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In the 19th century Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (1839–1892) made a series of 100 ukiyo-e, Japanese wood block prints, called One Hundred Aspects of the Moon that introduced Japanese and Chinese folklore during a period of increasing western presence. The moon symbolized different meanings in the prints depending upon whether it was waxing or waning.
This print tells the story of Sasaki no Kiyotaka, the winged ghost with blue lips commonly used to depict corpses, who was a high official forced to commit ritual suicide for ill-advising Emperor Go-Daigo in the 14th century. Kiyotaka's restless spirit haunted the court and no courtier was willing to face the angry ghost except lady Iga-no-Tsubone.