The Dish Mansion

This print presents a classic story in an unconventional way. A wooden well, encircled by leaves, dominates the bottom half of the print, while a ghost composed of plates rises from within. The cartouche in the upper left corner of the print is also coming alive, with eyes appearing over its main shape, which resembles a grinning mouth. While seven of these blue and white plates are directly visible, Hokusai has used the shape of the ghost’s hair at the base of her neck to imply two more, counting nine in total. According to legend, a peasant girl named Okiku worked as a maid for Aoyama Tessan, a samurai. When Aoyama made sexual advances toward Okiku, she refused him. Angered, Aoyama hid one of ten precious Dutch plates he owned and accused Okiku of having stolen it. As punishment, the samurai killed her by torturing her and throwing her down a well. Her ghost later emerged from the well and tormented Aoyama each night, counting to nine and then wailing as she found herself unable to locate the tenth plate. A bunraku (puppet theater) play titled Bancho Sarayashiki, The Dish Mansion at Bancho, was written based on the legend and then adapted for kabuki. At the time that this print was created, the shogunal Tenpo reforms had just been set in place. Among other restrictions, Dutch studies and lewd or provocative media were banned, which may have had an influence on Hokusai’s decisions in designing this depiction of Okiku. Images of Okiku typically show her as a beautiful young woman, often sad or in distress and sometimes with sensual elements to suggest her beauty and Aoyama’s advances towards her. With the new Tenpo reforms, such elements would have been censored, leading printmakers to devise new methods for depicting the bodies of attractive figures. Here, Hokusai has preserved Okiku’s face and long hair, but has replaced her body with Dutch plates. Arranged in a curve, the plates still subtly imply the shape of a woman’s body, but are not overt enough to face censorship. Including Dutch plates in the print toys with the reforms, alluding to the cultural exchange occurring between Japanese and Dutch citizens in Nagasaki harbor. Okiku’s story speaks of the injustices faced by women and the subsequent haunting of the men who mistreated them, serving as a powerful warning that those who abuse their position to harm others will face the consequences of their actions. At the time of this print, the Japanese government faced dissatisfaction from members of the lower classes due to growing urban crime, poverty, and governing structures that citizens considered too strict. This print evokes the unhappiness of lower-class citizens with their lack of power relative to others, especially women who did not have the agency that men did.