Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, "The Peony Lantern"

This print shows a scene from a very popular love story of a man name Saburo who falls in love with a courtesan named Otsuyu. Otsuyu dies, and through Saburo's grief manifests the ghost of his lover and her maid. The spirits comfort Saburo throughout his life and symbolizes his never-ending love. The image shows the ghost of Otsuyu being led in the darkness by her maid with a peony lantern.

Series: New Forms of Thirty-Six Ghosts
Date 1891
Size: Oban
Publisher: Sasaki Toyokichi
Condition: Excellent color and condition (original album backing; light trimming)
Frame Shown: 16" x 24", Classic Wood, Walnut

Tsukioka Yoshitoshi's (1839-1892) Shinkei sanjurokkaissen (New Forms of Thirty-Six Ghosts) series of woodblock prints was the artist's last series of works completed between 1889 and 1892 before his death. The prints from this series are exemplary of Yoshitoshi's long interest on macabre and dark subjects, and is illustrative of his unique abilities to channel these subjects into beautifully captivating compositions. Tokaido Arts is pleased to offer a selection from one of Yoshitoshi's most famous series of woodblock prints.