Based on a traditional tale, the plot centers around the great artist, Yoshihide, who despite his talent is rude, lazy and avaricious. His one saving grace is his love for his beautiful daughter, Yuzuki.
Yoshihide is employed to create paintings for the Lord of Horikawa, who one day decides to employ Yuzuki as a lady-in- waiting in his household. Yoshihide is not happy about this, especially when he learns that Yuzuki has been the victim of a rape attempt. But Yuzuki refuses to name the perpetrator. Yoshihide becomes furious. Having been commissioned by Horikawa to paint a folding hell screen depicting punishments in the afterlife, he tortures his apprentices so that he can depict human suffering more accurately.
He then asks Horikawa to burn a beautiful woman, so this too, can be depicted realistically. Horikawa agrees, but it is Yoshihide’s own daughter Yuzuki who ends up being burned to death. Yoshihide completes the hell screen painting, then kills himself. As with much of Akutagawa’s work, this ancient tale is reworked to emphasize contemporary dilemmas—in this case, artistic obsession, which Akutagawa himself is said to have possessed. This horrific yet compelling story continues to resonate with admirers of Akutagawa’s work to this day.
Source: Email Correspondence
