Many of us have likely used the term "Rashomon" to describe situations where everyone has conflicting accounts of the same event. But what exactly is Rashomon? It refers to a film directed by Akira Kurosawa, adapted from the short story "In a Grove" by Japanese author Ryunosuke Akutagawa, which revolves around a murder case and the differing testimonies surrounding it.

The plot goes like this: a samurai is found dead, having only interacted with his wife and a bandit prior to his death. A woodcutter and a monk serve as witnesses, while the bandit is a primary suspect.

The bandit claims he killed the samurai after being captivated by the beauty of the samurai's wife, whom he raped before killing her husband in a duel to win her. The samurai's wife, however, tells a different story, asserting that in a moment of despair over her husband's humiliation, she accidentally killed her husband.

Then, a medium is called to summon the spirit of the samurai, who reveals that he committed suicide out of despair after his wife willingly followed the bandit. After his wife escaped, he felt he had nothing left to live for.

With multiple narratives presented, the question arises: what truly happened?