Irezumi

Yasuzo Masumura's tale of feminine revenge in old Japan. The plot deals with a young woman abused by male society who exacts a gruesome revenge. Otsuya (Ayako Wakao) is a young woman of some breeding who is abducted into service at the Geisha house of Gonji. This leads to a less than favourable run-in with some highly unsavoury male characters the likes of which a girl of her breeding has never seen. When deranged 'irezumi' (tattoo) artist Seikichi (Gaku Yamamoto) get his eyes on her, he thinks he has found the canvass he's been looking for all his life. With the greatest care and using all the skills he has at his fingertips, he needles a huge spider tattoo on her upper back - a tattoo being the ultimate affront to Japanese society. Gradually, Otsuya finds herself morphing into a low-class predator in the mould of the ones who have brought her to this, and starts taking her deadly revenge on male society, using her fine looks to lure them into her web of carnage.

Director: Yasuzo Masumura
Writer: Kaneto Shindô
Writer: Junichiro Tanizaki
Producer: Hiroaki Fujii
Actor: Ayako Wakao
Actor: Akio Hasegawa
Actor: Gaku Yamamoto
Actor: Kei Satô
Actor: Reiko Fujiwara
Actor: Kikue Mori
Actor: Fujio Suga
Actor: Asao Uchida