Night Drum

Night Drum a.k.a. The Adulteress (夜の鼓, Yoru no tsuzumi) is a 1958 Japanese historical drama film directed by Tadashi Imai. It was written by Kaneto Shindō and Shinobu Hashimoto, based on the 1706 play Horikawa nami no tsuzumi by Monzaemon Chikamatsu.[3] Film historians regard Night Drum as one of director Imai's major works.[4][5][6]

Night Drum
Japanese name
Kanji夜の鼓
Directed byTadashi Imai
Written by
Produced byTengo Yamada
Starring
CinematographyShun'ichirō Nakao
Edited byAkikazu Kōno
Music byAkira Ifukube
Production
company
Gendai Production
Distributed byShochiku
Release date
  • 15 April 1958 (1958-04-15) (Japan)[1][2]
Running time
95 minutes[1][2]
CountryJapan
LanguageJapanese

Plot

Samurai Hikokuro returns home to his wife Tane after a full year at his shogun's residence in Edo. Rumours have it that Tane committed adultery with a musician in his absence, so the family clan summons for an interrogation. In a series of flashbacks, Tane is first cleared from the charges pressed against her, but after Hikokuro's sister renews the accusations, she finally admits her guilt. In her confession, she recounts how she had first escaped a rape attempt by the very samurai responsible for the rumours about her and, being drunk and in fear, had later spent the night with the musician. In compliance with the samurai honour, Tane is required to commit suicide, and her lover declared fair game. Although Hikokuro has forgiven his wife whom he still loves, he first kills her as she is unable to do so herself, and then the adulterer.

Cast

Legacy

Night Drum was screened at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive in 1985[7] and at the Museum of Modern Art in 2022 as part of its "Beyond Ozu: Hidden Gems of Shochiku Studios" retrospective.[8]

References
  1. "夜の鼓 (Night Drum)". Japanese Movie Database (in Japanese). Retrieved 7 February 2021.
  2. "夜の鼓 (Night Drum)". Kinenote (in Japanese). Retrieved 18 July 2023.
  3. McDonald, Keiko I. (1994). Japanese Classical Theater in Films. London, Toronto: Associated University Presses. ISBN 0-8386-3502-4.
  4. Mellen, Joan (1976). The Waves at Genji's Door: Japan Through Its Cinema. New York: Pantheon Books.
  5. Anderson, Joseph L.; Richie, Donald (1959). The Japanese Film – Art & Industry. Rutland, Vermont and Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle Company.
  6. Jacoby, Alexander (2008). Critical Handbook of Japanese Film Directors: From the Silent Era to the Present Day. Berkeley: Stone Bridge Press. ISBN 978-1-933330-53-2.
  7. "Night Drum (Yoru no Tsuzumi)". BAMPFA. Retrieved 18 July 2023.
  8. "Yoru no tsuzumi (Night Drum/The Adulteress). 1958. Directed by Tadashi Imai". Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved 18 July 2023.
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