kwaidan part three

in today’s third installment from masaki kobayashi’s masterwork, ”kwaidan” we will be watching the story of ”hoichi the earless”. this story is also adapted from lafcado hearn's kwaidan (though it incorporates aspects of the tale of the heike that are mentioned, but never translated, in hearn's book). you can read the story here.

hoichi the earless (quickly summarized) tells the tale of a blind musician, whose speciality is singing the ”the tale of the heike”, about the battle of dan-no-ura, a war fought between emperor antoku and minamoto no yoritomo during the last phase of the genpei war. in the film, hoichi eventually finds himself singing to the ghosts of the very heroes that are the subject of his song.

this is a much longer excerpt than i am used to posting so you might want to set up the popcorn and drinks now and make sure that you have a very comfortable seat!

part one . . .

part two . . .

part three . . .

part four . . .

part five . . .

part six . . .

part seven . . .