Set in the Yoshiwara red-light district of Tokyo at the end of the Meiji period, Growing Up is the story of a young girl who is doomed from birth to a life of prostitution. Only gradually does she become aware of her fate. She falls in love with a young acolyte of the nearby temple before she enters one of the Yoshiwara brothels.
“Gosho's humanism...closely resembles that of De Sica in his compassionate portrayal of the common life, or Chaplin in his broad humanity. In fact, ‘Gosho-ism,' now an accepted critical term often used by Japanese writers on the film, has been defined as a style incorporating ‘something that makes you laugh and cry at the same time.'” --Anderson and Richie, “The Japanese Film”