Page from Series: One Hundred Monsters Ancient and Modern by: Toriyama Sekien (1781)

Dimensions: 8 7/8" × 6 5/16" (22.5 × 16 cm)

From set of three woodblock print books bound as one volume; ink on paper

This piece represents the efforts Toriyama Sekien took in finding youkai and monsters from oral form, categorizing, and visualizing them in collections to be referenced long into the future. During the Edo Period, Toriyama's collections of youkai provided inspirations to famous artists like Katsushika Hokusai and Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, whose works of monsters and yurei are also on display here. In this print, we can see two youkai depicted. Gangi-kozo (left), translated as "riverbank priest boy", is said to inhabit rivers where they hunt for fish. Strongly resembling kappa, their bodies are covered in hair, with a dark patch on their head. Their feet and hands are webbed, with each finger ending in sharp claws. It is said that if a fisherman were to encounter ganji-kozo, they would offer it their largest fish to ward it off. On the right is a youkai known as Kosamebou, or ”light rain monk". These commonly appear as Buddhist monks and reside on empty mountain roads on nights where light rain is falling. Though frightening in appearance, kosamebou are not dangerous, only sometimes asking for spare change and millet from passing tourists and travelers. Throughout my research into Toriyama's work portraying the youkai here, most of the information about the origins about them were attributed to Toriyama himself, leading me to believe his works in One Hundred Monsters Ancient and Modern and his other volumes were crucial in keeping the stories of Gangi-bozo and Kosamebo alive, as well as every other youkai he came across.

Jesse C.

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/78693