is a 1935 Japanese comedy-drama and shà Âshimin-eiga film directed by Heinosuke Gosho.
Elderly couple Shà Âzà  and Tamoko have just successfully married away the third and youngest of their daughters, but get into an argument over their son Kanichi, who is still in elementary school. Shà Âzà  argues that he and Tamoko had Kanichi far too late, and instead of paying for his education another twenty years, he should be taken out of school and sent to work. Tamoko protests his proposition, which infuriates Shà Âzà  so much that he demands that she leaves the house.
Tamoko and Kanichi move into the apartment of daughter Itsuko and her husband. Shà Âzà  has increasing doubts about his attitude towards Kanichi, and when his son shows up at his former home, he indulges him and feeds him his favourite food. Tamoko, asked to show more understanding for her husband's perspective by her acquaintances and Itsuko, follows their advice and returns to Shà Âzà Â.
Burden of Life was released in Japan on 10 December 1935 and reached #6 in Kinema Junpo's list of the best films of the year. In 1985, it was screened at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive.
For John Gillett of the British Film Institute, Burden of Life is "imbued with a naturalistic tone and âÂÂlived in' visual texture quite beyond American and European cinema of the time". David Owens of the Japan Film Center emphasises the film's character development: "Each of the family members is carefully drawn and each grows before us as an individual, surpassing the sort of character typing that was usual for family melodramas."