Yoshtoshi - One Hundred Ghost Stories from China and Japan

Tsukioka Yoshitoshi

Lady Kayō, Consort of Prince Hanzoku of India, Holding a Severed Head. An image of a beautiful but evil woman who ruined a nation by seducing its ruler away from his duties was a familiar subject during certain periods of Chinese and Japanese history. Lady Kayo was a character in "The Story of the Magic Fox Woman", a fifteen-volume novel published between 1804 and 1805.  The book describes the misadventures, of a golden fox with nine tails whose various manifestations possessed the consorts of rulers in India, China, and Japan.  In each kingdom, the fox caused havoc until it was recognized and exorcised or otherwise dispatched.  In the novel, Lady Kayo was the consort of Prince Hanzoku, a ruler in southern India.  She took ill, and a physician, suspecting her true nature, gave her a special herb, whereupon the fox assumed its true shape and flew into the air. From the series One Hundred Ghost Stories from China and Japan (Wakan hyaku monogatari).

This series dates from early in Yoshitoshi's career. It was one of his first major series, and his first to illustrate ghosts. It was an ambitious attempt by Yoshitoshi, but only 26 of the 100 prints were ever published. The series was based upon a game where fearsome stories are told by candlelight - one light being extinguished after each story told. This is one of the best prints in the series.

Publisher: Daikokuya Kinnosuke (Kinjirô)

Date: 1865

Size: 18.5 inches x 13.8 inches

Condition: Print is in very good condition, not backed but backing remnants and some minor repairs which you can see on the reverse.

Genre: Ukiyo-e

Medium: Woodblock Print

https://collections.lacma.org/node/191251