A Story Written with Water 1965

Shizuo Matsutani, Yasunori Irikawa, is a reserved young salaryman who still lives with his beautiful mother, Shizuka Matsutani, Mariko Okada. His father, Takao Matsutani, a sickly man who is often hospitalized and unable to support the family, casts a heavy shadow over the household. Shizuka’s affair with a wealthy man, Denzo Hashimoto, Isao Yamagata, sharpens the tension at home and feeds Shizuo’s growing resentment toward Denzo, a man he views as strong, confident, and controlling.

Denzo and his mother suggest that Shizuo marry Denzo’s daughter Yumiko Hashimoto, Ruriko Asaoka, a childhood friend. Shizuo can’t shake the unsettling sense that Yumiko’s face mirrors his mother’s, a resemblance that makes him wonder if Yumiko might be his half-sister. He confronts Denzo about the possibility, but Denzo hesitates and denies it, leaving the question unresolved but heavy in the air.

A few months later, Shizuo marries Yumiko. Yet the marriage is overshadowed by fear and secrecy; he keeps the troubling doubt to himself and treats Yumiko in ways that leave her feeling unattractive and unvalued. He even returns to his mother and proposes that they commit double suicide, a plan that only deepens Shizuka’s confusion rather than offering clarity.

Over time, the emotional strain begins to shift as Shizuo and Yumiko grow closer. He finally makes love to Yumiko and, for the first time, feels genuine affection for her. The narrative traces a complex, uneasy journey through family loyalties, forbidden desire, and the fragile boundaries between love and duty, as Shizuo navigates a web of intimate entanglements that challenge his sense of self and belonging.