Toriyama Akinari Terutada with Ghost; (The Lavender Chapter)

Art Historical Context

Step into the eerie world of late Edo-period Japan with *Toriyama Akinari Terut with Ghost (The Lavender Chapter)*, captivating woodblock print by Uawa Yoshiiku from 1864. This ink and color on paper work, measuring 14½ x 10 inches, a tense encounter between the literary figure Terutada—drawn from the ghost stories of famed author Toriyama Akinari a spectral visitor. Produced during the vibrant ukiyo-e tradition, Yoshiiku's piece exemplifies the "pictures of the floating world," blending human drama with supernatural intrigue. Yoshiiku, a disciple of the renowned Utagawa Kuniyoshi, mastered the woodblock technique, carving intricate designs into cherry wood blocks for precise layering of colors and details. This method allowed affordable, mass-produced prints that brought tales of yokai (ghosts and spirits) to everyday viewers, fueling Japan's fascination with the occult amid the era's social flux. Created on the cusp of the Meiji Restoration, the print reflects Edo culture's love for kaidan (ghost stories), immortalizing Akinari's atmospheric narratives. Now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Asian Art collection, gifted by Lincoln Kirstein in 1985, it invites us to ponder the thin veil between the living and the otherworldly.

About the Artist

Utagawa Yoshiiku · 1833–1904

Utagawa Yoshiiku (1833–1904) was a prolific Japanese woodblock print artist and journalist who lived through one of the most turbulent and transformative periods in his country's history, the transition from the Edo period through the Meiji Restoration. A student of the celebrated Utagawa Kuniyoshi, Yoshiiku inherited his master's taste for bold compositional drama and dynamic figuration, applying...