Kwaidan (film)

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Kwaidan (Japanese: 怪談, Hepburn: Kaidan; lit. 'Ghost Stories') is a 1964 Japanese horror anthology film directed by Masaki Kobayashi from a screenplay by Yoko Mizuki. It consists of four separate stories adapted from Lafcadio Hearn's collections of Japanese folktales, including two from his 1904 book Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things, the film's namesake. Set mostly in feudal Japan, the segments feature vengeful spirits enforcing moral retribution, while portraying the supernatural realm as largely indifferent to human suffering. The cast includes Tatsuya Nakadai, Tetsurō Tamba, Yoichi Hayashi, Katsuo Nakamura, Rentarō Mikuni, and Keiko Kishi; no actors appear in more than one segment. The concept of adapting Hearn's Kwaidan into a film originated with producer Shigeru Wakatsuki during his student years. Upon the formation of Ninjin Club's film production division, Wakatsuki pitched the idea to Kobayashi, who had once contemplated the same adaptation, prompting the project to...

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