Film

Ejima and Ikushima

Name: Ejima and Ikushima
Director: Hideo Oba
Released: 1955
Cast: Ichikawa Ebizō XI, Chikage Awashima, Ichikawa Danjūrō XI, Mieko Takamine, Mitsuko Kusabue

1955 · 126 min · Dir. Hideo Oba

This period film is inspired by one of the most notorious scandals to have taken place in Edo-period Japan. The heroine, Ejima, was a lady of the Ooku, the harem of Edo Castle in which the Shogun’s mother, wife and concubines resided, forbidden from contact with any other man except in the presence of the Shogun. The institution played a key role in the Byzantine world of Japanese court politics during the Edo era. In 1714, Lady Ejima was sent to pay her respects at a Buddhist temple in the city, and chose to pay an unauthorised visit to the kabuki theatre – a violation of protocol that was to have tragic consequences.