Directed by Masaki Kobayashi, Kwaidan consists of four individual stories (‘The Black Hair’, ‘The Woman of the Snow’, ‘Hoichi the Earless’, ‘In a Cup of Tea’) based on traditional Japanese ghost stories collected by Lafcadio Hearn in his books, including Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things. Kobayashi pays tribute to Hearn’s westernised curation while recreating these myths from the Far East with the modern sensibilities and technologies of cinema. Continuing the tradition of cross-cultural exchange, the film won the Special Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 1965. Painted skies, elaborate sets, and exquisite photographic compositions make each frame a work of art. Composer Toru Takemitsu’s work exceeds the typical confines of an original score and imposes an uncanny soundscape that blends organic noise and traditional music into his experimental score.

The original 183-minute version was thought to be lost until the film company Toho rediscovered the original analogue materials and restored the film in 2025.

Masaki Kobayashi (1916–1996, Japan) was an assistant director at Shochiku before he was drafted into the army. As a pacifist, he rejected opportunities for promotion as a way to protest the war. His views would later inform his antiwar trilogy The Human Condition (1959–1961). His anti-authoritarian spirit remains strong in his most celebrated masterpiece, Harakiri (1962), a scathing critique of bushido and feudalism. In 1969, Kobayashi, Akira Kurosawa, Keisuke Kinoshita, and Kon Ichikawa founded their own production company, Yonki-no-kai Productions, with the hopes of rejuvenating the Japanese film industry. In 1983, Kobayashi released the documentary Tokyo Trial, on Japan’s war crimes during the Pacific War.