The Mansion of the Plates

Katsushika Hokusai was probably born on this day in 1760. He is a superfamous Japanese artist, ukiyo-e painter and printmaker of the Edo period. Of course his most famous works are from the woodblock print series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji which includes the internationally iconic print, The Great Wave off Kanagawa, created during the 1820s.

This is why we won't show Mount Fuji to you today, but something much more interesting. Perhaps one of the rarest and most intriguing of all Hokusai's works is this set of five fantastic subjects from his series, One Hundred Tales (Hyaku monogatari). 

The legend of Okiku tells the story of a maid who, after breaking one of a set of precious Korean plates, was bound and thrown down a well by her master. The tale was told throughout Japan in a great variety of forms, the most popular version established in 1795, when Japan suffered an infestation of a type of worm found in old wells that became known as the "Okiku bug" (Okiku mushi). This worm, covered with thin threads making it look as though it had been bound, was widely believed to be a reincarnation of Okiku. Okiku became a ghost and haunted around the well. Many novels were written based on the story, and several different Kabuki plays were also written.

See you tomorrow!

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