Inugami family returns

Kon Ichikawa, 90 years old, remade his film "Inugamike no Ichizoku" (1976). it will be released next week. Koji Ishizaka plays the main character Kosuke Kindaichi (figure!) again (he acted it at 35 years old and 65 years old!). I hardly watch Japanese movies but I like this. Actually, this movie is said to be a monument of Japanese cinema mastery.

The story: a wealthy man named Sakubei died, leaving behind no wife but three daughters who each had a different mother and who now each have a son. In his Will, Sakubei leaves his friend痴 daughter Tamayo the treasure of the Inugami family, "Yoki, Koto, Kiku" (three gold items), and leaves his other property to whichever of his three grandsons who Tamayo chooses as her husband. After that, mysterious murders happen one after another. A detective, Kosuke Kindaichi, tries to tell who is the murderer.

Here is a trailer of the 1977 film and this is the one of 2006. The old one with English subtitles was released on by DVD. Check it out, if you like it.

I like Inugami, but I prefer another Kindaichi series: "The Devil's Bouncing Ball Song" (Akuma no Temariuta). Actually, it is said to be Ichikawa's best..

I hardly watch Japanese live-action films. But I like this Kindaichi series. The story setting is postwar, when everything was a little dark and chaotic. Some murders happened in local areas that kept the old customs and constraints. Murders were a chain-reaction and obviously some dark message was hidden in them. This series has a style that can show a very Japanese grudge of being bruised by old customs, class, history. Even though much time has passed, I wonder if Japanese will still have something in common (soul?) to understand this, making the Kindaichi movies so attractive for us.

Anyway, today I read this article, Dankai no sedai like to go Ohenro (shikoku pilgrimage). After retirement, they walk a long way temple to temple and then see themselves, think of their lives. It's nice, I think. It's easy to go Ohenro by package tour as sightseeing now, but basically it is a trip of the soul walking around hallowed ground.

Comments

[Martin]

Shikoku island is small and really worth a visit. I don't know if I can walk around to all 80 temples and shrines, but it must be a great sense of fulfillment for those who manage such pilgrimage.