Who Is The Samurai (a Ghost) (Heike ghost)?

The Samurai is the armored warrior in "The Story of Mimi-Nashi-Hoichi" who comes for Hoichi every night. He is really the ghost of a Heike warrior from the clan destroyed at the Battle of Dan-no-ura.

The samurai says he is the messenger of a "person of high rank." He takes the blind Hoichi by the hand and leads him to a mansion — but where he really takes him is the graveyard of the Heike clan. On the last night, Hoichi's body is covered with sutra text, so the samurai cannot see him, and his calls get no answer. All he can see in the darkness are two ears. Saying he will take the ears home as proof that he obeyed his orders, he tears them off and leaves.

His determination to carry out his orders to the end makes him feel like a loyal samurai, even as a ghost. He is frightening, but he also carries the loneliness of the fallen Heike.