Scarecrow Deep Dive: Japanese Literature, Part 3
Animated Classics of Japanese Literature: A Ghost Story, The Theater of Life
Welcome to Scarecrow Deep Dive, where I write in-depth posts about titles or sections at Scarecrow Video. The purpose is to show off the glory that is Scarecrow to people who may not be aware of how vast and important its collection is, especially as it’s available to the public.
Today I’m writing about the third title in the Animation - Japanese Literature section.
“Ghost Story” (Kaidan 怪談 - Episode 16) might be the most familiar of the stories covered so far to English-speaking audiences. Koizumi Yakumo (1850-1904), known as Lafcadio Hearn to most English readers, introduced the tale to Western audiences as one of the stories in his book Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things (1904) (which can be read for free here). Fans of Japanese cinema and/or gorgeous cinematography/lighting/costumes also will be familiar with its inclusion in Masayuki Kobayashi’s anthology horror film Kwaidan (1964), based (mostly) on several of the tales in Koizumi’s book.1
In Koizumi’s collection, the story is called “The Story of Mimi-Nashi-Hōïchi” (literal translation: “The Story of Earless Hōïchi”) and involves a celebrated blind player of the biwa (a Japanese lute) who each night sings about the Heiké (Taira) and Genji (Minamoto) clans and their last battle at Dan-no-ura, which occurred 800 years ago and lead to the defeat of the Heiké and the formation of the first shōgunate in Japan. Though he is poor, Hoichi’s skill is such that the priest of the Amidaji invites him to stay at his temple - a temple built to appease the dead spirits of this long-ago battle.
One night, Hōïchi is playing outside while waiting for the priest to return and hears a voice call his name. The man says that his lord is staying nearby and wishes to hear Hōïchi sing about the battle. So Hōïchi is led to a place to play for a group of nobles. Such is the quality of his playing that they request him to play for them for the next six nights, after which the lord will give him a reward.
The priest, concerned when he notices Hōïchi heading out late at night, has two servants tail him. That is when they discover that he has been playing in the graveyard for the dead Heiké clan. To protect him, the priest writes ancient texts all over his body, but he misses the ears…
The animated version follows the story pretty closely (even including the bit about Heiké crabs), while adding some dialog between characters and a scene at the beginning where Hōïchi plays for a noble visiting the temple BEFORE being summoned to play for the ghostly one. In addition, the title is slightly different: “Kaidan: The Story of Hoichi” (Kaidan: Hōichi Monogatari" (怪談 芳一ものがたり) is used instead of the more accurate “Kaidan: Hoichi the Earless,” which is the name Wikipedia gives to the episode. Also, some spelling discrepancies exist between the box and the translated text in the episode (for example, box: Dan-no-ura, episode: Danoura).
In order to cover more of the text than is possible through drawings and dialog, a woman’s voice narrates the beginning and end sections. Like the story and Kobayashi’s adaptation, this version begins by depicting the battle between the Heiké and Genji clans. Here, it’s done as stills that look like traditional Japanese woodcarvings. And while not quite as violent as Kobayashi’s version, the pulling off of Hōïchi’s ears is still bloody.
Even more narration (by the same woman) occurs in the next episode, “The Theater of Life” (Episode 19).2 Surprisingly, neither tale in this collection is depressing in the way that all of the previous tales were in some way or other. This one also ends without a real resolution.
Based on the novel by the same name (in Japanese, Jinsei Gekijo 人生激語) (1933-36) by author Ozaki Shiro (1898-1964), the story starts in 1904 (Meiji 38) amid celebrations for Japan’s victory in the Russo-Japanese War, and concurrently, the falling fortunes of the Aonari family, who live in Kira harbor. A tobacco selling family, they fall on hard times after the government seizes tobacco production and they must rely on compost sales - a less lucrative means to make money.
The main story centers around Hyokichi and his father. His father is an admirer of the samurai Nikichi,3 even taking in his descendent, a man named Kira, out of admiration for him. He wishes his son to grow up to become a worthy man like Nikichi. But first, Hyokichi must climb to the top of a tall gingko tree planted in their yard, the only tree his father refuses to sell. If he does this, his father will buy him whatever he wishes.
Hyokichi is beat up a lot, which shames his dad, but with the help of his neighbor, a girl named Orin, he finally scales the gingko tree after many failed attempts. With his newfound confidence, he becomes a leader at school upon entering fifth grade. But during that school year, he discovers that Orin is being sent to Tokyo to be a geisha.
Hyokichi moves away from home for middle school (to Okazaki), where he flourishes, but his father gets a letter during the holidays than he must come to the school to talk about his son. When he gets there, he finds out that Hyokichi has started a school newspaper and has included caricatures of all the staff, which he finds hilarious.
After coming home with his dad to celebrate the festivities in town, Hyokichi looks at the gingko tree. Remembering the triumph of climbing it, he tells his father about his future ambitions of going to college and eventually going into politics, despite the fact that his father can’t afford to send him there. At this point, his father realizes that Hyokichi will become the great man that he wanted him to become.
While getting sake to celebrate with his dad, he learns from Orin’s mother that Orin is at the Akashi geisha house in Shinbashi, and her professional name is Mitsuryu. She tells him he should visit her after he starts working for the government. Determined to find her, the last part of the story reveals to the audience that once he finally graduated middle school, he was accepted into Waseda University (the same school the author attended). The episode ends with him on the train to Tokyo (where the university is located), his main purpose to find Orin again.
The animation style for the first episode is more realistic (in some ways), while the second episode follows a more traditional anime look. Music is appropriately creepy for “A Ghost Story” and appropriately mournful and triumphant for “The Theater of Life.”
Both episodes are only available on VHS.
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Sources
Animated Classics of Japanese Literature: Episode List. IMDB. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0294182/episodes/?ref_=tt_ep_epl
Hearn, Lafcadio. “THE STORY OF MIMI-NASHI-HŌÏCHI.” Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things. Project Gutenberg. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1210/1210-h/1210-h.htm#chap01
Portraits of Modern Japanese Historical Figures: OZAKI Shiro. https://www.ndl.go.jp/portrait/e/datas/6313/
Articles on Wikipedia
Animated Classics of Japanese Literature
Kwaidan is how kaidan used to be spelled in English, but the modern spelling accurately represents how it sounds in Japanese.
Within the episode, the title is translated as “The Theatre of Life.”
I have been unable to find out anything about this samurai warrior, so it’s possible Ozaki made him up.