Kwaidan (怪談)

KWAIDAN

A NINJIN CLUB PRODUCTION

Produced by SHIGERU WAKATSUKI

Original Stories by YAKUMO KOIZUMI Screenplay by YOKO MIZUKI

Cinematography by YOSHIO MIYAJIMA

Music and Sound Effects by TORU TAKEMITSU

Production Design by SHIGEMASA TODA

Lighting by AKIRA AOMATSU

Starring

THE BLACK HAIR

MICHIYO ARATAMA MISAKO WATANABE, RENTARO MIKUNI

KENJIRO ISHIYAMA RANKO AKAGI

THE WOMAN OF THE SNOW

TATSUYA NAKADAI KEIKO KISHI

YUKO MOCHIZUKI

HOICHI THE EARLESS

KATSUO NAKAMURA TETSURO TAN BA

TAKASl SHIIVIUFKA YCDICI HAYASHI, EIKO MURAMATSU

KUNIE TANAKA, MASANOFII TOMOTAKE TOKUE HANAZAWA

IN A CUP OF TEA

KANEMON NAKAMURA, OSAMU TAKIZAWA, HARUKO SUGIMURA

GANJIFIO NAKAMURA NOBORU NAKAYA, SEIJI MIYAGUCHI

KEI SATO TOIVIOKO NAFIAOKA

Directed by MASAKI KOBAYASHI

THE BLACK HAIR

In old Kyoto there was a young samurai...

who had been reduced to poverty by the ruin of his lord.

He decided to leave his home

and enter the service of the governor of a distant province.

Be well.

I cannot stay. I have a future.

A man must rise in the world.

I can't throw that away for you...

and rot away in this place.

Must you leave Kyoto?

I'll work even harder than before.

I'll weave day and night. I'll slave for a better life.

Please reconsider.

If I lose this chance, I'll be finished.

I finally got a post. Don't try to stop me!

And you'd be happier married to a man from a good family.

I've had enough

of this unending poverty!

You'll be leaving early in the morning,

so we shall conclude for the evening.

Prepare for the bridal chamber.

Our daughter is finally married.

A burden has truly been lifted.

We are pleased to welcome you into our family.

Unworthy though I am.

He understands just how indebted he is to you.

Please take care of our daughter always.

I Will.

The samurai did not understand the value of love.

He abandoned his devoted wife,

married a noble woman to advance his career,

and took her to his new post.

It was the rashness of a young man suffocating from poverty.

His second marriage did' not prove a happy one.

His new wife was selfish and cold.

He thought back on his iife in Kyoto with unbearable longing.

He realized he still loved his first wife

more than he could ever love his second.

He realized further

just how irresponsible and ungratefull he had been.

Memories of the woman he had wronged...

her soft speech...

her smile...

her gentle demeanor...

her impeccable patience -

all this haunted him constantly.

Enough!

Always the same games.

I'm bored to death.

You may all take your leave.

Please don't wait up any longer.

It seems the master is still reading.

Ungrateful wretch!

You're only here due to my family's standing.

You used us.

But all you do is long for what you remember of the past.

You don't even notice me!

The evening dew will harm your health.

Please go to your chambers

and tend to her ladyship through the night.

You mean watch her sleep?

That's your duty.

You mustn't say that.

Let her return to her parents tomorrow if she wishes.

I can't bear watching her sulk any longer.

Please tell her that.

It turns out I was just young and stupid.

I'll find the wife I deserted...

and make amends for my sins.

Yet the years wen! by.

His period of service came to an end.

/t was September 70 Wheh he reached the street /'h Kyoto

where i713 first wife had lived.

It was the dead of night, and the c/ty was as silent as a graveyard.

When did you return to Kyoto?

Just now.

Just this moment.

It's so dark...

yet still you found your way.

You must be tired. - No, don't get up.

Don't trouble yourself. - I'll boil some water -

I don't need any.

You haven't aged a day.

You look exactly the same.

I couldn't forget your face for a moment.

I longed to hear your voice.

Forgive me.

I'm a cruel man.

I'm a fool.

I deserve your scorn.

To the day my service ended,

I thought so often about coming back to you.

How deeply I regretted my selfishness.

How wretched I was without you...

how tormented by the irreparable harm I'd done.

All I could think about was how to make amends.

Above all, I wanted to rush back

to Kyoto and find you.

I ran frantically in the dark.

To worry yourself like that...

over someone like me...

Forgive me.

Please forgive rne.

I was such a fool.

You mustn't punish yourself.

Please don't torment yourself on my account.

In truth, I never felt worthy of being your wife.

But you are!

Even though I knew I wasn't,

I clung to you, always a burden.

Yet my leaving you was so cruel.

It was because of the poverty.

You were always kind to me.

Why should I think ill of you?

I silently prayed for your good fortune...

every day and night.

I'll make amends.

That's all right.

You traveled a long way home.

That has already brought me happiness.

Even if we can be together like this only for a moment.

Only for a moment?

Teil me we'll be together for seven lifetimes.

Unless you forbid it,

I'll stay with you always.

Nothing will ever separate us again.

Your fragrant hair.

It's the same as before.

The same glossy black hair...

those eyes...

that lovely nose...

those soft cheeks...

and -

I've forgotten my sorrow.

Many things have happened in Kyoto since you went away.

I imagine so.

Too much to tell in a single night.

Soon it will be dawn.

I missed this room as well.

We made love for the first time here.

It holds the memories of so many nights.

I don't want to sleep now.

I want to speak with you of the past, the present, and the future...

and savor this happiness I feel now.

I feel as if this were a dream.

I want to treasure the happiness of your return.

I don't want to sleep for even a second.

THE WOMAN OF THE SNOW

In a v/Y/age /'/7 Musash/ province

there lived two woodcuflers." Mosaku and ll/I/rzok/Ch/I

Mosaku was an old man...

and his apprentice Minokichi was a boy of 18.

Every day they went to a forest a few miles away from the village.

One very cold day, a blizzard overtook them on their way home.

The boatman had left his boat on the other side of the river.

It was no day for swimming.

I intended to do to you...

what I did to that other man.

But I couldn't help pitying you...

because you're so young.

You're a handsome boy.

I won't harm you.

But...

if you ever tell anybody about what you've seen tonight,

even your own mother,

I will know of it...

and I will kill you.

Remember what I just told you.

Understand?

I'll be going now.

I have to sell some wood. We need money.

You won't be able to work for some time.

Until it gets warmer...

and you've recovered all your strength.

Your porridge is getting cold.