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Katsushika Hokusai • 1830
One of only five completed prints from the projected one-hundred-print series Hyaku Monogatari; the print depicting the Warai Hannya figure The artist apparently planned to produce a full hundred images, but the series was not completed and only five prints are known. The title refers to a game in which people would gather at night to tell scary stories, putting out a candle after each tale until the room was completely dark. These small-format works feature a bright-blue color made possible by Berlin blue pigment (often called "Prussian blue"), which had become affordable shortly before their production. Although this hue may seem cheery to us, Hokusai's original audience would have associated it with death and the occult.
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