Tsukioka Yoshitoshi
Japanese, 1839-1892
Onoe Kikugorō V as the Hag of Asajigahara
INV-1004
Tsukioka Yoshitoshi
Japanese, 1839-18921890
Onoe Kikugorō V as the Hag of Asajigahara
Tsukioka Yoshitoshi Japanese, 1839-1892 →Japanese (culture or style)woodblock printprint
Date
1890
Medium
Color woodblock prints; ōban triptych
Dimensions
36.2 × 74.1 cm (14 5/16 × 29 3/16 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
Purchased with funds provided by Nathalie Gookin in memory of Frederick W. Gookin
This image from the play The Lonely House shows a wicked hag preparing to murder a houseguest. She inadvertently kills her own daughter instead and, in shame and deep despair, repents her evil life. She ultimately attains Buddhahood through the grace of a bodhisattva—an enlightened person who delays nirvana to assist others—named Kannon.
The flowers and vines in this scene stand out against the eerie deep blackness surrounding the pale-skinned witch. The poem on the print reads, “Through the yūgao vines / A high wind moans; / At the eaves” (translated by Segi Shin’ichi in Yoshitoshi: The Splendid Decadent [1985]).
Also notable
Works in the same vein
Komurasaki of the Miuraya and Shirai Gompachi (Miuraya Komurasaki, Shirai Gompachi)
Kitagawa Utamaro 喜多川 歌麿 Japanese, c.1753-1806
Hamamatsu, from the series "Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido (Tokaido gojusan tsugi)," also known as the Tokaido with Poem (Kyoka iri Tokaido)
Utagawa Hiroshige 歌川 広重 Japanese, 1797-1858
Mitsuke: Ferries Crossing the Tenryu River (Mitsuke, Tenryugawa funawatashi), from the series "Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido (Tokaido gojusan tsugi)," also known as the Tokaido with Poem (Kyoka iri Tokaido)
Utagawa Hiroshige 歌川 広重 Japanese, 1797-1858
