Shinjuku scenes from: Mud Spattered Purity 泥だらけの純情 (1963)

The opening scenes of Mud Spattered Purity 泥だらけの純情 (Dorodarake no junjo) (1963) are extremely exciting for someone who enjoys seeing historical images of Tokyo. The camera lingers for a few beats on several views of the Shinjuku Station area.

They are:

Image 1: Shinjuku Station West Exit 新宿駅西口

Related images: Shinjuku Station West Exit 新宿駅西口（新宿区）

Image 2: Shinjuku Mitsukoshi

This image is taken from the east exit of Shinjuku Station, facing east. Three items of interest are:

• an advertising balloon (ad balloon) floats above the city (upper-right)

• the Mitsukoshi Department Store, seen in a similar angle in a photo from 1958:

• the Mitsukoshi building is seen again in the following photo (now looking west). Also seen here is the star-shaped logo of “Snow Brand Hokkaido Butter” 雪印北海道バター / 雪印バター (a still from “Danger Stalks Near”):

Image 3: Street scene

Based on the angle of the sun, I assume this is facing east. The road appears to cross under the train tracks near Shinjuku Dai Guard 新宿大ガード, just north of Shinjuku Station. The tower with the yellow top (appears to be in the shape of a frothy beer), is seen in the first image.

A very similar photo from 1963 (source). One noticeable difference is that the tall building at the right has been completed (the “Zig-Zag” sign),

And a closer look of the frothy beer sign:

Image 4: Koma Stadium 新宿コマ・スタジアム 

The bottom-left of the image contains the final letters of the sign for Koma Stadium (photo source). This is located in the heart of Shinjuku’s Kabuki-cho; this is now the location of the new Toho Cinema complex 「新宿東宝ビル」 (with Godzilla on the roof).

A few notes about the film: it is about an innocent schoolgirl (Sayuri Yoshinaga 吉永小百合) who befriend a boy with a troubled upbringing. I’ve enjoyed Yoshinaga ever since seeing her in City of Cupolas キューポラのある街 (1962). The director is Kō Nakahira 中平康, probably best known for the “Sun Tribe” classic, Crazed Fruit 狂った果実 (1956). See: Juvenile Jungle – The Films of Ko Nakahira. Note: I’ve also seen the movie title translated as “Muddy Pure Heart”

See also:

• 泥だらけの純情 (Japanese Wikipedia)
• MUD SPATTERED PURITY (Nippon Connection – Japanese Film Festival)
• The topography of 1960s Korean youth film: between plagiarism and adaptation
• Japanese films 日本映画
• Shinjuku panorama 新宿パノラマ, 1952-1955
• 新宿大ガード “Shinjuku large guard” (Railroad bridge overpass)

See also, Shinjuku in film:

• Shinjuku Station, east exit, in 1957, from “Danger Stalks Near”
• Shinjuku Golden Gai and Toden streetcar, from 「無頼」より 大幹部 Burai yori daikanbu (1968), aka Outlaw: Gangster VIP