114 The Tale of Oiwa's Ghost

[Finch]

Released in the UK/US June 23rd/June 24th

When the daughter of an elite family takes a shine to poor samurai Iemon (Tomisaburo Wakayama, Lone Wolf and Cub), he sees an opportunity to climb the social ladder. He just needs to rid himself of his only obstacle: his loving wife Oiwa. He poisons her and dumps her corpse in a nearby swamp, but she returns as a horribly disfigured ghost to haunt Iemon on his wedding night. Crime film specialist Tai Kato (I, the Executioner) brings the famous Ghost Story of Yotsuya to the screen as a gritty tale of murder and greed, with an intense lead performance by Wakayama (The Bounty Hunter Trilogy, Big Time Gambling Boss).

LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY FEATURES

High-Definition digital transfer

Uncompressed mono PCM audio

Interview with Mari Asato (2025)

Visual essay on tormented female ghosts by Lindsay Nelson (2025)

Trailer

Newly improved English subtitle translation

Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Time Tomorrow

Limited edition booklet featuring new writing by Tom Mes and an archival review of the film

Limited edition of 3000 copies, presented in full-height Scanavo packaging with removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings

[Finch]

I emailed Radiance last year about this title and am thrilled they're releasing it. Wakayama is my favorite Japanese actor and Radiance single-handedly did more to fill gaps in his filmography on home video than any other label. Bless Fran. I can't wait to see how Kato handles this compared to Misumi.

[DeprongMori]

Is there general agreement that the TOO in the yearly newsletter clues is Tales Of Oiwa’s Ghost? (PAL, WN3, and LTT seem pretty obvious matches.)

[zedz]

poor samurai Iemon

Radiance's blurb loses (or gains) a little something in the translation to lower case.

[ryannichols7]

Is there general agreement that the TOO in the yearly newsletter clues is Tales Of Oiwa’s Ghost? (PAL, WN3, and LTT seem pretty obvious matches.)

yes, definitely. especially since BOO+ was Bandits of Orgosolo last year

I have only gotten to watch the Misumi Ghost of Yotsuya from the Daiei Gothic set so far, and I really enjoyed Kiyoshi Kurosawa and Kyoko Hirano talking about the different adaptations of the story - so I'm glad we're getting more. I probably should get to the various Tai Kato films they put out too...

[ChunkyLover]

Many users on the "other forum" are reporting that the disc has been refusing to play on Sony and Panasonic players.

[DeprongMori]

Many users on the "other forum" are reporting that the disc has been refusing to play on Sony and Panasonic players.

Can confirm it doesn’t play on Panasonic UB820. In the Radiance Discord, it is noted as being investigated for authoring issues. Shipments to retailers seem to currently be held back until technical issues identified/resolved. Likely will be a disc replacement.

[Finch]

FWIW, it played fine on my Sony 4K 800M2.

[cdnchris]

Yeah, it won't load in my 820, but loads just fine in an LG player.

[TMDaines]

Many users on the "other forum" are reporting that the disc has been refusing to play on Sony and Panasonic players.

Can confirm it doesn’t play on Panasonic UB820. In the Radiance Discord, it is noted as being investigated for authoring issues. Shipments to retailers seem to currently be held back until technical issues identified/resolved. Likely will be a disc replacement.

What sort of error do you get?

[DeprongMori]

Many users on the "other forum" are reporting that the disc has been refusing to play on Sony and Panasonic players.

Can confirm it doesn’t play on Panasonic UB820. In the Radiance Discord, it is noted as being investigated for authoring issues. Shipments to retailers seem to currently be held back until technical issues identified/resolved. Likely will be a disc replacement.

What sort of error do you get?

It just dumps out to the player menu after displaying the Radiance logo on the disc. This is consistent with other reports on the UB820 problem with this disc.

[cdnchris]

For me, it just goes to the player's home screen after the Radiance logo plays.

[TMDaines]

Thanks. Was wondering if it was a disc read error or some crash as you have both described. I only just got a UB820 yesterday!

[dwk]

Radiance announced they are doing replacement program for this. If you ordered directly from them they will send it to you, if you bought it elsewhere you have to email them at [email protected] with proof of purchase and the disc marked with your initials.

Edited to fix the email address, I forgot to include films in the address.