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Scene from a Ghost Story: The Okazaki Cat Demon

Scene from a Ghost Story: The Okazaki Cat Demon
(Mukashibanashi no tawamure neko mata toshi o hete kojini kai o nasu zu 昔ばなしの戯猫又年をへて古寺に怪をなす圖)
(c. 1847)

Medium
colour woodblock
Measurements
(a-c) 37.0 × 76.8 cm (image) (overall)
(a-c) 38.0 × 76.8 cm (sheet) (overall)
Place/s of Execution
Edo (Tokyo), Japan
Inscription
(a) printed in ink u.l.: 昔ばなしの戯猫又年をへて古寺に怪をなす圖 / 寺西閑心
printed in ink (in Japanese characters) l.r.: 一勇斎 国芳 画 / (censor seals) / (publisher’s seal)
(b) printed in ink (in image) c.l.: 因幡之助
printed in ink (in Japanese characters) (in image) l.l.: 一勇斎 国芳 画 / (censor seals) / (publisher’s seal)
(c) printed in ink (in Japanese characters) (in image) l.r.: 一勇斎 国芳 画/ (censor seals) / (publisher’s seal)
Accession Number
AS12.a-c-1993
Department
Asian Art
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Purchased, 1993
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of The Gordon Darling Foundation
Gallery location
Not on display
About this work

In this dramatic scene from the popular Edo period play Travelling the Fifty-three Stations Alone (Hitori Tabi Gojûsan Tsugi), travellers reach the town of Okazaki. Legend had it that a neko (cat demon) inhabited a temple on the outskirts of the town and, disguised as an old woman, would lure young women to their deaths. The ghostly old woman stands unassuming on the far right of the woodblock. That is, until you notice the wispy trail emerging and the neko appearing behind the travellers.