Oiwa or Yotsuya Kaidan (四谷怪談) Japanese Folklore

                                     Oiwa or Yotsuya Kaidan (四谷怪談)

This folklore tells the story of Oiwa, a beautiful woman who once lived with in a small town near the mountains with her husband Tamiya Iemon.

It should be noted that there are several variations of the tale. One of the more popular versions states that the tale resulted from Oiwa’s husband having an affair with the granddaughter or Ito Kihei, Oume. Following the events of his granddaugher’s affair, Ito Kihei went to see Iemon to talk about the latter’s future if the younger man were to marry Oume. Iemon concentrated on the conversation and listened to the every word spoken by Ito Kihei. Iemon took a great amount of time thinking about Ito Kihei’s proposal. After some time, Iemon was filled with only evil thoughts. He believed that the only way for him to be together with Oume was to be rid his current wife Oiwa.

Iemon’s plan to get rid of his wife was by having her consume poison which would result her to die from “natural causes”. Unfortunately, the poor Oiwa was not aware that her beloved husband was trying to murder her. 

One evening, when Oiwa and Iemon were getting ready to eat dinner, she noticed that her husband was behaving strangely. She became worried about him and tried encouraging him to eat his meal but Lemon refused, telling Oiwa to not worry about him and eat her own meal instead. Oiwa eventually gave up and started to eat her dinner. After that evening, it wasn't long before she gotten ill.

Iemon gave Oiwa cold looks and did not offer any help as her condition deteriorated. However, her death was slow. Oiwa’s beautiful face slowly became increasingly disfigured by the poison. After some time, she finally fell unconscious. Iemon was too afraid to end her life, and so he placed Oiwa's body to the bed.

Just when Iemon thought he was almost rid of Oiwa, she woke up one day. Despite her suffering, she did not recall anything concerning the poison. Sadly, even though she had recovered from the poison, her features remained ugly and disfigured. Iemon was not pleased about his wife surviving the poison and soon, he contemplated on another plan to dispose of her. On one silent evening, Iemon took Oiwa for a walk. They eventually reached a cliff where Iemon begun looking around for the presence of other people within the vicinity. Upon confirming that nobody was around, Iemon seized the chance to push Oiwa to her demise. Iemon then retrieved her body and confirmed her death. He then proceeded to give her the best funeral he could afford.

His troubles were over at last! Iemon started planning his marriage to Oume. The night before the grand event, Iemon consumed alcohol before deciding to call it a night. It was then he noticed that his bedside lamp was dimming. While he was observing the flickering light, the lamp suddenly distorted itself into Oiwa's disfigured face.  It grew bigger and bigger as Iemon watched in fear before the face shouted 'Betrayer!' 

Iemon quickly grabbed a nearby stick and swung it at the apparition but she disappeared. He had hit the lamp instead but he could hear the eerie laughter of a woman outside. Iemon grew afraid but the man eventually became convinced that he had consumed too much alcohol prior to sleeping.

The next day, Iemon proceeds with the wedding as though nothing happened the previous night. After exchanging their vows, Iemon and Oume were happily married. When Lemon lifted Oume's veil, he was met with shock. Instead of Oume’s beautiful face, the veil revealed Oiwa’s disfigured face. Her lips formed the word "Betrayer!"

Iemon became terrified. In haste, he drew his sword and slew the ghost with a single swing, severing the head. The head rolled. When the head finally stopped rolling, Iemon was shocked to see Oume's face instead of Oiwa's. He heard the shrieks of laughter again.

Iemon panicked and ran away to a tiny house, desperately looking for a place to hide. There, he bolted the door and cowered in fear.

Soon enough, he heard loud pounding on the doors. It was an angry Ito Kihei demanding that Iemon open the door. When Iemon finally agreed to open the door, Oiwa standing there crying out "Betrayer!"

Once again, Iemon slashed the ghost in terror but to his despair, it was Ito Kihei that he had killed.

Iemon, driven to insanity by the ghost of Oiwa, fled to an isolated mountain with his deceased wife’s laughter trailing him through the journey. When he finally stopped running in frenzy, Iemon realized that he had reached the edge of the mountain. The condemned man looked over the edge…

The last of Iemon was reported by passerby who saw a woman pushing Iemon off the cliff before following suit, laughing as they reached the end.

Thanks to a friend of my for correcting me (Sandra)