is a 1953 Japanese drama film written and directed by Kaneto Shindō, based on an unfinished novel by Shūsei Tokuda. Plot Ginko, daughter of a poor shoemaker, is sold to work as a geisha in a brothel in Tokyo to support her family. Although made the madam after the death of the owner's wife, she suffers so much from the violence inflicted by the abusive owner, that her father buys her back. To help the family and her sick father, she starts working in a brothel in Hokkaido. There she meets a man who is seemingly willing to make Ginko his wife, but his upper-class family demands that he marries a woman of equal social status. Back in Tokyo working at still another brothel, she catches pneumonia and is carried home to die, but in the end her younger sister Tokiko dies and she lives. The last scene shows her again as a geisha, entertaining a group of customers. Cast References External links 1953 films 1953 drama films Japanese drama films Japanese black-and-white films Films based on Japanese novels Films directed by Kaneto Shindo Films scored by Akira Ifukube 1950s Japanese films 1950s Japanese-language films