Japanese Ghost Story Masterpiece Theater: The Ghost of Kasane Swamp

In the final days of the Edo shogunate, a government commander enters Edo Castle to inspect the Ōoku. Ignoring warnings, he steps into a forbidden room where, 200 years before, Lady Oyuki, a favored concubine, was forced to commit suicide by Tokugawa Tsunayoshi over a suspected affair. Consumed by vengeance, her spirit continues to haunt all those involved in the tragedy.

Iemon Fukasawa, a masterless samurai, marries Oiwa but is repulsed by a dark mark on her face. He descends into alcoholism and starts an affair with O-hana, a maid carrying another man’s child. Together, they conspire to poison Oiwa, killing her and disposing of her body in a moat. But Oiwa’s vengeful spirit rises from the depths, seeking revenge.

In Settsu Province, young women related to castle steward Tanaka Shūzen are being killed, each with fang-like bite marks on their chests. The priest Chinen suspects a vengeful plot. The next targets could be Shūzen’s daughter Myō or her fiancé Iori’s sister, Matsue. Despite Iori’s vigilance, Matsue is attacked by her koto teacher, Yamamura Kengyō, and his daughter Kaede—who are revealed to be vengeful vampires.

In the Nabeshima clan’s castle town, lord Tango-no-kami kills his chief retainer Mataichirō for refusing to offer his sister as a concubine. To cover up the crime, the scheming retainer Buzen buries Mataichirō’s body in the armory walls and offers his own daughter instead. But Mataichirō’s vengeful cat, Koma, possesses Buzen, seeking revenge.

In a castle town in Oshu, the tyrannical Hikoemon Nomura keeps his second wife, Otoku, confined indoors. When Hikoemon’s brother Seijirō tries to assault Otoku and is stopped by the servant Jihei, he accuses them of an affair. Enraged, Hikoemon blinds Jihei and kills Otoku. Surviving, Jihei swears revenge and reappears seven years later at the Tone River crossing.

Dance teacher Omiyo survives a double suicide with her lover and is forced into life as the courtesan Tamagiku in Yoshiwara. Living in misery, she meets Gengo, her lover’s look-alike brother, and they fall in love. Jealous rival Naraya frames Gengo as a criminal, and he is struck by lightning and killed before Tamagiku’s eyes. After her own death, Tamagiku rises from hell to seek revenge on Naraya and his allies.

Otsuka, wife of actor Koheiji, is unfaithful and has many affairs. When Koheiji confronts her lover Takurō at Imba Swamp, Takurō pushes him into the bottomless depths. A month later, haunted by nightmares of Koheiji, Takurō mistakes Otsuka’s new lover for Koheiji’s bloody ghost and kills him. But Koheiji’s vengeful spirit continues to haunt him…

Otsuyu, the daughter of a samurai, takes her life after being forced into an unwanted marriage, and her maid Omi follows her in death. Together as spirits, they visit Otsuyu’s lover, Shinzaemon. Believing Otsuyu is alive, Shinzaemon rekindles their relationship, but he soon begins to waste away. A concerned neighbor consults a doctor, who reveals that Shinzaemon is being haunted and his death is near.

After a fight with his wife, Yahachirō, a carpenter, meets a sinister "Shinigami" who teaches him how to spot people who won’t die. He profits by treating only those who will survive but soon begins an affair with Osen, a barmaid. Osen and her husband Bunzō plot to kill Yahachirō for his money, strangling him and tossing his body into the river. But one night, Yahachirō reappears, his face twisted into a monstrous form…

On the Kōshū Kaidō road, merchant Sōjirō is poisoned, robbed, and pushed off a cliff by former courtesan Okuma and her lover. A year later, a fugitive named Shinsuke, on the run after killing his wife, encounters a sinister, heavily made-up man. He soon realizes this man is the vengeful spirit of Sōjirō…

Fleeing the Ōnin War, Tomone and her daughter Shiori are saved by Ukyō Fujiki. While taking shelter in a house, they are attacked by a greedy servant, Shichibee, but Shiori defends her mother, injuring him. A year later, Tomone and Ukyō reunite and fall in love, but Shichibee, now a bandit leader, returns and brutally murders Tomone and Shiori in Ukyō’s absence.

While on a pilgrimage, young monk Sōchō sees a waterfall turn blood-red, a sight villagers fear is the curse of a woman who drowned herself years ago. Ignoring their warnings, he ventures into the haunted Tenbu Pass to find a missing medicine seller. There, he encounters a stunning woman in a remote house, but anyone who touches her is transformed into an animal…