Picture of the Lonely House on Adachigahara Moor in Oshu (Oshu Adachigahara hitotsuya no zu)

Artist Tsukioka Yoshitoshi 月岡芳年 (Japanese, 1839–1892)

DateSeptember 1885

Mediumwoodblock print; ink and color on paper

ClassificationsPrints

MarkingsSeal: "Yoshitoshi"

Credit LineAlexander H. Bullock Fund

Terms

Object number2008.4

DescriptionThis image continues to shock audiences as it did in Yoshitoshi’s day. According to urban legend, a crone lured pregnant women to their deaths in order to obtain the fetus’s liver and cure the disease of a local lord. The story was popularized as a puppet play in 1762 and a kabuki version in 1856. The kabuki play was almost certainly inspired by the popularity of a large votive painting of a similar story by Yoshitoshi’s teacher Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797–1861). The purple marks around the ropes indicate that this print is a first edition, evoking the bruising that results from suspension in this position.
Label TextThis image continues to shock audiences as it did in Yoshitoshi’s day. According to urban legend, a crone lured pregnant women to their deaths in order to obtain the fetus’s liver and cure the disease of a local lord. The story was popularized as a puppet play in 1762 and a kabuki version in 1856. The kabuki play was almost certainly inspired by the popularity of a large votive painting of a similar story by Yoshitoshi’s teacher Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797–1861). The purple marks around the ropes indicate that this print is a first edition, evoking the bruising that results from suspension in this position.

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