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"True love often conflicts with reason"
When I hit play on Naruse Mikio’s coming of age film, Spring Awakens, I was not expecting a 1947 version of a sex education class but that’s what I got. There was nothing graphic, it was 1947 Japan after all, but I was surprised at the frank talk about questions raised by the six young adolescents.
Kumiko and her friends Hanae and Kyoko discover the reason Kumiko’s maid has been fired is because she’s “in love”. Hanae introduces the girls to her brother’s buddies-Koji and Noshiro. Gossip around the maid brings up numerous questions to parents centering around, “Is love wrong?” The girls’ school physical which involves measuring their breasts (seriously, why?) leads to laughter about different sizes and shapes. Crushes between the six members of the friends’ gang also cause the teens to develop funny feelings in their hearts and bodies. Another question repeatedly asked by the girls is “where do babies come from?” Some of the parents are better equipped at answering the uncomfortable questions while others stick their heads in the sand.
Kuga Yoshiko at 16 and starring in only her second film, did a superb job playing the emotional rollercoaster of adolescence. Yumiko’s mother was very strict and her rules about boys could be summed up as, “Don’t look at them, don’t be around them, and for Pete’s sake don’t touch one!” Most importantly, “Don’t ask me where babies come from!” On the flipside, Koji’s father played by the always reliable Shimura Takashi, doled out helpful, loving advice to his son and those who came to him needing guidance. Other parents were also more “lenient.”
The film showed how important sex education can be. When girls don’t know where babies come from, they are liable to end up carrying one or fear they have become pregnant from a kiss. The old adage brought up in this film that it’s better to keep girls in the dark or else they might act on their newly found knowledge was as useless then as now. Teenagers’ hormone fueled curiosity and new appreciation for the opposite sex and their own changing bodies can only benefit from correct information and adults they know they can talk with about anything. The film discussed menstruation without the girls understanding what role the monthly cycle played in their sexual health. When adults told them that married love or the gods conjured up babies, I guess that knowledge was beside the point. Given that the girls were lectured about the “right kind of love” and “not making any mistakes before marriage”, crucial data was being withheld from them. Despite one of the school girls stating that girls and boys were equal, it was clear in the film that they were still rigidly defined by social traditions and the patriarchy. I’ll step down from my soapbox…
Kumiko and Kyoko read “lewd” romantic poetry including “Im Wundershoenen Monat Mai” by German writer Heinrich Heine (1797-1856). I love when Naruse walked the wild subversive side. The author he chose had to leave Germany to live in France because his works were considered obscene, often banned, and he held radical ideas about democracy. Another unexpected scene was when a pregnant teenager’s mother was advised to support and love her child instead of shunning her. Also, who else besides Naruse would have girls drawing boobies on a school chalkboard in 1947?
Spring Awakens was actually a delightful coming of age/slice of life film with gentle humor and sweet first loves. The teen friendships and crushes were realistic as well as their burgeoning desire to know more about their feelings and bodies and those of the opposite sex. The film occasionally drifted into Afterschool Special lectures but overcame the bouts of preachiness with charming characters and performances. Children began to stretch their boundaries and parents learned the best they could hope to be were supportive guardrails.
“’Twas in the glorious month of May,
When all the buds were blowing
I felt, ah me, how sweet it was!
Love in my heart a-growing.
‘Twas in the glorious month of May.”
-Heinrich Heine
26 June 2025
Kumiko and her friends Hanae and Kyoko discover the reason Kumiko’s maid has been fired is because she’s “in love”. Hanae introduces the girls to her brother’s buddies-Koji and Noshiro. Gossip around the maid brings up numerous questions to parents centering around, “Is love wrong?” The girls’ school physical which involves measuring their breasts (seriously, why?) leads to laughter about different sizes and shapes. Crushes between the six members of the friends’ gang also cause the teens to develop funny feelings in their hearts and bodies. Another question repeatedly asked by the girls is “where do babies come from?” Some of the parents are better equipped at answering the uncomfortable questions while others stick their heads in the sand.
Kuga Yoshiko at 16 and starring in only her second film, did a superb job playing the emotional rollercoaster of adolescence. Yumiko’s mother was very strict and her rules about boys could be summed up as, “Don’t look at them, don’t be around them, and for Pete’s sake don’t touch one!” Most importantly, “Don’t ask me where babies come from!” On the flipside, Koji’s father played by the always reliable Shimura Takashi, doled out helpful, loving advice to his son and those who came to him needing guidance. Other parents were also more “lenient.”
The film showed how important sex education can be. When girls don’t know where babies come from, they are liable to end up carrying one or fear they have become pregnant from a kiss. The old adage brought up in this film that it’s better to keep girls in the dark or else they might act on their newly found knowledge was as useless then as now. Teenagers’ hormone fueled curiosity and new appreciation for the opposite sex and their own changing bodies can only benefit from correct information and adults they know they can talk with about anything. The film discussed menstruation without the girls understanding what role the monthly cycle played in their sexual health. When adults told them that married love or the gods conjured up babies, I guess that knowledge was beside the point. Given that the girls were lectured about the “right kind of love” and “not making any mistakes before marriage”, crucial data was being withheld from them. Despite one of the school girls stating that girls and boys were equal, it was clear in the film that they were still rigidly defined by social traditions and the patriarchy. I’ll step down from my soapbox…
Kumiko and Kyoko read “lewd” romantic poetry including “Im Wundershoenen Monat Mai” by German writer Heinrich Heine (1797-1856). I love when Naruse walked the wild subversive side. The author he chose had to leave Germany to live in France because his works were considered obscene, often banned, and he held radical ideas about democracy. Another unexpected scene was when a pregnant teenager’s mother was advised to support and love her child instead of shunning her. Also, who else besides Naruse would have girls drawing boobies on a school chalkboard in 1947?
Spring Awakens was actually a delightful coming of age/slice of life film with gentle humor and sweet first loves. The teen friendships and crushes were realistic as well as their burgeoning desire to know more about their feelings and bodies and those of the opposite sex. The film occasionally drifted into Afterschool Special lectures but overcame the bouts of preachiness with charming characters and performances. Children began to stretch their boundaries and parents learned the best they could hope to be were supportive guardrails.
“’Twas in the glorious month of May,
When all the buds were blowing
I felt, ah me, how sweet it was!
Love in my heart a-growing.
‘Twas in the glorious month of May.”
-Heinrich Heine
26 June 2025
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