Yotsuya Kaidan
Yotsuya Kaidan is one of Japan's three great ghost stories, based on events said to have occurred during the Genroku era in Yotsuya, Edo (modern-day Tokyo).
The story tells the tragic tale of the faithful woman Oiwa, who was brutally murdered by her husband Iemon and returned as a vengeful ghost.
【Synopsis】
Tamiya Iemon was a low-ranking samurai who poisoned his wife Oiwa to curry favor with powerful nobles. Before death, the poison disfigured Oiwa—her face twisted, her hair fallen out, leaving her unrecognizable.
Afterward, Oiwa's vengeful spirit began appearing throughout the Yotsuya area. Witnesses describe her with thinning hair, a twisted face, one sunken eye, wearing tattered white clothes and emitting a nauseating stench of decay.
On his wedding night, Iemon saw Oiwa's apparition—her face appeared on the paper screens of the bridal chamber, emerged from lantern flames, and even manifested on his new wife's face. Iemon was eventually driven mad, swinging his sword at Oiwa's phantom until he committed seppuku.
【Cultural Impact】
This ghost story was adapted into a Kabuki play by playwright Tsuruya Nanboku and into a rakugo performance by storyteller Sanyutei Encho. It remains one of Japan's most famous ghost stories, with reports of Oiwa's figure still being sighted in the Yotsuya area late at night.