Ugestu Review: Symbolism of Japan

Ugestu (1953) is a film that portrays two protagonists as they are trying to scrape out a living in feudal Japan. Set when the leading powers of the land where the Samurais and the war-lords who contracted them out, two potters try and make ends meet by selling their wares in the nearby city. Inspired by the will to care for their families and buy expensive gifts for their wives, the two potters take on risky ventures in order to take advantage of the economic boom. The potters know that the impending war is good for business and set out to create as many pieces of pottery as they can. They eventually meet their demise by neglecting their families for the risky opportunities in the city. One of the potters looses his wife to prostitution after he leaves her to become a failure of a Samurai. The other potter abandons his family and marries a phantom enchantress after falling under her treacherous spell.



This film is full of Japanese culture and mythology and when placed in the context of Japan recovering from World War II, Ugestu offers a way to address the issues of defeat and loss that the Japanese people felt tremendously after the war. Using the characters, and their respective actions as a metaphor, the plot of Ugestu can be interpreted as a psychological response to the human and material loss and a way for the Japanese persona to face the future of modernization and increasing influences from other cultures.

The characters of the potters represent the normal, well-meaning people that comprise the bulk of the Japanese population. They are hard working and resourceful people who are trying to make a living with their skills, while living a modest and honorable life. There is no mention in the beginning of Ugestu that suggests that the potters and their families are on the brink of starvation or extreme poverty. They can drink sake, have ample food, and a comfortable place to live. Despite these modest comforts, the two potters take on an ambitious plan to work night and day to increase their income.


This dynamic of the potters living a modest, but comfortable life, is a commentary on the state of Japan prior to their militarization. The feudal state of Japan had been in place for several hundred years and the peasants, Samurais, and war-lords were the social-economic norms. The radicalization of Japan led to an increase in heavy industry that had not been in place in the Japanese economy. The build-up of weapons, ships, planes, and ammunition boosted the economy, as war-building often does, but it eventually led to a massive loss in capital and resources, brought about by the destruction of World War II. The potters are representative of this ambition. They were inspired to expand their power and income potential without looking at the risks involved.


When the potters move to the city, they experience many temptations that lead them to their demise. A noble lady comes by the potters’ stall and casts a spell on one of the potters. The other potter spends his earnings on a suit of armor and chases his foolish dream of becoming a Samurai. As Japan began to seize islands around the South Pacific and threaten Australia, the same dynamics were in place. Ugestu, establishes the metaphor that Japan’s entrance into the war was foolish and risky.


To extend this metaphor, the details about the demise of the potters has a subtle yet striking similarity to the outcome of World War II in Japan. The potter who fell under the spell of the enchantress is symbolic of Japan's quest to increase its economic power through the war. This potter was only concerned with bringing in as much money as possible, regardless of the risk involved. In the end, this potter fell out the spell and found himself lying in a house that had been burned down for many years. Out of all the plot twists that the director of  Ugestu could have employed, a burned building was used. This is a striking symbol for one of the leading causes of death for the Japanese during the war. The extensive fire-bombing campaigns undertaken by the United States Air Force claimed more lives than both nuclear bombs and traditional fighting on the islands. This can be interpreted as the change in the Japanese war-psyche. Only when the cities were burning did the Japanese realize what their war ambition meant.


The second potter eventually became a Samurai, but only because he cheated his way to the top. In doing so, his wife became a prostitute. Many Japanese women during and after World War II became involved in the sex industry. The presence of  military forces brought thousands of young American males to mainland Japan. This social influx of a foreign population was another negative effect on Japan because of World War II. 


Ugestu, while on the surface is a simple fable about not taking unnecessary risks, its commentary in the context of the time in which it was created is significant. Japan was reeling from the massive defeat and trying to understand its place in the new world.  Ugestu, presents a way to deal with these difficult concepts in a symbolic way that plays to the centuries old tradition of Japanese mythology and culture. 

Personal note: 
As an aside, it  was difficult to understand many of the symbols and social contexts of Ugestu and as a result of I may have misinterpreted this film. This is because of my position in relation to the Japanese culture as a Westerner. I am not aware if the director of Ugestu was intending to make a commentary on World War II or not, but because of it year of release, 1953, it is not an implausible claim. It is not appropriate for me to say that Japan's involvement in World War II was foolish or not foolish and it is not the intention of this paper to determine that fact, there is simply evidence to suggest that given the context of the film and its plot, this might have been the intended message of Ugestu.