Art Institute of Chicago

The Laughing Demoness (Warai Hannya), from the series "One Hundred Ghost Tales (Hyaku monogatari)"

Katsushika Hokusai 葛飾 北斎 (Japanese, 1760-1849)

Date

1831-32

Medium

Color woodblock print; chuban

Culture

Japan

Department

Arts of Asia

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

Here, a female demon (hannya) with horns holds the decap-itated head of a child; blood oozes from the wounds caused by her long fingernails. This image references the legend of Kishimojin, a goddess from early Buddhism known in Sanskrit as Hariti. Originally, this goddess was a terri-fying ogress who was determined to eat all of the babies in the town of Rajgir, India. The Buddha heard the pleas of the townspeople and hid one of Hariti’s own children, leading her to understand the grief she had caused. She then converted to Buddhism and was eventually accepted as a goddess and a protector of children. 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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