Photo/Illutration From left, Arata Iura, Rena Tanaka and director Tatsuya Mori pose for a photo shoot after finishing the first day of filming "Fukudamura Jiken" (working title). (Provided by Uzumasa Inc.)

Filming will wrap up this month for renowned documentary film director Tatsuya Mori’s first drama, based on the true story of Japanese peddlers brutally killed after unfounded rumors spread following the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake.

Starring Arata Iura and Rena Tanaka, "Fukudamura Jiken" (working title) is scheduled for release in 2023, the 100th anniversary of the deadly earthquake.

The director said that he felt compelled to portray Japan's negative history in a fair manner.

"In modern Japan, I think there is a strong and growing tendency to look away from our negative history," he said. “But I believe that people grow up by remembering their mistakes.”

The film digs deep into dark issues such as discrimination against Koreans and "buraku" communities, where descendants of feudal-era outcasts live.

The slaying of nine street merchants, members of the buraku community, took place in the village of Fukuda, now part of Noda in Chiba Prefecture, on Sept. 6, 1923, five days after the earthquake.

The group of peddlers from Kagawa Prefecture who were selling medicine there were brutally murdered by local vigilantes.

The film traces the daily lives of the perpetrators in detail to show what occurred leading up to the massacre.

Mori, 66, took a similar approach in his documentary films "A" and "A2." He focused on members of the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult responsible for the 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system to examine the incident from the perpetrators' standpoint.

"What struck me was that they were all good and gentle people," he said. "I want to convey that people do not do cruel things because they are cold-blooded."

But the film was not easy to get off the ground.

The production team had difficulties raising funds at first. But it managed to start filming after raising 35 million yen ($253,000), about half of the production costs, through a crowdfunding campaign.

That was not the only hurdle.

In Japan, talent agencies and other entertainment companies often shy away from having their actors appear in films with strong social messages.

But many well-known actors appear in "Fukudamura Jiken."

"I wondered in anguish for a very long time because I felt it was not the kind of film where I could casually say, 'Sure, I'll do it,'" Tanaka said. "In the meantime, Russia invaded Ukraine and made me think that I live in a world where my own safety is not guaranteed, and I decided to appear in it when I found similarities (between Russia's invasion and) the incident at Fukuda village."

Iura has appeared in many films that deal with social themes, such as the United Red Army, Okinawa Prefecture's reversion to Japan and the ritual suicide of writer Yukio Mishima.

"I think this film will be something for which I have to grind my body and soul into dust, but I'm already immune to it," he said with a smile. "It matters a lot to me to see director Mori making a film about the incident at the Fukuda village. I thought it was worth jumping into it."

Principal photography began on Aug. 20.

Shooting will continue until mid-September, mainly in Kyoto and Shiga prefectures.

General producer Sanshiro Kobayashi said they want to submit the movie to overseas film festivals.

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