AN IMPORTANT ‘BAKEMONO NO E’ EMAKI SCROLL FEATURING A TOTAL OF 55 BAKEMONO

Japan, 18^th century, Edo period (1615-1868)

Ink, watercolor, and gouache on paper. The vividly painted emaki scroll depicting a ghoulish array of bakemono from Japanese folklore. The scroll begins with a group of people seated next to a large warmer which has suddenly gone out, smoke rises from its top, the group of people surrounding the fire look on in horror, some pointing to the window, alerting everyone to the lurking shadows outside. Each bakemono has been identified with an inscription to its right and the concluding panel of the rising sun welcomes a new day.

Inscriptions: Inscribed to the last leaf, 太陽明々 陰物消々 戯言出思比想可謂 心意怪哉因以附會 異躰慰童蒙而已也 [The sun is bright; the shadows are diminished; the babble of thought is more than thought; the mind is strange; the heart is strange; the mind is attached to the spirits.]

The monsters painted on the long Bakemono handscroll are as follows:

1. Odoroshi (scary)
2. Kasha (burning chariot)
3. Ubume (woman in late pregnancy)
4. Daichiuchi (mallet wielding monster with bird-like face)
5. Doumo-koumo (right and left)
6. Bukakkou
7. Ushirome (eye in the back)
8. Oda-Gotaimen (whole body face)
9. Nure-onna (wet woman)
10. Akanbei (A play on the name Taro)
11. Sakagami (hair standing up)
12. Yamabiko (echo/mountain boy)
13. Kuro-kemuri (black smoke)
14. Wauwau
15. Nuppeppo
16. Nigawarai
17. Shiro-ukari
18. Waira
19. Inugami (dog god)
20. Kamikiri (hair cutter)
21. Rokurokubi (pulley neck)
22. Isogashi (busy)
23. Hitotsumebo
24. Chigara koko
25. Minokedachi (standing-up body hair)
26. Buurarihi (aimless fire)
27. Mehitotsubou
28. Oda-Yamaarashi
29. Mikoshi nyudo (anticipating priest)
30. No-gitsune
31. Nihonashi (two legs)
32. Hyousube
33. Yuki-onna (snow woman)
34. Nurari hyon (slippery gourd)
35. Kawataro (Kappa)
36. Umashika
37. Hajikkaki (embarasser, shamer)
38. Yamauba (mountain hag)
39. Yama-warawa
40. Ushi-oni (ox-demon)
41. Oda-Nadezato (stroking zato (a blind guildsman))
42. Akakuchi (red tongue)
43. Aonyobo (blue lady)
44. Donotsura (torso face)
45. Oda-Igabo
46. Kasukurai
47. Yuurei (ghost)
48. Akagashira (red head)
49. Shokira
50. Nuribotoke (animated corpse with blackened flesh and dangling eyeballs)
51. Uwan (onomatopoeic; named for the sound it makes)
52. Yume no seirei (dream spirit)
53. Gagoze (the oni of Gango-ji)
54. Nekomata (forked cat)
55. Hiyon

SIZE 18.2 METERS

Condition: Very good condition with minor wear. Fresh colors. Some creases, few folds, and tiny stains. Wormholes, some with associated repairs.

The original Bakemono no e (also known as Bakemono Zukushi) handscroll is supposed to have been created some time during the early Edo period in the late 17^th century. This original handscroll was copied throughout the Edo period, with some variations, and has served as inspiration to many manga and anime films to this very day.

Museum comparison:
Compare a closely related handscroll, ‘Bakemono no e’, depicting 35 bakemono from Japanese folklore, painted in a similarly vivid fashion, in the Harry F. Bruning Collection, housed in the L. Tom Perry Special Library, Brigham Young University, USA, number 895.63 B17 1863. Compare a closely related emaki handscroll, of later date than the present scroll, in the collection of the Welt Museum, Vienna, inventory number 27256.