Hell In Japanese Art ( 地獄-地獄をみる- ) is a monster sized tome of an art book that collects depictions of hell in Japanese art from the 12th century to the 19th century. This single volume collection focuses primarily on works designated as Japanese National Treasures or Important Cultural Properties and features the various depictions of hell by prominent artists such as Kazunobu Kano, Nichosai, Yoshitoshi Tsukioka and Kyosai Kawanabe. It is a must-see for artists, illustrators and anyone interested in representations of hell.

I’ve always been hugely fascinated by Chinese/Japanese mythology and legends, so the exquisite art and woodblock prints showcased in the book, with its forbidding and sometimes downright gruesome depictions of deities and demons are right up my alley.

I spotted this book at Shinjuku Kinokuniya bookstore a couple of years back during my annual Spring trips to Tokyo and have been hoping to acquire it ever since, but the very high price point prevented me from doing so. Luckily for me the publisher PIE International released this new bilingual Japanese/English edition that is more reasonably priced than the original Japanese language only edition and I was able to pick it up from Amazon.

(above & below) Fire, inferno and flames are of course common visual motifs in most depictions of hell, but when flipping through this book I was especially struck by how similar the drawings of these conflagration are to the ones found in the art of William Blake; perhaps he was at some point influenced by the style of Japanese Ukiyo-e prints ?

Over-sized and running at close to 600 pages, this massive book is the definitive volume for any scholarly study or just appreciation if one is interested in Japanese mythology. Some of the art work depicting torture scenes are pretty scary, so this book is probably not quite suitable for children. Recommended.

“Hell In Japanese Art Book Review 地獄-地獄をみる-“ book details :

– Dimensions – 8.27 x 1.97 x 11.81 inches
– Soft cover, 592 pages
– Full color, In English & Japanese Language

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