The story is based on an 18th century puppet play by Monzaemon Chikamatsu. Shinoda acknowledges the origins by having the opening credits appear over preparations for a Benraku performance.
Although released in 1969, director Masahiro Shinoda choose to shoot this film in the standard academy (1.33:1) format instead of the spherical or anamorphic widescreen formats that most features were using by that time.
This film is part of the Criterion Collection, spine #104.