The actors Onoe Kikugorō V as the ghost of Saijirō (above), Bandō Kakitsu I as Kanbara Mikinosuke and Onoe Matsusuke as the attendant Gonbei (below)

From about the age of 12, Toyohara Kunichika studied under the renowned artist Utagawa Kunisada (Toyokuni III, 1786–1865). Kunichika was a committed kabuki fan and his work often showed scenes from famous plays with great actors captured at particularly dramatic moments. His use of the vertical format was especially suited to portraying the extended diaphanous forms of ghosts. In ‘The tale of the Inaba novice on a rainy evening’, a bloodied spectral character played by the actor Onoe Kikugorō V rises above his co-stars. The fireball (hitodama) signifies the otherworldliness of the scene.