On April 9, 2006 The Ghost of Yotsuya was screened at the Hong Kong International Film Festival.

It is yet another TOKAIDO YOTSUYA KAIDAN (1959), but this time from experienced horror director Nobuo Nakagawa!

Balancing a return to its kabuki roots with a forward-looking use of colour and surrealism, this horror takes your hosts by storm! The film stars Shigeru Amachi, Katsuko Wakasugi and Shuntaro Emi.

Context setting 00:00; Synopsis 28:53; Discussion 44:01; Ranking 1:00:54

Katsuko Wakasugi in Tokaido Yotsuya Kaidan (Nobuo Nakagawa, 1959)

Cast: Shigeru Amachi, Katsuko Wakasugi, Shuntaro Emi, Ryuzaburo Nakamura, Noriko Kitazawa, Junko Ikeuchi, Kikuko Hanaoka, Hiroshi Hayashi, Jun Otomo, Shinjuro Asano. Screenplay: Masayoshi Onuki, Yoshihiro Ishikawa, based on a play by Nanboku Tsuruya. Cinematography: Tadashi Nishimoto. Production design: Harayasu Kurosawa. Film editing: Shin Nagata. Music: Michiaki Watanabe.

Keisuke Kinoshita's 1949 version of the much-adapted ghost story, Yotsuya Kaidan, jettisoned the supernatural in favor of the psychological, turning the protagonist, Iemon, into a somewhat more sympathetic, even tragic figure. But ten years later, Nobuo Nakagawa went straight for the horror: a bloodthirsty, ambitious Iemon (Shigeru Amachi), who doesn't even need Naosuke's (Shuntaro Emi) Iago-like promptings to descend straight into murder. In fact, if you try to apply psychology to Nakagawa's Iemon, you'll run up against some blank walls: It's hard to understand why Iemon in this version even bothers to settle down to a life of umbrella-making after his slaughter of Oiwa's father and his complicity in Naosuke's dispatch of Yomoshichi (Ryuzaburo Nakamura), his rival for Osode's (Noriko Kitazawa) hand. By this time, Iemon is steeped in blood so far that "returning were as tedious as go o'er," to put it in Macbeth's terms. In this version, the ghosts of Oiwa (Katsuko Wakasugi) and Takuetsu (Jun Otomo) are particularly real and vengeful, not just phantoms of Iemon's imagination, as in Kinoshita's version. They lead Iemon into slaughtering Ume (Junko Ikeuchi) and her father and finally to his own doom. Nakagawa's film lacks the subtlety of Kinoshita's, but in the end I think that's for the good: What you want from a ghost story is catharsis, not irony.

Yotsuya Kaidan (四谷怪談), ukiyo-e by Utagawa Kuniyoshi

The story of Oiwa and Tamiya Iemon is a tale of betrayal, murder and ghostly revenge. Arguably the most famous Japanese ghost story of all time, it has been adapted for film over 30 times and continues to be an influence on Japanese horror today. 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, Ghost Story of Yotsuya in Tokaido). It is now generally shortened, and loosely translates as Ghost Story of Yotsuya.

First staged in July 1825, Yotsuya Kaidan appeared at the Nakamuraza Theater in Edo (the former name of present-day Tokyo) as a double-feature with the immensely popular Kanadehon Chushingura. Normally, with a Kabuki double-feature, the first play is staged in its entirety, followed by the second play. However, in the case of Yotsuya Kaidan it was decided to interweave the two dramas, with a full staging on two days: the first day started with Kanadehon Chushingura from Act I to Act VI, followed by Tōkaidō Yotsuya Kaidan from Act I to Act III. The following day started with the Onbo canal scene, followed by Kanadehon Chushingura from Act VII to Act XI, then came Act IV and Act V of Tōkaidō Yotsuya Kaidan to conclude the program.

The play was incredibly successful, and forced the producers to schedule extra out-of-season performances to meet demand. The story tapped into people’s fears by bringing the ghosts of Japan out of the temples and aristocrats' mansions and into the home of common people, the exact type of people who were the audience of his theater.

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The Ghost of Yotsuya (Nobuo Nakagawa, 1959)

THE GHOST OF YOTSUYA 東海道四谷怪談 (1959) dir. Nobuo Nakagawa

Tokaido Yotsuya Kaidan

Yotsuya Ghost Story, one of my favourite horror movies

The Ghost of Yotsuya (1959)

Tôkaidô Yotsuya kaidan (1959)

Punta: We have successfully finished The final day of Tokaido Yotsuya Kaidan 🎉✨

Thank you all so much For coming to see it!!

And thank you so much, Okuda Shozaburo and Akiyama Choube For taking me into a whole new world 😊

tokaido yotsuya kaidan dir. nobuo nakagawa

On October 28, 2010 The Ghost of Yotsuya was screened at the Mumbai Film Festival.

Here's some new art to mark the occasion!

From director Kenji Misumi and starring the prolific actor Kazuo Hasegawa comes YOTSUYA KAIDAN (1959)!

This adaptation of the iconic kabuki play offers a unique remix of classic moments, but at what point do we lose the original intent of those scenes?

Context setting 00:00; Synopsis 32:15; Discussion 44:26; Ranking 53:48

Press photo for The Ghost Of Yotsuya (Tokaido Yotsuya Kaidan, 東海道四谷怪談), 1959, directed by Nobuo Nakagawa (中川 信夫) and starring Noriko Kitazawa (北沢典子), Shigeru Amachi (天知茂) and Ryuzaburo Nakamura (中村竜三郎).

*finds the wikipedia page for that japanese horror movie and now my heart is beating really fast because there’s a still from the movie on the page and im a humongous coward*

The Ghost of Yotsuya (Nobuo Nakagawa, 1959)