The first thing to note is that in Japanese (and Chinese) folklore the supernatural is treated in a way quite different from western folklore. Ghosts are not necessarily malevolent. And ghosts are corporeal. They can have sex. They can fall in love. Getting involved with ghosts can be dangerous, but not always. The boundary between the natural and supernatural worlds is not clear-cut. There are supernatural entities that are vaguely similar to the old western idea of the land of faerie - these entities are not evil as such but they’re dangerous because although they can look human their motivations are entirely alien. Witches are not quite the same as westerns ideas of witches.
And of course there’s no Satan as such, and not quite the same obsession with evil. There’s obviously no trace of the Christian concept of sin. Evil exists, but it’s viewed in a slightly different way.
The supernatural world can be tricky to deal with. It has to be approached with caution.
The setting is presumably some time during the Tokugawa Shogunate. It is certainly some time in the past. The Snow Woman begins with two men caught in a snowstorm in a forest. Shigetomo is a master sculptor. Yosaku (Akira Ishihama) is his pupil. Yosaku lives with Shigetomo and his wife. They are more or less his adoptive parents.
The two men are looking for a particular tree, a very special tree. From this tree Shigetomo will sculpt a statue of a goddess for a temple.
They encounter the Snow Woman. She is a supernatural creature although it might be an oversimplification to describe her as a witch. Yosaku survives the encounter. The Snow Woman thinks he’s so handsome that she cannot bear to harm him.
Shortly afterwards a very pretty young woman turns up at Shigetomo’s house. Her name is Yuki. It’s quickly obvious that Yosaku and Yuki are falling in love.
They get married and have a son.
On their wedding night Yosaku notices one odd thing about her. She is very cold. Not cold emotionally or sexually. She is a very loving wife. It’s just that her skin is strangely cold.
Of course we, the audience, know Yuki’s secret. She is, in some sense at least, the Snow Woman. She is not human. Or perhaps she is both a supernatural being and a human woman. During that encounter in the snowstorm she fell hopelessly in love with Yosaku. But she made a bargain with him, and part of the bargain was that he would remember nothing about that night.
Yosaku has been given the commission for that goddess statue that Shigetomo was supposed to carve. The commission has also been given to a rival sculptor. This is due to the machinations of the wicked Lord Jito. The sight of Yuki has awakened Lord Jito’s lusts. He will stop at nothing in order to have her. To achieve this he intends to destroy Yosaku.
Yuki must find a way to save herself and also her husband and herself.
The Snow Woman is a yōkai. These supernatural creatures can be malevolent, they can be benevolent or they can be neutral. Sometimes they’re merely mischievous. Sometimes they’re deadly. The Snow Woman in this movie is also somewhat vampiric.
The Snow Woman in the film does not just take on the physical form of a woman. She develops a woman’s emotions. We assume that in some way this is due to the power of love.
By 1968 filmmakers in Japan (and indeed in all countries) had developed astonishing skills in cinematography, lighting, makeup and practical effects. Skills which are now mostly lost. To do a remake of this movie today you would have to use CGI and it simply would not look as good.
Everything looks unreal, otherworldly and mysterious which is of course exactly right.
The Japanese were particularly good with makeup effects and the makeup work here is superb - it conveys an other-worldly feel without being in the least crude.
This movie was based one of Lafcadio Hearn’s retellings of Japanese ghost stories. If you haven’t read Lafcadio Hearn do so immediately. You will thank me. Start with Kwaidan.
This is a horror story, of sorts, although quite different from western horror films. Don’t expect non-stop thrills and gore. This is also a supernatural love story. Very highly recommended.
This film is included in the Radiance Film Japanese gothic horror Blu-Ray set. The transfer is immaculate.
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