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Original file12.Ubume
The image shows a female figure with long, dark, flowing hair and a distressed facial expression, characterized by heavy-lidded eyes and an open mouth. She is semi-nude, with her upper body exposed and wearing a tattered, blood-stained lower garment that cascades in washes of red and purple. She cradles a small, ochre-skinned infant against her chest. The background is a plain, weathered paper surface, suggesting a traditional scroll or hand-colored print.
The ubume is a prominent figure in Japanese folklore representing the lingering attachment of a mother who dies during labor, often said to appear to travelers to ask them to hold her infant. This imagery is deeply rooted in Buddhist-influenced traditions concerning the 'blood pool hell' (ketsubon-kyō) and the anxieties surrounding maternal mortality in pre-modern Japan.
うふめ (Ubume)
Translation
Ubume
Konjaku Hyakki Shūi
This text by Toriyama Sekien provides one of the primary historical compendiums for the visual codification of the ubume.
AI AI-cataloged fields generated by gemini-3.1-flash-lite-preview on April 21, 2026. Getty identifiers are AI-inferred and may require verification.