Warrior triptychs

1844

Text: Koromo no Toji ga musume nite Wataru ga tsuma etc.

Description: Endô Musha Moritô (袈裟御前, center) approaching Kesa-gozen (袈裟御前) over the roof with a drawn sword; in the background (left) a servant about to adjust the sandal of Watanabe Wataru (渡辺渡), her husband

Publisher: Murata-ya Ichibei

Date: 1844

Robinson: T129

I am grateful to Marc DeVriese for this alternate state of the above design. Note the color of the hanging lantern in the right sheet.

Title: The Story of Shirai Gompachi (Gompachi wa Inshû no kin nari, 権八は因州の産なり)

Description: Shirai Gompachi fighting off a gang of ruffians on the shore, one of whom he has thrown into a fire, watched by Banzui Chôbei (幡随長兵衛)

Publisher: Ise-ya Kisuke

Date: 1844

Robinson: T130

NOTE: Shirai Gompachi and Banzui Chôbei bear striking resemblances to kabuki actors Ichimura Uzaemon XII and Ichikawa Danjûrô VIII, respectively.

Another state of the above triptych with the seal of the publisher Hayashi-ya Shôgorô

Title: The Vengeance on Mount Hiko (Hikosan ada-uchi no zu, 彦山権現敵討の圖)

Description: Kyôgoku Takumi engaged by O-Sono and O-Sada, daughter and widow respectively of Yoshioka Ichimisai, watched by Keyamura Rokusuke and a nobleman with his retainers

Publisher: Yamaguchi-ya Tôbei

Date: 1844

Robinson: T131

NOTE: Hikosan ada-uchi is a kabuki play based on the story of Hikosan Gongen Chikai no Adauchi and the construction of a Shinto shrine in the Province of Suô.

Title: Untitled

Description: The Soga brothers standing over the sleeping Kudô Suketsune (工藤祐経) in 1193 with Tegoshi no Shôshô on the right

Publisher: Chita-ya

Date: 1844

Robinson: T132

Title: The Chronicles of Yoshitsune Yoshitsune ichidaiki no uchi, 義経一代記之内)

Subtitle: Minamoto no Yoshitsune in the mountains of Yoshino (Minamoto no Yoshitsune-kô Yoshino-yama no naka ni, 源義経公よし野山中ひょうはく奥州落乃圖)

Description: Yoshitsune, his wife Kita-no-kata (Kyô-no-kimi) and Benkei in the snows of

Mount Yoshino in 1186

Publisher: Sen

Date: 1844

Robinson: T133

Text: The Heike Clan… (Heike no ichimon horobite hôken wa saikai ni…, 平家一門悉…)

Description: Minamoto no Yoshitsune (源義経), Musashibo Benkei (武蔵坊弁慶) and Ise Saburo Yoshimori (伊勢三郎義盛) listening to the report of two ama (female divers), mother and daughter, named Oimatsu and Wakamatsu, who had tried to recover the sacred sword of the regalia from the sea-bottom after the battle of Dan-no-ura in 1185

Publisher: Tsujioka-ya Bunsuke

Date: 1844

Robinson: T134

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

Title: Preparing to Meet the Night Attack by Tosa-Bo Shoshun on the Horikawa Palace (Horikawa yo-uchi: Tosa-bô Shôshun toyose no zu, 堀川夜討土佐坊昌俊遠寄之圖)

Description: Benkei, Shizuka-gozen, and Yoshitsune preparing to meet the attack of Tosa-bô Shôshun (土佐坊昌俊) on the Horikawa palace on November 10, 1185

Publisher: Iba-ya Kyûbei

Date: 1844

Robinson: T135

Text: On the Fifteenth Day of the Fifth Month, the Two Generals Takeda Shingen and Uesugi Kenshin Meet for Peace Talks [at Kawanakajima] (Takeda Shingen Uesugi Kenshin to gogatsu jûgonichi ryôshô waboku no taimen ..., 武田信玄上杉謙信と五月十五日両将和睦の対面 有るべき由にて信濃国牛嶋の 渡りより四五丁大室の方 筑摩川と隔て両川岸 に床机を立最互に馬より 下り床机によって一礼有るべしと 両家使者を以て約を定め 其日にいたり両将両岸に 立より謙信ははやり雄の 勇将なれバ馬より飛び おり床机に腰をかけられるに 信玄ハ下り立ふうにして苦し からず謙信早々馬に乗れ よと呼り給へバ謙信大ひに 其無礼と怒り是が和ぼく 破れ終に後川中島乃　大合戦といたりにける)

Description: Kenshin and Shingen face each other across the river to discuss peace terms during the Kawanakajima Campaign (1553-1563)

Publisher: Sano-ya Kihei

Date: 1844

Robinson: T136

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

Text: Rokusuke wa Buzen no kuni Hikosan no fumoto Keyamura no domin etc.

Description: Ichimisai’s daughter O-Sono (一味斎娘於園) fighting her father’s murderer, Kyôgoku Takumi (京極内匠), by a river with Keyamura Rokusuke (毛谷村六助) coming to her assistance

Publisher: Fujioka-ya Keijirô

Date: 1844

Robinson: T137

Title: Princess Takiyasha Summoning a Skeleton Spectre to Frighten Mitsukuni in the Ruined Palace of Her Father, Taira Masakado, in Soma (Sôma no furu-dairi ni Masakado no himegimi Takiyasha yojutsu o motte mikata o atsumuru, 年不明_相馬の古内裏　妖怪がしゃどくろと戦う大宅太郎光圀,)

Description: On the left, the witch Takiyasha-hime (瀧夜叉姫), daughter of Taira no Masakado, is reading an incantation to call up a skeleton-specter to frighten Oya Tarô Mitsukuni (大宅太郎光圀). In the center, Mitsukuni is beating Takiyasha’s servant, Araimaru (荒井丸), with a sheathed sword.

Publisher: Yahata-ya Sakujirô (called “Hachi” by Robinson)

Date: 1844

Robinson: T138

I am grateful to Marc DeVriese for this image.

This is a reproduction printed in the Shôwa era (1926-1989) from recarved woodblocks.

Text: Lord Taira no Kiyomori… (Taira no Kiyomori-kô wa sono sembushin yori idete…)

Description: The dying Kiyomori in his last feverish sickness surrounded by Taira nobles and ladies on March 20, 1181

Publisher: Sugi-ya Seibei

Date: 1844

Robinson: T139

I am grateful to Marc DeVriese for this image.

Title: Tametomo Shoots an Enemy Ship with an Arrow (Tametomo wa Seiwa-tei hasse no son, 鎮西八郎為朝伊豆の大島にて討手の兵船を射る)

Description: Tametomo (left) sinking the foremost ship of Mochimitsu’s fleet with a single arrow; his mistress Sasarae and his henchman Oniyasha, armed with a naginata and an iron club respectively with the rough islanders look on in admiration

Publisher: Horino-ya Tasuke (Robinson read the publisher’s seal as “Ômi-ya Suke…”

Date: 1844 (censor Hama Yahei)

Robinson: T140

NOTE: Another edition with a different publisher’s seal and different text is listed as T113 in Robinson. It is not clear which is the earlier printing.

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

This is a copy of the above triptych made by Ichiyûsai Kunitoshi in 1883 with the title Tametomo kyôkyû no zu.

Title: Picture of Kawazu Saburô and Matano Gorô Wrestling (Somoku honchô sumai no okori-hara wa, 河津三郎俣野五郎相撲圖)

Description: Kawazu Saburô Sukeyasu (河津三郎祐泰) and Matano Gorô Kagehisa (俣野五郎景久) wrestling before Yoritomo, umpired by Sanada Yoichi Yoshitada (真田与市義忠) in 1170

Publisher: Ebisu-ya Shoshichi (Robinson identifies the publisher as To-Sawa)

Date: 1844

Robinson: T141

I am grateful to Marc DeVriese for this image.

Title: The Battle between Nitta Yoshisada and Taira no Takatoki (Nitta Sachûjô Yoshisada Kamakura, 新田義貞 鎌倉極楽寺切通)

Description: Nitta Yoshisada throwing his sword into the sea as an offering to the sea-gods to enable him to attack the Hôjô in Kamakura in 1333

Publisher: Ezaki-ya Tatsuzô

Date: 1844

Robinson: T142

I am grateful to Marc DeVriese for this image.

Another state of the triptych

Title: Nitta Shiro Tadatsune Encounters the Avatar of Mt. Fuji (Kennin san-nen Minamoto no Yori-ie-kyô Fuji-no mi-kari no, 仁田四郎忠常 富士権現に遇ふ圖)

Description: Nitta Tadatsune encountered the goddess of Mount Fuji and her dragon in a cave in the mountain, in which are stalactites and a waterfall in 1203

Publisher: Tsuji-ya Yasubei

Date: 1844

Robinson: T143

I am grateful to Robert Pryor for this image.

I am grateful to Marc DeVriese for this image with blue instead of green in the text cartouche.

Title: The Battle of Dannoura (Dan-no-ura tatakai no zu, 壇浦戦之圖)

Description: After his defeat in the Battle of Dan-no-ura, (April 25, 1185) Tomomori tied himself to a great anchor and cast himself into the sea. Here he is flanked by his retainer Sagami Gorô and his mistress Tenji-no-tsubone.

Publisher: Koga-ya Katsugorô

Date: 1844

Robinson: T144

I am grateful to Marc DeVriese for this image.

Another state of the above design with a red title cartouche, courtesy of Robert Pryor.

I am grateful to Andrea Casati for this additional state with a blue title cartouche.

“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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