School for Spooks (Bakebake gakkō), No. 3 from the series Drawings for Pleasure by Kyōsai (Kyōsai rakuga, dai san gō)
- Series:
- Drawings for Pleasure by Kyōsai
- Date:
- 1874 (Meiji 7)
- Medium:
- Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper
- Format:
- Oban
- Dimensions:
- 35.6 × 23.7 cm
- Source:
- Harvard Art Museums
Description
A print from the "Drawings for Pleasure by Kyosai" series depicting "School for Spooks" — a delicious satirical conceit in which supernatural creatures (ghosts, demons, tengu, foxes) are shown attending school, doing homework, and submitting to the same educational rituals as human children. Published in 1874 during the early Meiji period when Western-style public education was being introduced across Japan, the print can be read as a comment on the new institution of schooling itself, with Kyosai's supernatural students embodying various human responses to imposed discipline.
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Original Museum Lithographic Exhibition Poster
from the series One Hundred Pictures by Kyôsai (Kyôsai hyakuzu)
Woodblock print
Gontazaka, from the series Scenes of Famous Places along the Tôkaidô Road (Tôkaidô meisho fûkei), also known as the Processional Tôkaidô (Gyôretsu Tôkaidô), here called Tôkaidô meisho no uchi
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Frequently Asked Questions
School for Spooks (Bakebake gakkō), No. 3 from the series Drawings for Pleasure by Kyōsai (Kyōsai rakuga, dai san gō) was created by Kawanabe Kyosai (河鍋暁斎) in 1874 (Meiji 7).
Yes — School for Spooks (Bakebake gakkō), No. 3 from the series Drawings for Pleasure by Kyōsai (Kyōsai rakuga, dai san gō) is part of the Drawings for Pleasure by Kyōsai series by Kawanabe Kyosai.
School for Spooks (Bakebake gakkō), No. 3 from the series Drawings for Pleasure by Kyōsai (Kyōsai rakuga, dai san gō) depicts figures, mythology, and daily life.
School for Spooks (Bakebake gakkō), No. 3 from the series Drawings for Pleasure by Kyōsai (Kyōsai rakuga, dai san gō) measures 35.6 × 23.7 cm (Oban format).