Set in the Taisho era, which might be regarded as Japan's Hippie Phase, Hana no ran is a story about fashionable people without impulse control. Much of the action centers on a popular woman writer, the real-life poet Akiko Yosano, and her experiences among the literati of early 20th century Japan. Because of her independent, anti-war and often erotic poetry, she was a lightning rod for revolutionaries and other extremists, many of whom were destined to glamorous, yet ultimately pointless, deaths. The closest parallels might be the Byron/Shelley group or the people drawn to the Beat Generation.
Japanese study overview
Hana no Ran is a Japanese movie of 15,995 characters, with 1,900 unique words and 827 different kanji. Its difficulty rating on Jiten is hard, 3.9 out of 5. The full vocabulary list ranks all 1,900 words by how often they appear, and you can study them on Jiten or download them as an Anki deck.
Vocabulary highlights
Here are some of the words that appear most often in this media, as well as a sample of its rarer vocabulary.
- 私I×89
- 先生teacher×57
- 母さんmother×27
- 言うto say×21
- 死ぬto die×21
- 今now×16
- 時time×16
- 君you×15
- 人person×15
- 帰るto return×15
- 思うto think×15
- 有島Arishima×14
- 須磨子Sumako×12
- 登美子Tomiko×12
- 晶子Akiko×8
- 危篤critical condition×8
- 与謝野Yosano×7
- 寛lenient×7
- 近代劇modern drama×4
- 共生coexistence×4