Vanishing Autumn

The sombre mood of autumn affects a child and grandfather in rural Japan.

In the countryside of Japan, the atmosphere of autumn is captured in shots of bare trees, reeds, reflections and sunlight on rippling water, floating leaves and dark clouds. A woman carrying a small child on her back is reflected in water as she stands near a pole, then rests against a harvest stack while crocheting from a ball of yarn. She walks along a path surrounded by farmed terraces. A child (described in the opening titles as motherless) plays with a paper ball while the grandfather tills the soil. The child blows into the ball to inflate it and the grandfather gets out his pipe and lights it with a match. Then he helps to inflate the ball. Against a sky of darkening clouds, they walk along the path, the man carrying the rake and the child a kettle. A woman with an infant on her back passes them, and the child stops and watches after her as she moves away. Then the child stops at a wayside shrine, and the grandfather offers comfort. Against low sun beneath dark clouds they are seen in silhouette as they continue on their way.

Keywords

Japan; Autumn; Seasons; Farmwork; Bereavement; Grief; Melancholy; Childhood; Old Age; Mothers

Intertitles

Okamoto Pictures Vanishing Autumn Photographed by Tatusichi Okamoto This reel unfolds the following scenes ... Autumn is drawing nigh toward the colder and thrilling winter, and the force of Nature is scattering solitariness and dolefulness all over the world, while ... ... a motherless juvenile child and a weary aged grandfather are dragging on their lonesome lives. The following titles have been added to this print preceding the film: Institute of Amateur Cinematographers Film Library presents (over image of IAC badge) American Cinematographer (image of magazine cover) presents its 1935 Prize Winning Amateur Movies As Judged by the American society of Cinematographers Winner of Prize for Photography (accompanied by ASC logo)

Background Information

This film was made by Tatsuichi Okamoto (also found referred to as Tatuschi Okamoto). He lived in Matsuyama, Japan. He was born 24 April 1898 in Ehime. Okamoto was the son of a lawmaker. Okamoto served as a mayor of Saijō City in Ehime Prefecture between April 1951 and April 1955. See Amateur Cinema website https://www.amateurcinema.org/ A letter by Tatsuichi Okamoto writing about his work on 8mm film appears in the September 1936 issue of Cine Kodak News http://mcnygenealogy.com/book/kodak/cine-kodak-v12-n04.pdf The accompanying text notes that ’Mr Okamoto is one of the outstanding amateur cinematographers of the world. In 1935 he won first award for photography in the international contest of the American Society of Cinematographers, open to 8mm and 16mm films, with his ‘Vanishing Autumn’. In 1934 his ‘Tender Friendship’ reel carried off the same award. In 1932 his ‘Early Spring’ first brought him renown by capturing the photographic award.’ Films known of: Lullaby 1931 / 1932 Early Spring 1932 Tender Friendship 1933 Autumn Leaves 1934 Early Summer 1932 / 1935 Vanishing Autumn 1935 Dates may be date of production, or award in competition, drawn from the sources mentioned above