Virtual Tour | Ghosts and Demons

How does art communicate how we imagine the supernatural? In this tour, you’ll meet scary ghosts, powerful demons, and comical monsters in works of art from Japan. Learn about theatrical plays and folktales that feature these supernatural beings and the heroes, guardians, and everyday people they menace.

Image: Tsukioka Yoshitoshi 月岡芳年 (1839-1892); A Ghost Jizō Startles a Near-sighted Old Man at Asajigahara from the series Crazy Pictures of Famous Places in Tōkyō (Tōkyō kaika kyōga meishō); Japan, 1881; print; ink and color on paper; National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, The Pearl and Seymour Moskowitz Collection, S2021.5.363: https://asia.si.edu/explore-art-culture/collections/search/edanmdm:fsg_S2021.5.363/