Landscape and Legend

Katsushika Hokusai

Oiwa, from One Hundred Ghost Tales

1831–32

Color woodblock print, 25.6 × 16.1 cm. The Art Institute of Chicago

Scarred and pale, a betrayed wife stares out of a torn lantern, back for revenge.

• Poison she took for beauty cream scarred her face, leaving one eye drooping.
• The series is named for a candlelit game of telling a hundred ghost stories.
• Her tale comes from a famous ghost play, The Ghost Story of Yotsuya.

Image: Art Institute of Chicago open access · CC0