Courageous Leaders in Thirty-six Battles

(Yûkwai sanjûrokkassen, 勇魁三十六合戦)

Publisher: Izumi-ya Ichibei

1851-1852

 

The total number of prints in this series is unknown, but is probably fewer than thirty-six.  They are each about 10 by 14 inches (25 by 36 centimeters), a size known as ôban.

 

Scene: The encounter between Takeda Shingen (武田 信玄) and Uesugi Kenshin (上杉 謙信) in the river at Kawanakajima with Hatsukano Denemon (初鹿根伝右衛門) behind them

Robinson: S73.2

 

NOTE: Takeda Shingen is holding his famous banner which reads, “Swift as the wind, silent as a forest, fierce as fire and immovable as a mountain”, taken from Sun Tzu’s The Art of War.  I am grateful to Geoff Dunn for this image.

Scene: Nitta Yoshisada (新田 義貞,) throwing his sword into the sea as an offering to calm the waves

Robinson: S73.4

 

I am grateful to John Rose and Auction Ukiyo-e Ltd. for this image.

Another state of the above design with a black mountain in the distance

Scene: Sasaki Takatsuna (佐々木 高綱) and Kajiwara Kagesue (梶原 景季) at the crossing of the Uji River

Robinson: S73.5

Another state of the above design

Scene: Kiso Yoshinaka (木曾 義仲) attempting to escape across the frozen bog, which breaks up beneath him, after the battle of Awadzu-gahara; the fatal arrow is already on its way and Kanemitsu fights of pursuers in the background

Robinson: S73.8

Another state of the above design with a yellow horizon

Scene: Kusunoki Masatsura (樟正行) and Wada Masatomo (和田正朝) under a hail of arrows in their last stand at the Battle of Shijô-nawate in 1348

Robinson: S73.8 bis (listed in supplement)

 

NOTE: This print is unsigned.

Scene: Yûki Shichirô (結城七郎), Shinkai Arajirô (土肥次郎) and Adachi Tokurô (安達 藤九朗) are urging Minamoto no Yoritomo ( 頼朝,) and his followers to hide in a hollow tree after the Battle of Ishibashiyama while Doi Jirô (土肥次郎) is watching for the approaching enemy

Robinson: S73.9

Another state of the above design with a yellow title cartouche

Scene: Ichirai-hôshi (一来 法師) and Tsutsui Jômyô (筒井浄明) defending a partly dismantled bridge at the first battle of the Uji River between Yorimasa and Tomomori in 1180

Robinson: S73.10

Scene: Satô Tadanobu (佐藤 忠信) wearing Yoshitsune’s armor and leaping down on Yokogawa Kakuhan (横川覺範) at Yoshino

Robinson: S73.11

 

Image courtesy of John Rose and Auction Ukiyo-e

Another state of the above design as a night scene

Another state with a blue title cartouche

Scene: Prince Oto-no-miya Morinaga-shinno (大塔の宮), wounded after a battle, drinking sake with his followers while Kodera Sagami-bo (小寺相模坊) entertains him with a dance

Robinson: S73.13

Another state of the above design with a green title cartouche

Scene: The “reversed oars” dispute between Yoshitsune ( 義経, right) and Kajiwara Kagetoki (梶原 景時) before the Battle of Yashima

Robinson: S73.13 bis (listed in supplement)

Scene: Izumi Saburô Chikahira (泉三郎親衡) shooting an arrow across the river into Hôjô’s encampment

Robinson: S73.14

Scene: Kumagai Naozane (熊谷 直実) watches Taira Atsumori ( 敦盛) fleeing on horseback to the waiting Taira ships while Satsuma no Kami Tadanori (薩摩守忠度) grapples Okabe Rokuyata Tadazumi (岡部六弥太忠澄) at Ichinotani

Robinson: S73.15

 

 

No image available

 

 

Scene: Asahina Saburô (朝比奈 三朗) breaking down the gate of the shogun’s palace in his attack on Hôjô Yoshitoki (北条 義時)

Robinson: S73.16

Scene: Yoshinaka (義仲) sending oxen with flaming straw attached to their horns against the panicked Taira in the Battle of Kurikaradani

Robinson: S73.28

Scene: Kusunoki Masatsura (正行) presenting a farewell cup of sake to his father Masashige (正成) while all present weep

Robinson: S73.33

Scene: Shirafuji Hikoshichirô (白藤彦七郎) confronting his horse on a dike while Taka-uji (尊氏) takes refuge in a shrine in the background

Robinson: S73.36

Another state of the above design

 

“Robinson” refers to listing in Kuniyoshi: The Warrior-Prints by Basil William Robinson (Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY, 1982) and its privately published supplement. 

 

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