is a 1949 Japanese
drama film, directed by
Yasujiro Ozu and produced by the
Shochiku studio. It is based on the short novel
Father and Daughter (
Chichi to musume) by the 20th century novelist and critic
Kazuo Hirotsu, and was adapted for the screen by Ozu and his frequent collaborator, screenwriter
Kogo Noda. The film was written and shot during the
Allied Powers' Occupation of Japan and was subject to the Occupation's official censorship requirements. It stars
Chishu Ryu, who was featured in almost all of the director’s films, and
Setsuko Hara, making her first of six appearances in Ozu’s work. It is the first installment of Ozu’s so-called “Noriko trilogy”—the others are
Early Summer (
Bakushu, 1951) and
Tokyo Story (
Tokyo Monogatari, 1953)—in each of which Hara portrays a young woman named Noriko, though the three Norikos are distinct, unrelated characters, linked primarily by their status as single women in postwar Japan.