The Ghost of Yotsuya

The Ghost of Yotsuya (Tokaido Yotsuya Kaiden) (1959)

Runtime: 77 minutes

Directed by: Nobuo Nakagawa

Starring: Shigeru Amachi, Norkio Kitazawa, Katsuko Wakasugi, Shuntaro Emi, Ryuzaburo Nakamura

From: Shintoho

This is the 1959 movie The Ghost of Yotsuya from Shintoho based on an old kabuki play, not the 1959 Daiei movie of the same name based on the same play. You can see how this is confusing-even on the Eternal Family platform, they have the Daiei film but their page for the film credits the director of the Shintoto picture. I viewed this on the Criterion Channel-the other movie wasn’t selected as this has been seen far more and the ratings are a bit higher.

A ronin named Iemon (not Lemon like the citrus fruit!) murders the father of his wife Iwa so they can get married. A pal is unwittingly roped into the scheme; this results in more murders. The marriage isn’t a happy one despite the presence of a young child-Iwa passes away. She’s the titular ghost, looking for revenge. It does take awhile for the death then appearance of the apparition—however, this allows for the story and characters to be built up and it was all a delight, despite Iemon’s abhorrent behavior.

Given that director Nobuo Nakagawa went on to direct Jigoku the following year, the more gruesome than expected moments + the strong visual moments shouldn’t have caught me off-guard. As Iemon is quite the SOB who causes much havoc with his selfish decisions, the revenge was incredibly sweet-& the movie is less than 80 minutes in length. As there’s also some nice scenic outdoor scenes, this version of Yotsuya was a delight. It likely won’t be until far in the future but eventually I should view the Daiei film to compare & contrast.