Series; New Forms of Thirty-six Ghosts
Yoshitoshi's Thirty-Six Ghosts - In this incredible series, Yoshitoshi illustrated thirty-six of his favorite tales from Japanese history and legend. From charming folk stories to bloody tales of revenge, the series is the work of the artist's maturity and Yoshitoshi explores the subjects with great subtlety and psychological perception. As interesting to Yoshitoshi as the ghosts and monsters, are the human beings to whom they appear. Yoshitoshi was immensely popular in the last years of his life and the ghost series was greeted with great enthusiasm and a rush to collect among the Japanese public.
Today, prints from Yoshitoshi's Thirty-six Ghosts series are some of the most highly sought after prints on the market. A wonderful area of collecting for the Yoshitoshi enthusiast.
Fujiwara no Hidesato Shooting the Centipede at the Dragon King's Palace, No. 18 - Wonderful illustration from the story of Hidesato and the Dragon King. While crossing a bridge one day, an imposing dragon with fiery breath blocked Hidesato's path. He continued walking, calmly traversing the entire length of the fearsome dragon. The dragon turned out to be the Dragon King in disguise, looking for someone brave enough to save his realm from a giant centipede. Hidesato followed the Dragon King to his realm under the sea and killed the giant centipede by shooting it in the eye. He was rewarded with a magical bag of rice that never ran out, as well as a bolt of cloth that never ended. Here, Hidesato prepares to fire the killing arrow at the colossal centipede, the Dragon King's daughter cowering behind him. The towers of the palace rise up out of the waves at upper left. Beautifully detailed with embossing on the white pants, and burnishing in the black court cap, armor, scabbard, arrow quiver, and bow.
Artist - Yoshitoshi (1839 - 1892)
Image Size - 13" x 8 3/4" + margins as shown
Condition - Nice color and detail. Small repair in margin.
