The Water Magician is perhaps the best film Mizoguchi made as a young director. The film's scenario was adapted from a tragic novel by Izumi Kyoka written in the Shimpa style (Shimpa novels were named after the legendary theatre company founded in the 19th century that introduced Western realist melodrama into Japan), popular during the Meiji Restoration. The film's heroine is portrayed by Irie Takako, who was then at the top of her career and popular for her beauty and talent. She is a Taki no Shiraito, a water magician known throughout the Hokuriku District for her skill and beauty. Water magicians used long-handled paddles to control and direct the force of powerful streams of water in order to create interesting patterns and configurations. They were quite popular in the summer at fairs and exhibitions. The water magician falls in love with a youth she meets in a provincial town and, as he has his heart set on studying in Tokyo, she borrows money for his tuition at an exorbitant rate of interest. She then murders the moneylender when she cannot return the loan. At her trial, the judge turns out to be none other than the young man she had helped ... Some critics have seen shades of the autobiographical in the film since Mizoguchi, too, had gone to art school on the hard-earned money given to him by his sister.