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
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.
On View
Not on view
Tsukioka Yoshitoshi 月岡 芳年
late autumn, 1882
