Impecunious samurai Iemon and his conniving servant Naosuke commit multiple murders to secure the affections of two sisters, Iwa and Sode. Iemon soon tires of Iwa, and given the opportunity to marry a wealthy man’s daughter, he removes the inconvenience of an existing wife by poisoning her and slashing to death the masseur he’d bribed to seduce her. The two bodies are nailed to opposite sides of a shutter and sunk in a pool. Both victims’ disfigured ghosts return to haunt the two murderers, leading them to further crimes and, ultimately, retribution.
Director: Nobuo Nakagawa. AKA The Ghost of Yotsuya / Ghost Story of Yotsuya
Writers: Masayoshi Ônuki (screenplay), Yoshihiro Ishikawa (screenplay), Nanboku Tsuruya (play).
Stars: Shigeru Amachi, Noriko Kitazawa, Katsuko Wakasugi, Shuntarô Emi, Ryûzaburô Nakamura, Junko Ikeuchi, Jun Ôtomo, Hiroshi Hayashi, Shinjirô Asano, Arata Shibata, Kikuko Hanaoka, Hiroshi Sugi, Yôzô Takamura.
Cinematographer: Tadashi Nishimoto.
Composer: Chumei Watanabe (as Michiaki Watanabe).
Excellent, Jon!
love these Japanese ghost stories
Written in 1825 by Tsuruya Nanboku IV as a kabuki play, the original title was Tōkaidō Yotsuya Kaidan (東海道四谷怪談; translation: Ghost Story of Yotsuya in Tokaido). It is now generally shortened, and loosely translates as Ghost Story of Yotsuya.
An absolute blast. Murderous, ambitious samurai and unquiet, vengeful spirits. More “theatrical” and OTT than the jidai-geki stuff I’m accustomed to. It is almost Hammer Horror-ish. Cheers.