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Director Masaki Kobayashi invested five years of preparation before shooting this anthological adaptation of four tales of the supernatural by Lafcadio Hearn. The first, "Black Hair," stars Rentaro Mikuni as a poverty-stricken samurai who leaves his kind wife (Michiyo Aratama) to marry the daughter (Misako Watanabe) of a wealthy official. After years of misery with this woman he returns to his first wife to find a bitter surprise. In the second, "The Woman of the Snow," a woodcutter (Tatsuya Nakadai) and his brother take shelter from a snowstorm in a deserted hut. However, trouble arises when a strange woman (Keiko Kishi) appears. The third, "Hoichi the Earless," features a blind temple musician (Katsuo Nakamura), who is known for his mastery of the ballad of the Heike clan. A samurai ghost bids him sing the ballad at the Heike tomb, and Buddhist priests protect him by painting his body with a depiction of the sacred text. In the last tale, "In a Cup of Tea," a samurai (Kanemon Nakamura) famed for courage, has a recurring vision of the face of another samurai in his tea. (official distributor synopsis)
(more)Cast
Rentarô Mikuni
Japan
Best movies:
Natsu no niwa - The Friends (1994)
Harakiri (1962)
Zatoichi at Large (1972)
Tatsuya Nakadai
Japan
Best movies:
Zatoichi at the Fire Festival (1970)
The Human Bullet (1968)
Seven Samurai (1954)
Kanemon Nakamura
Japan
Best movies:
Under the Flag of the Rising Sun (1972)
Inn of Evil (1971)
Samurai Banners (1969)
Takashi Shimura
Japan
Best movies:
Japan's Longest Day (1967)
Seven Samurai (1954)
Asu o tsukuru hitobito (1946)
Reiko Mori
Japan
Best movies:
Seven Samurai (1954)
I Live in Fear (1955)
Drunken Angel (1948)
佐藤慶
Japan
Best movies:
The Man Who Stole the Sun (1979)
Zatoichi's Vengeance (1966)
Bushido, Samurai Saga (1963)
Haruko Sugimura
Japan
Best movies:
Tokyo Twilight (1957)
Early Summer (1951)
Red Beard (1965)
菅井きん
Japan
Best movies:
The Human Bullet (1968)
High and Low (1963)
This Passing Life (1970)
Yūko Mochizuki
Japan
Best movies:
Ballad of Narayama (1958)
The End of Summer (1961)
Red Lion (1969)
Michiyo Aratama
Japan
Best movies:
Seiji Miyaguchi
Japan
Best movies:
Japan's Longest Day (1967)
Early Summer (1951)
Seven Samurai (1954)
Katsuo Nakamura
Japan
Best movies:
Demons (1971)
Be with You (2004)
Samurai Banners (1969)
Tetsurô Tamba
Japan
Best movies:
Under the Flag of the Rising Sun (1972)
Harakiri (1962)
Three Outlaw Samurai (1964)
岸惠子
Japan
Best movies:
Early Spring (1956)
The Twilight Samurai (2002)
Hunter in the dark (1979)
Kazuo Kitamura
Japan
Best movies:
Japan's Longest Day (1967)
The Man Who Stole the Sun (1979)
High and Low (1963)
田中邦衛
Japan
Best movies:
Zatoichi at the Fire Festival (1970)
The Human Bullet (1968)
Sanjuro (1962)
織本順吉
Japan
Best movies:
The Human Condition I: No Greater Love (1959)
Three Outlaw Samurai (1964)
The Fall of Ako Castle (1978)
Yoshirô Aoki
Japan
Best movies:
Bushido, Samurai Saga (1963)
Samurai Rebellion (1967)
Harakiri (1962)
さとうきょういち
Japan
Best movies:
中村鴈治郎
Japan
Best movies:
When a Woman Ascends the Stairs (1960)
The End of Summer (1961)
Kwaidan (1964)