Otafuku being carried across a river on the back of a blue oni

This playful scene comes from Kawanabe Kyosai, a Japanese artist known for his lively imagination and sense of humor. Painted around 1870, it shows two beloved figures from Japanese folklore in an unusual pairing. Riding piggyback is Otafuku, the round-faced woman whose name means "much good fortune." With her plump cheeks and gentle smile, she has long been a symbol of happiness, warmth, and good luck. Carrying her across the water is a blue oni, one of the horned demons from Japanese mythology, usually feared but here reduced to a hardworking porter splashing through a shallow river.

Kyosai had a gift for mixing the sacred and the silly, and this image is a perfect example. The contrast between the fierce oni and the cheerful Otafuku creates a gentle comedy, turning a scary creature into something almost endearing. Notice the rich patterns on her robe, the tiger-skin loincloth around the demon's waist, and the soft ripples of water beneath their feet, all painted with skill and a light touch. Trained partly in the traditional Kano school but never bound by its rules, Kyosai loved bending serious subjects into something fun, and this work shows that spirit beautifully.