Yearning

Famed onnagata a man who plays womens parts in Kabuki Tamasaburo Bando follows up on the success of his directorial debut Gekashitsu with this softfocused romance about love and obligation based on a novel by Kafu Nagai Set during the Meiji period 18681912 Kaede Sayuri Yoshinaga is the former mistress of a wealthy merchant When he dies she is forced out on the street and forced to give up her young daughter to the merchants family The film opens with her working in a highclass brothel abutting Tokyo Bay Though she has passionate affection for a drug wholesaler whom she loves as well Kaede is swamped with not only debts to the bordello and family obligations she is expected to support her parents and her sister but also guilt over losing her child This pain is only increased when Kaede learns that her daughter is being abused She does the only thing she can She buys back her child by signing on at the brothel for a longer stint