Three Japanese Ghost Stories - Vampire Cat & Urashima & Peony Lantern

The Vampire Cat of Nebeshima - M8,F1 or M1,F1

The first of these one-act spooky tales presents a Shinto perspective of the spiritual dimension of Nature itself ...

... depicted in the form of a large cat who not only consumes humans, but then supernaturally changes its form to become that human, after which it interacts and easily deceives everyone it encounters

Until, that is, a world-wise roaming priest enters the picture ...

Urashima - M3,F1

Once, long ago, a fisherman by the name of Urashima took his boat out to sea ... A fantastic turtle caught in his net leads him to the island of the immortals

He is entranced by the utter beauty of the place, and with Enshun. The lone fisherman falls in love and decides to live with her in paradise

But as time wears on, he misses home and decides to return

To his horror, he discovers that hundreds of years have passed

The Peony Lantern - M6,F2

A samurai’s betrothed dies of a broken heart while waiting for her lover to return

In death, she and her maid devise a devious plot to haunt him in an attempt to bring him into the realm of death with her

Despite his servant’s warnings that he is bewitched, eventually, the ghost succeeds and overcomes the samurai

Original and unpredictable, these plays make great competition pieces