Nitaboh

Nitaroh (Nitaboh) was born to the poor family of Santaro, a ferryman living in Kanbara, in rural Aomori prefecture, at the very northern tip of Japan's mainland.

Nitaroh had an extremely humble background among the "shinokosho" (a lower class in the Edo Period. Shi, no, ko and sho mean "samurai," "peasant," "craftsperson" and "merchant," respectively). Nitaroh's mother died just after his birth. Despite being in such a sorry plight, he was a healthy child. However, at age eight, he caught smallpox (an epidemic at that time) and lost his eyesight.

Nonetheless, he looked for his way through life, and became interested in flute and shakuhachi (traditional Japanese bamboo flute).

One day, Nitaroh was fascinated by Tamana's shamisen performance. She was a goze, a blind woman playing the shamisen and singing for her living. Nitaroh asked her to learn the instrument with his father Santaroh's help. Tamana was in the midst of a trip with her daughter Yuki. However, she decided to stay at Kanbara for a while and teach Nitaroh her shamisen performance. After she finished teaching him, they traveled again.

When Nitaroh was 11, he had another setback. His father Santaroh died. Left without parents or relatives, he nonetheless decided to make his living playing the shamisen, which he learned from Tamana. Hehad grown up with great help from Tomekichi, who was like a brother, and Omatsu, who ran a doss house near the village ferry.

Time passed, and Nitaro's fame increased around Kanagi. But the Todoza clan, protected by the shogun, tried to get him in trouble. The clan had been dissolved after the creation of the prefectures, but it still had still great influence. Jealous of Nitaro's fame, it created a conflict. At the time, Nitaro once again met Yuki, Tamana's daughter, who taught him the shamisen. Yuki would become the guardian of his heart.

Nitaroh tried to play the shamisen to please his audience, but his performance became like that of a hard-beating drummer. He broke the shamisen's strings (or sometimes the shamisen itself) during his performance and found out that the ordinary shamisen (hosozao) was not strong enough for his performance.

When he had a chance to listen to the Gidayu at Hirosaki, he wanted to have the futozao (which was much stronger than the hosozao) for his performance. However, this was too expensive for him.

Meanwhile, Kikunosuke, the son of a rich sake brewing merchant, was back in Tsugaru after finishing his studies in Tokyo. He was worried whether to follow his father's business or go into business himself in newspaper publishing. He met Nitaroh and was fascinated by Nitaroh's life, which Nitaroh chose for himself and had never been altered.

Kikunosuke decided to go to America to study newspaper business administration. Before leaving Japan, he gave Nitaroh a futozao, making Nitaroh's dream come true.

In order to repay Kikunosuke's favor, Nitaroh had to master the futozao. However, this was too hard, since this was the first time it was played and nobody had tried it. He worried and worried, lost his ability to play the shamisen, and finally decided to try a strict discipline called Itako, during which he was not allowed to sleep or eat. After seven days' and nights' strict discipline, he attained the state of selflessness. Nitaroh started to create a new world of shamisen playing. Then, Tawaraboh challenged him to a shamisen-playing contest in order to keep the Todoza clan's pride and stability...

Nitaro (Nitaboh), Yuki, Tamana, Tomekichi, Kikunosuke, Okinu, Omatsu, Santaro, Osyo, Itako, Kengyo, Tawaraboh

The first animated film from the Wao Corporation.

This movie was recommended by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sport, Science and Technology.

Premiered at the Cinepathos in Tokyo's Ginza district.