Japan Release: 1964
Running Time: 183 minutes

Kwaidan

怪談
[Kwaidan]

Broken into four chapters, each dealing with a different story on the super natural. The first, Black Hair, focuses on a poor samurai who abandons his wife to marry a woman from a rich family, only to be consumed by guilt. The second, The Woman of the Snow, covers a woodcutter's confrontation with the Lady of the Snow. This confrontation results in the death of the woodcutter's friend, who is frozen to death, while he is sparred and sworn to secrecy of the event. In the third chapter, Hoichi the Earless, a blind biwa player called Hoichi is visited by spirits who convince him to play for them while he is unaware of their ghostly nature. The priest at his temple, aware of this deception by the ghosts and the danger for Hoichi, attempt to protect the blind biwa player. The final chapter, In a Cup of Tea, is about a writer who tells the story of a man who sees a mysterious figure in his tea before drinking it, only to be visited by a ghost matching the appearance of the mysterious figure...

Live Action Science Fiction

Titles

Kwaidan

Kwaidan
US Distributor: Continental (1965) / Time: 125 Minutes

Ghost Story
[Literal translation]

Aliens, SDF & Misc.

Staff

Cast

Posters

DVDs and Blu-rays

Background and Trivia

• On April 17th, 1990, Toho registered the film with the US copyright office with the registration number PA0000517331. The title used was "Kwaidan" with an alternate of "Kaidan" given, an alternative Romaji spelling. Oddly, the film was also registered on December 29th, 1997 alongside Fort Graveyard (1965) under the registration number PA0000898173. While it's common practice to register films multiple times, often with new material/ownership change or a renewal, it's odd that the film was first registered by itself and then done in a joint or bulk registration later. The cited reason is to register it "under GATT/URAA restoration", which was a 1994 agreement aimed at restoring copyright for foreign works that were previously in the public domain in the US. So while likely covered by the 1990 registration, it's possible this was done as an extra precaution and as a result was tossed in while registering another film.
• The project was initally pitched to Shochiku by the Ninjin Club and was given a green-light. However, Shochiku eventually backed out as production was about to begin, resulting in Ninjin Club scrambling until Toho picked up the distribution for the project. Mentioned in Toho Special Effects Movies: Complete Works (ISBN: 9784864910132).
• The movie is sometimes noted as being from 1965 rather than 1964. This is likely due to the limited release that the film saw at first. Noted in Toho Special Effects Movies: Complete Works (ISBN: 9784864910132), the movie debuted on December 29th, 1964 in Tokyo. The production then expanded into a wide theatrical release in Japan in 1965.
• An edited, 161 minute version was screened at the Cannes International Film Festival. For a period, the original Japanese version that was 183 minutes was lost, making the 161 minute edit the one available on home video across various markets. Eventually the original version was found and, after restoration, was finally released to home video by Toho in 2003.