Long ago in Japan, Joji, an artistically talented Japanese boy, is sent by his pragmatic parents to a temple to become a priest. However, all Joji wants to do is draw cats and not study. Knowing he is not right for priesthood, the priest sends Joji away. Joji wanders the barren Japanese landscape until he meets an old woman who points him toward an ancient temple. However, the old woman fails to mention that the temple had been deserted because a goblin, known in Japan as the Nezumi Mamono (who is basically a goblin in the form of a giant rat), had driven the priests away, and the warriors who went against it were never seen again. During the night, Joji finds his way into the temple and finds a lonely lantern, terrible sounds, and a monster approaching from the temple’s corridors. He runs into a cabinet to survive the night, not realizing that he will discover his destiny. In the morning, the goblin-rat is found dead in the middle of the temple, and all the cats he had painted have wet mouths with red from the blood. Afterward, that boy became a very famous zen artist.