Kurozuka : Eternal Love (2008): Forbidden Love between a Monk & a Demon Fox Spirit

I taught Japanese vampires at a university for over 30 years while I had undead fox spirit visit me since I was a child when my father started to beat me for no reason. . . Ironically, I became a scholar about vampire/fox spirits. Enjoy> >

Directed by Tetsuo Arakai (1976- ), who also worked as an episode director for Death Note, based on the manga by Baku Yumemakura, illustrated by Takashi Noguchi, we see in the anime, Kuro falling in love with the fox spirit, Kuromitsu. The tale begins as a samurai narrative and then merges into a cyberpunk like science fiction tale. Kuromitsu returns his love In the opening scene, Kuro, a priest, holds a special staff, the staff of Jizo (Kishitigarbha, the Bodhisattva of children, lost souls or hungry ghosts of hell). This staff of rings has wondrous powers that can combat evil.

A love that lasts 1000 years becomes a love worth killing for. Kurozuka starts out like a typical fox spirit story where a man falls for a demon lover and then becomes a vampire narrative that travels from the past, the 13th century into the distant future.

Thus, the eternal tale starts in the past and navigates into the future.

Why does blood becomes so important to the tale? You may want to re-watch the first episode since it sets up the series. The manga has more nudity, but the anime is as violent.

Chinese Ghost Story

This tale is very much like Sien nui yau wan III (Chinese Ghost Story 3) (1991) where a monk falls in love with a fox spirit. The monk also carries the staff of Kishitigarbha. These series of films were very popular throughout Asia.

These series of films were very popular in Asia. It even became a television series in 2002-2003.

Even an animated version was made, Xiao Quian (1997).

Noh Play: Kurozuka

Here is a summary of the original Noh Play which is very much like a tale about a fox spirit:

Priests in search of a nights lodging stop at the humble hut of a lone woman in the wilds of Adachi, Japan. She finally lets them in and while spinning thread speaks of her wretched solitude. As she is leaving to gather firewood, she suddenly turns back to the priests and tells them not to look into her inner room. This arouses the curiosity of a servant who, despite the head priest's reprimands, does look in the woman's room and finds piled of bones and rotting corpses. The priests realize this must be the demoness of Adachi, and when they are about to flee, she returns in a rage, now in her demonic form. But finally through the power of their Buddhist prayers, the priests, are able to quell her anger and she disappears. [Richard Emmert]

http://www.theatrenohgaku.org/projects/2004_e.php

Sources:

Chinese Ghost Story. http://www.wu-jing.org/dramas/Chinese-Ghost-Story.php

http://mopedronin.tumblr.com/post/57910839/noh-play-summaries-in-english-pdf-format-kurozuka