Twenty-four Eyes

This is a story set on Shodoshima, a small island in the Inland Sea and the lives surrounding a primary school teacher, Miss Oishi, and the twelve island children (the twenty-four eyes of the title) in her first class. In the course of the novel, Miss Oishi faces problems of acceptance by the children and their parents, then ideological criticism from the educational authorities, then wartime privations and losses in her family and among her pupils. Differences of class, gender, and political opinion are finally rendered less important than a common experience of suffering. The book concludes with a tearful graduation reunion between the bereaved teacher and her original pupils, whose ranks are sadly depleted by the suffering of the past decade. "Twenty-four Eyes", first published in Japanese as "Nijushi no Hitomi" in 1952, immediately became a bestseller. It was made into a film two years later by Keisuke Kinoshita, a leading director, winning the Best Film of the year. In 1987, it was filmed for a second time.