On their way to
Osaka, Masako and her parents pass the port town of Onomichi, where a festival is taking place. Her father, a peddler, decides to make a stop, hoping for good business with his potions which he sells as "medicine" while accompanying his praises with his accordion. The maturing Masako is constantly hungry, for which she is repeatedly scolded and even slapped by her mother, who argues that they have no money. The father's business is a success, so he rents a small, unclean flat and sends Masako to school, where she is mocked as the daughter of "O-ichi-ni", a
Charlie Chaplin character, by her schoolmates. When a rainy season sets in, the family's financial situation tightens, and the father has to pledge his accordion, while the mother earns money by doing piece work. Later, the father starts selling "beauty potions" which he received from a different manufacturer. When it turns out that the potions consist merely of flour, he is taken to the police station, where he is beaten and humiliated in front of his wife and daughter. Masako runs away, saddened, ashamed and angry, with "the sound of cogwheels ringing in my ears forever". ==Publication history and legacy==