The Greedy Old Woman (Don'yoku no baba)

In this print by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, an old woman is depicted screaming in fear. Set against a gray background with bokashi, gradient color, at the top and bottom, the old woman clutches her face in horror and recoils from ghosts emerging from half of a lacquered box she has just opened.  A beige cartouche with green stylized clouds tells her story in the upper left corner of the print, hovering just above the ghosts, which occupy most of the left half of the composition. Her story is the Japanese folk tale The Tongue-Cut Sparrow, in which she lives with her husband, an elderly man who keeps a sparrow as a pet. Angered after the sparrow eats some starch she had set aside for the washing, the old woman cuts out the sparrow’s tongue and throws it out of the house. The elderly man learns of what she has done and leaves to find the sparrow. When they are reunited, the sparrow entertains him and offers him a parting gift, allowing him to choose between two boxes. The old man humbly selects the lighter of the two boxes and returns home to find it filled with treasures. Upon seeing this, his wife sets off to find the sparrow and is also given a choice between two boxes. Out of greed, the old woman selects the heavier box, which she carries on her back on her long journey home. However, when she opens the box, a horde of ghosts exit the box and torment her as punishment for her greed and for abusing the sparrow. The old woman’s posture arches away from the ghosts, and her open mouth is visible as she screams. The rigid class system of Edo society was based on Confucianism, and Confucian morality played a major role in the delineation of good and evil. Greed and lack of humility were frowned upon, and prints like this one served to remind Edo audiences of these values. While still reminding viewers of the consequences of greed and immorality, this print offers a more comedic perspective than other prints involving moral tales. The ghosts emerging from the box pull mocking faces and expose their tongues, popping out of the box and rising to the top of the print rather than surrounding the old woman and tormenting her. This depiction of the legend is light-hearted and encourages viewers to laugh, preserving the original function of ghost stories as entertainment and offering a chance to consider more lightly the morals of Confucian thought. Humble living and satisfaction with one’s social standing were among these morals, which the story of the Tongue-Cut Sparrow exemplifies in its rewards for the humble and punishments for the greedy. Edo audiences may have realized a connection between the strict punishments for various unapproved actions during their time, especially given that this print was published in the time of the Keio reforms, and the box of grinning demons. This was a time of rebellion and attempts by the shogunate government to quell uprisings, which led to strict punishments for dissenters. Edo citizens may have considered that the repercussions of rebellion against existing structures were constructed realities, just like the ghost stories that entertained them.