Forgotten story notes

[Stan Sakai]

UY #91, the conclusion of a two-part story, comes out this week. However, the story notes I had written for it was inadvertently left out. I don't think posting it here will spoil the ending of the story. The notes will appear in the collected trade edition of UY Book 22: Tomoe's Story.


UY #91 Story Notes

There are two versions of the story of Okiku. Aoyama Tessan, a major retainer of Ietsugu, the seventh Tokugawa shogun (1709-16), was given a set of ten very valuable Dutch porcelain dishes. One was accidentally broken by his wife, who threw the pieces down the well and blamed Okiku, her maid, of stealing it. Okiku was locked up and half-starved but could not produce the missing dish. She escaped, and, in desperation, drowned herself in the well. Each night, her ghost would appear and slowly count until nine, then break into a loud, plaintive wail. Mitsakuni Shonin, a friend of Aoyama exorcised her by waiting near the well one night. When Okiku had counted to nine, he yelled out “ten”. This satisfied her spirit, and she never appeared again.

In the second story, Okiku was a maid who had rejected Aoyama’s advances. He entrusted her with the ten Dutch plates for safekeeping. He hid one of the dishes, then told her to bring out the entire set. When she could not, he demanded she sleep with him or be punished for her carelessness. She still refused. In his anger at being rejected once again, he killed her and threw her body into the well. Her spirit haunted the well, counting, but never reaching “ten”.

The kabuki play Bancho Sarayashiki, or The Dish Mansion of Bancho was based on the second version of the famous story. Bancho is the district of Edo that the story was to have taken place.

Yoshitoshi’s Thirty-six Ghosts by John Stevenson,1983 by John Weatherhill, Inc., of New York and Tokyo and Blue Tiger Books of Hong Kong.

[Steve Hubbell]

There was at least one movie made of it, as well.

Kaidan Bancho sara yashiki
Also Known As:
Ghost Story of Broken Dishes at Bancho Mansion
(International: English title)
Directed by Juichi Kono
Toei Co. Ltd. (1957)

[Stan Sakai]

The story notes will run in UY 92. Better late, than never.

[Steve Hubbell]

GHOST IN THE WELL
Kaidan Bancho Sarayashiki - 1957 - B/W - Widescreen

The ever popular Misora Hibari stars as Okiku, who returns from the grave to
seek vengeance against the lover that murdered her. In this unique take on the
traditional Japanese ghost story, a woman's love is misused, and unfortunately
she pays with her life, only to come back seeking vengeance. Unlike the usual
story, there is an element of mystery here, as Okiku's ghost seeks to find the truth
before acting against her beloved. Can Okiku's ghost find out the truth behind her
tragic death? A brilliant little black and white film with an all-star cast featuring
some of Japan's most popular actors along with singer/actress Misora Hibari,
who is still considered the Japanese people's all-time favorite actress according
to a recent newspaper poll. (TV Broadcast quality.)

Directed by: KONO Toshikazu
Cast: MISORA Hibari, AZUMA Chiyonosuke, HOSHI Michiko


http://www.kurotokagi.com/

[Bryan Stone]

I'm picking my copy up first thing tomorrow! that is if the comic shop owner didn't forget again

[Stan Sakai]

GHOST IN THE WELL
Kaidan Bancho Sarayashiki - 1957 - B/W - Widescreen

I've never heard of this movie, but it's interesting I have the same title it does. I guess not so much, because we both have the same source material. I got my title as a play on the anime movie "Ghost in the Shell".

Coming up with titles can be a bit of a chore, so I sometimes play with old movie titles. That is how "The Treasure of the Mother of Mountains" got its name. Can anyone guess where this title came from?

Every so often, there would be a title of a movie or a TV episode in which I would say, "I wish I had thought of that." The TV series The Equalizer was that way. The title of evey episode was not descriptive, but would give the flavor of what it was about.

[Steve Hubbell]

Coming up with titles can be a bit of a chore, so I sometimes play with old movie titles. That is how "The Treasure of the Mother of Mountains" got its name. Can anyone guess where this title came from?

"The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" (1948) with Humphrey Bogart and Walter Huston ?

[Fanfan]

I would have made the same proposition, but it is not possible to make competition with you Steve !

now we have to wait for the answer...

[Stan Sakai]

"The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" (1948) with Humphrey Bogart and Walter Huston ?

Yes. I'll send you a prize in a few weeks.

[Steve Hubbell]

Yes. I'll send you a prize in a few weeks.

Prize?

Cool!

Abayo....