A Pebble by the Wayside

Tomotaka Tasaka's A Pebble by the Wayside (Robo no Ishi), made in 1938 and taken from a Yuzo Yamamoto novel, takes place around 1902, was about a young boy brought up entirely by his mother since his drunken father is never home. An intelligent teacher wants to send him to middle school, but instead the father apprentices him to a clothing store to which he is in debt. The mother dies and the boy is forced to quit work when his father insults the store owner. Later the boy goes to Tokyo, but only to continue his hardships. First he is forced to do a maid's job at a boarding house and later is used by an old woman to steal at funerals. Finally he is rescued by the teacher, whom he meets in Tokyo.

Cast

Akihiko Katayama

Goichi Aikawa

Reizaburo Yamamoto

Hisako Takihana

Goichi's mother - Oren

Shirô Izome

Yuriko

Sadako Sawamura

Sumie

Fumiko Matsudaira

Katsuko

Kansho Yoshii

Iseya Master

Toshimasa Inoue

Tailor Gin

Mantarō Ushio

Ichiro Umehara

Michiko Hoshi

Oni