Divine Punishment Print

This print was made by Ochiai Yoshiiku 落合芳幾 in July 1864, it is the fiftieth print in a series called 今様擬源氏 the modern parody series of stories from the time of Genji.

The story depicted on this print is that of the two protagonists present, the lady Terute and Oguri; this story is a very important legend from Japan called Ogurihangan which is part of a classic style called Sekkyo. The old man is Oguri, he was a handsome young nobleman from the city of Kyoto whose father wanted him to marry, he was presented with up to seventy-two suitors. But none suited him, he decided to run away and leave. In his wandering, he met Terute who was very beautiful and he fell madly in love with her and she shared his feeling. She was the daughter of a merchant who did not want Oguri to marry his daughter. He tried to kidnap her, Terute's father decided to get rid of Oguri by making him drink a poisoned drink which would allow him to be in contact with a demonic mount.
This is how Oguri died and was buried. But the god of hell Enma took pity on him and sent him back to the world of the living in a pitiful state blind, deaf, mute, disfigured and old thus becoming a starving spirit or gaki (state in which we can see him in the print). As for Terute, she tried to commit suicide by throwing herself into the water but she survived. She is represented on the print with rope and wood shackles. Oguri's story ends with his purification in an onsen where he regained his original appearance and was able to marry Terute. This story is a message of spreading Buddhism through this punishment of Oguri of becoming a hungry spirit who had not been able to be satisfied with a single love.

Ochiai Yoshiiku 落合芳幾 (1833-1904) Son of a tea house owner, Asakusa Tamichi Yoshiiku became a student of the ukiyo-e artist Utagawa Kuniyoshi in the late 1840s. His first known work dates from 1852 , when he provided the backgrounds for some of his master's actor prints. Yoshiiku's early works are portraits of actors (yakusha-e), beauties (bijin-ga) and warriors (musha-e). He then followed Kuniyoshi in producing satirical and humorous works and became the leader in this field after Kuniyosh's death in 1861. He illustrated the Tokyo Nichi Nichi Shimbun ("Tokyo Daily News") from 1874 to 1876, then co-founded the Tokyo E-iri Shinbun ("Tokyo Illustrated News"). The latter closed in 1889 and Yoshiiku returned to printmaking. He struggled during the last years of his life and his last known print was published in 1903. His three known pupils, Ikumura, Ikuei and Ikumasa, failed to gain recognition. Yoshiiku had ten children with his second wife, only one of whom survived childhood. Yoshiiku died at the age of 71 in a temporary residence on February 6, 1904 in Honjo. He is buried at Anseiji Temple in Asakusa and given the posthumous Buddhist name Juzen'in Hōkinikkaku Koji