Marina Shirakawa | Jakotsu-baba | 蛇骨婆 | Onna Yokai | Mixed Media color painting | 1986

Jakotsu-babaa (蛇骨婆) | The Snake-Bone Hag

Original Colour Illustration by Marina Shirakawa (1940–2000)

Size : 26 x 36,5 cm
Mixed Media 
Very Good condition

Jakotsu-baba, the Snake-Bone Hag, is a female yōkai associated with serpents and supernatural powers. She appears in Toriyama Sekien's Konjaku Hyakki Shūi (1781), where she is depicted as an elderly woman entwined with snakes. Her mysterious origins are linked to ancient Chinese legends of people who carried a blue serpent in one hand and a red serpent in the other.

In this striking original illustration, Marina Shirakawa offers a particularly grotesque interpretation of the legendary serpent woman. Instead of the traditional elderly figure, he presents a terrifying, almost Medusa-like creature, her discoloured body surrounded by writhing snakes that appear to emerge from her hair and flesh.

The result is a disturbing combination of Japanese yōkai folklore and visceral body horror, transforming a centuries-old supernatural figure into something unmistakably Shirakawa.

Please read Marina's bio for more information