This is a gallery of 20 Japanese woodblock prints depicting yūrei (ghosts) and yōkai (monsters). Most of these were made in the 19th century. The name of each artist is listed below the respective print.
20. “The Sailor Tokuso and the Sea Monster.” A sailor encountering an umibozu, a sea spirit that destroys and drowns any boat that it comes across. They are said to be the souls of drowned monks.
Utagawa Kuniyoshi.
19. “The Ghost Oiwa.” A character from the kabuki play Yotsuya Kaidan. Oiwa committed suicide and then returned from the grave to haunt her husband.
Katsushika Hokusai.
18. “The Ghosts of Togo and His Wife” shows the ghosts of two peasants harassing their samurai lord.
Utagawa Kuniyoshi.
17. “Various Yokai Flying out of Wicker Clothes Hamper.”
Omoi Tsuzura.
16. The Yuki-onna (Snow Woman) kills people who are stuck in snowstorms by freezing them to death with her icy breath.
Sawaki Suushi.
15. “Ashinaga and Tenaga Fishing.” The yokai with the long arms is an Ashinaga-jin, and the one with the long legs is a Tenaga-jin.
Utagawa Kuniyoshi.
14. “Okiku the Well Ghost.” Okiku was a servant girl who was thrown into a well by her master.
Katsushika Hokusai.
13. The ghost of Kohada Koeiji, a man who was killed by his wife and her lover. In this scene, he is hiding in a mosquito netting while watching his killers get into bed.
Katsushika Hokusai.
12. “A Ghost Appears to Kingo Chunagon.” Encounter of a ghost by late 16th century samurai Kingo Chunagon.
Tsukioka Yoshitoshi.
11. “Child’s Nightmare of Ghosts.”
Kitagawa Utamaro.
10. “Takiyasha the Witch and the Skeleton Spectre.” Takiyasha was a 10th century princess whose rebellious father was killed by the emperor. In this scene, Takiyasha has summoned a giant skeleton to fight imperial officials.
Utagawa Kuniyoshi.
9. I’m not sure about the title of this one, but the man is the immortal sage Gama-Sennin. The giant toad is Gama’s companion, and they’re watching some other toads fight.
Utagawa Yoshitora.
8. “Oiwa the Lantern Ghost.” Another depiction of the ghost featured in entry 19#.
Utagawa Kuniyoshi.
7. Print from Kuniyoshi’s “Bakemono Chunshingura” series, a monster adaptation of a popular play about the 47 Ronin.
Utagawa Kuniyoshi.
6. Depiction of a scene from the kabuki play “Ume no hara gojusan tsugi”.
Utagawa Kuniyoshi.
5. “The Priest Raigo of Mii Temple Transformed By Wicked Thoughts into a Rat.”
Tsukioka Yoshitoshi.
4. “The Woman Shizunome Oyaku.”
Tsukioka Yoshitoshi.
3. “The Ghost of Kamata Matahachi.” This is a scene from the 1855 kabuki play “True Record of the Famous Song for Hand-balls”. The male ghost is Kamata Matahachi, and the female ghost behind him is Kikuno. They had both heard about a love affair the main character Mari Yashiro had, so Yashiro killed them.
Utagawa Kunisada.
2. A print of tengu and other demon masks.
Utagawa Kunisada.
1. “The Laughing Demon.”
Katsushike Hokusai.
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