Ooe Yama Shuten Doji - As befits a city with more than 1200 years of history, Kyoto is known as a haven for many ghosts, gods and spirits. Here is your chance to get briefly acquainted with one of the better-known entities said to haunt the cultural heart of Japan.
A popular legend set in 10th-century Japan. Under orders from the emperor, Samurai heroes disguised as yamabushi ('mountain monks') enter the mountain fortress of the atrocious ogre Shuten Doji, who lured young women to his lair on Oe mountain where he kept them prisoner and sometimes ate them.
After tricking Shuten Doji into drinking a sake potion, the Samurai hero, Minamoto Yorimitsu (944 - 1021), beheads him, battles his monstrous horde, rescues the surviving women and returns to Kyoto in triumph freeing the district from this terrible peril.
The historical Yorimitsu was a Minamoto leader who was served by four legendary retainers, known as the Shiten-no (The Four Guardian Kings) and served the Heian court by getting rid of robbers and pirates, suggesting why this legend was attached to him.
The tale of the conquest of the monster Shuten Doji by the hero Minamoto Yorimitsu was retold by many artists during the Edo period (1615-1868). This popular tale appeared in works commissioned for elite patrons as well as in widely-available printed books.
STARRING: ICHIKAWA RAIZO, KATSU SHINTARO
1960 - JAPANESE with OPTIONAL ENGLISH SUBTITLES - COLOR - 16:9 ANAMORPHIC WIDESCREEN - 114 MINUTES
