Warrior triptychs

1832-1835

Title: The Battle of Kasagi Castle in Yamashiro Province (Yamashiro no kuni Kasagi ishi-ie kassen no zu, 山城之国笠城之石家合戦之圖)

Description: Defence of Kasagi Castle by the loyalists against the Rokuhara forces (1331) with tree trunks and rocks being hurled down on the attackers

Publisher: Tsuru-ya Kiemon

Date: c. 1832

Robinson: T19

I am grateful to Marc DeVriese for this alternate state of the above design.

Title: Picture of Mount Kurama (Kuramayama no zu, 鞍馬山之圖)

Description: Ushiwaka Maru practicing fencing with the tengu under the direction of Sôjô-bô with Kisanda in attendance

Publisher: Ômi-ya Heihachi (listed as Yezaki-ya Tatsuzô in Robinson)

Date: c. 1832

Robinson: T20

Title: The Drinking Party of the Shutendôji at Mount Ôe (Ôeyama Shuten-dôji shûzui no zu, 大江山酒天童子酒宴之圖)

Description: The drinking bout of Raikô and his retainers with the Shuten-dôji in the latter’s palace on Mount Ôeyama

Publisher: Daikoku-ya Heikichi

Date: c. 1832

Robinson: T21

Title: The Great Battle of Owatari between the Nitta and Ashikaga Clans (Nitta Ashikaga ô-watashi ô-kassen, 新田足利 大渡大合戦)

Description: Nitta Yoshisada and his troops swimming across a river (probably the Iruma River) by a broken bridge to attack a fortified position on the opposite bank

Publisher: Sôshû-ya Yohei

Date: c.1832

Robinson: T22

Title: possibly on a missing third sheet

Description: Sasaki Takatsuna (佐々木 高綱) and Kajiwara Kagetoki (梶原 景時) leading troops at the battle of Uji River

Publisher: Kawaguchi-ya Shôzô

Date: c.1832

Robinson: T22a (not in Robinson)

I am grateful to Vana Johnson for this image.

Title: Gyakushin Masakado wa Rokurô Kintsura ga isame no etc.

Description: Musashi Gorô Sadayo (武蔵五郎貞世. center) striking Rokurô Kintsura (六郎公連, left) with his fan before the latter’s brother Takiguchi Kotarô Taira Masakado (滝口小太郎平将門, right)

Publisher: Akamatsu-ya Shôtarô

Date: c. 1833-1834

Robinson: T23

I am grateful to Marc DeVriese for this alternate state of the above design.

This is an altered version of the above triptych to depict a scene from an 1834 production of the kabuki play Tokiwa Ima Shusse no Ukesho (時今出世券). The actors from left to right are Bandô Mitsugorô IV as Takechi Mitsuhide, Iwai Hanshirô VI as Ranmaru, and Sawamura Tosshô I as Harunaga.

Date: 9^th month of 1834

Theater: Morita

Publisher: Akamatsu-ya Shôtarô

Title: The Defeat of the Evil Nine-tailed Fox on Nasu Moor in Shimotsuke Province (Shimotsuke no kuni Nasu no hara kimmô hakumen kyûbi no akko taiji no zu, 下野の国 奈須の原 九尾の悪狐退治)

Description: The Nine-tailed Fox slain on Nasu moor by Miura-no-suke Tsunetane and Kazusa no Suke Hirotsune

Publisher: Yamaguchi-ya Tôbei

Date: c. 1834

Robinson: T24

I am grateful to Marc DeVriese for this image.

Title: Yoshinaka’s First Battle after Raising His Standard (Yoshinaka hata-age kassen zu, 義中籏上合戦圖)

Description: The first battle at the erecting of Yoshinaka’s standard in Shinano (1180): Jô Shirô Nagamochi on horseback (left) cutting at Tayû-bô Kakumei (center), and Tomoe-gozen killing Kurotsuka Hachirô (right)

Publisher: Takenouchi Magohachi

Date: c. 1834

Robinson: T25

NOTE: This triptych was reissued in 1845 with numerous alterations as T160. The title was changed to Takeda Uesugi Kawanakajima ô-kassen no zu, Nagamochi became Uesugi Kenshin, Tayû-bô became Takeda Shingen and the right hand sheet blocks were recut to eliminate Tomoe-gozen.

I am grateful to Ward Pieters for locating this image.

Title: The Great Battle of the Minato River on the 25^th Day of the Fifth Month, 1336 (Engen gwan-nen go-gwatsu nijûgo-nichi Minatogawa ô-kassen, 延元元年五月二十五日湊川大合戦)

Description: The battle of the Minatogawa on July 4, 1336: fighting on a hill with the Ashikaga fleet approaching in the distance

Publisher: Tsuru-ya Kiemon

Date: c. 1834

Robinson: T26

I am grateful to Marc DeVriese for this image.

Title: Untitled

Description: Raikô cutting off the head of the monster Shuten Dôji, which springs in the air. Raikô’s five chief retainers (shitennô) are shown, left to right, Usui Sadamitsu, Sakata no Kintoki, Hirai Yasumasa, Urabe Suetake, and Genji Tsuna (killing a demon)

Publisher: Sano-ya Kihei

Date: c.1835

Robinson: T26a

NOTE: This triptych is listed in the privately published supplement to Kuniyoshi: The Warrior-Prints by Basil William Robinson (Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY, 1982).

Title: The Humility of Kanshin (Kanshin mata-kuguri no zu, 韓信骻潜之圖)

Description: Kanshin crawling between the legs of a fisherman, to the amusement of the latter’s companions

Publisher: Sano-ya Kihei

Date: c. 1835

Robinson: T27

Another state of the above design

A later printing, c. 1843, with the seal of the censor, Tanaka

Title: Sanada no Yoichi Yoshihisa and Matano no Gorô Kagehisa (Sanada no Yoichi Yoshihisa, Matano no Gorô Kagehisa, 真田与市能久 俣野五郎景久)

Description: Struggle between Yoshihisa and Kagehisa at the Battle of Ishibashiyama in 1180

Publisher: Yamaguchi-ya Tôbei

Date: 1846-1852

Robinson: T28

NOTE: The name “Yoshihisa” was erroneously substituted for “Yoshitada”. Although Robinson dates this triptych as c. 1835, the signature and the existence of another state with the seals of the censors Fuku and Muramatsu, indicate a date of 1849-1851.

Title: The Igagoe Revenge (Igagoe kataki-uchi no zu, 伊賀越敵討圖)

Description: Karaki Masaemon (center) fighting against superior forces; Busuke and Magohachi defending a bridge (right); spectators in the background

Publisher: Yamashiro-ya Jinbei (山甚板)

Date: c.1835

Robinson: T29

NOTE: Kuniyoshi’s signature, the censor’s seal, and the publisher’s seal are on the wooden post in the left sheet.

This triptych differs from the previous state in that the publisher’s seal (best seen on the wooden post in the left sheet) is that of Sôshû-ya Yohei (近總與) instead of Yamashiro-ya Jinbei (山甚板). I am grateful to Vladislav Shevyrev for this image.

I am grateful to Robert Pryor for these keyblock prints for two sheets from the above triptych.

Title:

Description: Ise no Kami Yoshitsune (伊後守義経) and his retainer Kumai Tarô (熊井 太郎) preparing to defend Horikawa Palace against the attack of Tosa-bô Shôshun (土佐坊昌俊) and his men, who are seen approaching in the background.

Publisher: not indicated on the one sheet seen by Robinson

Date: c.1835

Robinson: T29a

NOTE: This is the right-hand sheet of a triptych

“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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