The Floating World

Autumn hero

Ghosts & Legends

Edo loved a ghost story the way it loved cherry blossom — seasonally, collectively, and with connoisseurship. Utagawa Kuniyoshi conjured the most audacious image in the medium: a skeleton the size of a palace, summoned by the witch Takiyasha across a full triptych. Two generations later his student Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, the last great master, drew the New Forms of Thirty-Six Ghosts — apparitions rendered with such tenderness they read as elegy. Hang these in October, or all year if you are brave. The dead of the floating world are excellent company.

Takiyasha the Witch and the Skeleton Spectre — Utagawa KuniyoshiUtagawa KuniyoshiTakiyasha the Witch and the Skeleton SpectreUtagawa Kuniyoshi · c. 1844The Earth Spider Conjures Demons at the Mansion of Minamoto no Raikō — Utagawa KuniyoshiUtagawa KuniyoshiThe Earth Spider Conjures Demons at the Mansion of Minamoto no RaikōUtagawa Kuniyoshi · 1843The Ghosts of the Taira Attack Yoshitsune’s Ship in Daimotsu Bay — Utagawa KuniyoshiUtagawa KuniyoshiThe Ghosts of the Taira Attack Yoshitsune’s Ship in Daimotsu BayUtagawa Kuniyoshi · c. 1849–1851Taira no Kiyomori Sees Skulls in the Snowy Garden — Tsukioka YoshitoshiNew Forms of Thirty-Six GhostsTaira no Kiyomori Sees Skulls in the Snowy GardenTsukioka Yoshitoshi · c. 1890Fujiwara no Yasumasa Plays the Flute by Moonlight — Tsukioka YoshitoshiTsukioka YoshitoshiFujiwara no Yasumasa Plays the Flute by MoonlightTsukioka Yoshitoshi · 1883