Alternate versions

On Japanese television, the gay bar scene is cut out.

The UK VHS version apparently inadvertently left out two shots during the film's ending: The suicide ending to "Kiyoko's House" and the burning of the pavilion in "Temple of the Golden Pavillion."

Criterion's DVD (and the newly struck 35mm print of the film) add a brief deleted scene, from the "Temple of the Golden Pavilion" segment in which Mizoguchi talks to an old teacher, back into the main film. There are also changes to the shots leading up to the sunrise and seppuku in the "Runaway Horses" segment, in which the previously real sky is replaced by a deliberately artificial-looking matte painting. These changes are carried over to the Blu-Ray and 4K DCP release.

The version transmitted by Channel 4 television in the UK does not have Roy Scheider's narration and is entirely in the Japanese language.

The 2001 DVD and 1998 Laserdisc releases by Warner Bros. do not have Roy Scheider's narration; they instead have an uncredited narrator. This was an error when choosing sound elements for these releases. The uncredited narration was a temp track that was made during the editing process as a guide when cutting the film together. The 2001 DVD release does, however, feature the Japanese-language narration track by Ken Ogata. Criterion's releases of the film have both English narration tracks - the temp narration made during editing, and Scheider's version, along with Ogata's Japanese-language narration.