The Ghost of Oyuki
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| The Ghost of Oyuki | |
|---|---|
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| Artist | Maruyama Ōkyo |
| Year | 1750 |
| Type | Ink on silk |
The Ghost of Oyuki (お雪の幻, Oyuki no maboroshi) is a painting of a female yūrei, (a traditional Japanese ghost), by Maruyama Ōkyo (1733–1795), founder of the Maruyama-Shijō school of painting.
According to an inscription on the painting, Okyo had a mistress in the Tominaga Geisha house. She died young and Okyo mourned her death. One night her spirit came to him in a dream, and unable to get her image out of his head he painted this portrait. This is one of the earliest paintings of a yūrei with the basic late-Edo period ghost characteristics[citation needed]: disheveled hair, white or pale blue robe, limp hands, nearly transparent, lack of lower body.
References
- Iwasaka, Michiko and Toelken, Barre. Ghosts and the Japanese: Cultural Experiences in Japanese Death Legends, Utah State University Press, 1994. ISBN 0-87421-179-4