Oborokago / The Inner Palace Conspiracy

 

Daisuke Ito: おぼろ駕篭 / Oborokago / The Inner Palace Conspiracy (JP 1951). Tsumasaburo Bando (Mukaku), Kinuyo Tanaka (Onaka), Isuzu Yamada (Misawa), Keiko Orihara (Ocho), Keiji Sada (Shinnosuke Koyanagi), Ryunosuke Tsukigata (Kuranosuke Honda).

おぼろ駕篭 / Oboro kago / [La portantina misteriosa] / Le Palanquin mystérieux / [The Sedan Chair in Misty Night].

    JP 1951. PC: Shochiku. 

    D: Daisuke Ito. SC: Yoshikata Yoda. Dal romanzo omonimo di Jiro Osaragi. DP: Hideo Ishimoto. PD: Hiroshi Mizutani. M: Seiichi Suzuki. C: Tsumasaburo Bando (Mukaku), Kinuyo Tanaka (Onaka), Isuzu Yamada (Misawa), Keiko Orihara (Ocho), Keiji Sada (Shinnosuke Koyanagi), Ryunosuke Tsukigata (Kuranosuke Honda), Ichiro Sugai (Okinokami Numata), Koji Mitsui (Kichitaro), Reizaburo Yamamoto (Ikushima), Kan Ishii (detective Kamezo). 

    98 min

    Language: Japanese.

    35 mm print with English subtitles from Japan Foundation. 

    Courtesy of Shochiku.

    E-subtitles in Italian.

    Il Cinema Ritrovato, Bologna 2026: Shadows and Steel: The Cinema of Daisuke Ito.

    Viewed at Cinema Jolly, 21 June 2026.

Alexander Jacoby e Johan Nordström (Bologna 2026): "This remarkable murder mystery was conceived by its studio, Shochiku, as a blockbuster to mark the New Year, when studios often aimed to release their most prestigious productions. An all-star cast is led by Tsumasaburo Bando, reunited with Ito after Osho. The cast also included Ryunosuke Tsukigata (1902-1970), who had starred in a number of Ito’s silent films, including Zanjin zanbaken, and up-and-coming Shochiku star Keiji Sada (1926-1964), familiar from a number of Ozu’s late films. Two great actresses, Kinuyo Tanaka (1909-1977) and Isuzu Yamada (1917-2012), appear in the leading female roles. Oborokago was one of several films that Ito adapted from the novels of Jiro Osaragi (1897-1973), an author who achieved success in both literary and popular fiction. His most famous creation was the samurai-detective Kurama Tengu, about whom he wrote nearly 50 novels, novellas and short stories, which in turn provided source material for more than 50 films. Ito himself had filmed a version of Kurama Tengu in 1942. However, when Ito began work on Oborokago, Osaragi’s story had not yet completed its serialisation in the “Mainichi Shinbun”. Osaragi explained the outline of the as yet unfinished chapters to Ito, while also giving the filmmaker his blessing to craft his own take on the material – “a reflection,” as Kaoru Mizoguchi comments, “of Osaragi’s esteem for and understanding of Ito’s creative and directorial gifts.” As Masatoshi Oba writes, “his technique of drawing the audience bodily into the film from the very opening shot through sustained tracking camera work is nothing short of masterful. Events unfold in rapid succession, controlled with a pace that never bores.” Alexander Jacoby e Johan Nordström

IMDb: "A period mystery in which an unconventional priest exposes the truth behind the bizarre death of a maid in the shogun's harem."

AA: Daisuke Ito's Oborokago is a New Year entertainment spectacle which reminds me of the current Knives Out mystery series because of its all star cast, lavish production values and outlandish plot.

The scene of the crime is Ooku, a women's palace (harem) at Fukagawa (the original location of the female geisha in Edo) at Shinanoya Denemon's residence during the Tokugawa shogunate (the Edo shogunate, the military government of Japan). 

Clues include a mysterious palanquin (norimono), a wallet on the ground, a sword, a sheath and a blood trail. 

An innocent man, Shinnosuke Koyanagi (Keiji Sada) is framed so persuasively that even his relatives recommend him the harakiri as the way out. The murder case is taken over by constable Kamezo (Kan Ishii) of the arson theft investigation unit of the police, and a lost woman's wallet leads the suspicions to the murdered maid's rival.

Finally, Mukaku, an unconventional monk (Tsumasaburo Bando), and Kuranosuke Honda (Ryunosuke Tsukigata) take the matter in their hands and bring it to a solution. They are the leading male characters, while the female protagonists are the palace ladies Onaka (Kinuyo Tanaka) and Misawa (Isuzu Yamada).

The great stars Kinuyo Tanaka and Tsumasaburo Bando surprise us in drunk roles. Their crazy behaviour introduces a sense of the absurd to everything. Perhaps it is an element of rebellion in the oppressively authoritarian circumstances of the military rule of the shogunate. As for justice, the metaphor is gambling. As for the condition of the woman in the "women's palace", the final summary is "I pity everybody who is doomed to be a woman".

The plot does not always make any plausible sense, but it conveys a atmosphere of arbitrariness, oppression and turmoil and ends in a sequence of epic celebration. At times the picture seems needlessly prolonged. 

The most lasting impression is of the performance of Tsumasaburo Bando, whose greatness I have only recently perceived, having seen The Rickshaw Man and Osho. This is his second performance for Ito. Again, the first impression is rambunctious, but beneath the unruly exterior lurk depths of spiritual calm. Even in stillness he cannot be ignored.

Ito displays a mastery of the mise-en-scène: a command of the space, the blocking of a large cast, in a dynamic camera movement, all enhanced by fluid superimpositions and skillful editing.

The 35 mm print has a duped look, occasional blurriness and low contrast like in a blow-up from a 16 mm source.

...

https://natalie.mu/eiga/film/115860 (machine translation from Japanese):

"Synopsis: This film was produced as a New Year's theatrical release, featuring the biggest stars of the time. A maid is murdered at the Shinanoya Den'emon's residence in Fukagawa. Based on the circumstances at the scene, suspicion falls on Shinnosuke Koyanagi, the maid's childhood friend and the second son of a samurai. Shinnosuke maintains his innocence and goes on the run, but his relatives, concerned about the family name, are about to force him to commit seppuku. Meanwhile, constable Kamezo finds a woman's wallet at the scene. This wallet belongs to Misawa, the murdered maid's rival who competed with her for a place in the Ooku (women's quarters of the Edo Castle). Upon learning this, Abbot Mugen and Kuranosuke Honda set out to uncover the truth. Director Ito's storytelling style captivates the audience from the opening tracking shots, and he skillfully controls the pace."