ozu's memory.
As is well known, in the summer of his fifth year at junior high school, Ozu, who was a hard-nosed student, was kicked out of the dormitory due to his bad behavior, and for about six months until he graduated, he commuted by train over 20km between Matsusaka and Ujiyamada City. According to his classmates, Ozu would lock himself in the washroom of the train, smoke cigarettes, and scribble Hollywood actress Peal White's name on the frosted glass of the washroom. A moving train is cinematic itself. Ozu continued to observe its magical movements through the coach window, and must have instinctively sensed the affinity between railroads and movies. The truly comfortable and cinematic sense of movement in the train scene in “Late Spring”, in which the father (Ryu Chishu) goes to work at university and his daughter (Hara Setsuko) goes shopping at Ginza in Tokyo, might be cultivated through the experiences of this age.
Ozu's fascination with railways can be seen from the frequent appearances of steam locomotives and trains in his films.
For example, in “Pumpkin” (1928), an office worker (Saito Tatsuo), fed up with being forced to eat nothing but pumpkin for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, takes a train to throw away the pumpkin. However, when he throws a pumpkin out of the train window, the conductor catches it.
The movie with flashest action using trains is “Fighting Friends Japanese Style”. In the final sequence of the film, the two main characters drive a truck side by side chasing a train, much like a car chase.
Similarly , in “Where Now Are the Dreams of Youth?” (1932) and in “Late Autumn”, there are scenes in which friends see off a couple on a train as they head out on their honeymoon.
Station platforms appear in “Until the Day We Meet Again” (1932) and in “Tokyo Twilight”. In the former, a woman sees off a train carrying soldiers going to war at Shinagawa Station. In the latter, the mother (Yamada Isuzu), who lost her youngest daughter (Arima Ineko), boards a night train from Ueno and waits for someone to come see her off.
In addition to the works mentioned above, there are many other Ozu movies that feature trains and steam locomotives. No other film director depicts trains and steam locomotives as frequently as Ozu.
For example, in “Days of Youth”, students board a night train and go on a ski trip. In “Tokyo Chorus”, the wife (Yakumo Emiko) and her child happen to see her husband (Okada Tokihiko), who is secretly working as a sandwich man at a Western restaurant, while riding a streetcar.
In “A Story of Floating Weeds” (1934) and its re-film adaptation “Floating Weeds” (1959), strolling performers board a train and leave town.
In “There Was a Father”, a train appears in the scene where a father and his son move to Ueda and in the final scene when the son heads to Akita with his father's ashes after the father dies.
In “Early Summer”, the eldest brother (Ryu Chishu), his assistant doctor, and younger sister (Hara Setsuko) commute by train from Kamakura to Tokyo every morning.
In “The Flavor of Green Tea over Rice” (1952), a wife (Kogure Michiyo) goes on a trip by train without her husband's permission.
“Tokyo Story” begins with a freight train leaving Onomichi and ends with an express train bound for Tokyo, carrying the second son's wife (Hara Setsuko).
“Early Spring” begins with a commuter scene at Kamata Station and ends with a Tokyo-bound steam locomotive leaving Mitsuishi, Okayama.
In “Equinox Flower” (1958), a train carrying a father (Saburi Shin) heads for Hiroshima, where his married daughter (Arima Ineko) lives, crosses the Yodogawa Railway Bridge in Osaka.
Of course, it goes without saying that “I Was Born, But....”, which is a montage of an unrealistic train schedule that shows trains going left and right every time the shot changes, is an undisputed masterpiece.
When filming inside trains, Ozu used all real train cars at the advice of cinematographer Atsuta Yuharu. According to Atsuta's argument, there is no comparison between the luster and weight of the interior of the passenger car between the set built for the movie and the real thing. Additionally, once filming began, Atsuta and Ozu sometimes exchanged instructions using railway terminology that only the two of them understood. For example, when Atsuta asked about the scheduled time for filming to end, “Are we going to stop at Nagoya today?” Ozu replied, “No, it will probably end at Osaka.”
Another characteristic of Ozu films is that the dialogue regarding train schedules is very specific. One example is the line in “Tokyo Story” where the eldest son (Yamamura Soh) says to his elderly parents returning to Onomichi, “Night will break somewhere around Nagoya or Gifu.” Another example of this is the scene in which the youngest son (Osaka Shiro), who arrives late, mentions the train schedule on the morning that his elderly mother (Higashiyama Chieko) dies. In “Tokyo Story”, the sense of distance between Tokyo and Onomichi was backed up by accurate railroad schedules. This sense of reality and accuracy was of course influenced by the suggestions and influence of Atsuta, a huge railway fan, but the starting point was also Ozu's own railway experiences from his youth.
