“Jikininki (食人鬼)” is based on a story of a type of hungry ghost that has to feed on fresh corpses as a punishment for being greedy during its human life.
A traveling priest Musō is redirected to a small home for accommodation by the towns local priest. After finding out the homeowner’s father had just died, the inhabitants told Musō of their plans to leave the village, as bad things happen to those who stay after someone dies.
Musō offers to carry out the ceremony for the dead, and stays the night. During the night, he sees a dark form enter the home and eat the corpse in front of him. The next day, Musō tells the son what he saw, and heads back to the local priest’s home to inquire why he didn’t carry out the services. That is when Musō learns the local priest was the jikininki, as he was more concerned with his own wellbeing during his life than others. Musō frees the jikininki from its torment, to find he is no longer in the priest’s home, but kneeling in a field of tall grass and ruins in front of an old gravestone.
Dimensions approx. 15" x 15" on handmade Japanese kozo washi
