Release, runtime and language

1979 · 154 mins · Japanese

Directed by

Satsuo Yamamoto

Starring

Tanie Kitabayashi, Shin'ichirô Mikami, Shinobu Ôtake, Akihiko Hirata, Mizuho Suzuki, Takeo Chii

Set in early‑1900s Japan, the film follows young women and girls working as silk spinners in the Okaya mills just beyond Nomugi Pass. In hot, humid conditions they labored without respite, enduring exploitation and sexual harassment to send earnings home for their poor families. Meanwhile, across the Pacific, America grappled with the Great Depression.