ABSTRACT

Yotsuya Ghost Story has been one of the most popular kabuki plays since Tsuruya Namboku IV's version was first performed in 1825. The plot of Yotsuya Ghost Story is simple: Ronin Iemon marries Oiwa, after murdering her father who had opposed their marriage. This chapter analyzes how director Nakagawa Nobuo turned this classic ghost story into a sympathetic tale of a woman's suffering in patriarchal Edo-period society in his 1959 Tokaido Yotsuya Ghost Story. Nakagawa's Tokaido Yotsuya Ghost Story was released by Shin-Toho Studio on July 1, 1959, the same day as Misumi's version. It was not uncommon for competing studios to simultaneously release different versions from the same source text. Nakagawa entertains his viewers not only by fulfilling their appetite for horror but also by surprising them. After Iemon leaves, Oiwa pleads with Takuetsu that her face is burning, but Nakagawa does not reveal Oiwa's face right away.