Key value factors: For living or recently deceased artists, limited edition size and gallery representation drive value. Signed and numbered prints from smaller editions are most desirable.
Yotsuya Kaidan (1983) takes its title from one of kabuki's most famous ghost stories, the tale of Oiwa — a woman poisoned and disfigured by her faithless husband Iemon, who returns from death to haunt him with relentless supernatural vengeance. First performed in 1825, Tsuruya Nanboku IV's play remains the definitive Japanese horror narrative, its imagery of Oiwa's melting face, the lantern that bears her visage, and the nailed coffin door entering permanent cultural memory. Kokei's woodblock treatment of this subject engages with centuries of theatrical and visual tradition, the print medium's capacity for stark tonal contrast and precise line perfectly suited to the tale's mixture of beauty and horror.
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Yotsuya kaidan was created by Tsuruya Kokei (弦屋光溪) in June 1983.
Yotsuya kaidan depicts figures, kabuki, and mythology.
