A bit of the Bard in Japanese tale

Yojiro Takita’s glorious “Onmyoji: The Yin-Yang Master” revives on a spectacular scale the Japanese period tale of the supernatural, a genre as scarce as the samurai movie or the western. Based on the popular Baku Yunemakura novel set in the Heian period (794-1185 A.D.), which has also yielded a comic book and a TV series, “Onmyoji” depicts a rich cultural era of medieval Japan, a mystical, mythological Arthurian world haunted by ghosts and demons held at bay by “onmyoji,” Merlin-like sorcerer-magicians who upheld the yin and yang principle regarding the positive and negative forces governing the universe.

Some 150 years after the establishment of Kyoto, the Mikado, or emperor, is slow to grasp that he and his family are endangered by his chief yin-yang master, Doson (Hiroyuki Sanada), who would like to seize the throne and whose ambition is further goaded by the amazing gifts of the wizardly Seimei (Mansai Nomura), an effete and witty member of his order. As the rivalry between the two grows, there emerges a story of how the beautiful and ageless Lady Aone (Kyoko Koizumi) has been condemned to eternal life to hold in check the raging spirit of her long-ago spouse, Prince Sawara, who placed a curse on Kyoto. Enlisting Seimei’s aid in defeating Doson is the noble Hiromasa (Hideaki Ito).

With all manner of shimmering special effects and settings in ancient palaces, plus gorgeous color cinematography, fabulous costumes and an aptly romantic, haunting score, “Onmyoji” emerges as an epic tale of love, sacrifice and redemption that attains a Shakespearean aura of grandeur and nobility of spirit. It is gratifying to lovers of Japanese cinema to report that in Japan in 2001 “Onmyoji” was bested only by “Spirited Away.”

-- Kevin Thomas

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“Onmyoji.” Rated R, for violence. Running time: 1 hour, 56 minutes. Exclusively at the Regent Showcase, 614 N. La Brea Ave., (323) 934-0268.