"SHINTOHO COMPANY, LTD." "A human life ls naught" "But two score and ten years" "JIGOKU (HELL)" "A MITSUGU OKURA PRODUCTION" "original Concept by SOSUKE KASANE" "screenplay by NOBUO NAKAGAWA and ICHIRO MIYAGAWA" "Cinematography by MAMORU MORITA" "Lighting by HIROSHI ISHIMORI Sound by KIHACHIRO NAKAI" "Production Design by HARUYASU KUROSAWA" "Music by CHUMEI WATANABE" "Edited by TOSHIO GOTO" "Assistant Director KEINOSUKE TSUCHIYA" "Starring" "SHIGERU AMACHI UTAKO MITSUYA, YOICHI NUMATA" "HIROSHI HAYASHI JUN OTOMO, AKIKO YAMASHITA" "KIYOKO TSUJI, FUMIKO MIYATA TORAHIKO NAKAMURA" "KIMIE TOKUDAIJI, AKIKO ONO TOMOHIKO OTANI, KOICHI MIYA" "SAKUTARO YAMAKAWA, REI ISHIKAWA HIROSHI SHINGUJI, HIROSHI IZUMIDA" "Directed by NOBUO NAKAGAWA" "A handsome youth in the morning, once lured by that merciless wind, is by dusk a heap of bones." "In the end, all must die." "Countless people have sinned on their way towards death." "Could the law even begin to punish them all?" "Some may slip through the law's net, but they cannot elude their own consciences." "Religion dreams of a world where sinners are punished after death for sins unpunished during life." "That world is Hell." "This is a tale of things" "Not of this world" "A tale of the River Sanzu" "The eternal limbo of dead children" "CONCEPTS OF HELL" "Buddhism is not alone in positing the existence of hell." "Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and islam, among others, all share similar beliefs." "In India, the idea arose together with that of reincarnation, even before Buddhism appeared and evolved into the concept I just mentioned." "The Sanskrit word for hell, naraka, comes from the word for "abominable" or "excruciating."" "The Japanese adapted this word as naraku." "That guy from last night is dead." "really?" "He's dead?" "So what if he is?" "Tamura!" "By the way, congratulations." "You and Yukiko are finally engaged." "I heard something interesting about your future father-in-Iaw, Professor Yajima." "In Japan, the most common conception is that of the "Eight HeIIs"" "found in Buddhist sutras." "In fact, the number of sutras on the subject is enormous." "people call him a saint, but scratch the surface and you'II find a dark past." "There's a sin he wants to atone for." "It was during the war, in MaIaya." "Just who is this Tamura?" "How can he be so awful?" "Can't I get away from him somehow?" "Last night would have been the happiest night of my life but for that damned accident." "hello." "Professor and Mrs. Yajima, thank you very much." "You'II see:" "I'II make Yukiko happy." "Take good care of her, Shimizu." "Yes, sir." "Yukiko, I'm so happy." "Thank you, Mother." "Mr. Shimizu..." "Yukiko's our only child, and she's a bit spoiled." "But with you we can rest easy." "please look after her." "Study hard, and be a scholar in my husband's footsteps." "I will." "congratulations." "Tamura!" "Surprised to see me?" "I'd have rung the bell, but I was furious when you turned me away last time." "Anyway, congratulations." "We should have a drink to celebrate." "But uninvited guests shouIdn't stay too long, so I'II be going." "I came to return this." "Shimizu, I'II give you a ride." "Mrs. Yajima, your clock's stopped." "They say that's a bad omen." "Good night." "Don't be a fool." "Take it." "You're behind on rent and tuition." "I Iike you, man." "I know everything." "You've been sleeping with Yukiko." "I'II bet she's pregnant." "could you turn there?" " It's a bad road." " I want to make a stop." "Look out!" "Bastard!" "You hit me!" "Hey!" "Goddamn you!" "I'm Tiger Kyoichi of the Gondo gang!" "Kyoichi!" "Kyoichi!" "Are you all right?" "Get up!" "What happened?" "Tamura, stop the car!" "You hit that guy!" "I'm not stopping." "Nobody saw us." "That drunk jumped in front of me." "That doesn't matter." "We hit him!" "What?" "You made me take this road." "It wasn't my fault." "That man could be dead." "If he is, Tamura and I are murderers." "Is something wrong?" "No, it's nothing." "I just couldn't sleep last night." "Don't overdo it." "Stop by tonight." "Yukiko's expecting you." "CONCEPTS OF HELL" "Kyoichi!" "Mother." "You sure you didn't see who did it?" "Shut up!" "I said I didn't know!" "Damn it!" "When I find who did this " ""At 9 p.m., in Kamiuma in Setagaya Ward," "Kyoichi Shiga, 34, a leader of the Gondo gang, was struck by a passing vehicle while inebriated and died of a brain hemorrhage at a nearby hospital." "There were no witnesses." "The driver remains unknown."" "So you want to turn me in for manslaughter?" "We're the ones who killed him." "We caused it." "Let's go together." "please." "That might ease your conscience, but I'm not interested." "It'd be stupid." "He was drunk." "He ran into the road." "It was basically suicide." "Besides, he was just some yakuza scum." "He's not worth the best years of our lives." "Leaving so soon?" "I turned your luck around." "If I go down, you go with me." "IN MEMORIAM THE GONDO SYNDICATE" "The gang paid for the funeral, but how will we get by now?" "Hey, Mom, you must've seen the car that hit him." "You were out there." "No, I didn't." "But Yoko... what would you do if you knew who did it?" "I'd find the guy and kill him." "Look what he's done to us." "I didn't tell the police, but I saw the car." "Ten years ago... a truck killed my husband." "The driver didn't even go to prison, while I lost my man." "telling the cops won't do a damn thing." "Yoko, you and I can avenge Kyoichi." "We can kill the guys who did it and not get caught." "We must." "Yukiko." "You really kept me waiting." "I just had to see you today." "Shiro..." "I'm " "Is something wrong?" "Yukiko, I... killed a man." "Listen." "There were two of them." "We'II trace the license number." "We'II kill them, no matter how long it takes." "Understood?" "I thought so." "Let's talk to my father." "He'II surely think of something." "I can't stay here." "Something's chasing me." "Shiro, please stay calm." "There aren't any taxis." "Taxis?" "Let's walk to the station." "I don't feel like taking a taxi." "The faster I get there, the better." "please, forget the taxi." "I'd really rather walk." "You're acting like a child!" "Get in." "Where to?" "The police station." "please drive slowly." "Yukiko!" "Shiro..." "I don't want to die." "I don't want to die." "Yukiko!" "Shimizu, it'II be all right." "Everything hinges on fate." "Professor... if I hadn't insisted on a taxi " "I may as well have killed her myself." "Dear." "Mrs. Yajima." "You don't belong here." "Go away, please." "Go away, please!" "Mrs. Yajima!" "Give Yukiko back to me." "Give her back!" "Fumi!" "Give back my daughter." "That's right.:" "Suffer." "You were about to let your conscience sell me out." "Will you win, or will I?" "Stop it!" "Don't get so worked up." "Hey... have a drink with me." "I've got the blues too." "Let's dance." "I'm Yoko." "Who are you?" "Listen... why don't we go somewhere else?" "I'm going home." "No!" "HOTEL YOSHINO" ""Shiro Shimizu. "" "It's him." "He's the one who killed Kyoichi." "Can I see you again tonight?" "Sure." "I'm glad." "Be at the bar at 9:00, okay?" "Don't forget." "9:00 p.m." "It's him." "No mistake about it." "You've got the stuff, don't you?" "Yeah." "Kyoichi, it won't be long." "I'm going to settle the score." "Once I finish them off, I'II come join you." ""Mother's condition critical." "Come immediately." "Father."" "TENJOEN" "OLD AGE HOME" "Of my father" "And mother..." "You are?" "Oh, you're Shiro from Tokyo!" "Yes." "I'm Kinuko." "They took me in last year." "I see." "This way." "Mother... it's Shiro." "Mother. how's Father?" "Stop it, silly man!" "You know, your son's pretty cute." "Such nice eyes." "I just might cheat on you." "I want to go back to Tokyo!" "Cut the crap." "It's no surprise, with me like this." "Auntie." "You're Shiro, aren't you?" "I'm Sachiko." "I sent the telegram." "How nice that he came!" "Thank you." "Her father paints." "They moved in next door last year." "He's an old friend of your father's." "Next door?" "I may not make it to Oshoro" "Father." "Or Takashima" "Ah, Shiro, you're here." "Father." "Your mother's a little better." "I'm having a painting of hell made for Jiganji temple." "This is Ensai Taniguchi." "He paints well, but he drank himself to ruin and ended up here." "Father, aren't you taking your walk this morning?" "Morning." "You're up early, Detective." "almost done, eh?" "So this is where all the bad people go, eh, Sachiko?" "Ensai, you got an answer for me yet?" "The answer's no." "I won't give Sachiko to a man like you." "Is that right?" "Ensai... aren't you wanted for fraud in Osaka?" "The prefectural police called about a forged painting." "Are you going to arrest me?" "They'd make a fine couple!" "And a cop in the family could come in handy, right?" "Let's do this:" "When the picture's done, we'II all have a Iong talk." "Dr. Kusama, the old man's gotten worse!" "please come quickly!" " If I must." " Hurry!" " Yeah, yeah." " quickly, Doctor!" " I know!" "The doctor's here." "It's not just him, Doctor." "We're all weak." "It's the food here." "You're skimming our welfare payments." "Who's skimming?" "The welfare office gives us 62 yen a day." "We spend 70." "The food's plenty nutritious." "Sachiko." "You're going to marry me, right?" "Let go!" "please!" "You like Sachiko, don't you?" "The evening is clear The autumn wind blows" "Bell crickets cry in the moonlight" "The sky above my hometown" "How fare my mother and father" "Shiro!" "You scared me to death!" "I thought you got hit." "You did?" "I saw you walking absent-mindedIy along the tracks." "You've been here four days now." "Your mother seems a little better." "I'd given up hope." "She said she'd take me to Tokyo when she got better." "I'm really looking forward to that." "Tamura!" "Long time no see." "I thought I'd drop by and see how you're doing." "What did you do after I Ieft?" "I'II be going home now." "The spitting image of Yukiko, huh?" "The Yajimas are a bit better." "He said they'd stop here on a lecture tour." "They'II probably arrive tonight." "Tamura, please!" "Go back to Tokyo immediately." "Stay away from me!" "I'II be at that inn over there." "I plan to stay a while." "See you." "Shiro!" "Your mother's taken a sudden turn for the worse." "Wait!" "You're returning to Tokyo if she dies, right?" "Take me with you!" "please!" "Mother!" "I bow in homage to the Buddha I sing in praise of Bodhisattva Jizo" "This is a tale of things" "Not of this world" "Hey, Professor Yajima and his wife are here." "Professor." "Mrs. Yajima." "Shimizu, there's no need to say anything." "Let's make a fresh start." "Yukiko!" "Dr. Kusama..." "I may be smaII-time, but I'm still a journalist." "What did Mrs. Shimizu die of?" "Angina pectoris." "What's that supposed to mean?" "Are you suggesting my diagnosis was wrong?" "I demand an apology!" "You're wrong." "What?" "Who the hell are you?" "Mrs. Shimizu died from malpractice." "You knew your diagnosis was wrong, but a second opinion was too much bother." "What?" "That's not true!" "It was Gozo who killed Ito!" "Father!" "Cavorting with his mistress with his wife ill in the next room!" "Ito and I were once lovers." "He stole her from me!" " I what?" "Everyone knows that!" "Impudent parasite!" "What?" "fool!" "You inhuman wretch!" "Have you no shame?" "That heartless shit!" "Idiot!" "Have no fear, Doctor." "You're not the only murderer here." " Who did I kill?" " silence!" "Everyone here is complicit in murder." "What the hell are you talking about?" "Even you, Detective Hariya." "Last summer you took a bribe to frame a man." "He was so ashamed he killed himself." "Mr. Akagawa... you killed a man with an inaccurate article." "I did not!" "I went to him and apologized!" "But he was " "already dead." "Next we have the godlike director of this charmingly shabby old folks' home, the Tenjoen, or "heavenly Garden."" "Not content with this pretty mistress, he has another in town, the plump owner of the Tonchuken Tavern." "Tamura, that's enough!" "And you, Professor!" "What about your comrades in MaIaya?" "Sir!" "old Tome's dead!" "You two killed him!" "AII you think about is the damn tenth anniversary festival!" "TENJOEN OLD AGE HOME TENTH ANNIVERSARY FESTIVAL" "Day after day" "This world fades into the distance" "Year after year" "My death draws ever closer" "Today is the funeral" "Of another" "Tomorrow lt will be mine" "They look delicious!" "Are they safe?" "At least they're cheap, Doctor." "And they haven't gone bad yet." "I don't need a food poisoning scandal." "Who cares?" "They're for the old folks, not us." "always putting others first!" "HIT-AND-RUN VEHICLE IDENTIFIED FROM SKID MARKS" "My father insists I go into town for some paint." "I should be back tonight." "Sorry to leave when it's so busy." "Did Mr. Tamura leave?" "Yes." "And I'm returning to Tokyo with Professor Yajima tomorrow." "So soon?" "I wanted you to take Father and me hiking along Kiyosawa Gorge." "You're no fun." "Is this a love scene?" "Here I was planning to sneak off alone with Shiro." "You like him, don't you?" "Me, I Iove this man!" "Shiro, which one of us do you Iike?" "Sachiko?" "Excuse me." "See you later." "Shiro, won't you go with me?" "I forgot earlier." "Are you Shiro Shimizu?" "This is for you." "Who's it from?" "I just had to see you." "I've come all the way here." "Shiro, please meet me on the rope bridge." "Yoko." "It's been a while, Shiro." "You know my name?" "Of course." "I know everything about you." "I was Kyoichi Shiga's woman." "He's the man you hit and killed." "His mother saw the whole thing." "We found you and Tamura right away." "Now I've come... to kill you." "I was in love with you until I found out who you were." "Now I just want to kill you." "I'm sorry." "Don't do it." "There's plenty of time to die." "I knew this would happen." "I know everything, you know." "Tamura!" "Who are you?" "If it weren't for you " "Just do as I say and you'II be fine." "Tamura!" "Tonight marks our anniversary." "We have little to offer, but please enjoy!" "Mr. Shimizu, you pulled out all the stops!" "You gave us fish with heads for a change!" "HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!" "THE TONCHUKEN TAVERN" "Happy anniversary!" "And I'II sing for you too." "Poor singer that you are!" "Let's hear it for the boss lady!" "Your attention, please!" "All along the slopes" "Of the mountain" "The scything" "is finished" "special tonight:" "a kiss for everyone!" "It's a strip show!" "No!" "Sir, can't we get some of those fish heads too?" "Yeah, where's my head?" "Isn't Tonchuken's famous roast pork a Iot better than rotten fish?" "Eat that pork!" "Drink that booze!" "Pork!" "Booze!" "Booze!" "Eat that pork!" "Drink that booze!" "Pork!" "Booze!" "Booze!" "Forgive my appearance, Professor." "Won't you join us?" "Do you know where Shiro is?" " I'm afraid not." " Too bad." "Eat that pork!" "Drink that booze!" "Pork!" "Booze!" "Booze!" "Who's in there?" "What are you doing here?" "I'II never let you go!" "Mount Bandai in Aizu is a treasure mountain" "Tied together, hugging tight" "Hurry and grab that lovely girl I'm a plum blossom on the Mamuro River" "is Sado Island" "A nice place to live" "Sachiko!" "Kusatsu's a nice place Come pay a visit" "Flowers blossom even in the hot springs" "Kinuko!" "I knew it!" "I just knew it!" "Don't act so surprised." "I'm sick of being your plaything out here in the boonies." "That's it!" "I'II kill you both!" "Father, it was all my fault!" "You son of a bitch!" "Stop it!" "Don't kill him!" "This was my doing!" "Damn you!" "Father!" "You whore!" "Shiro, keep your mouth shut." "Go back and sit down as if nothing happened, okay?" "Professor." "Thank you for everything." "If we leave now, we can catch the Iast train home." "I see." "Professor!" "Yukiko!" "Let's go." "Hey, more sake!" "Bring more sake!" "You want sake?" "I have some." "Who are you?" "A relative of a former resident of the home." "I came to help celebrate." "How about a drink for everyone?" "It's not poisoned, is it?" "What a thing to say!" "I'II drink some first to show it isn't." " Fine, pour me some." " allow me." "Even those in the prime of life" "Have suddenly died" "With the coming of dawn" "Tonight they lay their heads" "On their pillows" "But when morning comes..." "If you'II allow me, I'II test this for poison." "well, one last drink." "Cheers!" "Tamura!" "Shiro, it's terrible!" "The Yajimas threw themselves in front of the train!" "Tamura!" "You son of a bitch!" "You killed my son Kyoichi!" "You pushed Yoko off that bridge!" "I know everything!" "I know everything!" "I'II kill you!" "I'II kill you!" "Bastards!" "Those fish were rancid!" "Shiro." "Tamura!" "What is this place?" "This place?" "This is the path to hell, the border between life and death." "This is the River Sanzu." "You and I... are going to hell together." "You hear that crying?" "Listen." "It's a baby crying." "It's calling you." "calling me?" "Why is it calling me?" "Tamura, tell me!" "Why is it calling me?" "Where am I?" "I am Enma, king of hell." "I am lord of the Eight HeIIs of Fire and the Eight HeIIs of Ice." "I sit in judgment of all who slither into the underworld and pass sentence on their sins." "Shiro Shimizu, recall now your multitude of crimes." "Look into the aII-reveaIing mirror." "Bastard!" "You hit me!" "You are sentenced to the torments of the Eight HeIIs!" "The first pile of stones ls for their fathers" "The second pile of stones ls for their mothers" "The third pile of stones ls for brothers and sisters back home" "Thus they pray for the happiness" "Of those left behind" "By day they play" "Alone with their stones" "There's a baby crying." "It's calling me." "Where's it coming from?" "The demons of hell" "Appear before them" "And ask, "What is this you're doing?"" "Where am I?" "This is the bank of the River Sanzu, where children are held in limbo for having died before their parents." "Your parents left behind in the world" "Yukiko!" "They do nothing but mourn your death" "Forgive me!" "It's as if I killed you myself." "Forgive me." "The baby's crying." "The baby with which we were blessed." "You... were pregnant?" "I meant to tell you that night." "The crash killed both me and our child." "Yukiko... forgive me!" "Forgive me!" "Give our child a name." "It's a girl." "The poor thing needs a name." "May I choose the name?" ""Harumi."" "From the characters for "spring" and "beauty."" "Isn't it pretty?" "Harumi." "So we had a child." "Oh, no!" "I couldn't raise her alone, so I set her on a lotus leaf on the river." "She'II be swept away!" "Swept away forever!" "Hurry and save her!" "Harumi!" "Harumi!" "I can't go any further." "You must look after her alone." "We go together, no matter where it takes us." "The baby's being swept away." "Put my grave right next to yours, and find the best spot to bury my parents." "Shiro!" "Yukiko!" "Harumi!" "A life is naught but two score and ten years." "Here meet the Six Paths of Existence." "You who have no home in the Three Unenlightened Worlds, as punishment for your sins in the world of the living, must wander aimlessly along these six paths." "Harumi!" "Have you seen my child?" "Professor!" "Mrs. Yajima!" "Shimizu!" "We had a child!" "Where did she float away to?" "My daughter..." "Yukiko!" "Professor, Mrs. Yajima... forgive me." "If it weren't for me, none of this misery would have come to pass." "Forgive me." "Give me back my daughter!" "Fumi!" "Stop that!" "Shimizu, we too have descended into hell." "Professor!" "Yukiko's death drove my wife mad." "We chose to die." "Professor, we meet again." "It was your fate to fall down to hell." "Here's another reason:" "In MaIaya you stole a comrade's last sip of water." "You killed him." "It's true!" "He's right!" "That's my canteen!" "It's mine!" "I killed a man!" "Yamaguchi." "Water!" "Give me water!" "Water!" "Water!" "Give me water." "You who are dead, if it's water you want, drink your fill." "This is the pus wrung from your festering carcasses" "Drink all you wish!" "You bastard!" "You killed me!" "I'm sorry!" "I'II strangle you!" "Die!" "Die!" "Harumi!" "You killed me!" "I'm sorry." "Forgive me." "Forgive me!" "Quiet!" "I don't want to hear it!" "You who are dead, this is the First Hell." "Here flesh is peeled, bones crushed, eyes plucked out and limbs severed." "Every time you make a sound or even a whimper, you are returned to life to face the torments of Hell again." "Kinuko!" "You were negligent as a doctor." "You were a slave to money and debauchery." "You will be sawed to pieces." "As a policeman you were supposed to protect the law-abiding, yet you were driven only by self-interest." "You implicated a man in a crime he didn't commit." "Your hands will be cut off." "You were the most atrocious of all, the epitome of corruption." "Your sins outnumber the stones along the River Sanzu." "You will suffer each and every torment of Hell." "First you will be flayed." "Take me away from here, Shiro!" "I Ioved you the minute I saw you!" "Kinuko!" "Father!" " Whore!" " Let me go!" "You bitch!" "Let go of me!" "Bitch!" "Father!" "Shiro... you're to come with me." "You will dwell with me in this dark hell forever." "No!" "I want to live!" "My baby's crying!" "She's calling me!" "You still don't understand?" "You're a fool." "Loving someone, worrying about them, suffering for them - all useless now!" "You tried to sell me out for their sake." "For their sake you committed one sin after another." "This all happened due to you and your meddling!" "Do you think you can escape from hell?" "Just try it!" "This is the Lake of Blood, to which those guilty of adultery, lust, license and lechery are condemned for their immoral conduct." "Shiro!" "I won't let you go!" "I won't let you go!" "Let go!" "I may not make it to Oshoro" "Or Takashima" "Shiro!" "Yukiko!" "Harumi!" "help me!" "Yukiko!" "Harumi!" "Yukiko!" "Harumi!" "Sachiko!" "Father!" "Mother!" "Sachiko!" "I can't see a thing." "Have I gone blind?" "Sachiko." "Have you seen my father?" "Your father?" "It seems I saw him somewhere... but I'm not sure." "Why do you suffer so?" "If only we'd met sooner in life " "Now it's all too late." "It's not!" "I'm going to live!" "You're right." "It's not too late." "Even now you want to touch her." "It's not too late for that." "Shiro, take her in your arms." "Kiss her!" "Then you'II become just like me:" "one of hell's vermin!" "No!" "Don't!" "Mother!" "You're holding your sister." "That's your younger sister!" "Sachiko, Shiro's your elder brother!" "These hands!" "The blood flowing in these hands is cursed!" "When I went to live with your father," "I was already pregnant with Ensai's child." "Ito!" "You mean " "So Shiro is my son?" "Yes." "I've lied to you both all these years." "Ito!" "If anyone's to blame, it's you!" "If only I'd known!" "I wouldn't have turned into a drunkard." "This is fun!" "I Iike you haIf-wits more all the time!" "Let's go." "Brother, wait." "Your baby!" "Hurry and save your baby!" "I hear her!" "Wherever you go, you go with me." "You can't escape from me!" "Mr. Tamura, what do you want from my brother?" "You're a demon!" "You're the accursed god of death!" "Leave us alone!" "That's right." "I'm a demon." "I'm the god of death." "Shiro!" "Come with me!" "Leave my brother alone!" "Come with me!" "Come on!" "Tamura... you sold the most precious thing a man can possess.:" "You gave your conscience over to evil." "Those who sign away their conscience suffer all the torments of bottomless Hell." "Harumi!" "Shiro, help me!" "Harumi!" "The pain!" "Hear me!" "You who in life piled sin upon sin will be trapped in Hell forever." "Suffer!" "Suffer!" "This vortex of torment will whirl for all eternity." "help me!" "help me!" "Save me!" "Shiro!" "Save your child now, or she will suffer endless torment in Hell." "You will be given this one final chance." "hell!" "This is hell!" "Harumi!" "Yukiko!" "Shiro, save Harumi!" "Yukiko!" "Brother!" "A human life ls naught" "But two score and ten years" "Shiro!" "Brother!" "SHINTOHO COMPANY, LTD." "JIGOKU" "For human beings... there's no escaping death." "Can I see you again tonight?" "Crossing the border between life and death, you and I are going to Hell together." "LOVE" "AND HATRED" "WRITHING IN THE SHACKLES OF FATE" "A portrait of an agonized young man seeking to escape the endless suffering of life and his own unshakable sense of guilt." "Directed by NOBUO NAKAGAWA" "Master director Nobuo Nakagawa pours on the passion, once more unleashing his unique vision on the world." "JIGOKU" "AGONY AND CHAOS" "JIGOKU" "WITNESS ALL THE TORMENTS OF HELL!" "JIGOKU" "COMING SOON" "I think Jigoku is unusual for a Japanese film." "Because the word "horror" didn't yet exist in Japan, I imagine that audiences wouldn't have had any idea what to call it." "Shintoho was considered a good-for-nothing company." "people thought it was a factory of wicked movies." "People thought Jigoku was another of "those Shintoho films. "" "Everybody ignored it." "I'II strangle you!" "He'd come up with unexpected ideas." "I think Mr. Nakagawa tried quite a number of really strange and unusual things in this film." "Harumi!" "I still don't know whether Jigoku fits into the simple category of "horror. "" "He'd already been called a master filmmaker by that time." "He wore wooden clogs called geta, which was really unusual." "Here was a film director wearing these clogs right on the set." "My first impression of him was "the old man next door. "" "That actually made me feel closer to him." "When we were working in Kyoto," "I once asked him, "Why don't we go for a drink?"" "He said, "That would be nice."" "Then he added," ""But I can't go in these clothes." "I need to change."" "So that he could change out of the shirt he wore to work," "I gave him a ride to his hotel." "I waited for him in the car." "After a while he came out, but I couldn't see any difference in his clothes." "His attire was exactly the same as before." "films shouIdn't be difficult to understand." "Some directors talk big, but all they make are incomprehensible films." "Mr. Nakagawa was the complete opposite of that." "What was great about him was that he was unassuming." "He gave credit to his entire cast and crew." "That's why I respected him." "The exact year I met him was 1950, I think." "It was on a Kanjuro Arashi film." "Mr. Nakagawa was the director." "However, since I was just a new recruit, my task was just to carry money and deliver messages, and I seldom spoke with him." "My impression was that he drank from morning till night." "The first time I met Nakagawa was on a TVmovie project." "Looking back on it, I was very impertinent." "I was very disrespectful of the screenwriter on the project." "After the first meeting between Nakagawa and the cast and crew," "I approached him and said, "Some lines felt wrong, so I've made some changes that seemed appropriate."" "His reply was, "You fool. "" "I was offended by his words." "He exited the room, leaving me behind, feeling indignant." "Then the door opened again, and he called out, "Hey, you. "" ""ln the future, feel free to tell me what you think just like you did now. "" "Mr. Nakagawa directed horror films for one studio, Shintoho." "There was an infamous producer there, Mitsugu Okura." "He always wanted to make summer horror films, and he would have Mr. Nakagawa shoot them." "Mr. Nakagawa would think, "What, another one?"" "Japanese films of the horror genre are generally made in volume for summer release." "This is because by giving the audience chills, these films have the effect of providing a cooling respite from the heat." "That's why so many are released in summer." "well, my impression is, although Shintoho took on the Toho name, it was nowhere near the size of the big studio." "I really think it represents the poor, low-budget aspect of the Japanese film industry." "Mr. Nakagawa made 97 films, and only eight of them are horror films." "At the time, ghost movies and other genre films released on a weekly basis were made by "B-grade" directors." "As in A-B-C." "It meant they were considered Iower-tier directors." "He created the masterpiece Ghost Story of Yotsuya, and then Jigoku." "I understand very well that, as a result," "Mr. Nakagawa acquired quite a reputation." "originally, however, making this type of movies wasn't his strong point." "I think many of his works were small, unassuming films that really shone." "He really loved people, people who lived life to the fullest." "He depicted them with warmth in his films." "That was my impression of his work." "He liked movies, but when he was young, he was actually a literary youth, though, of course, he loved movies." "I once heard him say that his favorite director was Yasujiro Ozu." "film directors are arrogant and generally don't watch films." "Even Ozu said," ""films are something you create, not something you watch."" "Mr. Nakagawa watched more films than other directors." "He was full of curiosity, and he'd go to the movies by himself." "He saw lots of foreign movies too, and I think he admired Chaplin the most." "When The Exorcist opened, we went to the premiere together." "I'm sure he saw other films too." "He wasn't living in Tokyo and had to travel quite a ways to get there." "You have to be a real moviegoer to do something like that." "Nakagawa's attitude didn't change whether he was talking to a company president or anybody else." "In fact, after a shoot," "Nakagawa would tell Okura, "Let's have some drinking money. "" "And the fact that Okura compiled shows he was quite a character himself." "But the money wasn't just to buy drinks for Nakagawa." "He'd pitch in money of his own too to treat the whole crew to food and drink." "This made for an environment where discussions about the project would crop up." "In a sense, Nakagawa's style of filmmaking was reflected in the way he interacted with his crew in these daily informal gatherings after work." "He'd draw out people's strengths, and then it was his job to orchestrate them." "That's why gatherings and parties play a significant role in Jigoku." "I think they're based on his own personal experience." "Let the girl serve us sake." "Otherwise we won't let you by." "Fueno, you bumped into her." "You refuse to hand the girl over?" "Then I'II take her by force!" "Stop this!" " Who are you?" " Remove your hat." "The first time Nakagawa and Amachi worked together on a major project was Ghost Story of Yotsuya." "Before that," "Amachi played supporting roles in Nakagawa's films." "Before Ghost Story of Yotsuya, he made a film called The military policeman and the Ghost, and Amachi played a relatively important role as a really cruel and evil officer in the military police." "After working together on that movie, they teamed up again for Ghost Story of Yotsuya." "Originally, the role of lemon Tamiya that Amachi played in Ghost Story of Yotsuya was to be played by one of Shintoho's box-office stars." "But through some turn of events," "Amachi ended up playing the role of lemon." "Through that single change in casting," "Amachi grew greatly as an actor, and Ghost Story of Yotsuya gained a realistic quality that took it beyond the usual period horror movie." "I can't kill Oiwa." "You still won't do it?" "Then let's do this:" "I'II get hold of some poison imported from the West." "Poison?" "This was followed by Jigoku." "congratulations." "Tamura!" "Surprised to see me?" "Of course, Amachi and I got along during filming, but I wasn't particularly close to him." "That's because he was very good-Iooking, which made it sort of intimidating to approach him." "He was very popular with the girls too." "I was really jealous." "In a sense, he was a totally different actor than I was." "He was good at playing handsome, earnest, hard-working men, or detectives, "master detectives. "" "Especially with the advent of television, the camera really captured his natural charm." "He passed away very young, though." "That was a real shame." "Nakagawa loved to drink and to get together with people." "In that kind of setting he would draw out creative ideas from the people he worked with." "But Amachi didn't drink at all." "Normally, nondrinkers wouldn't join in the parties." "But I think through his work," "Amachi conveyed to Nakagawa that he was able to do his job even if he couldn't join in the drinking." "That's my guess." "I'II be going now." "It would be a shame to keep you from your wedding preparations." "Wait!" "Following on that experience of playing lemon, who descends into self-loathing as he tries to live his life with the sole purpose of succeeding in the world, the character Amachi plays in Jigoku is much, much more timid." "The role challenged him to play a passive character." "Nakagawa worked with his actors without locking them into a pattern or casting them according to type." "Rather, he'd expand each actor's natural abilities each time they teamed up." "I think that way of working was particularly evident with Amachi." "lemon... how could you do it?" "How could you poison me like that?" "Ghost Story of Yotsuya:" "It was because he made that film that he was busy every summer directing lots of horror movies for television." "He used to say, "Thanks to Ghost Story of Yotsuya," "I got to work on all kinds of projects."" "Since the film was a success, he felt good and confident, and he went on filming the world he wanted to create." "That was Jigoku." "Have you heard of the plank of Carneades?" "The Greek philosopher Carneades posed this question:" "There's a plank, and two people are drowning." "If one of them hangs on to the plank, the other will die." "In such a situation, if the one with the plank gets rid of the one without, is that person guilty?" "That's more or less the idea of "an act of necessity. "" "Mr. Nakagawa said it may not be guilt in a legal sense, but it is guilt." "Just as we were speaking of this, a news report came on about a fisherman catching fish in the Tama River." "The fish he caught... were possibly poisonous, so instead of eating them himself, he sold them." "There are a lot of people who do bad things like that." "We were discussing this topic, saying that in a period drama a man like that wouldn't be forgiven." "He'd be slashed to pieces." "We started to talk about Faust." "A person is doing something bad, but the agent causing the person to do bad things is the person's own alter ego." "And then somehow we started saying," ""Let's do it. "" "A while later, Mr. Okura called in Mr. Nakagawa, asking if he had any good projects in mind." "Nakagawa said he'd like to shoot a film about bad people who should go to hell." "Mr. Okura said, "AII right." "Make a film called 'Heaven and hell."'" "When we completed the script," "Okura scolded us, saying heaven was nowhere to be seen." "I dodged the issue by saying" "I would write about heaven in the sequel." "My impression is that Jigoku contains many Western elements." "I say that because of the deviI-Iike character played by Yoichi Numata." "The role he plays is to lure the protagonist into evil." "That theme is common in the West but seldom seen in Japanese films." "It gives a Mephistophelian, devil-like impression." "You're a demon!" "You're the accursed god of death!" "Leave us alone!" "That's right." "I'm a demon." "I'm the god of death." "Shiro!" "He told me that, just like Goethe's Faust, it was about the outside and inside of a person." "I simply replied, "l see. "" "I thought hard but couldn't figure out what the outside and inside meant." "After a while, I started to think," ""Whatever happens, happens."" "At that time, I was the kind of actor who was inclined to prepare for a role intellectually." "As a result, little by little, I was getting cornered." "I wondered, "Do I need to change the way I work?"" "Because I wanted to find a way to break down my own barriers." "Next we have the godlike director of this charmingly shabby old folks' home, the Tenjoen, or "heavenly Garden."" "Not content with this pretty mistress, he has another in town, the plump owner of the Tonchuken Tavern." "Tamura, that's enough!" "So I acted the way I felt, thinking it wouId be okay if the director yelled at me." "But Mr. Nakagawa just silently observed my acting, and the result is what you see." "This is a rare character for Japanese film," "and I guess... director Nobuo Nakagawa" "probably wanted to create a story with a Western touch." "hell itself appears in the Buddhist religious tradition from ancient times, and of course it's long been a popular theme in the West." "But you seldom see it in Japanese films." "originally it came from my memory of paintings of hell in a temple." "When I was a kid, I wanted to become a Buddhist monk." "One of my best friends was the child of a temple keeper, and I'd go to the temple every day to play." "There was a depiction of the inferno there." "Just as we began work on Jigoku, an expensive book of ezoshi - old illustrated booklets - was published." "When I showed the book to Mr. Nakagawa, he said..." ""Now I remember. "" "That's how that imagery started." "As far as religion goes... it's said that if you do something wrong, you go to hell." "First you cross the Sanzu, and when you've crossed the Sanzu, you're in the afterworld." "What awaits you in the afterworld is a trial by the Judge of hell." "Based on the results of that trial, different hells are assigned to people according to their sins." "That idea is true to Buddhist tradition, but it's not the approach we took in this film." "In this movie, the protagonist went through all kinds of hells, because we wanted to illustrate that these kinds of hells existed." "The whole of hell was meant to be shown in the film." "Nakagawa's production designer was a man named Haruyasu Kurosawa." "The production design in Nakagawa's films is brilliant." "I remember one scene very well." "There's a dead man lying on an asphalt road." "There's dark water spread over the paved road." "The shape the water takes is like a spider's web." "It's really disturbing." "The hit-and-run victim is lying in the middle of it." "They created such a terrifying image simply by splashing water on the pavement in that particular shape." "It cost nothing to splash some water around." "More than 15 years ago, when I made my first horror film, entitled Sweet Home, I contacted Mr. Kurosawa and asked him if he'd do the production design." "Unfortunately, he was busy making TVcommercials." "He was very interested, but the scheduling didn't work out, and I didn't get to work with him." "This scene of hell was filmed on the largest soundstage at Shintoho, and there were no props." "Just a huge, empty set." "Because I was working somewhere else," "I wasn't there myself, but I heard about it later." "The set was filled with countless actors playing sinners." "The actors themselves dug the pits they were in." "The studio had so little money at the time." "It was right before the company went bankrupt." "However, everyone wanted, if nothing else, to finish making the movie, and to make it good." "Under ordinary circumstances, the stage carpenters and others would have done the digging." "But the actors joined in digging the holes." "That stands out clearly in my memory." "Because our budget was small, we tried to compensate by being resourceful and innovative." "When the Judge of Hell appears and then we switch to a mirror, the small mirror turns around and around." "For that shot we used a washtub." "We put water in it, added some colors, stirred the water, and filmed it from above." "The one set we actually built was Needle Hell." "We used plastic for the set, but the rest was mostly done with lighting." "We couldn't do it any other way." "Mr. Okura wanted us to create those things." ""They want to see what the place is like where the Judge of hell lives."" "But we'd have quickly run out of money." "Instead, we decided to hire Kanjuro Arashi and use close-ups." "Mr. Nakagawa had been making films ever since he was a young director in a certain tradition:" "When shooting a scene in an inn, even if they needed only one room, they would construct the whole inn." "He'd learned his trade in that environment." "So even though the budget was low, it's still amazing that he decided to use Kurosawa's ideas." "Nakagawa's style of directing was always to start with a blank slate." "He made a variety of different types of films." "In the case of Jigoku, he experimented a great deal." "More than any other of his films, this was like a canvas on which he experimented with many things." "Tamura... you sold the most precious thing a man can possess.:" "You gave your conscience over to evil." "Those who sign away their conscience suffer all the torments of bottomless Hell." "I myself don't like gory movies." "Moreover, older Japanese movies didn't show blood." "There used to be an unstated rule about that, but from a certain point on, they began to insert scenes full of bloodshed." "That 40-minute sequence is actually what Okura wanted in the film and what he considered its most important elements.:" "the erotic, grotesque, and nonsensical." "I think Okura wanted more of those things." "But I think what Nakagawa most wanted to show was people before and after that sequence." "psychological suffering can't be rendered in visible form, so... when we take suffering and give it physical form," "we can only resort to showing physical torture." "But the film is strictly about psychological suffering, though expressed in visual images." "Shiro!" "Yukiko!" "Harumi!" "There are two sides to every person." "A person is a combination of these two sides." "That means, if not Faust, at Ieast what we intended to present is that the character of Numata" "also represents the other side of Shiro." "That's why I wrote," ""As long as you are like this, I will never vanish, "" "or something to that effect." "In a less original movie, the same actor plays both roles." "Like a doppelganger... or JekyII and Hyde." "I didn't want to make the film that way." "I made it as you see it." "I always feel that even when work is a struggle, it's still enjoyable." "But this one was a real struggle." "I couldn't play the role to the best of my ability, and that was unfortunate." "I couldn't really understand the role." "I wanted to do it with a fuller understanding." "But maybe acting can't be clearly understood." "Perhaps I'd encounter the same difficulty today." "So you want to turn me in for manslaughter?" "We're the ones who killed him." "We caused it." "Let's go together." "please." "That might ease your conscience, but I'm not interested." "It'd be stupid." "He was drunk." "He ran into the road." "It was basically suicide." "Besides, he was just some yakuza scum." "He's not worth the best years of our lives." "Thirty years ago, maybe 40, the idea of "original sin"" "was very much on my mind." "What is karmic retribution?" "Even if you don't violate the law, evil deeds are evil deeds." "The idea that people go to hell became the starting point." "Looking back now," "I feel we succeeded in making the topic easy to digest." "But on the other hand," "I also feel we didn't have to make it in such a crudely popular fashion." "I feel both ways." "I remember Masahiro Ogi's review of Jigoku." "It was full of harsh criticism." ""This film is like a tumor that Shintoho developed in its death throes. "" "Some critics praised it profusely, and others said we rushed into production because the company was folding." "They called the film "a half-baked oddity. "" "Opinions were extremely divided." "In terms of box office... because it was right before the distribution system of the company collapsed," "revenue was not very substantial." "Even so, I heard there were more viewers than expected." "Not surprisingly, about 40% of viewers found the film disturbing." "In other words, there was this urge to see something scary." "But I was surprised that many young people said that they were moved or the film was impressive." "But not the older people." "Everyone at the company was pretty surprised by this." "Nakagawa often said, "Akira Kurosawa and Kon Ichikawa are so successful." "I'm the only one who isn't critically respected. "" "But that wasn't true." "Jigoku was really ahead of its time." "That's what makes it so great." "It was really pioneering." "I think the way ghosts are presented in Japanese film" "was established mainly by Nakagawa." "In the West, what's considered frightening is an entity that attacks people or exercises some effect on them." "I think that's central to the Western sense of terror." "In contrast, in Japan, I think the frightening entities in film and in traditional Japanese storytelling are passive and don't do anything in particular to us." "It's this utter passivity that causes our fear." "I think that's the fundamental difference between the two traditions." "lemon... the Tamiya bIoodIine will end with you." "The way ghosts appear in Japanese kaidan films has been copied and adopted by all the representative directors in Japanese horror film today." "Hideo Nakata has copied it." "I have." "Takashi Shimizu has also." "The creators of the Japanese Ring invited Yoichi Numata, who appeared in Jigoku, to perform in the film." "I heard it was because they saw Jigoku." "They must have been surprised because he'd aged so much." "In Japan, we began our attempts to restore that legacy of Japanese ghost films in the 1990s." "Every film of Nakagawa's is shot with a benevolent gaze." "In the last scene of Jigoku, you see lotus petals falling in the background." "That image symbolizes purification of the heart and mind." "Nakagawa always inserted that kind of scene." "His horror films weren't meant simply to scare people." "They would end with a scene that had a cathartic effect on the heart and mind." "I hadn't seen it in decades." "Honestly, I wondered if I really wrote it." "I grabbed the screenplay and took a look, which confirmed that I did indeed write it." "although it had been shortened a great deal, it really was my own work." "It was quite a strange feeling." "I wish Mr. Nakagawa was still around to see the reputation his films have acquired around the world." "I wish Mr. Nakagawa could experience some of this." "He was right after all." "He created many pioneering films." "They were all fun movies that everyone could understand." "They were all technically wonderful too." "He was very talented." "I wish I couId tell him," ""The world has finally acknowledged your work."" "In Japan..." "I don't think I've ever shown Nakagawa's films to my students." "If I did, they would say," ""Oh, so that's where Mr. Kurosawa gets his ideas."" "So I try not to show them in Japan." "I think he's yet to receive full critical appreciation." "Even in Japan, Nakagawa is just beginning to be truly appreciated, I would say." "In Eastern Asia, there are mountain hermits called sennin." "They live on mist." "He was somehow always aloof from worldly matters, and he had the air of a sennin." "He was also fond of sake." "But this sennin was afraid of his wife." "He used to say he'd be full of drunken bluster when he headed home, but he was still afraid of her when he got there." ""Dear Mr. Nakagawa," I want to say," ""come back and see us again!""