Set in the Edo period along the Kanda River during the Kawabiraki festival that marks the beginning of the boating season, this silent black-and-white film centers on two women. The younger woman, who appears to be the daughter of a wealthy merchant, is lured by a handsome man into a secluded spot for a sexual encounter. At the last moment, a passing boatman spots them, causing the startled woman to fall into the river. The older woman accompanying her, portrayed as a mother or wet nurse, then beckons the boatman over, and the encounter resumes while she watches as a voyeur.

The film was independently produced around 1932 by Hakuzan Kimura, an artist active in early Japanese animation who worked on educational films and adaptations of comics. Created in an ukiyo-e style that evokes traditional Japanese prints while incorporating realistic Western draftsmanship, Suzumi-bune was reportedly planned as a two-reel work. However, shortly after the first reel was completed, the Koishikawa Police Station raided Kimura's home, confiscated the film on obscenity charges, and arrested the director. The second reel was never made. A 16mm duplicate was circulated clandestinely as a blue film during the prewar period, but the original 35mm confiscated print was long considered lost. The film holds historical significance as the earliest known Japanese animated pornographic work.

In the early twenty-first century, a 35mm element believed to be the confiscated version was donated to what is now the National Film Archive of Japan, confirming its survival after roughly seventy years. Despite this rediscovery, the film remains inaccessible to the public due to donor-imposed restrictions that prevent its screening or viewing, making it effectively a phantom film known only through written descriptions and hearsay.