My First Encounter with Film[May 2014]

KOBORI Sojitsu (the 13th Grand Master of the Enshu Sado School )

When May comes, the following phrase, attributed to the founder Enshu, often comes to mind:
'a cuckoo in fresh greenery'. It means that one feels excited about the arrival of a refreshing season. It is also the season which gets me thinking about what to arrange for the years first 'furo' and what scroll I should put in the inspires me of many ideas such as “what shall I arrange this year’s first ‘furo’ or what scroll shall I put in 'chaji'.

The documentary film about my father which released this January seems to have been received very well. It started in Tokyo and Osaka, and then in Kanazawa and Nagoya. It will also be screened in Kyushu and then in almost all prefectures. I am grateful that it will rerun in Tokyo.

I have always loved films. As my wife says in the film, I have watched many old Hollywood films. On many occasions, I exchanged my thoughts about the directorial techniques of films with my friends from junior high school on our way home.

I first went to the cinema with, of course, with my late father. Since then, until I became a senior high school student, I had always visited the cinema with my father. This was how we did it back in the day.

Nowadays, children often go to watch films with friends from a young age. This was not the case when I was small.

When I flash back to those days, there was a concern about letting children go downtown alone. Another reason that I can think of for the difference is that there were precious few amusements in my day and going to the cinema was a special and somewhat formal outing.

When a film ended, father would ask 'What was interesting about today's film?' or 'What parts moved you?'. No matter the genre of film, he would ask the same questions.

I think that it was through these experiences I had with my father that I acquired the habit of being able to quickly organize my thoughts about what I see, learned, and felt. It was an occasion where a parent and child talked casually, not about tea ceremony or school matters, and had an enjoyable and unique conversation.