1
"The Heart Sutra"
SUFFERING OF NINKO
A long time ago...
...deep in the mountains...
...sat the temple Enmei-ji.
In this temple there was
a Buddhist priest named Ninko.
"The Heart Sutra"
This novice monk set out
to practice asceticism.
In this, he was beyond
his fellow monks.
He was a paragon of monkhood.
However...
He had a problem.
Ninko attracts women
Ninko?
Ninko's coming.
Really? Is he here?
Ninko!
Ninko?
Ninko-san?
There you are?
Ninko-san!
What a man!
Come, my darling Ninko!
Please, look at me!
Ninko was very popular with women.
Ninko-san!
Over here!
Step back!
Ninko-san?
You're so exciting!
Rub harder, Takuyo.
Unfortunately, he attracted...
...not only women.
Ninko!
Ninko...
Sexual indulgence...
...is sinful for a monk.
When his thoughts wavered...
...Ninko turned to zen meditation...
...to clear his mind.
You look depressed, Ninko.
No doubt you'd prefer not to
go out to beg for alms.
No.
I do not think so.
They are like animals.
Just following their desires.
However...
It's not your fault,
it cannot be avoided.
Jomei...
It's not something that
can't be avoided.
It is my fault,
I need to be more virtuous.
I must train harder.
Jomei...
Isn't Ninko too solemn?
Shonen, don't cut everything
into round slices.
Ah...
I'm sorry.
Today...
...I forbid Ninko to ask for alms.
Yes, Master.
But...
- Isn't it
- You should know why.
Yes.
I understand, Master.
How can he be a novice when
he's reluctant to perform his duties?
It's rude for a monk
like him to ask for alms.
I see.
How could Master know his thought?
Because he's Master Myoko.
How strange that a monk
should become so popular.
Ninko thinks that he's at fault
for attracting women.
But I doubt that's true.
He is the most diligent monk here,
aside from Master Myoko.
Ninko was left alone in the temple,
meditating on his suffering.
But his suffering did not end.
Where's Ninko-san?
Why isn't he here?
Don't worry,
he'll be back.
As I've told you,
Ninko isn't coming today!
And so...
...I'm taking his place.
- What?
- Come on.
What the hell are you talking about?
Takuyo!
Where's Ninko?
We want to see him!
Bring Ninko to us!
Calm down!
Is Ninko sick?
What happened to him?
Listen to me!
He has other work
at the temple today.
What kind of work?
Jomei, we're getting nowhere!
We need to retreat! Run!
Where is Ninko-san?
We need him!
Ninko-san...
What's wrong?
Are you all right?
Why are you...
I came here to...
...ask you something.
Ask me?
When I think of you...
I... I'm...
I'm overcome with emotion
and I somehow feel very hot.
Can you please
release this heat?
I'm sorry, I cannot.
For a Buddhist monk,
sexual indulgence is a sin.
Am I...
...unclean in your eyes?
No, it's not like that.
It's I who has made
you feel like that.
It's all my fault.
Go away!
Please!
After this encounter
things got even worse.
Women: Okita and Ofuji
Bathing lady: Ochika
Ninko!
Somebody, help!
- Ninko?
- Ninko, what happened?
- Stay calm!
- Get him!
Ninko!
He's too strong...
Hold his feet down!
- Get some rope!
- Hurry up!
Finally Ninko went mad.
It took two days for him
to recover his senses.
Ninko decided to undertake
a journey to refashion himself.
Ninko...
To deny your disturbing emotions and...
...to face and overcome them...
Those are two different things.
You may leave the temple,
but you cannot escape your karma.
Your karma is part of you
at all times.
You must face it...
...accept it...
...and purge it.
If not, the disturbing emotions
will radiate from you...
...and attract women.
Remember this.
Things did not go well.
To escape from women,
he hiked high into the mountains.
"The Heart Sutra"
Ninko-san...
Illusory women haunted his thoughts.
Gradually Ninko grew haggard.
"The Acala Mantra"
You're a monk?
Chant a sutra or something.
This ronin's name was Kanzo.
I didn't kill him.
"The Heart Sutra"
You look familiar.
You're that womanizer monk
from Enmei-ji.
Nothing of the kind!
I have never, ever...
...broken any Buddhist commandment!
Please don't follow me.
I'm going this way too.
Then please go ahead.
Ouch...
My stomach aches.
Don't ignore me, womanizer!
My name is Ninko!
Hey...
Ninko...
C'mon.
Don't be angry.
Be quiet.
They came to a deserted village
named Akatsuki-mura.
Yama-onna?
Yes.
She has appeared
deep in the mountains.
It was six months ago.
I've heard tell...
...she's clad in old rags
and has very pale skin.
She charms men,
or as we call it...
..."sorcery".
She seduces men...
...sucks up their vital essence...
...and leaves them dead.
Already...
...so many of us have been taken.
My neighbour Gosuke...
...has been missing since
he went up the mountain yesterday.
Perhaps he has already...
I will do anything for you
if you can help us.
We need your swordsmanship,
and your dharmic Buddhist power.
Please subdue Yama-onna.
Please...
...avenge my husband.
The spectre...
I am a mere novice.
I'm sorry, I can't help you.
I'll do it.
But I have one condition.
When I've killed Yama-onna,
you give me this house and...
...Mrs Osen too.
How does that sound?
Osen?
But...
Don't worry.
It won't be difficult.
It's just a man-crazy woman.
Maybe...
- ...not so different from you.
- No such thing!
I'm not like that.
Well...
Ninko-san...
I've heard that name before.
Ah...
Aren't you that monk from Enmei-ji?
No.
My name is...
...Ninko-bo.
It sounds similar, but I have
nothing to do with that Ninko.
Yet...
Didn't you just say "Ninko"?
"Abstain from falsehoods"
It's a Buddhist precept.
Village chief,
a monk cannot lie.
You're right,
I'm sorry.
Please forgive me.
A virtuous monk like Ninko-bo-san here...
...could not be that dirty satyr.
Anyway, leave it to me,
village chief.
Osen...
...prepare a meal and
wait for me to return.
You have no objection to this?
Osen...
For the sake of the village,
please accept.
If he can avenge my husband...
...I'll do whatever he wants.
"The Heart Sutra"
Ninko pondered
Yama-onna and himself.
"If Yama-onna is a demon
who captivates men..."
"...what does that make me?"
he thought.
"The way I attract women
seems rather similar."
"What was the masked woman
I met in the forest?"
"Perhaps I'm the same as..."
It's crazy.
This is madness.
Madness, Madness,
Madness, Madness!
It's madness!
Ninko wanted to escape the madness.
The situation was intolerable.
It's impossible!
A newly widowed woman...
...given to a new husband...
...desires a monk she just met!
He has the power to
attract any woman.
I'm no different from...
Ninko thought he was
no different from...
No different from the spectre!
You're an interesting fellow.
Follow me.
We're nearly there.
I can smell that we're alike.
You want women...
...yet you don't want women.
I cannot catch your meaning.
Let me put it another way.
You don't want women...
...yet you cannot stop wanting them.
Isn't that exactly
what you said before?
And I...
I am not like that.
Never mind.
This is like "preaching to Buddha".
Listen to me, monk.
I never wanted to kill anyone.
In fact...
...I used to hate swords.
But the truth was...
...that I truly did want to kill someone.
Monk...
It's two sides of one coin.
Since I realized that...
...I've become like a devil
who kills people.
"Kanzo, the manslayer".
There are even
ukiyo-e pictures of me in Edo.
Don't you think that...
...I'm very much like Yama-onna?
A kind of monster?
You too will soon become
what you are meant to be.
I...
I will not...
What about you fuck
Yama-onna once I've killed her.
She'll no longer be a woman
when she's dead.
Stop it!
I know that's what you were thinking.
You can't go back to being
the monk you once were.
Or even a human being,
for that matter.
Huh?
I see.
It's the missing man.
It all makes sense now.
He blinded himself to avoid
Yama-onna's charm.
Monk...
"The Acala Mantra"
You need no longer resist.
Ninko thought that...
...he could no longer resist because
Yama-onna's sorcery was too strong.
He lost control and felt compelled
to embrace Yama-onna.
Ninko thought...
"It is..."
...not my fault.
It's not my fault.
It's not my fault.
It's not my fault.
It's not my fault.
It's not my fault.
It's not my fault.
It's not my fault.
It's not my fault.
It's not my fault!
It's not my fault!
It's not my fault!
Not my fault, not my fault, not my fault.
Not my fault, not my fault, not my fault,
not my fault, not my fault!
It's not my fault...
Not my fault, not my fault,
not my fault, not my fault!
It's not my fault...
Not my fault, not my fault, not my fault,
not my fault, not my fault, not my fault!
It's not my fault...
Not my fault, not my fault,
not my fault, not my fault!
Not my fault, not my fault, not my fault,
not my fault, not my fault, not my fault!
It's not my fault!
Are you...
...really a human?
No.
Stop it.
No!
Leave me be! Please!
No!
Let go of me!
Leave me be!
Release me! Release me!
No!
That night, Ninko did not
return to the village.
Something strange was seen
in the village next morning.
Overnight, all the women of
the village had disappeared.
None of them was
ever seen again.
"The Heart Sutra"
If a monk named Ninko-bo
ever comes to your village...
...do not let him
stay overnight.
If you allow him to stay,
Ninko-bo will...
...capture all your women
during the night.
None of them
will ever return.
This became known as
'The Tale of Monstrous Ninko-bo'.