I was hoping to get to Boston this summer to see the “Hokusai: Inspiration and Influence” exhibition, but alas it only ran until last Sunday. However, while I was taking a deep dive into the show, an unusual print in the collection caught my eye.

The print titled The Ghost of Oiwa (Oiwa-san) is based on a story from a kabuki play called Yotsuya Kaidan, which was writen by Tsuruya Nanboku. In the play a young girl named Oume falls in love with a samurai named Tamiya Iemon, who is already married to a woman named Oiwa. Oume’s family devises a plan to eliminate Iemon’s wife, Oiwa, by giving her poisonous face cream. The cream fails to kill Oiwa, but it disfigures her face. Eventually, Iemon, repulsed by Oiwa’s face, abandons her, which drives her mad. In the end, she accidentally trips and falls onto an exposed sword, meeting her tragic demise. With her dying breath, she curses Iemon and begins to haunt him in various forms, including that of a paper lantern.