Onomichi · Tokyo · Atami · 1953 · Yasujirō Ozu
The old couple’s fifteen-hour train ride is never shown. Ozu cuts to still shots with nobody in them instead. Every one is a place you can stand in.
Black to Onomichi, shot 1 of 3 (2:12): The great stone lantern of Sumiyoshi Shrine. All the cuts
Between places · no one in frame
The film never shows the train. Each time the story moves, Ozu holds on a few still shots with nobody in them: a lantern, a railway line, chimneys, a castle. Pick a move and cut through them the way the film does.
Five views of Onomichi on a summer morning, the camera coming up the hill towards the house.
Black to Onomichi, shot 1 of 3 (2:12): The great stone lantern of Sumiyoshi Shrine.
2-10-12 Tsuchidō, Onomichi waterfront
The shrine’s great stone night lantern is the film’s first shot, the first of five views of Onomichi before anyone speaks.
A small shrine on the waterfront beside the Central Pier, a short walk east of the station along the channel.
The film never shows the train journeys to and from Tokyo.
The sequence and timecodes of the still shots, and the places they were filmed.
Wikipedia (Japanese): 東京物語as films go by: 『東京物語』ロケ地 (Oka Mamiko’s location survey)
In 1953 the train from Onomichi to Tokyo took about fifteen hours.
Onomichi · 12–19 August 1953
The precinct is the one place in Onomichi where Ozu filmed his actors: Shūkichi watches the dawn and Noriko comes to find him. Every Onomichi interior was a set.
A photograph of Ozu filming Setsuko Hara here is dated 16 August 1953. About 2,000 people are said to have come to watch a 3 a.m. shoot.
The two stone lanterns at either edge of the frame have since been moved, a bell tower now stands where they were, and the low wall behind the actors has gone.
Its main hall and treasure pagoda are both National Treasures; the pagoda is the one Shūkichi sees from his garden.
A working temple on the hillside east of the town centre, about 25 minutes’ walk from Onomichi station. The precinct looks over the railway to the sea.
The shrine’s great stone night lantern is the film’s first shot, the first of five views of Onomichi before anyone speaks.
Ozu returns to almost the same angle at dawn after Tomi dies, in a run of shots that starts on the Central Pier.
The lantern stands about five metres tall. The shrine moved here from Jōdo-ji’s grounds in 1741 and guards the harbour.
A small shrine on the waterfront beside the Central Pier, a short walk east of the station along the channel.
1-9-1 Nagae, Onomichi
Tomi’s funeral is held at this temple. The ceremony was a set, but five cuts of the graveyard and the hall were filmed here on 17 August 1953.
It was founded in 1573.
Ozu walked the town on foot during the scouting, visiting Jōdo-ji and Fukuzen-ji.
A working temple up the slope north of the waterfront. Visit quietly; the graveyard is in use.
Kubo 3-chōme, Onomichi
Ozu, his crew and Ryū, Hara and Kagawa stayed here during the shoot. The owner was a cousin of the screenwriter Yanai Takao, one reason Onomichi was chosen.
The owners coached the cast in Onomichi dialect; Chieko Higashiyama’s accent is said to have ended up just like the landlady’s.
A drinking companion says “At Takemuraya?” and laughs: a line said to be Ozu’s thank-you. Exterior cuts of the inn follow the funeral.
It opened in 1902 as Onomichi’s first Western restaurant and was rebuilt as an inn in 1920. Its main house, gate and wall were registered in 2004.
A working ryōtei inn on the channel, open to diners and guests by reservation. The street front, gate and wall are listed.
1-14-10 Kubo, Onomichi
The city opened it on 22 April 2000 in one of the Meiji-era warehouses that lined the shore.
Its displays lean heavily on Tokyo Story and on Kaneto Shindō’s The Naked Island.
The City of Onomichi lists it on its own Ozu map alongside Jōdo-ji, Fukuzen-ji, Takemuraya and the Sumiyoshi lantern.
Open 10:00 to 18:00 (last entry 17:30), closed Tuesdays. Adults ¥520; junior-high age and under free. About 15 minutes’ walk from the station.
Onomichi · Standard twin from ¥19,800
A hotel inside a converted shipping warehouse on the Onomichi channel, a walk along the water from the Sumiyoshi lantern. Twin rooms for two from ¥19,800; check-in 15:00.
See the hotelAdachi · Chūō · Taitō · Chiyoda
The children have no time. Kōichi’s clinic is out by the river, Shige’s salon is busy, and it is Noriko, their son’s widow, who shows them the city. Four places, in the order the couple see them.
The edge
Tokyo begins on the city’s edge: the Senju power station chimneys, Horikiri station’s platform and the Arakawa bank, before Kōichi’s clinic.
Tomi sits on the embankment near the Keisei line bridge while her grandson plays alone. From the clinic’s upstairs window, Shūkichi and Fumiko watch them.
The station opened on 1 April 1902. Its platforms and gates have been rebuilt; the bank is now concrete and railed.
The four chimneys, about 84 metres tall, were called the ghost chimneys because their number seemed to change as you moved. They came down in 1964.
A local stop on the Tōbu Skytree Line. Climb from the up-line exit onto the Arakawa embankment and walk south towards the Keisei railway bridge.
The roof
Noriko takes her in-laws on a sightseeing bus past the Imperial Palace towards Ginza, then up to look out from Matsuya.
Ozu filmed on the store’s rooftop observation tower and its side stairs, where Ryū, Higashiyama and Hara stand at the landing.
The store opened on 1 May 1925. After the war it was requisitioned as a PX for the Allies.
A working department store on Chūō-dōri in Ginza.
Nowhere to sleep
With nowhere to sleep, the couple spend an afternoon in Ueno Park before splitting up for the night.
The scene was shot at Kan’ei-ji’s former main gate and near the Saigō Takamori statue, which stays out of frame.
The gate, called the Black Gate, is an Important Cultural Property from the Kan’ei era. It first stood where the museum’s main gate is now.
Public park. The gate stands at Rinnō-ji, east of the Tokyo National Museum; the Saigō statue is at the park’s south end.
The night train
The children see their parents off at night under the departure board on the Yaesu side.
Apart from a passenger carriage, the station waiting area was the only interior not built at Ōfuna.
Open all day. The Yaesu side faces east; the old waiting rooms are long gone.
Tokyo
Live marketplace results for bus tours of central Tokyo, the way Noriko shows her in-laws the city. Check each route for the Imperial Palace and Ginza.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare toursThe last scene in Onomichi
Kyōko teaches at the former Tsutsuyu Elementary School. Ozu filmed its roadside wooden building; it has since been replaced and the school rebuilt further back.
The shooting script had children sketching on a hill above the sea. Onomichi had no suitable hill, so Kyōko watches Noriko’s train from the classroom window instead.
She checks her watch, goes to the window, and the train comes along the line below the houses.
The wooden school seen in the film has gone. Walk the lane below Jōdo-ji; the Sanyō line still runs along the foot of the hill.
Kyōko checks her watch. The line below the houses is empty.
Shizuoka · Osaka
Kōichi and Shige send their parents to the spa at Atami. The inn is noisy, they cannot sleep, and they come back early. On the way home Tomi is taken ill on the train.
Shinsui Park, Nagisa-chō, Atami
The couple sit side by side on the seawall, decide to go home, and Tomi stumbles as she gets up. The view from their inn was filmed too.
The seawall has gone; the waterfront is now the Moon Terrace, a stepped park by the sea.
The Atami scenes were first planned for Hibiya Park in Tokyo; the writers moved them to Atami on 2 March 1953.
Sun Beach, beside the terrace, is a man-made beach completed in 1986.
A public waterfront park on the sea, just south of Atami Sun Beach.
1-1 Osakajō, Chūō, Osaka
Tomi is taken ill on the way home and the couple break the journey in Osaka, where their son Keizō lives. The castle keep opens that section.
The concrete keep was built in 1931 and restored in 1997; inside it is a museum.
The castle park is public; the keep houses a museum.
The people
Yasujirō Ozu directed it and wrote it with Kōgo Noda. Chishū Ryū and Chieko Higashiyama play Shūkichi and Tomi; Setsuko Hara is Noriko; Haruko Sugimura is Shige, a part that won her the Mainichi Film Award; So Yamamura is Kōichi and Kyōko Kagawa is Kyōko. Noda suggested the story from Leo McCarey’s Make Way for Tomorrow (1937), which Ozu had not seen.
Cast, writers, the Mainichi award, Make Way for Tomorrow, the release on 3 November 1953 and the 2012 directors’ poll.
The fifteen-hour journey and the Onomichi shoot of 12–19 August 1953.
Ōfuna 6-chōme, Kamakura
Every interior except the Tokyo Station waiting area was built and shot here; set work began on 25 July 1953.
Noriko’s train compartment was a real carriage borrowed from the repair yard at Ōfuna station.
The studio ran from 1936 to 2000. Kamakura Women’s University took over part of the land.
The studio has gone and the site is a university campus. The 1936 founding stone stands by the Sunaoshi River.
Nakakaigan 3-chōme, Chigasaki
Ozu and Kōgo Noda wrote Tokyo Story here in the spring of 1953.
Ozu first stayed in 1937 and from 1941 used Room 2 as his study. Oil stains from his cooking are said to mark its ceiling.
Founded in 1899, it became Chigasaki’s first registered cultural property in 2009.
An inn on a rise above the Shōnan shore. Contact it directly before visiting or staying.
13 places you can visit, from Onomichi to Chigasaki. Kyōko’s school has gone; it is named here and kept off the map.
Pins mark public places; private homes are named but not pinned.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A working temple on the hillside east of the town centre, about 25 minutes’ walk from Onomichi station. The precinct looks over the railway to the sea.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A small shrine on the waterfront beside the Central Pier, a short walk east of the station along the channel.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A working temple up the slope north of the waterfront. Visit quietly; the graveyard is in use.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A working ryōtei inn on the channel, open to diners and guests by reservation. The street front, gate and wall are listed.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: building · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Open 10:00 to 18:00 (last entry 17:30), closed Tuesdays. Adults ¥520; junior-high age and under free. About 15 minutes’ walk from the station.
20-28 Higashikubo-machi, Onomichi
The precinct is the one place in Onomichi where Ozu filmed his actors: Shūkichi watches the dawn and Noriko comes to find him. Every Onomichi interior was a set.
A working temple on the hillside east of the town centre, about 25 minutes’ walk from Onomichi station. The precinct looks over the railway to the sea.
2-10-12 Tsuchidō, Onomichi waterfront
The shrine’s great stone night lantern is the film’s first shot, the first of five views of Onomichi before anyone speaks.
A small shrine on the waterfront beside the Central Pier, a short walk east of the station along the channel.
1-9-1 Nagae, Onomichi
Tomi’s funeral is held at this temple. The ceremony was a set, but five cuts of the graveyard and the hall were filmed here on 17 August 1953.
A working temple up the slope north of the waterfront. Visit quietly; the graveyard is in use.
Kubo 3-chōme, Onomichi
Ozu, his crew and Ryū, Hara and Kagawa stayed here during the shoot. The owner was a cousin of the screenwriter Yanai Takao, one reason Onomichi was chosen.
A working ryōtei inn on the channel, open to diners and guests by reservation. The street front, gate and wall are listed.
1-14-10 Kubo, Onomichi
The city opened it on 22 April 2000 in one of the Meiji-era warehouses that lined the shore.
Open 10:00 to 18:00 (last entry 17:30), closed Tuesdays. Adults ¥520; junior-high age and under free. About 15 minutes’ walk from the station.
Stay
A converted warehouse on the Onomichi waterfront, a walk from the lantern.
Onomichi · Standard twin from ¥19,800
A hotel inside a converted shipping warehouse on the Onomichi channel, a walk along the water from the Sumiyoshi lantern. Twin rooms for two from ¥19,800; check-in 15:00.
See the hotelGo there
Walking tours of Onomichi’s temples and sightseeing buses through central Tokyo.
Onomichi
Live marketplace results for walking tours of Onomichi’s temples and slopes. None is built round this film; check each route for Jōdo-ji and the waterfront.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare toursTokyo
Live marketplace results for bus tours of central Tokyo, the way Noriko shows her in-laws the city. Check each route for the Imperial Palace and Ginza.
Live marketplace results · itineraries change
Compare toursWhat’s on
Autumn and winter fireworks over Atami bay, where the seawall was.
Checking current event dates…
Take it home
A collection of essays on the film, and Donald Richie on Ozu.
Edited by David Desser · Cambridge University Press
A collection of essays on the film, edited by David Desser and published in 1997.
Find the bookDonald Richie · University of California Press
Donald Richie’s book on Ozu and his films.
Find the bookDates, prices, rooms and stock change: confirm with the provider before you travel or buy. A stay or tour is described as a filming location only where the card says so.
Every place and moment behind this page, with sources.
14 of 14 places · 14 of 14 Moments
20-28 Higashikubo-machi, Onomichi
After Tomi dies, Shūkichi watches the sunrise in the temple grounds and Noriko comes to find him.
2-10-12 Tsuchidō, Onomichi waterfront
The film opens on the Sumiyoshi lantern, then the waterfront, a freight train below Jōdo-ji and the cliff, before anyone speaks.
1-9-1 Nagae, Onomichi
The family gather for Tomi’s funeral at the temple.
Former Tsutsuyu Elementary School, Higashikubo-machi, Onomichi
Kyōko checks her watch in class and watches Noriko’s train go by.
Kubo 3-chōme, Onomichi
Ozu’s crew and three of his actors stayed at the inn through the Onomichi shoot.
1-14-10 Kubo, Onomichi
Horikiri station, Senju-Akebonochō and Yanagihara 1-chōme, Adachi
Chimneys, a suburban platform and the Arakawa bank announce Kōichi’s clinic on the city’s edge.
Tomi sits on the embankment while her grandson plays alone.
Rinnō-ji, Ueno Park, Taitō
Turned out for the evening, the couple spend the afternoon in Ueno Park.
Ginza 3-chōme, Chūō
Noriko takes her in-laws on the sightseeing bus and up to the department store roof.
Yaesu, Chiyoda
The children see their parents off under the departure board.
Shinsui Park, Nagisa-chō, Atami
At Atami the couple sit on the seawall and decide to go home early.
1-1 Osakajō, Chūō, Osaka
Tomi falls ill on the train and they stop in Osaka with Keizō.
Ōfuna 6-chōme, Kamakura
The family’s houses, the clinic and the salon were all built on the Ōfuna stages.
Nakakaigan 3-chōme, Chigasaki
Ozu and Noda write the script by the sea.
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