Introduction -- The birth of Edo kabuki -- Presenting the past: Edo kabuki and the creation of community -- The beginning of the end of Edo kabuki: Yotsuya Kaidan in 1825 -- Overturning the world: the treasury of loyal retainers and Yotsuya Kaidan -- Shades of jealousy: the body of the female ghost -- The end of the world: figures of the ubume and the breakdown of theater tradition -- The modern rebirth of kabuki -- Another history: Yotsuya Kaidan on stage and page.