One Hundred Ghost Stories
One Hundred Ghost Stories (Japanese: 百物語, romanized: Hyaku monogatari) is a series of ukiyo-e woodblock prints made by Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849) in the Yūrei-zu genre circa 1830.
The series is made in reference to the tradition of Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai, 'A Gathering of One Hundred Supernatural Tales', a popular Japanese game played at night, when people would meet to share folklore ghost stories and their own anecdotes.
[5] The legend from 17th century tells the story of a maid named Okiku who breaks a valuable set of Korean plates.
[8] Yet another version tells that Okiku worked for a samurai named Aoyama Tessan from Himeji Castle who makes advances on her.
[4] The work has similar framing that is present in Hokusai's previous landscape prints such as View from Massaki of Suijin Shrine, Uchigawa Inlet, and Sekiya (1857).
[7] The story was originally a play for kabuki theater called Yotsuya Kaidan, and was written in 1825 by Tsuruya Nanboku IV.
The one most commonly told begins with a young girl named Oume who falls in love with the married samurai Tamiya Iemon.
Paper lanterns were used in the Buddhist tradition mukae-bon, the beginning of Obon; people bring them to their family member's graves to welcome their spirits.
[7] Kassandra Diaz writes that: The creases of the lantern fold over her exhausted eyes, which point to the Buddhist seed syllable on her forehead.
His wife Otsuka was ashamed of him, and together with her lover (another actor called Adachi Sakuro), she murdered Kohada and threw his body into a swamp.
[2][9] The writer Santō Kyōden, also known as the ukiyo-e artist Kitao Masanobu, developed the Koheiji story in his 1803 novel, Bizarre Tale of Revenge at Asaka Marsh (Fukushû kidan Asaka-numa).
Regardless of whether they were Kohada's or part of his yurei kabuki costume, the beads symbolize religious piety, which Otsuki and Adachi clearly disregarded.
[7] The middle line identifies the posthumous name given to the Buddhist – Momonji (茂問爺), a yokai who appears as a bestial old man who assaults travelers on dark roads.
[7] Kassandra Diaz wrote that in the series Hokusai integrated ghost stories into everyday life: An Edoite can never walk comfortably past Oiwa Tamiya Inari Shrine, Morita-za, castle wells, serpent shrines, or mountains without recalling Hokusai’s disturbing yokai.
[7]It was typical for the time period for people to be superstitious; "there seems to be a convergent point in Japanese society where individuals from all walks of life seem to unite in their belief of the supernatural".
[5] Each print in some way represents a woman who committed something that goes against the Buddhist teachings, so yokai stories "functioned as religious and political allegory to subjugate women in their societal roles".
[4]After the unification of the country under the Tokugawa Shogunate, civil war became "a thing of the past ... people could regard strange phenomena and terror as entertainment".
[5] This graphic depiction was crucial not just for invoking the level of terror associated with the ghost story, but for creating an ingeniously hidden metaphor of Edo society.
With a ruling warrior class exerting an iron grip on the populace, ordinary citizens had virtually no rights [...] In this context, Kohada Koheiji is no longer just the ghost of a man wrongly killed, seeking his much deserved justice.
The sadness and fear expressed in the Ghost of Kohada Koheiji [...] would ultimately tell the tale—not just of a man murdered—but of a social system fallen.
[5]Timothy Clark, Head of the Japanese Section in the Department of Asia at the British Museum, wrote that the "print series on the theme was the occasion for the elderly Hokusai to weave together powerful currents that had long gestated in his art of hyper-realism, macabre fantasy and even a certain humour.
[15] The Guardian called Kohada Koheiji "Funny Bones", and wrote that the picture was likely "designed to induce shrieks of laughter as much as fright".
