Takiyasha the Witch and the Skeleton Spectre

A colossal skeleton dominates this three-part woodblock print, its skull leaning in close and its long fingers stretching toward two warriors who seem frozen in shock below. Made around 1844 by Utagawa Kuniyoshi, a celebrated master of Japanese ukiyo-e prints, the scene draws from a well-known tale about Princess Takiyasha. She appears on the far left, dressed in soft robes and reading calmly from a magic scroll. As she recites her spell, the enormous specter rises to drive off the samurai who came hunting her family after her father's rebellion collapsed.

Kuniyoshi made a bold choice that sets this work apart. The old legend called for a crowd of ordinary ghosts, but he swapped them for a single towering skeleton that swallows up two-thirds of the picture. He reportedly pored over Dutch anatomy books to render the bones correctly, an unusual habit for a Japanese artist of his day. The mix of careful skeletal detail and eerie drama has kept this image alive as a favorite piece of Japanese horror art, still striking well over a century later.