The Phantom of Kohada Koheiji

If you are looking for horror images in art, Japanese woodcuts are the best. Famous Hokusai (he created that famous image of the waves and Fuji mountain) was acknowledged as a lover of the grotesque, and here is the proof of that. Above you can see a woodcut presenting a tale based on an actual event. Koheiji was killed by his wife and her lover. As revenge he returns to haunt the couple while they are in bed together inside mosquito netting. The writer Santô Kyôden, also known as the Ukiyo-e artist Kitao Masanobu, developed the Koheiji story in his 1803 novel, Bizarre Tale of Revenge at Asaka Marsh. In 1808, the story was told on the kabuki stage, where it was an immediate hit. In the image, Kohada Koheiji is seen peering in through the curtains of a mosquito net, presumably at his assassins who sleep under its cover. His hands, skeletal and claw-like, inch the netting open to reveal his face—little more than bone and sinew. Around his neck are the remnants of his earthly attire, and upon his head are random strands of his now decaying hair. Koheiji grins with the grim delight of a skeleton at his murderers, who are not shown. The scene is colorful but still dark, with the central figure of Kohada Koheiji shrouded and enclosed by a deep blue-blackness. Koheiji seems to glow with the passion of his vengeance. Happy Halloween!