One of the most sublime color films ever made, Ballad of Orin follows the hardscrabble life of a wandering outcast goze (blind female musician) in early 20th-century Japan. Cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa and director Masahiro Shinoda interviewed surviving goza of the time to capture “a sense of the ideal beauty that these blind women had inwardly visualized.
Director: Masahiro Shinoda. AKA Ballad of Orin AKA はなれ瞽女おりん
Writers: Keiji Hasebe (screenplay), Tsutomu Minakami (author-story), Masahiro Shinoda (screenplay).
Stars: Shima Iwashita, Yoshio Harada, Tomoko Naraoka, Kirin Kiki, Toshiyuki Nishida, Tôru Abe, Keiko Nakamura, Ako Tomizawa, Rie Yokoyama, Jun Hamamura, Takako Minekawa, Izumi Hara, Kaoru Kobayashi, Taiji Tonoyama, Mansaku Fuwa.
Cinematographer: Kazuo Miyagawa.
Composer: Tôru Takemitsu.
⇓ DOWNLOAD OPTIONS ⇓
ENCODE:
MP4 | 3.47 GB | 960×720 | 23.976 FPS | 4000 kb/s | AAC 192 kb/s
Language: Japanese | Subtitles: English (hard)
⇒ DL via 1FICHIER
(DO NOT USE WITHOUT ADBLOCKER)
SOURCE FILE:
MKV | 9.22 GB | 1440×1080 | 23.976 FPS | 10,900 kb/s | E-AC3 224 kb/s
Language: Japanese | Subtitles: English (soft)
⇒ DL via 1FICHIER
(DO NOT USE WITHOUT ADBLOCKER)

Absolutely gorgeous movie. Some of these shots are just mind-blowingly pretty.
Hope it’s okay for you to upload this; Criterion has this on the Channel, though I know that’s not all regions.
Should be fine, it’s a shame Criterion is only available in the U.S. and Canada.
Super. Thank you.
….such beautiful songs……. melodrama drowns the authenticity.
Is that negative? Interesting comment. Maybe why Masahiro Shinoda is not as highly regarded as I think he should be? He and Ms. Shima Iwashita output during the 1970’s I like very much. Melodrama or not so many little details: from the opening man losing hat to image of child hand being blown in the wind, carrying child along shoreline then trying to warm her bare legs, watching Orin wanting-ly keep scooching toward Big Man, etc. Hell the way Orin eats a rice ball. Love it, fills my head and heart. Maybe it is authentic like a collection of love poems. 🙂
A difference to the blind masseurs of Japan, and I guess, especially to the Zatoichi movies of which I have seen a few.