Sakurahime Azuma bunsho (The Cherry Blossom Princess of Edo)

The story is much too complex to be able to convey here, but in brief, Sakurahime has been born with a disfigurement; her hand is clamped shut and cannot open. She has been promised in marriage to a certain aristocrat, but when he discovers her disfigurement he renounces the marriage. Sakurahime goes to a temple in order to take the tonsure; there she meets the head priest Seigen. Upon meeting him, miraculously her hand opens up, and half of a small amulet is revealed. Seigen recognizes this as the amulet that he gave to a boy acolyte that he had been having a passionate affair with 18 years before. They had decided to commit a love suicide and be reborn as male and female so they could continue their affair. The boy throws himself from a cliff and dies, but at the last minute Seigen chickens out. Now 18 years later he realizes that Sakurahime is the reincarnation of his old love and he immedietely becomes obsessed by her. However, Sakurahime has already fallen in love with a handsome robber, who broke into her house one evening and raped her, so she is not at all interested in Seigen. Instead, she is obssessed with the robber Tsurigane Gonsuke. Out of love for him, she has had a tatoo placed on her arm that is identical to his. By coincidence, Gonsuke shows up at the same temple, and in this scene they begin to make love, Gonsuke slowly unwrapping Sakurahime's sash. However, the lovers are discovered. Gonsuke escapes, but Sakurahime is caught. Seigen, to protect Sakurahime claims that he was the one she was having an affair with. As punishment, both are made outcastes. Seigen hopes that this will make it possible for him to be with Sakurahime, but all she can think of is reuniting with Gonsuke and she soon gets away from him. When she finds Gonsuke, he promptly sells her into prostitution.