Kiku's Shadows

"Kiku's Shadows" (1860) is an early Yoshitoshi print depicting a scene of nocturnal mystery or supernatural encounter, the title suggesting shadows cast by chrysanthemum plants under moonlight—a scene associated in Japanese lore with the apparition of ghosts who linger among the chrysanthemums they loved in life. Produced during Yoshitoshi's earliest independent period, the print shows his precocious interest in atmospheric tension and the interplay of light and shadow that would define his mature work in the moonlight series.