Irezumi (刺青, 1966), set during the Edo period, is based on Tanizaki Junichiro's novels Shisei and Otsuya-goroshi. The film stars Ayako Wakao as Otsuya, the daughter of a wealthy merchant, who is tempted by her lover, Shinsuke, an employee of her father's, to elope. However, when Otsuya's beauty attracts the gaze of Seikichi, a mysterious master tattooist who sees her pristine white skin as the perfect canvas for his art, she is abducted and forcibly tattooed with the image of a large demonic spider across her back. When Otsuya's personality seems to transform under the influence of the spider, it begins to reshape her relationship with Shinsuke—and everyone else around her as she takes advantage of her situation to wreak bloody vengeance.

Yasuzo Masumura (1924-1986) was an eclectic and innovative Japanese director. He initially studied law at Tokyo University, but his studies were interrupted when he was drafted into the army in the later stages of the Asia-Pacific War. He was repatriated in the late 40s and started working at the Daiei studio while finishing his degree in philosophy. After his graduation, he obtained a scholarship to study at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome. Matsumura returned to Japan in the early 1950s and worked at the Daiei studio as assistant director for Kenji Mizoguchi, Kon Ichikawa and Daisuke Ito, before directing his own first film, Kisses, in 1957. For most of his career, he remained at Daiei and directed over 50 films in a variety of genres, including adaptations of literary works by Junichiro Tanizaki, Genjiro Yoshida and Yasunari Kawabata. Among his most celebrated works are Afraid to Die (1960) starring Yukio Mishima, Manji (1964), Seisaku's Wife (1965), Irezumi (1966) Red Angel (1966) and Blind Beast (1969).