Warrior triptychs

1843

Title: In Minamoto’s Residence the Earth Spider Appears as a Monster (Minamoto no Yorimitsu-kô no yakata ni tsuchigumo yôkai o nasu zu, 源頼光公館土蜘作妖怪圖)

Description: The Earth Spider (right) conjures up demons at the mansion of Minamoto no Yorimitsu (源頼光朝臣, right), who lies sick in bed. Two of his bodyguards, Watanabe no Tsuna (内舎人 渡辺綱) and Sakata no Kintoki (主馬佐 坂田金時), play go (centre), while Urabe no Suetake (勘解由判官卜部季武, right) and Usui no Tadamitsu (碓井貞光, left) look towards the procession of spirits in the background.

Publisher: Iba-ya Sensaburô

Date: 8^th month of 1843

Robinson: T128

NOTE: This is the first edition of the triptych that got Kuniyoshi into trouble with the authorities. It bears no censor’s seal and pokes fun at the government and the censors. The daimyo Mizuno Tadakuni (1794-1851) was the force behind the censorship known as the “Tenpô reforms”. He was the roju (chief councilor) to the shogun, and is caricatured in this triptych as the Earth Spider casting his evil influence over the shogun, who is represented by the sleeping figure of Yorimitsu.

This is the second edition printed from newly carved woodblocks. Kuniyoshi’s signature and the publisher’s seal appear only on the left-hand sheet.

This is the third edition, which is crudely carved. There is no white divide between the realm of the demons and the green floor of Yorimitsu’s mansion.

Kuniyoshi’s triptych faced government censorship, and the original publisher pulled all prints from production and sale. However, Kuniyoshi and his students secretly circulated paintings of the design, of which this is an examples, measureing 14 by 29.25 inches.

This unsigned woodblock print is a crudely drawn copy of Kuniyoshi’s design. The artist is unknown, and it is smaller than the original, measuring 6 11/16 x 14 1/4 inches (17 x 36.2 cm).

“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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