Kwaidan

KWAIDAN:

A Ninjin Club Production

Produced by Shigeru Wakatsuki

Original Story by Yakumo Koizumi

Screenplay by Yoko Mizuki

Director of Photography:

Yoshio Miyajima

Sound effects by Toru Takemitsu

THE BLACK HAIR:

Michiyo Aratama-Misako Watanabe

Rentaro Mikuni

THE WOMAN OF THE SNOW

Tatsuya Nakadai

Keiko Kishi

HOICHI, THE EARLESS

Katsuo Nakamura

Tetsuro Tanba

IN A CUP OF TEA:

Kanemon Nakamura

Osamu Takizawa-Haruko Sugimura

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 take service with the

governor of a distant province.

Goodbye.

Stay well. I can't live here

with you. I have a future.

For men, advancement is the

most important.

I can't give it up

just because of you.

I can't bury my future here.

Must you leave Kyoto?

I'll work harder than before.

I'll weave day and night.

I'll slave for a better living.

If I lose this chance,

I'll be finished.

Don't try to stop me. The new

post will bring me fortune.

If you can remarry a man

of some distinction,

you'll have fortune too.

There's nothing more to say.

I've had enough of poverty!

You're going to leave

early in the morning.

So you better go to bed now.

Take her to the bridal chamber.

My daughter is finally married.

I feel relieved now.

I'm glad to have you

in my family.

Thank you.

He knows his obligation.

He'll serve her well.

Please, take care of my daughter.

Yes.

The samurai could not understand

the value of love.

He divorced his good wife

and married the daughter of

a noted family to gain position.

And he took her

to his new post.

It was the thoughtlessness

of youth

and the experience of desire.

His second marriage did not

prove a happy one.

His new wife was selfish

and callous.

He soon found every cause to

recall with regret his Kyoto days.

Then he discovered he still loved

his first wife -

Ioved her more than he could

ever love his second.

And he began to realise

how unfair

and how ungrateful

he had been.

Memories of a woman

he had wronged -

her gentle speech.

her smile.

her pretty dainty ways.

her impeccable patience...

... continuously haunted him.

I quit!

The same old game!

I'm tired of it!

Girls, you're dismissed.

You better go to bed now.

Your husband is still reading.

How ungrateful you are!

You've gained position because of

my family's social prestige.

You only used me.

You're always cherishing your

old memories.

You're walking out on me!

The dew won't help.

Please, go to your bedroom

and nurse her ladyship.

Nurse her? That's your duty.

Don't say that.

She may return to her parents

tomorrow if she wants to.

I can't stand seeing her

dissatisfied look any more.

Tell her so.

After all, I was young

and thoughtless.

I'll find my ex-wife

whom I deserted

and make amends

for my sinful act.

The years went by.

And his official term expired.

It was September 10th when he

reached the street of Kyoto

where his first wife

used to live.

It was midnight and the city was

as silent as a cemetery.

When did you come back to Kyoto?

Now. Just now.

How did you find your way to me,

through all those black rooms?

Stay seated.

Don't bother.

I'll get supper.

I don't want it.

You haven't changed a bit.

You look just like you did before.

Your face that I couldn't

forget for a moment...

and your voice that was

so dear to me!

Forgive me.

I was cruel. I was a fool.

I deserve your hatred.

Until the day my official

term expired,

how I longed to come back to you!

How deeply I regretted

my selfishness!

How wretched I was without you!

How I loathed myself

for divorcing you!

How long I've hoped and planned

to make amends!

As soon as I became free.

I wanted to come back to Kyoto

and find you.

I hurried here in the dark.

It's very kind of you

thinking about me so much.

Forgive me.

Please forgive me.

I was such a fool!

Don't reproach yourself.

It's wrong to allow yourself

to suffer on my account.

I always felt that I wasn't

worthy of being your wife.

Don't...

I knew that, but I couldn't help

trying to be near you.

Anyway, it was very cruel of me

to have divorced you.

It was because of poverty.

While you lived with me,

you were always kind.

Why should I think ill of you?

I prayed for your good fortune

every day and night.

I'll make amends.

Forget it.

You came a long way home.

What greater happiness

than to see you again...

even if only for a moment?

Only for a moment!

Make it the length of

seven lifetimes!

Unless you forbid it,

I'll live with you always...

always!

Nothing shall ever

separate us again.

Your fragrant hair!

It's the same as before.

The same glossy hair...

dark eyes...

Iovely nose...

soft cheeks...

and...

I've forgotten my sorrow.

Many things have happened

in Kyoto since you went away.

I imagine so.

I can't tell you everything

in a night.

Soon it'll be dawn.

Yes. This room is very dear to me.

It was our bridal chamber.

We spent several nights here.

I don't want to sleep now.

I want to talk of the past and the

present and the future with you

and feel as happy as I am now.

I also feel as if

this were a dream.

I don't want to sleep

for a moment

so I can keep you forever.

THE WOMAN OF THE SNOW

In a village of Musashi Province

there lived two woodcutters:

Mosaku and Minokichi.

Mosaku was an old man

and Minokichi. his apprentice.

was a boy of eighteen.

Everyday. they went to a forest

a few miles away

from the village.

One cold day. a great snowstorm

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 treat you like

the other man.

But I couldn't help feeling pity

for you

because you're so young.

You're a handsome boy.

I will not hurt you now.

But if you ever tell anybody -

even your own mother

about what you've seen tonight,

I'll know it.

And then I'll kill you.

Remember that.

Understand?

I'll be going now.

We sell wood for a living.

You can't work for some time,

not before spring.

The terrible cold night

made you ill.

Eat the porridge.

Take care of yourself, son.

Or you'll be frozen

and dead like that old Mosaku

whose blood was all gone.

If this happens to you again,

you won't survive.

Are you listening?

You've said nothing

about that night.

A year passed.

As soon as he got well.

he resumed working.

Every morning. he went

to the forest alone

and returned with bundles

of wood after sunset.

Where are you going

in the evening?

Edo.

Now?

Yes.

I lost my parents.

My relatives in Edo might help me

find work as a servant.

Brothers?

None?

You'd need connections

to find work in Edo.

Is it so hard to get work

when you don't know anyone?

You could get married...

With you?

Come!

That's my house.

Why don't you take a rest?

There's nobody you have to mind.

But...

Only my mother and I live there.

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