Painted on a silk scroll by the 18th-century Japanese artist Maruyama Okyo, this image is one of Japan’s most well-known artistic creations. _The Ghost of Oyuki_, as it is known, was painted when the artist Okyo awoke from his sleep to see the ghost, or _yurei_, of his deceased lover. She had pale skin, disheveled long black hair, and no feet, and she wore a white burial kimono . . . Okyo Maruyama specialized in naturalism, being among the first Japanese artists to paint and draw from nude life models, and he was convinced his old lover was visiting him from beyond the grave. Oyuki had clearly meant a great deal to Okyo, who finished the painting that morning in 1750. It has since come to represent the quintessential elements of Japanese _yurei_, with palid skin, no feet, loose hair, and dressed in white, a color of death.
Source(s): See “Japanese Folklore: Maruyama Okyo and the Ghost of Oyuki” by Zack Davisson, Sept 29, 2016 @folklorethuraday.com.
