Art Institute of Chicago

Kohada Koheiji, from the series "One Hundred Ghost Tales (Hyaku monogatari)"

Katsushika Hokusai 葛飾北斎 (Japanese, 1760-1849)LinkedCulture matchlcp-3956d3d4d8b9

Date: 1831-32
Medium: Color woodblock print; chuban
Culture: Japan
Department: Arts of Asia
Institution: Art Institute of Chicago
Object ID: 47398

From the Art Institute of Chicago record

This frightening print illustrates the story of Kohada Koheiji, a Kabuki actor who was drowned by his wife’s lover but later came back to haunt the couple. The tale was popular in the 18th century, eventually inspiring a novel and several Kabuki plays. Here, the skeletal ghost of Kohada Koheiji pulls down the mosquito net and eerily peers at the sleeping couple in their bed. The Art Institute’s collection boasts one of the most well-preserved and appreciated editions of Katsushika Hok usa i’s One Hundred Ghost Tales series (1831–32). The artist apparently planned to produce a full hundred images, but the series was not completed and only five prints are known. The title refers to a game in which people would gather at night to tell scary stories, putting out a candle after each tale until the room was completely dark. These small-format works feature a bright-blue color made possible by Berlin blue pigment (often called “Prussian blue”), which had become affordable shortly before their production. Although this hue may seem cheery to us, Hokusai’s original audience would have associated it with death and the occult.

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Provenance & credit

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Credit line: Clarence Buckingham Collection
Provenance: Charles Hibbard Chandler (1859–1946), Evanston, IL; sold to the Art Institute of Chicago, Mar. 22, 1943.Purchased by the Art Institute from Charles H. Chandler.

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Object type: AAT300041273

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