Okay guys I think I might be asking for something pretty obscure here. Many years ago my older brother asked for some anime at a local library. The librarian then disappears in the back for an hour and comes out with a VHS tape and says "I think this is all we have in regards to 'anime'." On this VHS tape were two separate self contained stories of various lengths, they looked like they may have been from the 80s. The first one was a story about a blind shamisen (or maybe it was a biwa) player. One day he performs for a group of people who he is later told were ghosts from a local grave (he thought he was playing in a house but was actually performing in front of a grave, spirits were circling above his head), and that they were coming for his soul. Some local priests write prayers all over his body, but forget his ears. One of the ghosts returns that night for him, but can only see his ears. He rips them off and takes them as proof that he looked for him.
The second story was called like "The Theater of Life" or something and was only about 5 minutes long. It was about a man relating a brief story from his childhood of some girl he knew or something (it looked like it took place early 1900's Japan or maybe even sometime in the 1800's but I could be completely wrong about this). This may have been a part of a series, because it was very short and had no real conclusion.
Does anyone know what these shows were?
Edit: I may have found something about the first story here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnIQl5CZRr8
Quote:
Dan-no-ura was the site of the last battle of the Gempei War in which the Heike clan was finally destroyed by the Genji clan.
Centuries later, legends say a blind biwa player was tricked into playing for the restless spirits of the Heike. He barely escaped with his life paying the price of his ears being ripped off. This story is known as Hoichi the Earless and appears in the Kwaiden.
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So that tells me what the anime was based off of at least.