Japan's BANDAI SPIRITS company's super popular "Ichiban Kuji" series, where every draw wins a prize, is set to release "Ichiban Kuji Utagawa Ichimon"! Following the "Ichiban Kuji Katsushika Hokusai" based on traditional Japanese Ukiyo-e, the Utagawa school cannot be absent either. Each draw will have a suggested retail price of 800 JPY, and it is scheduled to launch in April 2026.
Featuring the works of renowned Ukiyo-e artists from the Utagawa school (Hiroshige, Kuniyoshi, Hiroshige II) as the main theme, the main visual uses Utagawa Kuniyoshi's representative yokai painting, "Takiyasha the Witch and the Skeleton Spectre" (Soma no Furudairi). It is expected to capture the scene from the three woodblock prints – Takiyasha Hime summoning the enormous skeleton, Gashadokuro – transforming the shocking moment of the colossal human skeleton emerging from the shadows, with its bony claws lifting the curtain, into a three-dimensional figure! It's truly exciting! More prizes will be announced later. What other famous paintings would toy enthusiasts like to see appear in Ichiban Kuji?
▼ Utagawa Kuniyoshi's famous masterpiece, "Takiyasha the Witch and the Skeleton Spectre," is based on the Edo period popular novel "The Tale of Utō Yasakata Chūgi Den." It depicts Takiyasha Hime, a descendant of Taira no Masakado from the Heian period, gathering followers in the ruined Soma no Furudairi to launch a rebellion, using sorcery to summon a giant skeleton to battle Ōya Tarō Mitsukuni, who came to suppress the rebellion. The giant skeleton is believed to symbolize the unheard grievances of common people suffering from famine and war; its striking visual impact and grotesque yokai aesthetic have profoundly influenced horror art.
via： 1kuji