Jigoku Tayû

As my project work for the “Colour and Drawing” course at TAMK I decided to try my hand at a series of 5 lino prints. I chose to illustrate the story of Jigoku Tayû (The Hell Courtesan), trying to visually blend the look of Japanese woodblock and Western printing. I also wanted to design the prints in a way that they would work together as well as individual pieces. The prints were done with a reductive technique, slowly cutting away more of the lino for the different colours and leaving no possibility of turning back.

When Jigoku Tayû, a high-ranking courtesan in Edo, meets the eccentric monk Ikkyû she wants to test his sincerity and sends dancers and musicians to entertain him. As she peeks into his room, she sees that all of them have turned into a party of skeletons. Jigoku Tayû realises that everyone is the same when they’re stripped of their fancy clothes and riches, upon which she reaches enlightenment. She soon gets very sick and utters her last wish while playing the koto: she doesn’t want to be cremated or buried but rather be eaten by hungry stray dogs. Thus, completing the cycle of life, death and rebirth.

30x19cm, one series of 4 prints for each illustration
Lino prints on Japanese washi paper