Shinsuke Ogawa

The ostensible subject of this remarkably beautiful film is the growing, drying, peeling and packaging of persimmons in the tiny Japanese village of Kaminoyama. The inhabitants explain that it is the perfect combination of earth, wind and rain that makes their village's persimmons superior to those grown anywhere else, including the village just a few miles away. The film's larger subject, however, is the disappearance of Japan's traditional culture, the end of a centuries-old way of life.

Documentary on the life of the farmers of the Heta Village opposing their resettlement due to the construction of the Narita Airport. (imdb)

Documentary on the village of Furuyashiki in the Zao mountain range and the problems the villagers have in raising their rice crops in that geographical location. (bfi.org)

A documentary depicting the actions of the peasant farmers of Sanrizuka as they attempt to defend their land from being expropriated by the Narita International Airport construction project.

The movie compiles footage taken by Ogawa Production for a period of more than ten years after the collective moved to Magino village. The faces of the Magino villagers appear in numerous roles–sometimes as individuals, sometimes as people who carry the history of the village in their memories, sometimes as storytellers reciting myths, and even as members of the crowd in the fictional sequences–transcending time and space. (TMDB)

The Ogawa Production Staff, who moved to Makinomura in Yamagata Prefecture, observes sericulture, sericulture labor, and agriculture.

Ogawa Shinsuke’s directorical debut traces the struggle of four students who lead the opposition against the Ministry of Education’s proposed revision to the university correspondence school systems in 1966.