The Ghost of Okiku (Sara-yashiki) – Katsushika Hokusai (c. 1831)

A pale face rises from an old well, trailing a long serpent of hair and porcelain. In Sara-yashiki, “The Plate Mansion”, Katsushika Hokusai turns one of Japan’s most famous ghost stories into a startlingly modern image. The ghost of Okiku emerges from the broken well where she died. Her neck is made of the blue and white plates that sealed her fate, wrapped in black hair, and a wisp of ghostly breath escapes from her lips. Above her, the night sky shades from deep blue to black.

The legend, known as Banchō Sarayashiki, tells of Okiku, a young servant entrusted with ten precious plates. Accused of losing one of them, she was killed and thrown into a well. Ever since, her ghost rises each night to count the plates, “one, two, three… nine”, before letting out a terrible cry at the missing tenth. Hokusai shows her with remarkable restraint: no blood, no violence, only her melancholy profile and the plates she will count forever.

The print belongs to Hyaku monogatari, “One Hundred Ghost Stories”, the series Hokusai designed around 1831-1832. Only five designs are known today, and Sara-yashiki is often considered the most poetic.

Who is Okiku?

Okiku is one of the great yūrei of Japanese folklore, the ghosts of the dead held back by an unfinished story. Discover how yūrei differ from yōkai in our guide to Japanese yokai.

• Artist: Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849)
• Date: c. 1831-1832
• Series: Hyaku monogatari (One Hundred Ghost Stories)
• Theme: yūrei, Japanese ghost story, Okiku

Hang it as a pair with Hokusai’s The Laughing Demoness, from the same series. Discover more demons and ghosts in our yokai print collection and more of the artist in our Hokusai collection.