Manga Artist Shigeru Mizuki, famous for his GeGeGe no Kitaro comic, has a rather unique exhibit coming to the Kinokuniya Book Store in midtown NYC. Starting on May 10th, his “Fifty-Three Stations of the Yokaido Road” exhibition will be on display in the store, juxtaposing his famed manga character infiltrating classic Ukiyo-e style woodblock prints. More info after the jump.

Fifty-Three Stations of the Yokaido Road
A Haunted Journey Down a Classic Ukiyo-e,
Featuring GeGeGe no Kitaro

We are pleased to announce “Fifty-Three Stations of the Yokaido Road”, an exhibition of works by famed Japanese manga artist Shigeru Mizuki, will be on display from May 10 through June 10 at the New York Kinokuniya Book Store located at 1073 Avenue of the Americas.

Japanese manga has been gaining popularity around the world and Mizuki is considered the grandfather of the genre. Most of his work is based on Yokai. In Japanese folklore, Yokai are ancient ubiquitous spirits that co-inhabit the human world. Each Yokai represents a trait of the human character and is used for moral tales. Mizuki uses these Yokai in his manga works, the most famous of which is GeGeGe no Kitaro. Kitaro is the main character in the story and as a Yokai goblin maintains the harmony between the Yokai and human worlds. Japanese postwar generations can recognize his work, GeGeGe no Kitaro because this series has run for almost half a century, first in comic books and later in television programs, video games, animation movies, and a live action, feature-length movie.

In creating the art on display for this exhibition, Mizuki added his Yokai characters to Fifty-Three Stations of the Tokaido Road, which is famous Ukiyo-e creator, Hiroshige Utagawa’s series. The result is a fusion of classical Ukiyo-e and Japanese folklore as represented by Mizuki’s Yokai characters. The concept of these works is Yokai on a journey down the Tokaido Road. The total art series is fifty-five pieces including the departure and arrival station, only of which eight stations were printed as woodcuts using the skills of master craftsmen passed down through the centuries.

Two forums labeled “Yokai Day” will be held, one for children on May 17th and for adults on May 31st. Ms. Dawn Mostow, who recently gave a speech titled Love and Pop: Contemporary Visual Cultures in Japan and Beyond at the Brooklyn Museum, will give a presentation describing Yokai and Japanese folklore.

This exhibition is sponsored by Mizuki Production, Yanoman, The Adachi Institute of Woodcut Prints, TV JAPAN, and Kintetsu International. It is supported by the Consulate-General of Japan in New York, and produced by MIE Inc.

The gate of the Yokai world has opened to American audiences since a full scale of this exhibition has been shown at the Japan Information and Culture Center, Embassy of Japan in Washington D.C. since March. Thereafter this exhibition became a traveling tour and has now moved to New York. TV JAPAN started airing GeGeGe no Kitaro on April 1st 2008, and Kintetsu International will provide a special tour to explore the universe of Fifty-Three Stations of the Yokaido Road in August.

By NYT