Takiyasha the Witch and the Skeleton Spectre (panels)

Utagawa Kuniyoshi painted this thrilling triptych in 1844, pulling a scene straight out of Japanese legend. On the far left, Princess Takiyasha stands quietly, reading from a magic scroll. She was the daughter of a defeated warlord, and after her father's rebellion crumbled, she turned to sorcery to get even. Inside the crumbling palace, a warrior named Mitsukuni pokes around the haunted ruins, unaware of the horror she is about to unleash. That horror fills the center and right panels: a giant skeleton, summoned by her spell, rising out of the shadows to strike.

Most artists of the day would have crowded the scene with a swarm of little ghosts. Kuniyoshi went in a completely different direction, conjuring one massive skeleton instead. The bones are drawn with real care, which hints that he may have peeked at Western anatomy books making their way into Japan at the time. Its hollow skull leans in, and a skeletal hand tugs back a torn curtain, giving the whole thing a sense of size and dread that lands even now.

Working during the Edo period, Kuniyoshi was a master of ukiyo-e, the woodblock print tradition that covered everything from stage actors to warriors to spooky folklore. He had a real fondness for the eerie and the heroic, and this piece catches him at his most daring. Meant to hang as three joined panels, it lets your eye wander from the calm sorceress on one side all the way to the towering menace she has raised.