The Ghosts of Kasane Swamp

A bad-karma ghost story from future cult director Nakagawa, made for Shintoho (i.e., Japan's Republic Pictures) at a time when even a modest monochrome B-feature could boast decent performances and design. It's 1793. The foundling Shinkichi (Wada) works as a servant in a fabric shop. He's torn between the affections of Hisa (Kitazawa), the daughter of the house, and her music teacher Rui (Wakasugi), causing the usual complications. But none of them is aware that Shinkichi's samurai father killed Rui's debt collector father twenty years earlier. Karmic revenge begins when a shamisen plectrum hits Rui on the head, causing massive disfigurement. Pretty much everyone is dead by the end, something of a Nakagawa trademark.