SuperRare

You may know Hokusai for his famous painting, The Great Wave.  But he is famous in Japan for his ``yuri-zo'' paintings of ghosts.  Onry, the malevolent spirits popularized by the "Ring" series of films, were among the common themes of the genre.

 In this woodblock print, Hokusai portrays the spirit of a murdered kabuki actor named Kohada Kohiji.  Kohiji, who was drowned in the swamp by his wife and lover, returned to the mortal world for revenge.  Interestingly, the officials of the Edo period wanted to censor this work.  This decision was not made because of the strangeness of the work;  Rather, the authorities believed that Hokusai's painting contains an immoral message.

 Of course, not all works of the "Yuri-zo" style are annoying.  Some of these paintings depict good spirits.  Like the painting "Obome" which is related to dead mothers who miss their children.  Although it cannot be denied that this work is also strange in its own way and it is not for everyone to draw it.
/superrare

Hokusai's contributions to the genre of yūrei-e (ghost prints) are indeed a fascinating aspect of his body of work. While he's best known internationally for The Great Wave off Kanagawa, his explorations of the supernatural and the macabre in the yūrei-e genre are also significant.