Daimajin

is a 1966 Japanese kaiju film directed by Kimiyoshi Yasuda. Produced and distributed by Daiei Film, it is the first film in the Daimajin trilogy. The plot centers around a wrathful spirit (the eponymous Daimajin) sealed inside an ancient statue, which comes to life to help the surviving children of the slain lord of Tanba Province (Miwa Takada and Yoshihiko Aoyama). Plot In a remote village in the province of Tanba, a household of peasants cowers during a series of earth tremors that are interpreted as the escape attempts of Arakatsuma (阿羅羯磨), also known as Daimajin (大魔神, "Great Demon God"), a violent divine spirit said to be trapped within the nearby mountain held in fear and reverence by the locals. As the village gathers at the local shrine to perform an ancient ritual to pacify Daimajin, Ōdate Samanosuke (Ryūtarō Gomi), chamberlain to the local lord Hanabusa Tadakiyo (Ryūzō Shimada), stages a coup d'état. He and his henchmen slaughter Hanabusa and his wife, but their son and daughter escape, aided by the heroic samurai Kogenta (Jun Fujimaki). Back at the shrine, Samanosuke's men break up the ceremony, forbidding all such gatherings in the future. The elderly priestess, Shinobu (Otome Tsukimiya), issues a dire warning, but the men ignore her. Kogenta takes the two children to his aunt Shinobu's house. The priestess takes them up the mountain, into forbidden territory, where a gigantic stone idol of the mountain god who had sealed Daimajin long ago stands half-buried atop a waterfall. Near this idol is an ancient temple - safe as only Shinobu knows of its existence.