Onibaba (Japanese: 鬼婆; lit. "Demon Hag"), also titled The Hole, is a 1964 Japanese historical drama and horror film written and directed by Kaneto Shindō. The film is set during a civil war in medieval Japan. Nobuko Otowa and Jitsuko Yoshimura play two women who kill infighting soldiers to steal their armor and possessions for survival, while Kei Satō plays the man who ultimately comes between them.
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Plot
The film is set somewhere in Japan near Kyoto, in the mid-14th century, at the beginning of the Nanboku-chō period, shortly after the Battle of Minatogawa. Two fleeing soldiers are ambushed in a large field of tall, thick reeds and murdered by an older woman and her young daughter-in-law. The two women loot the dead soldiers, strip them of their armour and weapons, and drop the bodies in a deep pit hidden in the field. The next day, they take the armor and weapons to a merchant named Ushi and trade them for food. The merchant tells them news of the war, which is driving people across the country to desperation. As they leave, Ushi makes a sexual proposition to the older woman, who rebuffs him. A neighbor named Hachi, who has been at war, returns. The two women ask about Kishi, who was both the older woman's son and younger woman's husband, and was drafted along with Hachi. Hachi tells them that they deserted the war and that Kishi was later killed when they were caught stealing food from farmers. The older woman warns the younger woman to stay away from Hachi, whom she blames for her son's death.
