# A Geisha (祇園囃子)
**A Geisha** (祇園囃子, *[Gion Bayashi](https://www.edgepedia.org/gion-bayashi)*, also romanized *Gion Bayashi*; English title *Story of Two Geisha Girls*) is a 1953 Japanese black-and-white drama directed by [Kenji Mizoguchi](https://www.edgepedia.org/kenji-mizoguchi) (溝口健二) about two women in the geisha quarter of Kyoto's Gion district: an established geisha and the orphaned girl she trains as an apprentice dancer.[1](https://eiga.com/movie/35772/) It was produced by Daiei (大映), released in Japanese theaters on 12 August 1953, and runs 84 minutes according to the National Film Archive of Japan and most Japanese databases.[1](https://eiga.com/movie/35772/) • [2](https://nfad.nfaj.go.jp/det.php?data_id=65231&key=&key_y=&mode=3¬ation_id=&op=AND&page=0&s_page=&sakuhin_id=501)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | 12 August 1953, distributed by Daiei; produced at Daiei's Kyoto studio[1](https://eiga.com/movie/35772/) • [3](https://www.kinenote.com/sp/public/cinema/detail.aspx?cinema_id=23799) |
| Director and crew | Directed by Kenji Mizoguchi; screenplay Yoshikata Yoda; cinematography Kazuo Miyagawa; music Ichirō Saitō[2](https://nfad.nfaj.go.jp/det.php?data_id=65231&key=&key_y=&mode=3¬ation_id=&op=AND&page=0&s_page=&sakuhin_id=501) |
| Source | Original story by Matsutarō Kawaguchi, published in the magazine *All Yomimo* (オール読物), adapted for the screen by Yoda[1](https://eiga.com/movie/35772/) |
| Format | 35 mm black-and-white sound film, 84 minutes (7,595.14 feet of release print)[2](https://nfad.nfaj.go.jp/det.php?data_id=65231&key=&key_y=&mode=3¬ation_id=&op=AND&page=0&s_page=&sakuhin_id=501) |
| Lead cast | Michiyo Kogure as the geisha Miyoharu; Ayako Wakao as the apprentice Eiko; with Eitarō Shindō, Seizaburō Kawazu, and Chieko Naniwa[3](https://www.kinenote.com/sp/public/cinema/detail.aspx?cinema_id=23799) |
| Critical standing | 9th place in the 1953 Kinema Junpo Best Ten, a year whose top three included *Ugetsu*, Ozu's *Tokyo Story*, and Imai's *Nigorie*[4](https://eiga.com/movie/35772/review/) |
| Relation to earlier work | A postwar reworking of themes from Mizoguchi's 1936 film *Sisters of Gion* (祇園の姉妹), with the same screenwriter[5](https://www.bunkido.co.jp/archives/4923) • [6](https://www.cataloghouse.co.jp/yomimono/yamada/0039/) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
Miyoharu (美代春), a geisha of some reputation in Gion, coldly turns away Ogawa, a young man who was disowned by his family over his attachment to her.[1](https://eiga.com/movie/35772/) At that moment a poorly dressed girl, Eiko (栄子), arrives asking to become an apprentice dancer (maiko). She is the daughter of Sawamoto, a knit-goods wholesaler known to Miyoharu; although the ruined Sawamoto refuses to take any responsibility for her, Miyoharu is won over by the girl's earnest words and decides to train her.[1](https://eiga.com/movie/35772/)
After a year of apprenticeship Eiko makes her debut, and Miyoharu borrows the 300,000 yen cost from the proprietress of "Yoshikun," a first-rank Gion teahouse.[1](https://eiga.com/movie/35772/) Eiko's beauty and brash postwar manner (the *apāge* spirit of the new generation) quickly make her popular with customers, and Kusuda, an executive of a vehicle company, takes an interest in her; unbeknownst to the two women, Kusuda has in fact been paying the costs of Eiko's debut.[1](https://eiga.com/movie/35772/) • [8](https://www.allcinema.net/cinema/pdf/136086) On a trip to Tokyo with Kusuda and his client, the government official Kanzaki, Kusuda sends Miyoharu to entertain Kanzaki while he summons Eiko to his room and tries to kiss her; she screams and bites through his lip.[1](https://eiga.com/movie/35772/) The scandal costs both women their standing: the furious Yoshikun bars them from the teahouse, and even as the Gion Festival approaches, Miyoharu's house stands empty of invitations.[1](https://eiga.com/movie/35772/)
## Production
The film reunited the staff of Mizoguchi's *Ugetsu* (雨月物語), released the same year: Matsutarō Kawaguchi's original story from *All Yomimo* was adapted by Yoshikata Yoda, with Mizoguchi directing and Kazuo Miyagawa, one of Japanese cinema's most celebrated cinematographers, handling the camera.[1](https://eiga.com/movie/35772/) Ichirō Saitō composed the music, and the crew also included art director Kazumi Koike and editor Mizu Miyata.[2](https://nfad.nfaj.go.jp/det.php?data_id=65231&key=&key_y=&mode=3¬ation_id=&op=AND&page=0&s_page=&sakuhin_id=501) The National Film Archive of Japan preserves a 35 mm release print of 7,595.14 feet.[2](https://nfad.nfaj.go.jp/det.php?data_id=65231&key=&key_y=&mode=3¬ation_id=&op=AND&page=0&s_page=&sakuhin_id=501)
Mizoguchi himself was ambivalent about the project. In remarks preserved by the National Film Archive of Japan he described it as "a made-to-order job obeying the studio," yet the same program notes call it an important work that carefully depicts the complex world of Gion and lays bare the social structure of the pleasure quarter that corners the two women.[7](https://www.nfaj.go.jp/program/tiff-nfaj202610-7/)
## Themes and style
The film sets a traditional older geisha, bound by the obligations and etiquette of the flower quarter, against a modern postwar girl who ignores its customs, and through the pair it depicts the rules and human relations of the Gion world in detail.[9](https://www.laputa-jp.com/laputa/program/kyoto/sakuhin1.html) Critics have read it as a postwar counterpart to Mizoguchi's prewar *Sisters of Gion* (1936), which had starred Umeko Uemura and Isuzu Yamada and was written by the same screenwriter, Yoda; the 1953 film is generally described as a gentler drama than the 1936 original, reflecting changed postwar circumstances.[5](https://www.bunkido.co.jp/archives/4923) • [6](https://www.cataloghouse.co.jp/yomimono/yamada/0039/)
Miyagawa's cinematography is repeatedly singled out: reviewers describe the camera peering into Gion's deep, narrow alleys, the lights of the festival seen from dark lanes, and compositions that read like standalone paintings.[3](https://www.kinenote.com/sp/public/cinema/detail.aspx?cinema_id=23799) A scholarly account of Mizoguchi's direction notes that rather than explaining emotion through close-ups, the film uses long takes, camera movement, and the placement of figures to draw the social power relations surrounding the women.[10](https://filmarks.com/movies/19361/reviews/225536697)
The performances of the supporting cast are a recurring point of praise. Chieko Naniwa, as the teahouse fixer Okimi who takes on commissions from the patrons, harasses the geishas and maneuvers so they cannot escape, was singled out by a Kinema Junpo-era reviewer as a masterly portrayal.[3](https://www.kinenote.com/sp/public/cinema/detail.aspx?cinema_id=23799) Eitarō Shindō plays Eiko's father Sawamoto, and Seizaburō Kawazu plays Kusuda.[3](https://www.kinenote.com/sp/public/cinema/detail.aspx?cinema_id=23799)
## Reception
In the 1953 Kinema Junpo Best Ten the film placed 9th, in a year whose top three were Imai Tadashi's *Nigorie*, Ozu Yasujiro's *Tokyo Story*, and Mizoguchi's own *Ugetsu*.[4](https://eiga.com/movie/35772/review/) On the review aggregator Filmarks it holds an average of about 4.0 from roughly 1,880 user reviews, and Kinenote lists an average of 76.1 points from 242 users.[11](https://filmarks.com/movies/19361) • [3](https://www.kinenote.com/sp/public/cinema/detail.aspx?cinema_id=23799) On the English-language aggregator Rotten Tomatoes the Apple TV listing reports a 100% Tomatometer from 9 reviews.[12](https://tv.apple.com/jp/movie/%E7%A5%87%E5%9C%92%E5%9B%83%E5%AD%90/umc.cmc.64unudcwf47puk7apylatosd5)
The film remains in circulation: it is available for streaming in Japan on Amazon Prime Video and U-NEXT, and it has appeared in retrospective programs of Mizoguchi's work at the National Film Archive of Japan, listed there under the English title *Gion Bayashi*.[13](https://www.justwatch.com/jp/%E6%98%A0%E7%94%BB/zhi-yuan-ca-zi) • [7](https://www.nfaj.go.jp/program/tiff-nfaj202610-7/)
## Runtime discrepancies
Databases disagree on the film's length. The National Film Archive of Japan, eiga.com, and Kinenote list 84 minutes; allcinema and [JustWatch](https://www.edgepedia.org/justwatch) list 85 minutes; and BUNKIDO lists 81 minutes.[2](https://nfad.nfaj.go.jp/det.php?data_id=65231&key=&key_y=&mode=3¬ation_id=&op=AND&page=0&s_page=&sakuhin_id=501) • [8](https://www.allcinema.net/cinema/pdf/136086) • [5](https://www.bunkido.co.jp/archives/4923) The 84-minute figure matches the surviving release print held by the archive.[2](https://nfad.nfaj.go.jp/det.php?data_id=65231&key=&key_y=&mode=3¬ation_id=&op=AND&page=0&s_page=&sakuhin_id=501)
## References
1. [祇園囃子 : 作品情報・キャスト・あらすじ, 映画.com](https://eiga.com/movie/35772/)
2. [国立映画アーカイブ所蔵映画フィルム検索システム: 祇園囃子](https://nfad.nfaj.go.jp/det.php?data_id=65231&key=&key_y=&mode=3¬ation_id=&op=AND&page=0&s_page=&sakuhin_id=501)
3. [祇園囃子, KINENOTE](https://www.kinenote.com/sp/public/cinema/detail.aspx?cinema_id=23799)
4. [祇園囃子のレビュー・感想・評価, 映画.com](https://eiga.com/movie/35772/review/)
5. [衹園囃子(1953), BUNKIDO](https://www.bunkido.co.jp/archives/4923)
6. [山田宏一の今月の"2本立て映画" 第39回, カタログハウス](https://www.cataloghouse.co.jp/yomimono/yamada/0039/)
7. [TIFF/NFAJ クラシックス 映画監督 溝口健二-7, 国立映画アーカイブ](https://www.nfaj.go.jp/program/tiff-nfaj202610-7/)
8. [祇園囃子 (1953), allcinema](https://www.allcinema.net/cinema/pdf/136086)
9. [シネマ紀行 京都ものがたり 作品解説, ラピュタ阿佐ケ谷](https://www.laputa-jp.com/laputa/program/kyoto/sakuhin1.html)
10. [AFTERPICTUREの映画レビュー, Filmarks](https://filmarks.com/movies/19361/reviews/225536697)
11. [祇園囃子, Filmarks映画](https://filmarks.com/movies/19361)
12. [祇園囃子, Apple TV](https://tv.apple.com/jp/movie/%E7%A5%87%E5%9C%92%E5%9B%83%E5%AD%90/umc.cmc.64unudcwf47puk7apylatosd5)
13. [祇園囃子 (1953), JustWatch](https://www.justwatch.com/jp/%E6%98%A0%E7%94%BB/zhi-yuan-ca-zi)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Drama and biographical films (individual works) › Drama films 1950s*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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