What goes bump at night? A survey of Japanese supernatural art in the Edo period

• Main Author: Kaur, Audrey Rose
• Other Authors: Nicholas Witkowski
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2022
• Subjects: Humanities::History::Asia::Japan
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/155978
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Like most societies in the world today, supernatural beliefs in Japan have withstood the tests of time and continue to be a topic of interest for many. In this contemporary age, “ghost stories” or kaidan continue to be associated with the emotion of fear. In investigating the origins of this tradition of kaidan, scholars have conducted surveys and compiled a repository of supernatural prints which reflect this modern association of the unknown and fear. However, was this truly the case in the Edo period which saw an uptick in the production of art which attempt to imagine such supernatural forms? My paper attempts to investigate and consolidate supernatural art of the Edo period, with greater attention given to more obscure but influential works. In doing so, I attempt to illustrate a relationship between the imagination of the supernatural and the broader social realities of life under the Tokugawa shogunate, especially along the lines of gender and religion.