Ghost Story

Directed by
 Budget

Ghost Story (also known as Kwaidan or Ghost Story's) is a 1965 toho horror film,Directed by Masaki Kobayashi.

## Plot

### The Black hair

Old Kyoto. A poor samurai man abandons his wife and heads to a faraway place to marry a daughter of good family. However, the daughter was a selfish and ruthless woman. The man always remembered his ex-wife and regretted his selfishness. Eventually, the man who returned to Kyoto after finishing his term headed to the house where his wife was, and there was the figure of his wife weaving. The man apologized for himself, cared for his wife, and spent the night with him, but at dawn, when he woke up, he had long black hair beside him. It grew from the skull of his wife Skull.

### Snow woman

Minokichi of Musashikuni goes to Mosaku and Mori for firewood, but due to the snowstorm, he decided to stay overnight in a mountain hut in the forest. That night, Minokichi witnesses a woman in a white kimono. The woman extinguished Mohsaku with white breath to freeze it and disappeared from the hut, telling Minokichi, "Don't tell anyone you've seen tonight. If you do, I'll kill you." A year later, Minokichi went to the forest to collect firewood, and on his way home he met a young, beautiful woman named Oyuki, who married her and was blessed with three children. Enlightened by the women in the village and living happily on one snowy night, Minokichi looks at the snow and suddenly speaks funnyly about the snow woman she met 10 years ago in a mountain hut. Oyuki, who was confused but finished listening, said, "The woman is me. If the children are unhappy, they have no life...", and they disappear into the snowstorm.

### Hoichi Hoashi's story...

One blind man, the biwa technician, was taken to a certain place one night by a man in armor who appeared in front of him, saying, "I came to pick up a noble man to listen to the biwa." Hoichi plays and sings on the Biwa at the battle of Dannoura in "Heikemonogatari". Then the samurai appeared every night in honor of Hoichi, and Hoichi repeatedly played the Biwa. The priest at the temple worries about Hoichi going out every night, and lets Terao's Yahagi and Matsuzo follow Hoichi. That night, Terao, who followed Hoichi, saw him playing the biwa in front of the Heike's graveyard where human souls flew. The chief priest writes down Hannya Sutra on all of Hoichi's body possessed by the vengeful spirit of the Heike . Samurai who came to pick up Hoichi as usual that night called Hoichi's name many times, but there was no reply. However, I had two ears floating in the air, so I tear them apart and took them home. Hoichi holds both ears in agony. The priest had forgotten to write the sutra only in Hoichi's ears. After that, Hoichi was called Hoshinashi Hoichi and his fame was heard far away.

### In a bowl

Kannai, a vassal of Sadomori Nakagawa, draws water into a teacup and drinks water at a teahouse on the way to the beginning of the year, but he notices that a stranger's face is reflected in the water of the teacup. Even if the water was changed or the bowl was changed, the same man's face was reflected. Eventually he drank water that reflected the man's face. That night, a young samurai named Shikibu Hirauchi appears in Kannai, who is working at night. The man was a man who appeared in a bowl during the day. Kannai slashed him, but disappeared. After returning to the mansion, Kannai is visited by three samurai. Three people, called vassals of Hirauchi, said, "My husband has been slashed by you and is undergoing medical treatment. I will come to fulfill my grudge next month on the 16th." Kannai slashed at the three.

This story was written by a writer in 1899 as a bizarre story with no ending. The publisher visits the writer. The wolf was looking for a writer The publisher got the manuscript overwritten by the artist. "The end of those who drank human souls..." At that time, the wolf screamed, pointing at the water bottle. When the publisher also approached the water bottle, the author was reflected in the water bottle and beckoning.

## Cast

### The Black hair

* Wife: Shinju Michiyo
* Second wife: Misako Watanabe
* Samurai: Taro United Nations (Toei)
* Father: Kenjiro Ishiyama
* Mother: Ranko Akagi
* Nanny: Fumie Kitahara
* Caretaker: Katsuhei Matsumoto
* Samurai: Yoshiko Ieda
* Caretaker's Wife: Tsukimiya Otome
* Follower: Kenzo Tanaka
* Lord: Kiyoshi Nakano

### Snow woman

* Minokichi: Tatsuya Nakadai
* Snow (Snow Woman): Keiko Kishi
* Minokichi's mother: Yuko Mochizuki
* Village Woman: Kin Sugai , Noriko Sengoku , Akiko Nomura
* Boatman: Torahiko Hamada
* Mosaku: Jun Hamamura

### Hoshinashi's story

* Yoshinashi Minashi: Kazuo Nakamura
* Samurai in armor: Tetsuro Tanba
* Principal: Takashi Shimura
* Yoshitsune Minamoto : Yoichi Hayashi
* Kenreimonin : Eiko Muramatsu
* Yahagi (Terao): Kunie Tanaka
* Tomomori Hira : Kazuo Kitamura
* Nobleman: Ichiro Nakatani
* Dokai (Vice Chief): Masanori Tomotake
* Matsuzo (Terao): Tokue Hanazawa
* Nun's Nun : Shizue Natsukawa
* Taira norimori : Shin Tatsuoka
* Kamisaki: Makiko Kitajo
* Fisherman: Shoichi Kuwayama
* Hei Tsunemori : Mutsuko Tsurumaru
* Fisherman: Akira Tani
* Benkei : Yosuke Kondo
* Taira Somori : Kiyoshi Yamamoto
* Hideto Yamaga : Kinji Omino
* Taira no Sutra : Atsushi Nakamura
* Genji Samurai: Ginzo Sekiguchi
* Aki no Taro: Akio Miyabe
* Fisherman: Genya Nagai
* Kono Communication : Toru Uchida
* Source Hachihiro Tsuna: Hikaru Kamino
* Genji Samurai: Fukuhara Hayao
* Tadanobu Sato : Norio Abe
* Arimori Taira : Toshiro Yagi
* Office of Oinagonsa: Yuriko Abe
* Emperor Ande : Yuri Sato
* Evil Nanbei Kagekiyo : Kyoichi Sato
* Yoshimori Ise : Nobuo Aikawa
* Parallel : Taiji Kodama
* Taira nomori : Nobuaki Maeda
* Kiyomune Taira : Mitsuhiko Shibata
* Warlord: Haruo Kaji
* Jiro Aki: Michio Gina
* Aki no Jiroro Party: Seiji Tabe
* Female Officers: Mitsuko Narita, Noriko Mikura, Aiko Nagayama
* Aristocratic Woman: Michiko Nakahata

### In a bowl

* Kannai (Sadamori Nakagawa retainer): Suemon Nakamura
* Author/Narrator: Osamu Takizawa
* Wolf: Haruko Sugimura
* Publisher: Koujiro Nakamura (Daiei)
* Hirauchi Shikibe: Noboru Nakatani
* Old man (Kannai's mansion): Seiji Miyaguchi
* Bungo Matsuoka (Heirai's servant): Kei Sato
* Suzue (Kannai's younger sister): Tomoko Naraoka
* Kannai colleagues: Shigeru Kamiyama
* Kannai Colleague: Jun Tasaki
* Colleagues in Kannai: Junkichi Orimoto , Shoji Kobayashi , Yoshiro Aoki
* Hisashi Dobashi (servant of Hirauchi): Hideyo Tenmoto
* Hyoroku Okamura (Hirai's servant): Isao Tamagawa

## Staff

* Director: Masaki Kobayashi
* Production: Shigeru Wakatsuki
* Screenplay: Yoko Mizuki
* Original: Yakumo Koizumi
* Director of Photography: Yoshiyuki Miyajima
* Music sound: Toru Takemitsu
* Art: Shigemasa Toda
* Recording: Hideo Nishizaki
* Color Technical Advisor: Michio Akikawa
* Title: Sofu Teshigawara
* Title design: Kiyoshi Awazu
* Sponsor: Toyo Kogyo Co., Ltd.

## Titles

* + Ghost Stories (Japanese poster and Bulgarian title)
	+ Ghost Story (Original Japanese title)
	+ Kwaidan (Original Worldwide release title)
	+ Kwaidan: Supernatural Tales (Argentinian and Uruguayan title)
	+ Kwaidan - The Four Faces of Fear (Brazilian title)
	+ Kwaidan - Ghost Stories (Italian title)
	+ Ghost Story: Kwaidan (Worldwide title)
	+ The Beyond (Mexican and Spanish title)
	+ Kwaidan, or Amazing Stories (Polish title)
	+ Kwaidan: Stories of the Mysterious and Terrible (Soviet title)

## Production

"Kaidan" was made into a movie by Shigeru Wakatsuki, the representative director of Carrot Club, when he was a student. The production has started. Initially the plan was brought to Shochiku , but production was discontinued, and after that distribution rights moved to Toho and production began  . However, the box office revenue was less than 300 million yen, which caused the carrot club to go bankrupt.

Most of the shooting was done on-set. The hangar owned by Nissan Shatai Machinery is used in the studio, and a large set such as a huge horizon with a height of 9 meters and a total length of 220 meters, a large hall set of about 600 tsubo, a pool where 10 Japanese ships can float is prepared. It was done  .

## Awards history

 18th Cannes Film Festival
 38th Academy Awards

## DVD

**Criterion** DVD (2000)

* Region: 1
* Discs: 1
* Audio: Japanese (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono), English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono)
* Subtitles: English
* Special Features: Japanese theatrical trailer
* Notes: Re-released on June 1, 2010.

**Toho** DVD (2003)

* Region: 2
* Discs: 1
* Audio: Japanese
* Special Features: Special report and theatrical trailers, "The Images of *Kwaidan* ~ The World Seen by Yakumo Koizumi" feature, "Color Design Drawings" image gallery, "Album of Director Masaki Kobayashi" image gallery, "The World of *Kwaidan*" image gallery
* Notes: Re-released on July 13, 2016 as part of the Toho DVD Masterpiece Selection.

**Raro Video** DVD (2009)

* Region: 2
* Discs: 1
* Audio: Japanese (Dolby Digital 2.0)
* Subtitles: Italian

**Criterion** DVD/Blu-ray (2015)

* Region: A/1
* Discs: 1
* Audio: Japanese
* Subtitles: English
* Special Features: Audio commentary by Stephen Prince, interviews with Masaki Kobayashi and Kiyoshi Ogasawara, piece on Lafcadio Hearn, trailers, essay by Geoffrey O'Brien

Though Kwaidan is not available on Blu-ray in Japan, an HD version can be rented or purchased on the Japanese version of Amazon.