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Dr. Noboru Yasumoto: It smells like rotten fruit.
Genzo Tsugawa: It's the smell of the poor.
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Genzo Tsugawa: We knew you were coming two weeks ago. It seems he likes you. He's unfriendly to people he likes. Not me. He never finds fault with me. He ignores me completely.
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Dr. Handayu Mori: The pain and loneliness of death frighten me. But Dr. Niide looks at it differently. He looks into their hearts as well as their bodies.
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Genzo Tsugawa: [Showing the newly-arrived Yasumoto around the clinic] It's terrible here. You'll have to stay and see for yourself. The patients are slum people, full of fleas and lice. They even smell bad. We don't get much money. And Red Beard is after us night and day.
Dr. Noboru Yasumoto: "Red Beard"?
Genzo Tsugawa: The head doctor. His beard is sort of reddish.
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Genzo Tsugawa: It's really terrible here. Being here makes you wonder why you wanted to be a doctor.
Dr. Noboru Yasumoto: [Suddenly noticing an unpleasant odor] It smells like rotten fruit.
Genzo Tsugawa: It's the smell of the poor.
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Genzo Tsugawa: [Showing Yasumoto a waiting room filled with sick people] The waiting room for outpatients. They're treated for free in the afternoons...
Genzo Tsugawa: [Giving a heavy sigh] I don't know... All of them would be better off dead.
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Dr. Noboru Yasumoto: Are these things the rule here?
Genzo Tsugawa: Red Beard's rules. He's the dictator here. A good doctor, dedicated to his work. Many daiyamo and rich people trust him. But he's stubborn, inconsiderate, radical... and proud.
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Dr. Kyojô Niide: [At dinner with the other staff: the newly-arrived Yasumoto refuses to eat] Why don't you eat, Yasumoto?
Dr. Noboru Yasumoto: I don't want to!
Dr. Kyojô Niide: Does it mean that you're not hungry, or that the food doesn't suit you?
Dr. Noboru Yasumoto: It means this place doesn't suit me.
Dr. Kyojô Niide: Even bad food tastes good if you chew it well. Same with our work here if you try hard.
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Dr. Noboru Yasumoto: [shouting an order to the kitchen staff] Go and get me some sake!
Genzo Tsugawa: We don't drink sake here.
Dr. Noboru Yasumoto: That's why I'll drink! I'll break every rule! No uniform. I'll be such a nuisance he'll ask me to leave!
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Dr. Kyojô Niide: [At Lord Matsudaira's mansion: the overweight lord and his chamberlain are being counseled by Dr. Niide] As I've said, you're not ill, my lord. But you're in much worse condition. It is due to a life of luxury and ease. You indulge in rich food, you hold nothing heavier than chopsticks. Fat gathers, intake and discharge lose their balance.
Dr. Kyojô Niide: [Now reviewing the lord's menu with the chamberlain] I told you that white rice is detrimental to his health... One bowl of seven parts wheat and three parts rice at each meal... No fowl, meat or eggs... And not too much fish or salt...
Dr. Kyojô Niide: [the overweight lord looks on, obviously distressed that he's being put on a strict diet] Keep to this for 100 days.
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Tokubei Izumiya: Pardon my abrupt question, but is it true that doctors play no part in life and death?
Dr. Kyojô Niide: It seems so.
Tokubei Izumiya: The people meant to live recover, and those meant to die pass away? Doctors have nothing to do with it?
Dr. Kyojô Niide: It may mean that.
Tokubei Izumiya: Bad and good doctors are the same, then? Expensive medicines and those sold in pharmacies are the same? Of course, an eminent doctor like yourself is different, I am sure...
Dr. Kyojô Niide: Don't make me an exception. Don't hold back. Say what's on your mind.
Tokubei Izumiya: I'm afraid I have displeased you.
Dr. Kyojô Niide: Of course not. All doctors have to butter up rich men.
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Dr. Handayu Mori: [In the background, the women cooks can be heard calling Chobo's name into a well. Tsugawa is confused by this] The cooks are calling Chobo back. There's a belief that if you call into a well, you can call a dying person back. Wells lead to the bottom of the earth.
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Dr. Kyojô Niide: Poverty's a political problem they say. But what has politics ever done for the poor? Has a law been passed to get rid of poverty and ignorance?
Dr. Noboru Yasumoto: But this place! Government funds-...
Dr. Kyojô Niide: Better this than nothing. The problem is deeper than that. If it weren't for poverty, half of these people wouldn't be sick. I know. There is always some story of great misfortune behind illness.
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Heikichi: I began drinking when I was 9, and I've been drinking ever since. I can't say when I'm sober - but I know what I'm doing when I'm drunk.
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Genzo Tsugawa: We eat here. It's called the dining room. We must not eat or drink in our rooms. They're all Red Beard's rules.
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Genzo Tsugawa: She's a special patient. The whole house is a prison. Osugi has the key and no one gets in. The girl isn't let out either. She's called "the mantis."
Dr. Noboru Yasumoto: The mantis?
Genzo Tsugawa: It's a good nickname. The female eats the male after they mate. She'd do the same thing. No one knows who she is, but it seems she's the daughter of a merchant. She killed three clerks there. She'd seduce them first. When they'd get excited over her, she'd stab them with a hairpin.
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Osugi: It's hard to believe men.
Dr. Noboru Yasumoto: I don't believe women. I've suffered enough for believing one.
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Dr. Kyojô Niide: You were drunk and men have a weakness for pretty girls. That's all. Don't be ashamed, but let it be a lesson to you.
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Dr. Kyojô Niide: Medical science doesn't know everything. We know the symptoms and how things go. If the patient has a chance, we try to help. But that's about all.
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Dr. Kyojô Niide: Nothing's so solemn as a man's last moments.
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Dr. Noboru Yasumoto: I'm no good at all! I'm selfish. And self-satisfied. How am I unfortunate? Rokusuke and Sahachi were, but they died without complaint. Look at Otoyo. I'm so fortunate it's almost embarrassing. I'm no good! I blamed Chigusa and yet almost let that mad girl kill me. I was vain, proud of being a doctor just back from Nagasaki. I was too good for this clinic. I even held you in contempt, despised you. I'm a despicable man. I'm conceited and insincere.
Dr. Kyojô Niide: Yasumoto, you're tired.
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Madame Yasumoto, Noboru's mother: You look different. Like a man who's just had a bath.
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Dr. Kyojô Niide: Your daughter's more and more sane now. That's why she wanted to die. Perhaps it was kinder to let her, but I'm a doctor.
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Dr. Noboru Yasumoto: When she stares at me, I don't know what to do. Her eyes are suspicious, insolent and very lonely.
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Dr. Kyojô Niide: Don't touch her. Your hand will rot.
Kin, the madam: Rot? What do you mean?
Dr. Kyojô Niide: You're rotten to the core! Smell yourself! Sickening!
Kin, the madam: What's this? I'm not!
Dr. Kyojô Niide: Your nose must have rotted too!
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Otoyo: I made rice balls for you today.
Chôji: You needn't have.
Otoyo: Why?
Chôji: We're going somewhere nice.
Otoyo: Where?
Chôji: It's far away. But we don't have to worry about food and it's fun there.
Otoyo: You've a rich relative far away?
Chôji: That's about it. It's not too cold or too hot there. Flowers bloom all the time. And lots of pretty birds I've never seen. My father and mother said so.
Otoyo: Is there a place like that?
Chôji: Yes, there is - to the west.
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Dr. Noboru Yasumoto: You taught me the road to take. So I will take it.
Dr. Kyojô Niide: You overestimate me.
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[last lines]
Dr. Noboru Yasumoto: You're a fool!
Dr. Kyojô Niide: I owe it to you.
Dr. Kyojô Niide: You're young, so you talk like that. You'll regret it.
Dr. Noboru Yasumoto: So you give me your permission?
Dr. Kyojô Niide: I repeat: You'll regret it!
Dr. Noboru Yasumoto: I'll have to find that out myself. Thank you.
Dr. Kyojô Niide: Hmmp!
Red Beard Quotes
Extended Reading
