My guess is probably not. I’m not sure all or even most society’s have held abortion as some absolute evil - or not consistently through time.
It caught my imagination because the painting reminded me of the “warning against the adulterous woman” in book of Proverbs. These skeletons might be mens souls she has captured and ruined… or there’s some entirely different significance in Japanese folklore.
The legend of the ‘Hell Courtesan’ was about a beautiful courtesan, a daughter of a samurai, who was “kidnapped by his enemies and was sold to a brothel”.
She started to call herself “Hell Courtesan” after an encounter with a Buddhist monk, Ikkyu Sojun, who was known for his taste for sake and prostitutes.
According to the story, Ikkyū met the Hell Courtesan during one of his visits to the pleasure district. Santō Kyōden’s book from 1809, All Records of Drunken Enlightenment of Our Country, tells that she “found him dancing with a bunch of skeletons instead of being entertained by dancers and geisha. It occurred to her that he may not be an ordinary human being.”
She then became his disciple and achieved enlightenment.
So I think they might actually be punk moshers from the underworld.
Are those tiny skeletons representing abortions?
My guess is probably not. I’m not sure all or even most society’s have held abortion as some absolute evil - or not consistently through time.
It caught my imagination because the painting reminded me of the “warning against the adulterous woman” in book of Proverbs. These skeletons might be mens souls she has captured and ruined… or there’s some entirely different significance in Japanese folklore.
The legend of the ‘Hell Courtesan’ was about a beautiful courtesan, a daughter of a samurai, who was “kidnapped by his enemies and was sold to a brothel”. She started to call herself “Hell Courtesan” after an encounter with a Buddhist monk, Ikkyu Sojun, who was known for his taste for sake and prostitutes. According to the story, Ikkyū met the Hell Courtesan during one of his visits to the pleasure district. Santō Kyōden’s book from 1809, All Records of Drunken Enlightenment of Our Country, tells that she “found him dancing with a bunch of skeletons instead of being entertained by dancers and geisha. It occurred to her that he may not be an ordinary human being.” She then became his disciple and achieved enlightenment.
So I think they might actually be punk moshers from the underworld.
Thanks for this.
Great ! Thanks !!
I appreciate you. I also appreciate Japanese supernatural stories, this one is great. Thanks for introducing me to it!
Also, “All Records of Drunken Enlightenment of Our Country” sounds like TMZ of the Japanese 1800’s.
Oh, I thought they might be punkers in a mosh pit.