The main theme of this film centers on the importance of teacher/pupil rapport. The sub-theme points out the futility of war.
It is 1928, and Hisako Oishi becomes the teacher of the primary school on Island in the Seto Inland Sea. Her pupils, the sons and daughters of the village shop keepers, number an even dozen. Her habit of wearing Western clothes in an age when the kimono was still norm and of riding a bicycle instead of sedately walking as a respectable teacher should, at first makes the villagers uneasy.
Yet Hisako quickly gains the confidence of the children and experiences the heartbreaks and happiness of one who is sincerely interested in and dedicated to the welfare of her pupils. Five years pass, the growing children have reached the fifth grade, and Hisako takes them out on an excursion. There, she is saddened to learn that one of them is to be sent away due to the father’s poverty.
Hisako marries the captain of a sightseeing boat and begins a family of her own. Meanwhile, her pupils suffer various heartbreaks when they cannot enter the upper schools they had planned on or take up the careers they had dreamed of. The escalation of the war alarms Hisako, and even more alarming to her is the desire of her boys to become soldiers for their homeland. She emphasizes the dislike of both soldiers and war, but she is helpless in the face of the situation.
Eight years later the war is over and the village cemetery is filled with the graves of those who died in battle. In spite of her years, Hisako decides to return to teaching at the little school. A welcoming reception is planned for her by her original pupils, but of the original twelve, only a few women and a blind man who had lost battle are left. It has been a long, hard time for the former pupils, their teacher and the nation. However, their hope for the future is reflected in the new bicycle – just like her old one — that the former pupils present to Hisako.

Color / Vista Vision / 1987 / 129 min. / Shochiku & 3 other movie companies

Cast
Hisako Oishi……………………….. Yuko Tanaka
Her husband……………………… Tetsuya Takeda
Her mother………………….…….. Sumie- Sasaki
Masumo….………………….…….. Misako Konno
Isokichi……………………………. Taro Kawano
Sanae …………………………….. Naoko Nozawa
Matsue……………………………. Miho Takagi
Principal…………………………. Tatsuo Matsumura
Narrator……………………..……. Kiyoshi Atsumi

Production Group
Executive Producers…………..Shizuo Yamanouchi
Shinji Nakagawa/Yoichi Hattori/Yozo Isosaki
Producers ……………………..Takeshi Motomura/Toru Najima
Toshihiro Iijima
From a novel by ……………… Sakae Tsuboi
Screenplay………………………Keisuke Kinoshita
Yoshitaka Asama
Photography …………………… Mitsufumi Hanada
Art Director ………………………Nobutaka Yoshino
Music……………………………. Shigeaki Saegusa
Director ………………………… Yoshitaka Asama