Nakagawa was an itako (Japanese exorcist) and led a reclusive life in an old cottage in a small isolated Japanese village. She was violent, communicating with spirits, performing exorcism rituals and subjecting her daughters to them. She used her daughter Kayako as a receptacle for the spirits she drove away. Her rituals involved sucking a certain amount of blood from a possessed victim, after which someone would drink the blood so that the person's body would serve as a kind of prison for the spirits. Soon her daughters grew up and left her, and Nakagawa herself continued to live in the old hut, but no longer performed rituals because of her advanced age. Soon the shaman heard someone banging on the door of the old hut and looked up to see the source of the noise.

• Who are you? Get out of here! -Nakagawa said in a stern voice.