Next, his first color motion picture, 'Kaidan,' which was based on Yakumo KOIZUMI's novel and adapted to film in an omnibus style, was a huge film of three hours that created an unearthly fantasy world, received another Jury Special Prize from the Cannes International Film Festival, and was then nominated for the Academy Awards, Best Foreign Film, and highly praised as one of the best Japanese films ever.
続いて小泉八雲の原作をオムニバス方式で映画化した初のカラー作品「怪談」は3時間の大作で、この世のものとは思えぬ幻想的な世界を作り上げ、二度目のカンヌ国際映画祭審査員特別賞を受けた他、アカデミー賞外国語映画賞にノミネートされ、日本映画史上屈指の名作と絶賛された。