The hero Minamoto no Raikō lies fevered in bed while the monstrous Earth Spider looms behind him, spinning a horde of demons that streams across the upper sheets as his four retainers sit unaware at their game of go. Edo read it at once as satire — the ailing shogun, the ministers looking away, the demons as the aggrieved victims of the Tenpō Reforms; officials forced its withdrawal, and the scandal made it one of the most sought-after prints of its day. None of the demons is repeated: each is its own invention, and contemporaries claimed to recognize particular officials among them. The retainers’ go board sits in lamplight while the whole ceiling of the picture crawls. "Say nothing directly. The monsters will say it for you."

Maker: Utagawa Kuniyoshi
Date: 1843
Medium of the original: Woodblock print; ink and color on paper
Rights: Cleared for print
Catalogue number: PA-00414

As chosen: 10 x 8 in, art print, classic frame
Picture	10 x 8 in
Outside size	11.6 x 9.6 in
Depth	0.9 in (22 mm)
Weight	[[REAL PROOF NEEDED: shipped weight per size and frame]]
Hanging	[[REAL PROOF NEEDED: hanging hardware Prodigi fits to this frame]]
Material	Enhanced matte art paper, 200 gsm; acrylic glazing
Made in	Charlotte, North Carolina, by Prodigi

Before a size goes on sale, the file is measured against it: pixels per inch at that size, how much of the picture a crop would lose, tone and sharpness. A size that fails is not offered, so there is nothing to choose wrong.

How the print check works

Sizes offered
Size	dpi	Grade	How it fits
10 x 8 in	198	Good	Trimmed 5.3%

Sizes withheld
Size	Why
12 x 8 in	Wrong shape: a 12% crop
14 x 11 in	144 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged
16 x 12 in	131 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged
18 x 12 in	Wrong shape: a 12% crop
20 x 16 in	99 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged
24 x 16 in	Wrong shape: a 12% crop
24 x 18 in	87 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged
30 x 20 in	Wrong shape: a 12% crop
30 x 24 in	66 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged
36 x 24 in	Wrong shape: a 12% crop
40 x 30 in	52 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged
48 x 36 in	43 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged
60 x 40 in	Wrong shape: a 12% crop

Scanned

2026-10-07

Master file

2,100 x 1,591 px, srgb, Adobe RGB (1998)

Tone

Darks 56, lights 203 of 255; 0% clipped light, 0% clipped dark

Colour

0% vivid

Sharpness

14.8

Notes

Colour profile Adobe RGB (1998), converted to sRGB for the screen and the print
Neutrals lean warm (yellow): the paper and varnish of the original, kept as scanned

Shipping for this piece to a US address is $24.80, the print room’s own rate, charged per piece. Checkout shows the total before you pay.

Every piece is printed after you order it, in Charlotte, North Carolina, and ships from there. For now we ship to US addresses only.

A piece that arrives damaged, misprinted or in the wrong size is replaced at our cost. The details: shipping and returns and replacements.