Reference Film: XVI – KWAIDAN by Masaki Kobayashi

Kwaidan (1964)
Directed by Masaki Kobayashi
Writing credits by Lafcadio Hearn (book)
Also Known As:
Ghost Stories (USA)
Ghost Story (literal English title)
Hoichi the Earless Kwaidan (USA)
Weird Tales
Runtime: 183 min
Country: Japan
Language: Japanese
Colour: Colour (Eastmancolour)
Sound Mix: Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Cast:
Rentaro Mikuni as Husband (Black Hair)
Michiyo Aratama as First wife (Black Hair)
Misako Watanabe as Second Wife (Black Hair)
Tatsuya Nakadai as Mi nokichi (The Woman in the Snow)
Keiko Kishi as Yuki the Snow Maiden
Katsuo Nakamura as Hoichi (Hoichi the Earless)
Tetsuro Tamba as Warrior (Hoichi the Earless)
Kanemon Nakamura as Kannai, a Guard (In a Cup of Tea)
Osamu Takizawa as Author/Narrator (In a Cup of Tea)

Summary
This film contains four distinct, separate stories: "Black Hair": A poor samurai who divorces his true love to marry for money, but finds the marriage disastrous and returns to his old wife, only to discover something eerie about her. "The Woman in the Snow": Stranded in a snowstorm, a woodcutter meets an icy spirit in the form of a woman spares his life on the condition that he never tell anyone about her. A decade later he forgets his promise. "Hoichi the Earless": Hoichi is a blind musician, living in a monastery who sings so well that a ghostly imperial court commands him to perform the epic ballad of their death battle for them. But the ghosts are draining away his life, and the monks set out to protect him by writing a holy mantra over his body to make him invisible to the ghosts. But they've forgotten something. "In a Cup of Tea": a writer tells the story of a man who keep seeing a mysterious face reflected in his cup of tea.