Yoso (1963) The Sorcerer, Ghostly Priest, Bronze Magician, Phantom Priest, Priest & Empress
Yoso is truly a lost classic, set in the Nara Era (710-794), from Kinugasa Teinosuke the same writer/director who gave us the recognized classic Gate of Hell (Jigokumon, 1952) & the milestone silent surrealist masterpiece A Page of Madness (Kurutta Ippeji, 1926).
It has a screenplay by Fuji Yahiro who also wrote Kenji Mizoguchi's Sansho the Bailiff (Sansho daiyo, 1954), & a musical score by frequently brilliant Akira Ifukube. The stunning cinematography is that of Hiroshi Imai, who also helped create the gloomy beauty of the Shinobi no mono series likewise starring Raizo Ichikawa.
Yoso means "esoteric priest" which implies "sorcerer." For such a rarely screened film, it seems to have attracted an unwieldy number of English titles: The Sorcerer, Ghostly Priest, Bronze Magician, Phantom Priest, & on the subtitled 35 mm print the only fully apropos title, Priest & Empress, not to be confused with another Raizo Ichikawa film called The Priest & the Beauty (Anchin to Kyohima, 1960).
It's an example of the most artful categories of samurai films, zankoku jidai-geki or "cruel historicals." Raizo appears in other examples of the sub-genre, notably Betrayal (Daisatsujin orochi, 1966), & The Third Shadow (Daisan no Kagemusha, 1963), & Scar Yosaburo (Kirare Yosaburo, 1960). It's a close call which is the best of the lot, but Yoso is way up there among the best of the best of Raizo Ichikawa.
Japan of the Nara Era had a sovereign female emperor or Mikado, Koken-Shotoku Tenno, who fell under the sway of a Buddhist priest named Dokyo. His influence over her proved so untoward that Empress Koken-Shotoku gave him titles which implied the imperial line might actually pass to him should the Empress die, despite that the imperial line had been preserved as a single dynasty back into prehistory.
The crisis engendered by Dokyu led to the banning of women ever again becoming Mikado, a decision periodically revisited including in our own generation when there stood a strong threat of no authentic male heir.
The film takes this historical reality & makes of it a believable though tough & very odd love story. Dokyo, who has indeed been called "the Japanese Rasputin," as played by Raizo Ichikawa, is just about the most beautiful creature imaginable.
The main characters of the film are the Buddhist priest Dokyo, & Koken-Shotoku Tenno (749-70) played by the ethereally beautiful Miyako Endo. Support cast includes Hikosaburo Kataoka, Eitaro Ozawa, Tomisaburo Wakayama (credited as Kenzaburo Jo), Tokio Oki, Mieko Kondo, Hikozaburo Kataoka, & Yukiko Fuji.
Empress Koken-Shotoku is played as sickly, bedridden & needy, which was not historically accurate, but it sets up a good excuse to have the priest at her bedside, which leads to their angst-ridden taboo romance.
Though Dokyo clearly uses the affections of the Empress for personal gain & power, his intense devotion to Shotoku is nevertheless no falsehood.
A lot of the strength of the film is in its pictorial excellence. Its moody dismalness & the passionate almost operatic acting style blends the best of kabuki manneredness with neo-realism. The entire film seems to take place in a dream of beauty & terror, misery & ecstacy.
Dōkyō (道鏡, 700 – May 13, 772) was a Nara Period Japanese monk of the Dharma character school. As he was born in the family of Yuge, in the lineage of the Mononobe clan, Dōkyō was also known as Yuge no Dōkyō (弓削道鏡). Born in Wakaegun, Kawachi Province (today Yao, Osaka), in his youth Dōkyō became the disciple of the monk Gien and learned Sanskrit from Rōben. In addition, it was said that Dōkyō acquired the mysterious spells of Esoteric Buddhism while studying in the mountains of Yamato Province. After serving as a nursing monk, in 761 he cured the illness of the then Empress Kōken (later Empress Shotoku). This earned him her political support. He was appointed Shosozu in 763 and Daijin zenji in 765. In the next year he was promoted to Hō-ō (法王; king of the dharma). With these offices he advanced political measures based on the philosophy of Buddhism.[citation needed] He obtained a divine proclamation from the Shinto god Hachiman at the Usa Shrine in Buzen Province stating "Dōkyō is to be the next Emperor." But his coronation plan failed after Fujiwara no Momokawa sent Wake no Kiyomaro to get a new divine proclamation that rejected the first one. Angry at the new proclamation, he had Wake no Kiyomaro sent into exile. After Empress Shotoku died in 770, Dōkyō fell from power. He was sent to Shimotsuke Province (today Tochigi Prefecture) and died there. On April 7, 772, a report of his death came to the capital. In a temple in Minamikawachi, Tochigi, there is a tomb that is believed to be the grave of Dōkyō
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