Ancient City (film)

Ancient City (古都, Koto), also known as The Old Capital^[2][3] is a 1980 film directed by Kon Ichikawa starring Momoe Yamaguchi and Tomokazu Miura in an adaptation of Yasunari Kawabata's novel The Old Capital.^[4][5][6] Momoe Yamaguchi and Masaya Oki made their last appearances in the film.

Ancient City
Theatrical poster
Japanese name
Kanji	古都
Transcriptions Revised Hepburn Koto
Directed by	Kon Ichikawa
Screenplay by	Shinya Hidaka Kon Ichikawa[1]
Based on	The Old Capital by Yasunari Kawabata
Produced by	Takeo Hori Hideo Sasai[1]
Starring	Momoe Yamaguchi Tomokazu Miura Keiko Kishi Masaya Oki
Cinematography	Kiyoshi Hasegawa[1]
Music by	Shinichi Tanabe[1]
Production company	Hori Planning Production[1]
Distributed by	Toho
Release date	6 December 1980 (1980-12-06) (Japan)
Running time	125 minutes[1]
Country	Japan

It is a remake of the 1963 film Twin Sisters of Kyoto.

Cast

• Momoe Yamaguchi as Chieko Sada/Myoko
• Tomokazu Miura
• Masaya Oki as Ryusuke Mizuki
• Jun Hamamura
• Akiji Kobayashi as Endō
• Takeshi Katō as Yahei Mizuki
• Keiko Kishi as Shige Sada

Release

Koto received a roadshow theatrical release in Japan on December 6, 1980 where it was distributed by Toho.^[1] It received a regular theatrical release in Japan on December 20, 1980.^[1]

Reception

Donald Richie writes in The Japanese Movie that "Ichikawa dramatizes alienation in his remake of Kawabata's Koto, where twin sisters long-separated meet again and must face a dramatized estrangement."^[7]

References

Footnotes

1. Galbraith 2008, p. 325.
2. Jacoby, Alexander (2013). A Critical Handbook of Japanese Film Directors - From the Silent Era to the Present Day. Stone Bridge Press. ISBN 9781611725315. 1980 Koto / The Old Capital / Ancient City
3. Inuhiko, Yomota (April 16, 2019). What Is Japanese Cinema? - A History. Columbia University Press. ISBN 9780231549486. Ichikawa Kon's Old Capital (Koto, 1980)
4. "Kinema Jumpo - Koto (1980)" (in Japanese).
5. Quandt, James (2001). Kon Ichikawa. Cinematheque Ontario. p. 429-437. ISBN 0-9682969-3-9.
6. Phillips, Alastair; Stringer, Julian (2007). Japanese Cinema: Texts and Contexts. Routledge. pp. 149–151. ISBN 9781134334223.
7. Richie, Donald (1982). The Japanese Movie (Rev ed.). Tokyo: Kodansha International. p. 199. ISBN 4770097670.

Sources

• Galbraith, Stuart IV (2008). The Toho Studios Story: A History and Complete Filmography. Lanham, Md.: The Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-1-4616-7374-3. OCLC 852899281. Retrieved October 29, 2013.

External links

• Ancient City at IMDb
• Koto at the Japanese Movie Database (in Japanese)
• "Koto". CinemaScape (in Japanese).