Kawanabe Kyōsai (河鍋暁斎) (artist 1831 – 1889)
Buffoonery on a Hundred Stories (Dōke hyaku monogatari - 道化百物かたり)
08/1868
28 in x 14.25 in (Overall dimensions) Japanese color woodblock print
Signed: Kyōsai
Combined date and censor's seal: 1868/8 and aratame
Among the bizarre creatures in the foreground are the 'hell horse' (Mezu?) on the left wearing a short red coat decorated with a 'real' horse on the back. A monstrous cat dominates the center panel. It is accompanied by two fantastic human-like figures in the center, one of them being an elfin-like female offering to items to the cat. This figure is wearing a cap that at first glance looks like a Western-appearing sorcerer's hat, but is actually a green shachi (鯱). Jim Breen has told us that this creature is a "mythical carp with the head of a lion and the body of a fish (auspicious protectors of well-being)." Her robes are covered with wave and cloud motifs. The other figure is a semi-naked demon, sitting on the ground enfolded in a voluminous yellow garment, while holding up a fan with a lightning among clouds motif. His head covering is a whale biting into the top of its bald pate. A fox which is hold a small green shachi in it's paws, a half human, half wolf (?) holding a single chopstick or is that a wand?, a red tai or sea bream, an elephant and an octopus holding a blue and white tea cup or cup of saké are shown on the right conversing. Behind them is a candlestick that is made up partially by something that looks a bit like a lobster or ebi.
At the bottom of each panel is a text which is, as of now, untranslated.
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"Hyaku-monogatari is a favorite pastime of the Japanese people. The party gathers at night, and each one tells a ghost story. After each finishes his story he removes a wick from the lamp. The lamp therefore becomes constantly dimmer, and the one who tells the final story removes the last wick, leaving the room in total darkness, and the whole party in dread of the appearance of a spook."
Quoted from: Descriptive Catalogue of Japanese and Chinese Illustrated Books in the Ryerson Library of the Art Institute of Chicago by Kenji Toda, page 352, 1931.
Notice that the light sources are a candle on the right and a lamp (?) on the left. On the right is a lobster which is either placing another wick on the flame or taking one away, while on the left is a horse-like creature that appears to be doing the same thing. We say "placing" for possibly two reasons: 1) we have yet to read a translation of the text at the bottom of each panel of this triptych which might provide a more definitive description and 2) because these figures are phantasmagorical and therefore may be doing just the opposite of what humans might be doing under similar circumstances.
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Illustrated
1) in a small color detail reproduction of the monster cat on the left of the center sheet in Yokai Attack! The Japanese Monster Survival Guide by Hiroko Yoko and Matt Alt, p. 38.
2) in Japanese Yōkai and Other Supernatural Beings: Authentic Paintings and Prints of 100 Ghosts, Demons, Monsters and Magicians by Andreas Marks, Tuttle Publishing, 2023, p. 11. This exact triptych is the one illustrated in this volume.
comic prints (giga - 戯画 / kyōga - 狂画) (genre)
actor prints (yakusha-e - 役者絵) (genre)
Yūrei-zu (幽霊図 - ghosts demons monsters and spirits) (genre)