Ugetsu Monogatari (Tales of Ugetsu, 1953) is the story of two men who abandon their families in order to seek fame and fortune during a civil war in sixteenth-century Japan.

The cast includes: Masayuki Mori (as Genjuro), Eitaro Ozawa ( as Tobei), Machiko Kyo (Lady Wakasa), Kinuyo Tanaka (Miyagi), and Mitsuko Mito (Ohama).

The screenplay, by Matsutaro Kawaguchi and Yoshikata Yoda, was based on stories by Akinari Ueda. The music was composed by Fumio Hayasaka. Photography was by Kazuo Miyagawa. The film was produced by Masaichi Nagata, and directed by Kenji Mizoguchi.

As the film begins, Genjuro and his wife Miyagi hear gunshots in the distance. Miyagi holds their young son in her arms. They are worried by this warning of danger.

Genjuro is a craftsman who makes pottery. He and his brother Tobei travel to town to sell their pottery. Tobei is a farmer, who dreams of becoming a samurai. Tobei meets a group of soldiers in town, but is scorned by them because he is a peasant, and because he lacks weapons and armor.

Genjuro and Tobei return home, having sold their pottery successfully. Genjuro is overjoyed with his sudden success, and wants to earn more money. He and Tobei begin working feverishly to make more pottery. They become suddenly driven by greed, and by a desperate ambition to achieve wealth and prosperity.

That night, their farm is overrun by an army of soldiers, and they are forced to leave their land. When the army leaves, they return home, and plan to make another trip to town in order to sell their pottery.

Genjuro, Miyagi, and their son, along with Tobei, and his wife Ohama, decide to travel by boat to the town of Oziwa. They travel across a mist-covered lake, but they meet another boat steered by a dying man who says that he has been attacked by pirates.

They decide to turn back, and Genjuro and Tobei leave their wives on shore, because of the danger of being attacked by pirates.

Genjuro and Tobei return to town to sell their pottery. Tobei spends his share of the money on a spear and a suit of armor.

Later, back in their village, Tobei’s wife, Ohama, is raped by a band of soldiers.

A wealthy princess, Lady Wakasa, admires Genjuro’s pottery. She decides to buy the whole collection, and invites him to deliver the pottery to her home. When he appears at her mansion, she starts to seduce him.

Lady Wakasa is the last surviving member of the Kutsuki clan. The Kutsuki clan has been destroyed by the warrior Nobunaga. Her late father’s spirit lingers over her house, and begins to sing each time she dances for her guests. She seduces the awestruck Genjuro, proposing to him that they marry.

Meanwhile, Genjuro’s wife, Miyagi, while traveling back to the village, is killed by a rampaging band of soldiers.

Tobei has remained in town, and has joined the army. He kills a soldier in battle who has already been badly wounded. He is rewarded with a suit of armor, a horse, and a troop of soldiers under his command. He is also promoted in Lord Niwa’s army.

Tobei becomes haughty, proud, and arrogant. He and his band of soldiers spend the night at a brothel, and he is stunned to discover that his wife, Ohama, has become a prostitute in the brothel. He feels remorse for having abandoned her in the midst of the marauding soldiers at war. He begs her to forgive him.

Genjuro is warned by a priest that his life is in danger. The priest also says that Lady Wakasa is a ghost. Genjuro returns to the princess, but is now overcome by guilt, and admits to her that he is married. She refuses to let him leave, but she is suddenly forced to retreat when she discovers that the priest has inscribed Sanskrit markings with the sacred prayer of Buddha on Genjuro’s body.

Her attendant reveals to Genjuro that the princess is, indeed, a ghost. The princess has been brought back to the world to seek the eternal love which she never had when she was alive.

Genjuro is terrified, and grabbing a sword, runs away. He later falls asleep, and when he wakes up, is arrested for stealing the sword. He sees that the Kutsuki mansion is only scattered remains, and he is told that the mansion has long been in ruins. The mansion where he had spent the night does not exist in reality.

He is released by the soldiers who arrested him. He then returns home, and dreams that he is reunited with Miyagi and their son. But he wakes up to discover that his son is ill, and that his wife has been dead for a month, killed by a marauding band of soldiers. He feels a deep sense of guilt for having left her when she was in danger.

Meanwhile, Tobei has thrown away his weapons and armor, and has returned with Ohama to their farm.

Miyagi’s spirit speaks to Genjuro, and tells him to live and work at home where he belongs. As the film ends, Genjuro again feels redeemed by Miyagi’s love for him, and her spirit tells him that he has become the man of her ideals.

Ugetsu is a beautifully-told story of how the human spirit can be corrupted by personal ambition. The film shows how personal integrity can be corrupted by a selfish desire for personal gain. Genjuro and Tobei lose their happiness and contentment when they lose their personal integrity.

Genjuro and Tobei become false to themselves when they pursue their quest for an illusory feeling of freedom and power. They abandon those who love them. They pretend to be what they are not. They think of themselves as great and powerful men who can do whatever they want. But they are recalled to their true selves by the suffering of those who have sacrificed their own interests for them. They are finally redeemed by the unselfish caring and devotion of the women who love them.