Female Ghost (Kunisada)

This print belongs to a genre of Japanese painting and ukiyo-e known as yūrei-zu (幽霊図), ghost pictures, which peaked in popularity in the mid-nineteenth century. Literally 'faint (幽- yū) spirit (霊- rei),' yūrei is just one of several Japanese words used to refer to spirits. Other terms include: obake (お化け), yōkai (妖怪), bōrei (亡霊), shiryō/ shirei (死霊), yūki (幽鬼), yōma (妖魔), yūkai (幽怪), rei (霊), bakemono (化け物), konpaku (魂魄), henge (変化), onryō (怨霊) and yūreijinkō (幽霊人口). There is a long tradition of belief in the supernatural in Japan which relates to various influences, including such imported sources as Buddhism, Taoism and Chinese folklore. The most notable influence, however, is Shintō, a native animistic religion which presupposes that the physical world is inhabited by eight million omnipresent spirit beings. Yūrei-zu such as this one represent the conflation of two prevailing trends in the nineteenth century Japanese literary and visual arts: depictions of the female form, and depictions of macabre or supernatural themes. During this period, ghosts— particularly the female variety— commonly figured in folktales, as well as theatre. Vengeful spirits returning to punish their wrong-doers were a staple of kabuki, bunraku and nō dramas, and proved popular with audiences. Wishing to tap into this market for the macabre, painters and woodblock artists began to create images of ghosts, as well as of kabuki actors in the roles of ghost characters. ==Yakusha-e==

Kunisada entered Utagawa Toyokuni's studio from a young age, and was therefore granted access to training from the finest masters of the age, as well as valuable connections to publishers, poets' associations, theatres and actors He began creating yakusha-e (actor images) in 1808, and this genre was to become the mainstay of his fame and fortune. began to be gradually repealed from the late 1840s, which left Kunisada free to return to his favourite medium. ==Utagawa Kunisada (Toyokuni III)==

Born in 1786 in the Honjō district of Edo, Utagawa Kunisada (歌川国貞) was an apprentice of Toyokuni I, whom he later succeeded as Toyokuni III (三代歌川豊国). Although he debuted as a book illustrator in 1807 with illustrations for the series of beauties "Twelve Hours of the Courtesans" (Keisei jūnitoki), his production really took off from 1809. He produced images from diverse genres, including kabuki-e (pictures of kabuki actors), bijin-ga (pictures of beautiful women), yūrei-zu (ghost pictures), sumō-e (sumo wrestler pictures), shunga (erotica) and musha-e (warrior prints). According to modern critics, Kunisada was "a trendsetter... in tune with the tastes of urban society." The print dates to 1852 and was therefore done when Kunisada was 66, before his work declined into what has been described as "gaudy and ostentatious" use of colour. Critics tend to agree that Kunisada's later works suffered in quality "because of over-production and lowering of artistic standards." ==Female Ghost==

The subject in this print corresponds to the typical depiction of female ghosts in Edo art: "a fragile form with long, flowing hair... dressed in pale or white clothing, the body below the waist tapered into nothingness." The central area is dominated by the figure of a female spirit with extremely long, wildly flowing black hair, crowned by a pale blue and white decoration. Unlike in many other yūrei-zu, the ghost in this print is not disfigured or particularly ghoulish. She wears a long, pale blue kimono with the long sleeves (furisode - 振袖) common to the kimono of single women and female ghosts. Underneath are two inner robes, one solid red, and the other with a pale blue and white geometric design. Her kimono is fastened with a large dark blue obi tied in a disheveled bow at the front. Her kimono is closed left over right, as it would be worn by a living woman. The ghost floats, footless and with arms bent up at the elbows as is customary for ghost images of the period, Although it is displayed in isolation in the ROM, the print is actually the centre image from a triptych capturing different characters from the play. The image on the left—to which her outstretched right arm appears to be reaching—is of Akamatsu Shigetamaru (赤松重太丸) as played by actor Ichikawa Kodanji (市川小団次). In the triptych's right position, is another character from the play named Shichi[?]shirō (七?四郎). The image belongs to a series of over twenty images depicting scenes from the play, including another of the Yaeki hime no rei character. ==Print details==

• Size: ōban • Format: tate-e • Title: Yaeki hime no rei (八重機姫の霊); labelled Female Ghost by ROM • Subject: Yaeki hime no rei (Ghost of Princess Yaeki) character from the kabuki play Otogibanashi Hakata no imaori • Signature: Toyokuni ga (豊国画); in red oval toshidama-in cartouche, lower right corner • Publisher: Yamamoto-ya Heikichi, Eikyūdō; dark blue hanmoto mark in bottom left corner • Censor seals: 2 nanushi seals reading top to bottom Murata (村田) & Kinugasa (衣笠) indicating Murata Heiemon & Kinugasa Fusajiro • Date seal: rat 6, i.e. 6th month of 1852; oval in lower left corner, below censor seals • Genre: Yūrei-zu, yakusha-e • Provenance: donated to the ROM by linguist and librarian Leonard Wertheimer (1914-1998) ==See also==

• http://www.rom.on.ca/en/exhibitions-galleries/galleries/world-cultures/prince-takamado-gallery-japan Webpage for the ROM's Price Takamado Gallery • http://www.kunisada.de/ The Utagawa Kunisada Project Vast repository of information about Kunisada's works • https://web.archive.org/web/20150430031233/http://www.enpaku.waseda.ac.jp/db/enpakunishik/results-1.php Images of prints from Kunisada's 1852 Otogi banashi Hakata no Imaori series