is a 1953 black-and-white Japanese film directed by Kenji Mizoguchi and based on stories in Ueda Akinari's book of the same name. It is a ghost story and an example of the jidaigeki (period drama) genre. Set in Azuchi–Momoyama period Japan, it stars Masayuki Mori and Machiko Kyo. It is one of Mizoguchi's most celebrated films, regarded by critics as a masterwork of Japanese cinema and a definitive piece during Japan's Golden Age of Film. Along with Akira Kurosawa's 1950 film Rashomon, Ugetsu is credited with having popularized Japanese cinema in the West.