Yotsuya Kaidan (roughly translated as Ghost Story of Yotsuya), originally titled Tōkaidō Yotsuya Kaidan (Ghost Story of Yotsuya in Tokaido) is a classic Kabuki play (specifically a hybrid of kizewemono and kaidanmono) and arguably the most famous ghost story in Japanese history. Originally written in 1825 by Tsuruya Nanoboku IV, it is the Ur-Example for Stringy-Haired Ghost Girl.
The story concerns Tamiya Iemon, a ronin, and his wife Oiwa. When a jealous woman poisons Oiwa, leaving her horribly disfigured, Iemon enlists the local pimp, Takuetsu, to rape Oiwa so that Iemon will have an excuse to divorce her. Unable to go through with it, Takuetsu instead gives Oiwa a mirror, and when she sees her own face, Oiwa kills herself, but not before cursing Iemon's name. And thus begins a bloody tale of vengeance, as Oiwa becomes a vengeful ghost and torments Iemon and everyone around him.
As Japan's most famous ghost story, it has been adapted into over 30 movies, and has inspired a number of similar stories.
This play contains examples of:
- Cross-Cast Role: As with all kabuki plays, all the female roles are traditionally played by male actors.
- Defiled Forever: Iemon's plan for divorcing Oiwa involves having Takuetsu rape her so that he can declare that she's impure.
- Driven to Suicide:
- Oiwa kills herself after learning that Iemon was prepared to hire a man to rape her so that he could divorce her.
- Naosuke kills himself after learning that his wife Osode is actually his younger sister.
- Ethereal White Dress: As an onryo, Oiwa wears a white dress, representing the white dress she would have been buried in.
- Facial Horror: The poisoned topical cream that Oiwa applies to her face leaves her with a drooping left eye and bald patches on her scalp.
- Kabuki Theatre: The Ur-Example of the Stringy-Haired Ghost Girl trope, being the story of a vengeful ghost who wreaks havoc on the lives of those who drove her to suicide.
- Mercy Kill: The play ends with Yomoshichi killing a demented Iemon.
- Murder Into Malevolence: Oiwa is horribly disfigured and Driven to Suicide so that her husband can replace her with a younger woman and, with her dying breath, curses her husband's name. She comes back as an onryo, or vengeful ghost, and drives her husband to madness.
- Murder the Hypotenuse:
- In the first act, Naosuke seeks to kill Sato Yomoshichi, the husband of Osode, so that he can marry Osode. Unfortunately, he is drunk when he hatches this plan, and instead accidentally murders his former master, Okuda Shozaburo.
- Oume desires Iemon, but since he's already married and Oiwa is more attractive than she is, she resolves to have Oiwa killed via a topic poison disguised as a facial cream. However, the poison fails to kill Oiwa on its own, instead leaving her disfigured.
- Ominous Hair Loss: One of the most memorable scenes has Oiwa sit down to brush her hair only for clumps to come out because of the poisoning.
- Small Name, Big Ego: Iemon boasts up and down that he's a samurai, but with no master, he doesn't have much actual status.
- Stringy-Haired Ghost Girl: This play pretty much invented the trope, as Oiwa's hair becomes thin and unkempt as a result of the topical poison damaging her scalp.
- Surprise Incest: After spending much of the play lusting after Osode, Naosuke learns that she was his younger sister. Horrified by this revelation, he kills himself.
- Vengeful Ghost: After her death, Oiwa comes back as a ghost in order to torment Iemon for his infidelity.
