"Umbrella Sword Technique"

...Uchida Tomu later reflected that the left-wing ideology was merely a formality that followed the trends of the time, but the film exposed the gigantic mechanisms and cruelty of capitalist society by depicting the pitiful figure of an ambitious young man who came to Tokyo from the countryside and whose philosophy of life was a calculating self-succession and advancement, and was tossed about like a living doll. Next came Ito Daisuke, who had been conceiving "The Five Swords of the End of the Edo Period," with "One Kill, Many Lives" (1929), which depicted the tragedy of a shogunate vassal who could be called a conscientious intellectual and was suffering during the ideological upheaval of the end of the Edo Period; "Zanjinzanbaken" (1929), which depicted the rebellion of peasants suffering under oppression against the feudal system of rule as a "drama of resistance," intertwining it with a feudal lord's family dispute; "Umbrella Swordplay" (1929), directed by Tsuji Yoshiro (1892-1945), which depicted the hardships of life and the rebellious spirit of an unemployed samurai; and "Tokai Symphony" (1929), directed by Mizoguchi Kenji, which had proletarian writers such as Hayashi Fusao and Kataoka Tetsubei involved in the screenplay, depicting a contrast between the "lazy leisure class" and the "honest working class." Prokino (Japan Proletarian Film League), which was formed at the end of 1928, also began its activities in 1929, the same year that the above works were made.

*Some of the terminology explanations that refer to "Umbrella Sword Technique" are listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…左翼思想といっても時流に乗った形式的なものであったと内田吐夢はのちに回顧しているが，地方から東京へ出てきて打算的な立身出世主義を処世哲学とする野心的な1人の青年が，生きている人形のように翻弄（ほんろう）される無残な姿を描いて，資本主義社会の巨大なからくりと冷酷さをあばいた映画であった。つづいて，《幕末五剣録》を構想していた伊藤大輔が，幕末という思想的激動期を迎えて苦悩する良心的知識人ともいうべき幕臣の悲劇を描いた《一殺多生剣》(1929)，圧制に苦しむ農民の封建的支配制度に対する反抗を，領主の御家騒動をからませながら〈抵抗のドラマ〉として描いた《斬人斬馬剣（ざんじんざんばけん）》(1929)をつくり，失業武士の生活苦と反抗意識を描いた辻吉朗(1892‐1945)監督の《傘張剣法》(1929)，林房雄，片岡鉄兵といったプロレタリア作家が脚本に参加して〈怠惰なる有閑階級〉と〈誠実なる労働者階級〉との対比を描いた溝口健二監督《都会交響楽》(1929)などがつくられた。1928年末に結成された〈プロキノ(日本プロレタリア映画同盟)〉が活動を開始するのも，上記の作品群がつくられたのと同じ29年であった。…

※「《傘張剣法》」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

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