Ghost Story of Broken Dishes at Bancho Mansion
(Kaidan Bancho sarayashiki, 1957)

Kono Toshikazu

Japan

44 min, B&W, Japanese (English subtitles)

Review © 2006 Branislav L. Slantchev

A completely unknown little gem based on the famous ghost story Bancho Sarayashiki (sometimes also known as The Story of Okiku), this short film is surprisingly moody and delivers an impressive melodramatic version of the traditional kaidan. Although the changes Kono made represent a serious departure from the straightforward horror story, they seem to allow him to turn the film into a social statement that has a lot less to do with ghosts than it does with rigid stratification and the basic conflict between duty and love.

The love-struck Okiku afraid to admit to her feelings	The socially impossible love

Okiku (Misora Hibari) is a maid at Aoyama Harima's (Azuma Chiyonosuke) mansion. In the traditional version, she accidentally breaks a precious ceramic plate while cleaning it. These plates are extremely valuable being rare and a family heirloom to boot. Enraged, Aoyama kills her and dumps her body into a well. Okiku's ghost returns every night, rising from the well to count the dishes and wail at her misfortune. This eventually drives Aoyama insane. Although there are several variants (e.g., Aoyama stages a fake accident to force Okiku to become his mistress and murders her when she refuses), the basic line is clear: an evil samurai kills an innocent girl for no good reason and she returns to haunt him and exact her vengeance.

Gratuitous shot of Misora Hibari	Will you promise to marry me?

Not so in this film. Okiku and Aoyama are deeply in love but their relationship is essentially doomed because of the impossible disparity in social status between them. When Aoyama initially confesses his love, Okiku shies away, trying to evade it because she is well aware that nothing good can come out of this. However, she succumbs to his charms when she realizes that Aoyama is sincere. Things quickly get from bad to worse because Aoyama's links to a hot-headed lord land him in hot water when that lord is ordered to commit seppuku for disturbing the peace. It would appear that Aoyama is next on the bakufu hit list, and the only way to escape disgrace is to find a powerful protector. One such lord is available and the Aoyama family orders the young samurai to wed that lord's daughter.

The precious dishes that would make the wedding	Contemplating one way to thwart the wedding

Despite his reluctance, Aoyama must agree or see his entire clan be ruined. As part of the marriage arrangements, he will give his soon to be father-in-law a precious present: the dishes. Okiku is repeatedly warned that breaking one of them would lead to severe punishment, including killing the perpetrator. She contemplates doing just that for a while although it's not clear whether she is trying to commit suicide by forcing Aoyama's hand or just attempting to ruin the wedding. At any rate, the sudden appearance of her lover's future wife causes her to get overcome by sadness and in her distraught state, she drops one of the plates. Aoyama has little choice and even though he demurs initially, he eventually does get enraged enough to kill Okiku. His family status, his honor, all of these seem too much to lose for the love of a woman.

The rival in the garden	The court martial

The other interesting twist is that when she returns as a ghost, Okiku has no revenge in mind (if ghosts have minds). Instead, she just wants to reveal to the now disgraced Aoyama that she still loves him and that she does not blame him for trying to preserve his clan (apparently the ploy failed anyway). In his downfall, Aoyama comes to realize that life without Okiku is really worthless and that having lost everything conventionally precious only underscores the futility of trying to hold on to it. The rigid social milieu will not allow him to enjoy a life with Okiku, at least not until he overcomes the trappings of his status. But now that she is dead, they cannot be reunited in this world. Aoyama has to die, not so much to expiate for his sin of killing Okiku but because this is the only way that he can get her back.

I have to slay her for my honor's sake	The more I love you, the more I need to be loved

The heavy dollops of melodrama and the long pained stares by Misora Hibachi have led many to disparage the film as a weak adaptation, especially because it is so light in the horror aspect. But that misses Kono's point entirely. There are no vengeful ghosts here, no disfigured faces, no long hair covering eyes gleaming with evil intent. Instead, the supernatural element may well represent Aoyama's conscience, what he sees with his heart's eye and the slow dawning of recognition that finally enables his mind to coalesce with his heart. Okiku returns only to remind him of what he has truly lost and to make him dream of a better life even if that means forsaking physical existence. It is a mistake to classify this as a horror film.

Aoyama commits suicide by proxy	Back to the well and his love

I have this on a bootleg DVD that looks like it was sourced from a TV broadcast. The compression has resulted in additional ghosting, pixellation, and lots of grain. In other words, it's pretty awful. Still, much better than a VHS tape and it is presented in widescreen (2.35:1 OAR). It comes with a Japanese mono soundtrack and non-removable English subtitles that are actually quite decent. The disc itself is barebones without even a menu. Still, since the film is worth seeing, this would appear to be the only way to do it for now. At about $10, it's not such a horrible deal. The DVD is usually sold under the title Ghost in the Well.

March 13, 2006