Shunbaisai Hokuei: Iemon Confronted by an Image of His Murdered Wife, Oiwa, on a Broken Lantern (1832)

(British Museum, London, UK)

A coloured woodblock print made by the Japanese artist Shunbaisai Hokuei (1760 – 1849). This print shows a scene from a famous Japanese ghost story called Tōkaidō Yotsuya Kaidan (= Ghost Story of Yotsuya in Tokaido). The story was written in 1825 by Tsuruya Nanboku IV as a kabuki play. According to the story, Oiwa was married to a ronin (a samurai without a lord or master) named Tamiya Iemon. The couple was poor and had a bad marriage as Iemon was a careless man and a thief. Oiwa wanted to divorce and her father supported this decision. One day, however, Iemon told Oiwa that her father was murdered by a bandit. Oiwa vows to avenge the death of her father. As Oiwa is only a woman, Iemon pledges to avenge the death of Oiwa's father if she forgets the divorce to which Oiwa agrees. After the couple had a child, Oiwa became sick. Iemon saw her more and more as a burden and when he meets Oume, the beautiful granddaughter of a rich doctor named Ito Kihei, he wants to get rid of her. With the doctor's help, he gives Oiwa an ointment, supposedly to help her recover from her sickness, but in reality, is a poison that horribly mutilates her face. Iemon is disgusted by the terrible appearance of Iemon and sees an opportunity to get divorce Oiwa for a valid reason. He asks his friend Takuetsu to rape Oiwa so he could accuse her of adultery. Takuetsu initially agrees to the plan but changes his mind later. Takuetsu tells Oiwa the truth: Oiwa's father was not killed by a bandit but by Iemon (her father tried to convince Iemon of the divorce to which Iemon did not agree). Takuetsu also puts a mirror in front of Oiwa's face so she can see her mutilated face (Oiwa did not realise her face was mutilated as she thought the burning sensation was a part of the treatment). Oiwa becomes insane and kills herself. As she lay on the floor bleeding to death, she kept repeating Iemon’s name until she blew out her last breath. The spirit of Oiwa becomes an onryō ("vengeful spirit"), a type of Yūrei (ghosts) and haunts Iemon. Wherever he went, Oiwa’s onryō appeared immediately. Her ravaged face haunted him in his dreams, and her harrowing voice constantly reminded him of her revenge. She appeared everywhere, even in the paper lanterns that lit his way (shown here). At the end of the story, almost everybody involved dies a horrible death. Iemon himself is driven insane by the spirit of Oiwa, no longer able to discern hallucination from reality. The story was the inspiration of various horror movies, such as The Grudge and The Ring. Woodcut from 1832.