Karayuki-san, the Making of a Prostitute is a 1975 Japanese film by director Shohei Imamura. It is a documentary on a Japanese "karayuki-san," women who were forced into prostitution in Japanese-occupied territories during World War II. Imamura focuses on a particular woman who was sent to Malaysia and never returned to Japan. Joan Mellen, in The Waves at Genji's Door, called this film, "Perhaps the most brilliant and feeling of Imamura's fine documentaries."
Synopsis
Imamura interviews a woman in her 70s, Zendo Kikuyo, a former Karayuki-san living in poverty in Malaysia. She gives a straightforward and harrowing testimony of her horrific sexual slavery and wartime experiences, and explains why she has no interest in returning to Japan. Kikuyo was born in Hiroshima to a poor burakumin family, a discriminated caste in Japan. At 19-years-old, she was tricked into leaving her hometown and ended up in Malaysia, where she was forced into prostitution. During her time as a Karayuki-san, Kikuyo was forcibly shipped around Japanese business strongholds in Southeast Asia to pleasure the Japanese Army. At one point, she spent time as a comfort woman in an Indianprison camp. She lived her life as a sex slave until 1919, when the Japanese consulate prohibited prostitution in the Japanese brothels of Malaysia. This effectively made Kikuyo a free woman, but with nowhere to go. Deciding to continue living in Malaysia, Kikuyo married a photographer, but the marriage ended in failure. She had a happy second marriage to a poor store owner, but the happiness was short-lived when he unexpectedly died. At the time of the filming, Kikuyo was living in poor conditions with her stepson and his wife, but stated she was happy. She tells Imamura that she feels no bond to Japan, and therefore never dreams about going back. With Kikuyo, Imamura visits the docks where she landed when she first came to Malaysia. One of her old brothels is also visited—Number 20 on Malay Street, a well-known former wartime red-light district—as well some other former Karayuki-sans who continue living in the same area as Kikuyo. Curious about her hometown, Imamura visits the village near Hiroshima where Kikuyo was born. He discovers that because of the discrimination against the burakumin, the village was completely shut off from neighboring communities during Kikuyo's childhood. The villagers were considered "outcasts," and Imamura contemplates if this is where Kikuyo's detachment for Japan began. Back in Malaysia, Imamura learns from Kikuyo's acquaintances that she is very miserable with her life, but does not know any alternatives at this point. Her stepson and his wife abuse her, and the stepson's wife does not want her living with them. The film ends with Kikuyo taking Imamura to visit a Karayuki-san graveyard, where he is heartbroken to find many Karayuki-sans buried in unmarked graves or with a simple wooden post identifying their grave, showing that Japan did not take responsibility for these women and allowed them to be shunned and exiled by society. The final scenes depict a sad Kikuyo standing amongst the graves of her deceased Karayuki-san friends.
