Katsushika Hokusai – Woodblock Prints from One Hundred Ghost Stories

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The Series: One Hundred Ghost Stories (Hyaku Monogatari)

This is a haunting series of ukiyo-e woodblock prints by Katsushika Hokusai, created circa 1830 in the Yūrei‑zu genre—depicting ghosts and supernatural tales
Though titled One Hundred Ghost Stories, only five prints were ever completed; the artist and publisher, Tsuruya Kiemon, originally intended to produce a full hundred
The prints reflect the Edo‑period tradition of Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai—a ghost‑story telling game played at night with participants extinguishing one candle after each tale, believed to summon spirits when the final candle was snuffed

Click on images to enlarge

The reverse side of each of the above prints (click to enlarge)

Shorts synopsis of the ghost stories illustrated in these woodblocks.

Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849)

Hokusai was born in Edo (modern Tokyo) and trained as a woodblock print artist from a young age. Over his long career he adopted many names and experimented with diverse subjects, from kabuki actors to nature, landscapes, and the supernatural. His most famous works include Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji, which features the iconic Great Wave off Kanagawa. He was admired for his bold compositions, inventive spirit, and tireless pursuit of mastery, working until the final years of his life. Hokusai’s art left a lasting mark on Japanese culture and later influenced many Western artists.

1. The Ghost of Kohada Koheiji (Kohada Koheiji)

Koheiji was a kabuki actor who was murdered—drowned in a marsh—by his wife and her lover. He returns as a skeletal ghost enveloped in flames to haunt them in a chilling scene beneath a mosquito net

2. The Lantern Ghost (Oiwa)
This story tells of Oiwa, a woman poisoned by her cruel husband so he could marry another. Disfigured by the poison, she dies in despair but returns as a terrifying ghost. Her face emerges from the paper lanterns hanging outside, an image that became one of the most famous ghostly figures in Japanese art and theater.

3. The Plate Mansion (Sara-yashiki)

The legend tells of Okiku, a servant accused of losing or breaking a precious set of plates. Depending on the version, she either falls or is thrown into a well, then returns each night as a yūrei to count the plates—her voice echoing “one… two… three…” in despair. In Hokusai’s print, Okiku’s spirit is imaginatively rendered—her body taking the form of a snake composed of the plates themselves