Yotsuya Kaidan, the story of Oiwa and Tamiya Iemon, is a tale of betrayal, murder and ghostly revenge and is arguably the most famous Japanese ghost story of all time.
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| Oiwa depicted with her child (unborn in the story) |
The story:
Act 1
Tamiya Iemon, a ronin (a samurai without a master),
is having a heated exchange with his father-in-law, Yotsuya Samon,
concerning Samon's daughter Oiwa. After it is suggested by Samon that
Iemon and his daughter should separate, the ronin becomes enraged and
murders Samon. The next scene focuses on the character Naosuke who is
sexually obsessed with Oiwa's sister, the prostitute Osode,
despite her being already married to another man, Satô Yomoshichi. As
this scene begins, Naosuke is at the local brothel making romantic
advances toward Osode when Yomoshichi and the brothel's owner, Takuetsu,
enter. Unable to pay a fee demanded by Takuetsu, he is mocked by both
Yomoshichi and Osode and forcibly removed. Shortly thereafter an
intoxicated Naosuke murders Okuda Shôzaburô, his former master, whom he
mistakes for Yomoshichi. This is implied to occur at the precise time of
the slaying of Samon. It is at this point that Iemon and Naosuke unite
and conspire to mislead Oiwa and Osode into believing that they will
exact revenge on the persons responsible for their father's death. In
return Osode agrees to marry Naosuke.
Act 2
Oume, the granddaughter of Itô Kihei, has fallen in love with Iemon.
However, believing herself to be less attractive than Oiwa, she doesn't
think Iemon will ever want to become her husband. Sympathizing with
Oume's plight, the Itôs scheme to have Oiwa disfigured by sending her a
topical poison disguised as a facial cream. Oiwa, unbeknown to her at
the time, is instantly scarred by the cream when she applies it. Upon
seeing his wife's ghastly new countenance, Iemon decides he can no
longer remain with her. He asks Takuetsu to rape Oiwa so that he will
have an honorable basis for divorce. Takuetsu cannot bring himself to do
this so, instead, he simply shows Oiwa her reflection in a mirror.
Realizing that she has been deceived, Oiwa becomes hysterical and,
picking up a sword, runs towards the door. Takuetsu moves to grab her
but Oiwa, attempting to evade him, accidentally punctures her own throat
with the sword's tip. As she lies bleeding to death before a stunned
Takuetsu, she curses Iemon's name. Not long after Iemon becomes engaged
to Oume. Act 2 closes with Iemon being tricked by Oiwa's ghost into
slaying both Oume and her grandfather on the night of the wedding.
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| Oiwa seeing herself in the mirror |
Act 3
The remaining members of the Itô household are annihilated. Iemon
kicks Oyumi, the mother of Oume, into the Onbô Canal and Omaki, the
servant of Oyumi drowns by accident. Naosuke arrives in disguise as
Gonbei, an eel vendor, and blackmails Iemon into handing over a valuable
document. Iemon contemplates his prospects while fishing at the Onbô
canal. On the embankment above the canal Iemon, Yomoshichi and Naosuke
appear to fumble as they struggle for possession of a note which passes
from hand to hand in the darkness.
Act 4
Naosuke is pressuring Osode to consummate their
marriage, to which she seems oddly averse. Yomoshichi appears and
accuses Osode of adultery. Osode resigns herself to death in atonement
and convinces Naosuke and Yomoshichi that they should kill her. She
leaves a farewell note from which Naosuke learns that Osode was, in
fact, his own younger sister. For the shame of this, as well as for the
killing of his former master, he commits suicide.
Act 5
Iemon, still haunted by the ghost of Oiwa, flees to an isolated
mountain retreat. There he rapidly descends into madness as his dreams
and reality begin to merge and Oiwa's haunting intensifies. The act
closes with Yomoshichi slaying Iemon out of both vengeance and
compassion.
A popular version of the story:
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| Oiwa's famous hair combing scene |
Oiwa was a beautiful young woman who lived in a small town in Japan.
Her lover’s name was Iemon and although he didn’t have much money,
Oiwa loved him very much. She was overjoyed when her childhood
sweetheart asked her to marry him. After the wedding, they moved in
together and the happy couple were soon expecting a baby. Oiwa didn’t
care that Iemon was poor, but, as time went on, he became angry and
depressed about his lack of prospects.
Iemon soon grew to hate his happy young wife and started an affair
with a rich young woman named Oume. He romanced her for months and
eventually, she fell in love with him, despite his poverty and the fact
that he was already married.
One day, Oume’s father came to see Iemon. He told Iemon what a shame
it was that he was already married, because his daughter loved him very
much. The father went on to tell him all the ways that he could ensure
his future son in law’s wealth and success. Iemon listened intently.
Iemon spent a great deal of time thinking about what Oume’s father
had told him. An evil plot began to form in his mind. He decided that
the only way he could marry Oume was to somehow get rid of Oiwa and her
unborn child. He thought that the easiest way to do this was to secretly
poison Oiwa and make it look like she had died of natural causes. Poor
Oiwa was totally ignorant of her husband’s murderous plans. Blissfully
unaware of the fate that was about to befall her, she continued to
happily prepare for the birth of their baby.
One evening, when Oiwa and Iemon were sitting down to eat dinner, she
noticed her husband was strangely quiet and nervous. She encouraged him
to eat his dinner, but he would not touch his food. He yelled at Oiwa
and told her to stop fretting and eat her own meal. She needed to be
strong for the baby, he said. Oiwa finally gave up trying to tempt
Iemon’s appetite and started to eat her dinner. It wasn’t long before
she felt very sick.
Iemon watched her coldly as the poison did its work, not offering her
any help or comfort. But Oiwa did not die right away. Her beautiful
face became disfigured from the poison first. Then she slipped into
unconsciousness. Iemon was too much of a coward to finish the job he
started, so he put Oiwa’s lifeless body in bed. Eventually Oiwa woke
from her coma, remembering nothing of the poisoning. She had lost her
baby, and her face was ugly and terrible, but Oiwa lived.
Iemon was desperate. He played the part of the concerned husband, but
he was looking for any way possible to rid himself of his wife. One
evening he took Oiwa for a long walk. They made their way to a cliff,
and Iemon looked around to see if anyone was nearby. No one was in
sight.
Iemon pushed Oiwa off the ledge. Her broken body was recovered and
Iemon gave her the best funeral he could afford, spending all of his
money in a great show of marital devotion. Of course, Iemon knew his
money troubles were only temporary now that Oiwa was gone.
Thinking his worries were over, Iemon planned his wedding to Oume.
The night before the marriage was to take place, Iemon noticed his
bedside lamp was dimming. He looked at it curiously, as it seemed to be
changing. The disfigured face of Oiwa suddenly replaced the lamp,
growing larger and larger in the room. “Betrayal!” it hissed.
Iemon grabbed a stick and swung at the face, but Oiwa disappeared and
the lamp smashed and fell to the floor. Iemon thought he heard the
faint laughter of a woman from outside. Shaken, Iemon convinced himself
that the vision was simply the result of drinking too much alcohol
earlier in the evening, and went to bed.
The next day, Iemon had forgotten all about the specter from the
night before. He and Oume were wed. When he lifted her veil, however,
her beautiful young face was replaced with Oiwa’s horrible visage.
“Betrayal!” she hissed.
The horrified Iemon drew his sword and swung it at the ghostly
apparition, cutting Oiwa’s head off. The severed head rolled down the
aisle of the church, but when it came to a stop, it had Oume’s face and
not Oiwa’s. He heard the faint sound of laughter again.
Iemon ran to his tiny house, looking for a place to hide. There was a
pounding at the door, and Oume’s grandfather demanded that he open it.
When Iemon did so, Oiwa was standing there. “Betrayal!” she hissed.
Once again, Iemon tried to decapitate her, but when his sword finished its work, it was Oume’s grandfather that lay dead.
Iemon ran for the cliffs, Oiwa’s laughter following him. He stopped at the edge and looked down, perhaps changing his mind.
It didn’t matter. Passersby reported seeing a woman push Iemon off
the cliff before she jumped after him, laughing all the way down.
