The film was so popular with Japanese audiences upon its initial release, and so poignant in its portrayal of the lives of prostitutes that when an anti-prostitution law was passed in Japan just a few months later, some said it was a catalyst.
Director Kenji Mizoguchi's final film. He died of leukemia only five months after its release at the age of 58.
Italian censorship visa # 30674 delivered on 21 November 1959.