Wakayama: Volunteer Amateur Film Crew Makes Independent Films Based on Kumano Area

The Yomiuri Shimbun

10:57 JST, September 21, 2024

NACHI-KATSUURA, Wakayama — An amateur film crew made up of volunteers in Nachi-Katsuura, Wakayama Prefecture, has made independent short films featuring the Kumano area, which includes the town.

Kumano eiga wo tsukuru kai, a group that aims to pass down the Kumano area’s folktales through films, was formed in 2010 and comprises about 50 people.

So far, it has produced “The Kumano legend I: Princess Kasu” in 2010 and “The Kumano legend II: The tale of Kumano Bikuni-Orin” in 2012. The group screened the films in Tokyo and Osaka Prefecture for free.

The group’s third movie, “The Kumano legend III: Yunagi,” is a love story set in the mid-Edo period (1603-1867) in what is now Shingu, Wakayama Prefecture. The story is about Ochizu, a farmer’s daughter, taking a trip to a shrine in Kumano to make a wish while she waits for her lover, Yoichi, to come back from a whaling expedition. In one scene, Ochizu and Yoichi walk along a beach and are teased by women who are looking for clams.

Filming began in late July with a cast and crew of about 60 people and is set to finish by the end of March. The group will then begin screening the film in spring.

The film’s director, Katsuyasu Nakata, 74, said the current movie will be their last film.

“We want to make this film to present to the audience the wonder and beauty of Kumano,” he said.