The Only Son

The film starts in the rural town of Shinshu in 1923. A widow, Tsune (O-Tsune) Nonomiya (Choko Iida), works hard at a silk production factory to provide for her only son, Ryosuke. When Ryosuke's teacher Okubo (Chichu Ryu) persuades her to let her son continue to study beyond elementary school, she decides to support her son's education even until college despite her poverty. Her son promises to become a great man. Thirteen years later, in 1936, O-Tsune visits Ryosuke (Shin'ichi Himori) in Tokyo. She learns that her son, now a night schoolteacher, has married and has a son. Her daughter-in-law Sugiko is nice and obliging, but Ryosuke's job does not pay much. Ryosuke and O-Tsune visit Okubo, who is now a father of four and running a tonkatsu restaurant. The couple keeps the mother entertained but their money is running out. On a trip to an industrial district one day, Ryosuke confides in his mother that he wishes he had never come to Tokyo because it's difficult to succeed there, and that he is a disappointment to his mother. O-Tsune chides her son for giving up, telling him she has given up everything to see him succeed. Sugiko sells her kimono and raises enough money for the whole family to go out to enjoy themselves. However, Tomibo (Tomio Aoki), a neighbor's son, gets injured by a horse and Ryosuke rushes him to the hospital. There he gives their money to Tomibo's mother to pay the hospital bill. O-Tsune later praises Ryosuke for his selfless act. O-Tsune eventually returns to Shinshu, but not before giving the couple some money for her grandson. Ryosuke promises his wife he will obtain a teaching certificate. Back at Shinshu, O-Tsune tells her friend at the factory her son has become a "great man." But as she retires to the back of the factory after work, her face breaks into an expression of deep grief and pain.