The Ghost of Oiwa - Katsushika Hokusai

The artwork

"The Ghost of Oiwa" by Katsushika Hokusai is one of the most famous Japanese prints devoted to folklore and ghost stories, offered here as a faithful reproduction on fine Amalfi paper. This interpretation of Oiwa's ghost, hovering over a lantern in the night, brings into the home all the dramatic tension and mysterious fascination of Edo-period Japan. Our print preserves the original shades and restores the uneasy, evocative atmosphere that has made "The Ghost of Oiwa" an icon of Japanese art.

Made between 1831 and 1832 for the series Hyaku monogatari, "One Hundred Ghost Stories", the print's intense blue background, obtained with the new pigment Berlin blue, heightens the nocturnal, funereal atmosphere, evoking for the Edo public the idea of death and the occult world. The inscription on the lantern invites prayers for the woman's soul, transforming the image into a kind of visual ex voto that unites a taste for the macabre with Buddhist devotion.

Unique quality material

Print on handmade Amalfi paper
Sheet size: 29 x 42 cm (11.4 x 16.5 in)
With frame: 31 x 44 cm (12.2 x 17.3 in)
Material: artwork printed on very fine handmade Amalfi paper with deckled edges
Frame: light brown beech wood and wood pulp, handmade