Mirror of Military Excellence and Fierce Courage

(Buyei môyû kagami, 武英猛勇鏡)

Publisher: Ise-ya Sanjirô

c. 1836

 

The prints in this series are each about 14 by 10 inches (36 by 25 centimeters), a size known as ôban.  I am grateful to Robert Pryor for his contributions to this series.

 

Kuniyoshi - Mirror of Military Excellence & Fierce Courage (S 7

 

Text: Tosabô’s Night Attack on the Horikawa Palace (Tosabô Horikawa no gosho e yo-uchi no zu, 土佐坊堀川の御所へ夜討之図)

Scene: Yoshitsune’s retainer Genzô Hirotsune (海野小太郎行氏) defeats the Taira turncoat Unno Kotarô Yuki-uji (海野小太郎行氏)

Robinson: S7.1

 

Image courtesy of Michael Reiss 

 

This state lacks the publisher’s seal (at the bottom edge).  Most likely, this was printed by a second publisher who purchased the woodblocks from Ise-ya Sanjirô.

 

This keyblock print (kyôgô or kyôgozuri-e) for the above design is an impression pulled from the first woodblock made by a carver from Kuniyoshi’s original drawing.

 

Text: Young Kaidomaru, who later became Sakata Kintoki (Kaidô-ji go ni Sakata Kintoki, 怪童子後に坂田金時) Kaido-shi ato ni Sakata Kintoki

Scene: Kintoki (坂田公時) and the serpent

Robinson: S7.2

 

 

 

Keyblock print for the above design

Kuniyoshi - Mirror of Military Excellence & Fierce Courage (S 7

 

Text: The Soga Brothers Attacked the Temporary Camp in the Foothills at Night and Killed their Father’s Enemy, Suketsune (曽我兄弟すそ野の仮家へ夜討して父の敵祐経をうつ)

Scene: Gosho no Goromaru Shigemune (御所五郎丸重宗) seizing Soga Gorô Tokimune (曽我五郎時宗)  

Robinson: S7.3  

 

 

Keyblock print for the above design

 

Text: None

Scene: Tomoe-gozen (巴御前) throttling Uchida Saburô (内田三郎) by a waterfall

Robinson: S7.4

 

Another state of the above design 

 

Keyblock print for the above design.  I am grateful to Paul Steier for this image.

Kuniyoshi - Mirror of Military Excellence & Fierce Courage (S 7

 

Text:

Scene: Minamoto no Ushiwaka Maru (源牛若丸) and Musashi- Benkei (武藏坊辨慶) on Gojô Bridge (五条橋) with bats and a full moon

Robinson: S7.5

 

 

 

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.

CLICK HERE TO RETURN TO MAIN PAGE

 

KuniyoshiProject