Poems on One Hundred Ghost Stories - Masazumi Ryusai

A woodblock print from the 1853 collection Kyōka hyaku monogatari, featuring illustrations of supernatural folklore and traditional Japanese poetry.

This woodblock print originates from the 1853 publication Kyōka hyaku monogatari, or Poems on One Hundred Ghost Stories. The work is a collaborative effort, featuring illustrations by Masazumi Ryusai alongside kyōka, which are humorous thirty-one-syllable poems. The collection explores the folklore of the Edo period, focusing on yōkai, or supernatural entities, that populated the popular imagination of the time.

The composition is divided into two distinct panels, each presenting a different supernatural encounter. On the right, a creature exhales a flame, standing amidst tall grasses near a stream. The line work is precise, capturing the creature's posture and the flickering quality of the fire. On the left, a ship navigates turbulent, stylised waves. The water is rendered with rhythmic, sweeping lines that suggest movement and power, contrasting with the stillness of the scene on the right. The inclusion of calligraphic text across both panels integrates the visual narrative with the literary content, a common feature in Japanese book illustration of the nineteenth century.

Masazumi Ryusai employs a restrained colour palette, relying on soft greys, muted blues, and subtle earth tones to define the forms. This approach allows the viewer to focus on the graphic quality of the figures and the expressive nature of the brushwork. The print reflects the fascination with the macabre and the fantastic that characterised the later years of the Edo period. By combining traditional poetry with visual depictions of spirits and monsters, the work provides a window into the cultural preoccupations of the era. It remains a fine example of the intersection between literature and visual art in Japanese print culture, demonstrating the technical skill involved in multi-block printing processes.