Character Relationship Map: Will to Live

Characters

• Yasukichi (played by Rentaro Mikuni) — protagonist

  An elderly widower whose repeated incontinence and collapses lead to hospital stays and, eventually, admission to a retirement home. He visits Mount Kamuriki, reads Tokuko a book about the ubasute cus...

• Tokuko (played by Shinobu Otake) — supporting

  Yasukichi's eldest daughter, who lives with him and says she is suffering from bipolar disorder when the doctor asks her to take him home. Although she eventually cares for him and urges him to enter...

• Yasukichi's lover (played by Naoko Ohtani) — supporting

  A woman who had an affair with Yasukichi years earlier, after the death of his wife, and now runs a bar. When Yasukichi comes to her establishment and soils his clothes, she throws him out. His encoun...

• Doctor (played by Akira Emoto) — supporting

  A doctor who accidentally runs over Yasukichi with his bicycle while Yasukichi is lying on the pavement. He takes him to hospital and contacts Tokuko, asking her to bring her father home. Later, he ad...

• Village chief (played by Masahiko Tsugawa) — cameo
• Village chief's lover (played by Tokuko Watanabe) — cameo

Canonical Relationships

Family, romantic, and professional connections based on plot evidence.

• Doctor → Tokuko (Professional Medical Contact) — The Doctor connects Yasukichi's medical treatment with Tokuko's family responsibility.

  The Doctor rings Tokuko after bringing Yasukichi to the hospital and communicates about his condition.

• Yasukichi → Doctor (Professional Patient) — The Doctor provides emergency and continuing medical care to Yasukichi.

  After a bicycle accident, the Doctor takes Yasukichi to the hospital, and Yasukichi is repeatedly hospitalized afterward.

• Yasukichi → Yasukichi's lover (Romantic Former Lover) — They share a past affair that still connects Yasukichi to the bar.

  Yasukichi visits a bar run by a woman with whom he had an affair years earlier, after his wife's death.

• Yasukichi → Tokuko (Family Father) — Yasukichi is Tokuko's elderly father.

  The Doctor contacts Tokuko because she is Yasukichi's eldest daughter, and she lives with him.

Story Dynamics

Alliances, conflicts, and narrative interactions that evolve throughout the story.

• Village chief's lover → Village chief (lover)
• Yasukichi's lover → Yasukichi (lover)

Story Analysis

An aging father's decline forces his daughter to confront abandonment, responsibility, and the meaning of family care.

Plot Progression

1. Mountain and Rejection — Yasukichi encounters the ubasute legend and returns to a bar run by his former lover. His physical humiliation leads directly to an accident and hospitalization.
2. A Daughter Takes Responsibility — The Doctor contacts Tokuko after Yasukichi's hospitalization. Although she is reluctant, she takes her father home and becomes responsible for his worsening condition.
3. The Legend Within the Home — Yasukichi reads an account of an elderly widow preparing for abandonment. The story mirrors the family's growing anxiety about aging, dependence, and rejection.
4. Decline and Institutional Care — Yasukichi repeatedly collapses and is hospitalized. Family distance and the Doctor's advice culminate in Yasukichi accepting placement in a retirement home.
5. Carried Beyond Abandonment — Tokuko feels guilty and alone after leaving her father at the retirement home. She returns and carries him away on her back, echoing the ubasute imagery.