Who Is Shōtarō (Isawa Shotaro)?
The faithless son who betrayed his wife
Isawa Shōtarō
Shōtarō (Isawa Shōtarō) is the hero of "The Cauldron of Kibitsu" (Kibitsu no Kama), a story in Ueda Akinari's Ugetsu Monogatari. He is the only son of the Isawa family, wealthy farmers in Kibi Province. He drinks and chases women, and his parents cannot control him.
In Episode 9, his parents hope to settle him down by marrying him to Isora, daughter of the chief priest of Kibitsu Shrine. But Shōtarō falls for a courtesan named Sode. He tricks Isora into giving him money and runs off with Sode to Harima. Soon Sode falls ill as if possessed and dies, and Isora appears before Shōtarō as a vengeful ghost. Following a yin-yang diviner's (onmyōji's) advice, he shuts himself in for forty-two days of ritual seclusion. On the last night, thinking dawn has come, he opens the door.
The ending never says exactly what happened outside the door, and it is known as one of the most terrifying scenes in Japanese ghost stories.
