Mutsuta's wife (portrayed by Takako Iris) is shown to have blackened teeth. This was a customary Japanese way of signifying that a woman was married, especially fashionable with courtiers in the Imperial Court. This practice is known as ohaguro.
All of the camellias used in the film were artificial. The leaves were real and taken from a Sakai plant. Every morning before shooting, the leaves were replaced to prevent them from looking old.
The scene where a single blossom falls into a rushing stream was difficult to pull off. Originally the crew considered using piano wire but were afraid the light glinting on it would show up on film. A female costume designer suggested unraveling a woman's stocking and using the nylon due to its strength and invisibility. When it worked, property master Shoji Jinbo said the happiness he felt at that moment was "indescribable".
While most of the sets were built in the studio or out in the lot, the shrine in the first scene was a real, unused shrine in Gotemba. It is still standing as of 2007.