Yotsuya Kaidan
Yotsuya is filled with historic temples and graves, including the grave of the samurai Hattori Hanzo. So, it’s no surprise that this Tokyo neighborhood also has one of the most infamous ghost stories in the entire city, if not the entire country. And that is no easy feat in the land of yokai. Tonight we begin to dive into the story of Yotsuya Kaidan.
Our tale begins with the beautiful Oiwa…and her dad. Oiwa's father, Samon, was not a fan of his daughter's caller. She was in love with a man named Lyemon, a masterless ronin samurai. But it was even more complicated than just this...because Lyemon's servant, Naosuke, wanted to marry Oiwa's sister, Osode...who was already married. Because these women were out of reach to them due to the men in their lives, Lyemon and Naosuke launched a plan: they would murder Oiwa's father, his servants, AND Osode's husband.
You might be wondering, at this pont, if everyone was in on the plan and I would say…it’s unclear what the true wishes of Oiwa and Osode were. But, with that in mind let’s carry on.
The plan, surprisingly, works out. The murders are blamed on roving bandits and the two women agree to mrry Lyemon and Naosuke. As time goes on, everyone seems happy in their new marriages. Oiwa and Lyemon even have a son together, which thrills him. However, the birth took a toll on Oiwa. After his birth, she grows sicker and sicker and never completely recovers to previous energy & beauty. This makes Lyemon quite mad and because she cannot help the family...Lyemon is forced into lower and lower work to continue supporting the family. He begins to resent his wife and to, eventually, hate her. The woman that he once killed for now fills him with anger.
So, he decides to fall in love with someone else. Because that will fix his problems, right? The new apple of his eye is Oume, the granddaughter of a very well-off doctor. And once again, Lyemon decides to scheme his way out of a situation that doesn't suit him. He decides to poison his wife. Oume gets poison from her grandfather, hands it off to Lyemon, who then passes it off as medicine to his sick wife.
Oiwa takes the poison regularly and grows weaker and weaker. But it does not kill her, instead it disfigures her. The once beautiful Oiwa's face begins to rip, scar over, and ooze blood. Her eyes sag, her hair falls out in bloody clumps...but she believes her husband and continues to take the medicine.
Angered at his wife's ability to suvive, he decides to bribe a local man to attack her and take advantage of her. Why? According to the law at the time, this would give Lyemon the grounds to divorce her. The hired gun, Takuetsu, attempts to but is so disguted by the way Oiwa looks he cannot go through with the deed. So, he decides to show her her own reflection. Oiwa, naturally, becomes furious. She rushes to kill Takuetsu with his own sword but she trips and cuts her own throat open. She begins to bleed to death and then also kills her infant son so he will not be raised (or ruined) by Lyemon. With her dying breath, she curses her hsband. To cover up her death, Lyemon nails the bodies to a board and drops them into a river. He claims his wife and his servant were having an affair and she was released from his marriage.
Lyemon and Oume are engaged to be married. But on their wedding night, things start to go wrong. Lyemon sees Oiwa's ghost. He tries to attack her and successfully cuts off her head. Feeling relieved he sinks back into bed...only to realize he accidentally murdered his new wife, Oume. He rushes to his new father-in-law's house, sees a vision of a servant he murders, attacks the ghost, and ends up murdering his father-in-law too.
Now that his second wife is dead, as well as his father-in-law, were dead Lyemon had to clean up the rest of the mess. And by "clean up" I mean murder more people.
Going back to Oume…she has yet to consummate her marriage despite Naosuke’s relentless efforts. But, then it turns out Oume’s first husban was not actually dead. He returns, says she has been having an affair the entire time, and the only thing Oume wants to do is to kill herself as that’s all that’s left to do. Both her husbands agree…although before her death she leaves a note for Naosuke letting him know she was his long lost sister and that’s why she wouldn’t consummate the marriage. Naosuke confesses some of his crimes to Oume’s first husband and then kills himself.
Lyemon tries to flee Yotsuya, but the ghosts of all the people he’s killed are hot on his tail. During his pursuit he is tortured by voices, apperances, and the ruined face of his first wife. Losing his mind, he eventually bumps back into Oume’s first husband, who knows his misdeeds, and he kills him.
Despite receiving her revenge, Oiwa’s spirit does not rest. She continues to haunt Yotsuya. It is believed her death was on February 22ns and apparently that is one of the unluckiest dates in Tokyo.
It's believed that this ghost story comes from what was once something real: two actual murders. But over the years it has been twisted, imbued with folklore, and even adapted into a kabuki show.
There is a Oiwa shring where you can pay your respects (and hopefully avoid bad luck and hauntings).
Thanks to @pazithi_gallifreya for this blogstonishing suggestion!
The blog header image is unrelated to the story and depicts Yotsuya senmaida. It was taken by Aboshi and is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported.
