There are many artistic traditions in Japan that discuss ghosts in different forms, from kabuki theater, public storytelling, and woodcut prints for the growth of visual representation of Japanese ghosts. These traditions have interesting relationships with each other regarding their interpretations of ghosts.
Kwaidan Storytelling
These stories discuss mysterious things, especially stories related to yokai and ghosts. Ghosts appear in the form of human beings, and certain types of ghosts are regarded as the heroes of many folk tales. In the early modern era, a hundred horror stories(百物語), or hyaku-monogatari, were collected, a phenomenon which modified the form of ghost stories for the future. The history of these “hundred horror stories” is to gather several people in the evening and tell ghost stories in turn. There are 100 candles around the group, and every time someone finishes a ghost story, they blow out one of the candles. When the last one goes out, it is said that a yokai or ghost appears.
Ukiyoe
Ukiyo-e are paintings that developed during the Edo period. Ukiyoe artists have painted various Japanese customs such as actors of Kabuki and popular landscapes at that time in that era. Also, since the early Akiyo print could only be done by monochrome printing, they used a brush for coloring, but in 1765, Haruhisa Suzuki et al. invented multicolor printing.
Kabuki
Kabuki involves performing Japanese dance as well as musical performances and theater. Traditionally in Japan, all actors were male, and men acted in women’s roles. Mainly in the Edo (Tokyo) and Kamigata (Osaka) regions, Kabuki plays were considered popular and sophisticated. There are a wide variety of Kabuki performances known today. Mordern Kabuki has developed by introducing new scripts and stage effects so that it is not viewed as old-fashioned. Kabuki remains a traditional stage
How do they relate to each other?
Actors as the Ghost of Oiwa(probably played by Onoe Kikugoro III) and a Frightened Priest in the play Irohagana
Prints,1849
This image is an example of the relationship between Kabuki and drawings. Pictures of Kabuki actors as ghosts, and drawings based off of them, influenced the spread of ghostly images in Japan. Rakugo and Kabuki also often
Bibliography
Ernst, Earle. The Kabuki Theatre. Honolulu: University Press of Hawaii, 1974. 1974.
Shaver, Ruth M, 相馬, 皓, Gakō Ōta, and 雅香 太田. Kabuki Costume. Books to Span the East & West. Rutland, Vt: C.E. Tuttle, 1966.
Shimazaki, Satoko. Edo Kabuki in Transition : From the Worlds of the Samurai to the Vengeful Female Ghost. New York: Columbia University Press, 2016. 2016.
Image Bibliography
Hirosada, Asian; Far East Asian; Japanese, active 1819 – 1865. 1849. Actors as the Ghost of Oiwa(probably played by Onoe Kikugoro III) and a Frightened Priest in the play Irohagana yotsuya kaidan. Prints. Place: Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA, Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts purchase, 1987.1.42, http://www.thinker.org/. https://library-artstor-org.ezproxy.guilford.edu/asset/AMICO_SAN_FRANCISCO_103846150.
Yoshu Chikanobu, Japanese. January 1883. Untitled kabuki theater print: Golden Pavilion Temple. Print. Place: Ruth Chandler Williamson Gallery, Scripps College, Purchase by the Aoki Endowment for Japanese Arts and Cultures. https://library-artstor-org.ezproxy.guilford.edu/asset/AWILLIAMSONIG_10313361585.
Page written and created by Nozomi K., Branwyn M., and Sophie P.
