Few images in the history of Japanese art are as chillingly unforgettable as this one.
Kohada Koheiji, from Katsushika Hokusai's legendary One Hundred Ghost Tales (Hyaku Monogatari) series, depicts the skeletal specter of a wronged Kabuki actor — drowned by his wife's lover — pulling back a mosquito net to fix his hollow gaze upon the sleeping couple below.
Created between 1831 and 1832, this woodblock print is one of only five known surviving works from a series Hokusai had ambitiously planned to extend to one hundred images.
Its striking blue — a shade made possible by newly affordable Prussian blue pigment — may read as vivid and graphic to modern eyes, but to Hokusai's contemporaries it carried unmistakable associations with death and the supernatural.
The print draws on the Hyaku Monogatari tradition: a nighttime ghost-story game in which participants extinguished a candle after each tale, letting darkness gather with every telling. Hokusai distills that creeping dread into a single, perfectly composed image.
The Art Institute of Chicago's edition is considered one of the finest and best-preserved in the world.
Bold enough to command a room. Unsettling enough to be remembered.
Print Details:
Size: 8″ × 10″
1.25″ thick poly-cotton blend canvas, hand-stretched over solid wood stretcher bars
Fade-resistant, vivid print
Mounting brackets included
Blank canvas sourced from the US, Canada, Europe, UK, or Australia
Perfect for admirers of Hokusai, Japanese woodblock art, or anyone who wants something genuinely unlike anything else on their wall.
Age restrictions: For adults
EU Warranty: 2 years
Other compliance information: Meets the lead level requirements.
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