Yurei (horror) prints

Oiwa-san (from the story Yotsuya Kaidai)

Yotsuya Kaidai is the a story of a woman who goes through betrayal and murder and eventually ends up extracting her revenge. It is one of the most famous ghost stories in Japan. In the story, Oiwa’s father is killed by her husband, Iemon, in a fit of rage and then she is disfigured by some cream she is given by a woman named Oume who wants to steal Iemon from her. After she is disfigured Iemon wants to divorce her and he starts making advances on Oume. When Oiwa sees her disfigured reflection she goes crazy and accidental kills herself with a sword. As she is dying, she curses Iemon. Not long after her death, Iemon becomes engaged to Oume. Oiwa now a vengeful ghost tricks Iemon into killing Oume and her grandfather on their wedding night. Eventually Iemon goes crazy because the ghost of Oiwa is haunting him and he is eventually killed to avenge the death of Oiwa and to put Iemon out of his misery by Oiwa’s brother-in-law. This is my version of a print originally made by Hokusai.