Japan's Three Great Ghost Stories" (Nihon san dai Kaidan 日本三大怪談) PART ONE: Oiwa san.
There is no Japanese kid that does not know the "Japan's Three Great Ghost Stories" (Nihon san dai Kaidan 日本三大怪談). These tales were invented in Edo period (1603-1868), the golden age of ghost stories (Kaidan 怪談), and their protagonists are vengeful dead spirits of women (yūreijo 幽霊女).
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| And anyway in Japan's Three Great Ghost Stories the protagonists are all women ghosts right? Why? |
- Oiwa-san お岩さん: the Ghost Story of Yotsuya 四谷怪談
- Otsuyu お露: the Peony Lantern (Botan Dōrō 牡丹灯籠)
- Okiku お菊: the Dish Mansionat Banchō (Banchō Srayashiki 番町皿屋敷)
Today I will tell you the story of Oiwa お岩さん, Japan's most famous ghost story. It is based on two historical figures of Edo period, the beautiful Oiwa, and her bad husband Tamiya Iemon, who lived in Yotsuya, a neighbourhood in the center of Tokyo. Oiwa died in 1636 and it is said that she still haunts Tokyo and those who tell her story. Today we can still visit two temples built to placate the vengeful spirit of Oiwa, one in Sugamo and the other one in Yotsuya (Tokyo).
Oiwa was married to Tamiya Iemon a rōnin, a samurai with no honour who killed his own master. Oiwa was very unhappy and, one day, after knowing that her husband stole a lot of money, she decided to leave her wasteful husband and go to her parents. Tamiya went after her but he met Oiwa's father, Yotsuya Samon. They argued and Tamiya killed him.
Tamiya told to Oiwa that a stranger killed her father and he promised her to revenge her father's death if she would reconcile with him.
Oiwa agreed. Some Time after that, Oiwa bore Tamiya'son but they had little money and Oiwa became sick.
In front of Tamiya's house was living a rich doctor with her young and beautiful granddaughter Oume. Oume fell in love with Tamiya and the doctor, in order to help her, didn't give the right medication to Oiwa, but gave her a poisoned ointment which disfigured her face. Tamiya became disgusted by Oiwa's face and started to plan to marry Oume: he asked his friend Takuetsu to rape Oiwa so that he could accuse her of infidelity and get the divorce. However, when Takuetsu went to rape Oiwa, he was so disgusted by her face that he felt sorry for her, told her the truth and showed her a mirror.
Oiwa - horrified and mad - took a knife and cut her throat. As she lay on the floor bleeding to death, she cursed Tamiya's name until she couldn't breath no more.
Tamiya killed the servant who found Oiwa's body and then throw Oiwa's and his servant's corpse in the river. Tamiya was overjoyed by the death of her wife and immediately married the beautiful and rich Oume.
However, Oiwa's death spirit was angry and was seeking revenge.
On his wedding night to Oume, Tamiya saw for the first time the disfigured and scaring face of Oiwa's ghost. He grabbed the knife to kill the ghost: when the ghost disappeared he found out he had killed Oume instead. Tamiya ran to seek help from the doctor, his new father's in law, but he was attacked by the ghost of his dead servant. Once again, Tamiya try to kill the ghost with a knife but he ended killing the doctor. Oiwa's spirit started then pursuing him, coming out of a lantern.
Tamiya ran all the night trying to escape from her, but there was no safe place and, no longer able to tell the difference between nightmare and reality, Tamiya became crazy.
Oiwa is usually depicted with her left eye as lopsided and dropping because of the poisoned facial cream. Her story became extremely popular after its kabuki adaptation in 1825 by Tsuruya Namboku IV, with the title of TōkaidōYotsuya Kaidan 東海道四谷怪談. It then inspired more than thirty films of the J-Horror.
Besides, the image of a woman with long black hair and a dropping eye may be familiar to you: The character Sadako Nakamura in the Ring was based on Oiwa. Before shooting the film, the Ring's film crew - like anyone that wants to perform Oiwa's story - had to ask for permission to Oiwa and so they went to show their respect to her gravestone Myōgyōji in Sugamo, and to her shrine, the Oiwa Inari Tamiya Jinja in Yotsuya, rebuilt after a fire during the WW2, close on the ruins of Oiwa's family's house.
Tamiya told to Oiwa that a stranger killed her father and he promised her to revenge her father's death if she would reconcile with him.
Oiwa agreed. Some Time after that, Oiwa bore Tamiya'son but they had little money and Oiwa became sick.
In front of Tamiya's house was living a rich doctor with her young and beautiful granddaughter Oume. Oume fell in love with Tamiya and the doctor, in order to help her, didn't give the right medication to Oiwa, but gave her a poisoned ointment which disfigured her face. Tamiya became disgusted by Oiwa's face and started to plan to marry Oume: he asked his friend Takuetsu to rape Oiwa so that he could accuse her of infidelity and get the divorce. However, when Takuetsu went to rape Oiwa, he was so disgusted by her face that he felt sorry for her, told her the truth and showed her a mirror.
Oiwa - horrified and mad - took a knife and cut her throat. As she lay on the floor bleeding to death, she cursed Tamiya's name until she couldn't breath no more.
Tamiya killed the servant who found Oiwa's body and then throw Oiwa's and his servant's corpse in the river. Tamiya was overjoyed by the death of her wife and immediately married the beautiful and rich Oume.However, Oiwa's death spirit was angry and was seeking revenge.
On his wedding night to Oume, Tamiya saw for the first time the disfigured and scaring face of Oiwa's ghost. He grabbed the knife to kill the ghost: when the ghost disappeared he found out he had killed Oume instead. Tamiya ran to seek help from the doctor, his new father's in law, but he was attacked by the ghost of his dead servant. Once again, Tamiya try to kill the ghost with a knife but he ended killing the doctor. Oiwa's spirit started then pursuing him, coming out of a lantern.
Tamiya ran all the night trying to escape from her, but there was no safe place and, no longer able to tell the difference between nightmare and reality, Tamiya became crazy.
Besides, the image of a woman with long black hair and a dropping eye may be familiar to you: The character Sadako Nakamura in the Ring was based on Oiwa. Before shooting the film, the Ring's film crew - like anyone that wants to perform Oiwa's story - had to ask for permission to Oiwa and so they went to show their respect to her gravestone Myōgyōji in Sugamo, and to her shrine, the Oiwa Inari Tamiya Jinja in Yotsuya, rebuilt after a fire during the WW2, close on the ruins of Oiwa's family's house.
See you next time with the second most scaring Japanese story !
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