Okoru Saigyou

2010 Documentary

Having worked in a wide range of fields from children's TV animation scripts to 'pink' films, independent auteur Okishima Isao directs and stars in this documentary. Upon hearing that the walkway along the Tamagawa Aqueduct, one of his favorite spots, was going to be closed to make way for a new road, he gathered his crew to document the scenery. Okishima gives accounts of various painters, writers, and manga artists, as well as his personal take on Saigyo, the traveling poet and Buddhist priest of the late Heian Period.