Directing
A passionate telling of the story of Sada Abe, a woman whose affair with her master led to an obsessive and ultimately destructive sexual relationship.
A mysterious video has been linked to a number of deaths, and when an inquisitive journalist finds the tape and views it herself, she sets in motion a chain of events that puts her own life in danger.
A documentary depicting the the impoverished fishing village in Honshu's northernmost region as they struggle in the face of modernization.
This film takes us into the microscopic world of the plankton that mass in the oceans. Their bodies ultimately turn to marine snow and accumulate on the ocean floor where, across vast time spans, they transform into crude oil.
Located in the northeastern corner of Aichi Prefecture, Tomiyama Village has suffered from a shrinking population since the construction of Sakuma Dam left much of the village submerged (in 2005 Tomiyama was incorporated into Toyone Village). This film documents the mikagura festival, a tradition practiced in this region since the 15th century that combines the Shinto performing arts of yudate and kagura in praying for rebirth and purification.
In Yamakita, a town in the Ashigarakami District of Kanagawa Prefecture, there is a nenbutsu chanting practice associated with the Noanji Soto Zen temple that has a history of approximately 600 years. The nenbutsu is chanted as men rotate a large strand of 302 prayer beads affixed around a pulley. This is followed by a lion dance (shishimai) that proceeds around all the houses of the village as a purification ritual.
A documentary focusing on the things and animals necessary for the Olympics in Tokyo in 1964.
Located on Kanagawa Prefecture’s Miura Peninsula, Kikuna bustles with beachgoers in the summer. In October, the Miura Shirayama Shrine holds an annual festival, the Ameya dance, which has a history extending to the late Edo Period. Young men dressed in female garb perform dances including the shiramatsu konaya, komori, and godanme. The film emphasizes the wild aspect of these performing arts birthed by struggling farmers and fishermen.
This film documents the Sagicho Fire Festival, which takes place in the eight communities constituting Oiso, a town located in the warm climate along Kanagawa Prefecture’s Sagami Bay. It begins at the year’s end with an event in which children take the lead. With the new year, an okariya shelter is constructed in town for the dosojin guardian god. Then, saito bonfire structures are burned on the beach and young men perform a tug of war in the water.
The Kashima Dance is performed in the area of Kanagawa Prefecture extending from Odawara City along the western shore of Sagami Bay. This film documents a dedication of the dance on the grounds of Yoshihama’s Soga Shrine performed in August by twenty-five people. The film also records the Sasara women’s dance which the women’s association and the elders of Minami Ashigara City in the west of Kanagawa Prefecture revived after a fifty-year hiatus
On the nights of the 14th, 15th, and 16th of August, the obon festival takes over the streets of the Niino community of Nagano Prefecture. At its conclusion, a practitioner of shugendo, a syncretic tradition combining elements of Buddhism and Shinto, serves as priest to send off the spirits of ancestors past that have journeyed back for Obon as well as the new spirits of those deceased within the past year. The spirits ride the flames of faceted lanterns that are lit and drift off into the eastern sky.
The farming villages that exist throughout Tohoku are known for their rice production but struggle with cold-weather crop damage. Many who rely on the single crop this land produces end up leaving their villages to earn money. At the same time, innovative work has progressed with im- proved adaptation of rice beds to the environment. The film also features people who have cleared land for dairy farming and regions where large-scale land reclamation projects have been undertaken.
Nippon Rayon has produced clothing of assorted colors, designs, and materials. Their nylon products are not limited to fashion but extend to all aspects of life. The film features shots of models wearing vibrant outfits as well as products being manufactured on the factory floor.
In the mountains of the Chubu region, farmers grow legumes, buckwheat, and millet. Silk cultivation and forestry are also important sources of income. Paper production has flourished since the Meiji Period, and precision-instrument factories have been built for assembling lenses and timepiec- es. The natural environment is harsh but beautiful, and a local tourist industry has also developed.
The Tone River flows from the Mikuni Mountains through the Kanto Plain. The film follows its path from its source to Choshi and into the Pacific Ocean, documenting the lifestyles and industries along its banks and the history of its management.
The shimotsuki festival has been passed down over the centuries in the community of Shimoguri, located in Kamimura in Nagano Prefecture’s Shimoina District. The population once staged a revolt against the oppression of the Toyama clan who governed the region. Disease spread in the aftermath and was thought to be the work of the slain clan. The festival was initiated to clear their resentment. The masks of dead spirits dance amid clouds of steam from boiling water.
Sarushima Island lies off the coast of Yokosuka Port. In the late Edo Period the island was outfitted with artillery and in the Meiji period a fort was constructed by the Army. After Japan’s defeat in the war, it was opened as a sea park and young people began to make it a destination. Noda visited it to shoot in black and white in 1968, and in color in 1983. In excluding human figures from the screen and filming ruins and graffiti in their materiality, he experiments at creating a visual poem.
During the marathon event at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, a surprise incident occurred when a man jumped onto the course from the side of the road and tried to run alongside athlete Abebe Bikila, who was coming up Koshu-kaido Avenue far in the lead of the other runners. Noda happened to be at the scene shooting footage for Carrying the Olympics and later reprinted this short bit of film editing it into an experimental work in which the shot repeats 19 times.
This film documents a snow festival with a history dating to the 13th century held at Izu Shrine in the Niino community of Anan-cho, a small town located in the Shimoina District of Nagano Prefecture. The winter snow that falls during the festival is thought to herald the abundant life force of spring. Noda completed this film over a five-year period beginning in 1974, visiting the festival each year with a small staff and editing the footage as he shot.
This film documents painter Mizutani Isao’s creative process as he prepares for his solo exhibition “Between Ten Spiritual Worlds:Flies and the Dinner Table.” Mizutani’s method involves painting the surface of his canvases with water-soluble acrylics, then applying India ink and water and freezing them naturally. No sound was recorded for the film, which was projected silent with Mizutani himself narrating over the images.
