The first-released film to capture the ghostly legend of Sakura Sôgotô, the subject of numerous gruesome kabuki plays of spectral horror. Sôgorô (also known as Kiuchi), was a 17th century farmer who was tortured and crucified, along with his family, for daring to question the Shogun. He became a legendary martyr, and stories of his ghost returning to seek revenge passed into myth, The Sôgorô saga became one of the most-filmed ghost stories in early Japanese cinema.