HYAKU MONOGATARI　百物語

KEY WORD :　art history / paintings

Lit. A hundred tales. Traditional and contemporary ghost stories as told, written and illustrated in the Edo period. Early Edo compilations of ghost stories such as HYAKU MONOGATARI and TOGIBOUKO 伽婢子 are thought to have led to the practice of holding gatherings to tell ghost stories. In particular, at midnight 100 paper lanterns would be lit and when each story was finished one lantern would be extinguished. Gradually the room would become dark and when the last light was out ghosts were thought to enter, *ukiyo-e 浮世絵 artists portrayed both the thrilling moment of ghosts entering the room and the frightened participants as they told the stories. Common are individual depictions of favorite ghosts. Artists typically based these 'portraits' on images long associated with ghosts from popular legend, such as Rokurokubi ろくろ首 (Long Neck), Mitsume nyuudou 三目入道 (Three-Eyed Priest), and Hitotsume kozou 一目小僧 (One-Eyed Apprentice), or on the appearance of 'ghosts' in the theater, such as Oiwa お岩 from *Yotsuya kaidan 四谷怪談 and Okiku お菊 from the ballad dramas joururi 浄瑠璃 and *kabuki 歌舞伎 plays SARAYASHIKI 皿屋敷. Although many artists, especially in the 19c, created prints of HYAKU MONGATARI, Katsushika Hokusai's 葛飾北斎 (1760-1849) five print series is of 1830 is best known.

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