is a 1933 black and white Japanese silent film directed by Kenji Mizoguchi

Kenji Mizoguchi

Kenji Mizoguchi was a Japanese film director and screenwriter. His film Ugetsu won the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival, and appeared in the Sight & Sound Critics' Top Ten Poll in 1962 and 1972. Mizoguchi is renowned for his mastery of the long take and mise-en-scène...

 and based on a story by Kyōka Izumi

Kyoka Izumi

is the pen name of a Japanese author of novels, short stories, and kabuki plays who was active from the late Meiji to the early Shōwa periods. He is best known for a characteristic brand of Romanticism preferring tales of the supernatural heavily influenced by works of the earlier Edo period in...

. It is one of the most popular titles from the silent film work of Mizoguchi and tells a tragic love story which realistically depicts the beauty and strength of the women of the Meiji period

Meiji period

The , also known as the Meiji era, is a Japanese era which extended from September 1868 through July 1912. This period represents the first half of the Empire of Japan.- Meiji Restoration and the emperor :...

. It is currently available with benshi

Benshi

were Japanese performers who provided live narration for silent films . Benshi are sometimes also called or .-Role of the benshi:...

accompaniment.