A strange incident occurred in Kyoto. An elderly person peered into an antique jar on the veranda and was instantly blinded, leading to their death. Upon receiving a request from the Kyoto Prefectural Police, members of the SRI, along with Inspector Machida, visited the forensic department of the prefectural police.
Before them appeared a young man named Hino. He revealed that all the victims were clients of his antique shop.
Forensic Department Dr. Akagi (鑑識課・赤木医師, Kanshikika, Akagi Ishi): Tatsuo Nishiyama (西山 辰夫, Nishiyama Tatsuo)
Home Media[]
Operation: Mystery Volume 6 features episodes 22-23, 25-26.
Operation: Mystery Blu-ray BOX features all episodes except 24.
2004 release
2012 release
Blu-ray BOX
Trivia[]
According to Akio Jissoji's memoir My Television Chronicle, the episode's writer Toshiro Ishido had earlier drafted a screenplay titled "The Mummy of Heijō-kyō" (平城京のミイラ, Heijōkyō no Miira), which was never produced. Impressed by the quality of Ishido's later work, "The Cursed Jar", the production team decided to expand it into a story aimed at adult viewers.[1][2]
Scriptwriter Toshiro Ishido recalled that producer Yoji Hashimoto once told him, "Since we'll be filming in Kyoto, why not write a script?" Thinking of Kyoto brought pottery to mind. Around that time, Ishido had read a magazine story about a company president obsessed with collecting expensive jars, an obsession that eventually led to his death. He thought it might be interesting, within the context of the Ultraman Series, if a monster or alien emerged from such a jar, but soon realized the idea was unrealistic. Instead, he took inspiration from the concept of the Biwa Line and developed a story about a tragic romance between a young man suffering from lung disease and a young woman.[3]
This episode was the first by the Tsuburaya Productions team to be filmed in Kyoto, followed later by "I Will Buy Kyoto." For both episodes, the crew worked alongside local freelance staff from Kyoto Film Studio. Only five key members from the Tokyo office joined the shoot: art director Noriyoshi Ikeya, cinematographer Yuzo Inagaki, assistant director Masataka Yamamoto, optical photographer Minoru Nakano, and Jissoji himself.[4][5]
Yuzo Inagaki later recalled that Jissoji even paid for the Shinkansen tickets out of his own pocket. Jissoji also personally scouted filming locations around Kyoto, selecting several key sites for the production.[6]
Budget and scheduling issues initially forced Tsuburaya Productions to halt filming for this episode. Noriyoshi Ikeya recalled that during the break, the crew spent their days playing mahjong at a Kyoto hotel before returning to Tokyo. With producer Yoji Hashimoto's support, the team later reunited with the Kyoto staff a few months later to resume production.[5]
The episode's main sequence shows a fire at Myōken-ji Temple in Kyoto's Kamigyo Ward. The scene was filmed with a 1/6-scale miniature, created through collaboration between director Akio Jissoji and special effects artist Jun Oki.
Ikeya explained that the fire scenes were filmed after the team had returned to Tokyo. Although Myōken-ji had already been shortlisted as a filming location, he believed that Jissoji was determined to include it in the film. The team originally planned to build a 1/4-scale miniature, but limited by budget, they settled for 1/6 scale instead. As the roof tiles were also made to that scale, they appeared slightly oversized. While the script only mentioned the temple "burning," Ikeya was responsible for the specific visual concept of the fire.[5]
One of the main shots proved difficult to film. The intense heat damaged the primary camera, preventing a clean frontal shot. To conceal compositing flaws, the SRI actors performed exaggerated movements in front of the temple doors.[5]
Eiji Tsuburaya later praised the completed fire sequence for its striking visual quality.
The fire looked so realistic that some viewers reportedly contacted Myōken-ji to ask whether the temple had actually burned down.
Footage from the burning-temple sequence was later reused in the 1982 historical drama special Akuryō Sakurako-hime, produced by Tsuburaya Productions.
The episode's script went through three versions: an initial draft, a final script, and a Kyoto-specific revision of that final script. The two final versions differed mainly in staff credits, while the story itself stayed the same.[5]
For character design, Tsuzo Hino was written as about 20 years old, and Nobuko Ichii as slightly older, in her early twenties. Because of production arrangements with the Kyoto team, the SRI members' accommodation was changed from a traditional inn to a hotel near Lake Biwa.[5]
There were only minor differences between the draft and final scripts. In the draft, Maki instinctively chose to prevent an accident. In the final version, however, this role was given to Machida, and in the finished episode, it was given to Matoya. The final script also included the climactic temple fire scene, which was not present in the draft.[5]
Several sequences were also revised. For example, in the scene where Tsuzo is followed, the pursuers changed from Misawa and Nomura to Machida and Misawa. The character who smashes the fake jar was also changed from Maki to Misawa. The script portrays the relationship between Tsuzo and Nobuko as more explicit and charged; Tsuzo uses physical intimacy to manipulate Nobuko and exploit her for his own ends.[5]
In the final scene, Tsuyoshi smashes the jar in grief over his son's death. Saburo Ukita, the actor who played Tsuyoshi, actually broke his hand while filming this scene.
