Warrior triptychs

1847-1850, Part I

Title: Chûsei gishin den (Stories of the True Loyalty of the Faithful Samurai, 忠誠義臣傳)

Description: Moronao’s retainer Furubayashi Heihachirô Kaneyoshi defending himself against the two rônin Oribe Yasubei Taketsune (right) and Takebayashi Sadashichi Takashige (left) in the snow

Publisher: Kawaguchi-ya Uhei

Date: 1847-1848

Robinson: T184

NOTE: The title is repeated on each sheet, and this triptych is closely related to the single sheet series Seichû gishi den (S54).

Title: Untitled

Description: Moronao’s retainer Furubayashi Heihachirô Kaneyoshi (古林瓶兵八郎八郎兼義) defending himself against the two rônin Oribe Yasubei Taketsune (織部易兵衛武庸, right) and Takebayashi Sadashichi Takashige (竹林貞七隆重, left) in the snow

Publisher: Kawaguchi-ya Uhei

Date: 1847-1848

Robinson: T184a

NOTE: This triptych is not listed by Robinson. It was printed from most of the same woodblocks as the preceding triptych. It is untitled, and the censors’ seals and publisher’s seal are the same. I am grateful to Lucienne Parkan and Hehe Galerie for this image.

Title: Tosabo’s Horikawa Night Attack (Yoritomo-kô no mei wo ukete Tosa-bô Shôshun, 堀川夜討見物)

Text: On the orders of Lord Yoritomo, Tosabo Masatoshi Yoshitsune goes on a night raid on the Imperial Palace in Horikawa, where he resides, and goes out to the Kisantai garden of Genzô’s stable in Eda, a vassal of Yoshitaka, to watch the attack (頼朝公の命をうけて土佐坊昌俊義經の宿所堀川の御所へ夜討す義經の臣江田の源三御厩の喜三太庭先へ出てこれを見物する圖)

Description: Mimmaya Kisanda Sadakiyo (御厩喜三太定清, center), Eda Genzô Hirotsugu (江田源三廣次, left) and Yoshitsune (right) among sego palms observing the approach of Tosa-bô Shôshun and his party to attack the Horikawa palace

Publisher: Sugi-ya Seibei

Date: 1847-1848

Robinson: T185

NOTE: Although the title is Tosabo’s Horikawa Night Attack, Sotetsu is not depicted in this triptych. Yoshitsune’s hakama, shown on the right, has a crest that imitates a Chinese flower crest on Oda Nobunaga’s five melons, and Kisanta, shown in the middle image, has a crest that imitates Mori Ranmaru’s crane circle.

Title: Oboshi Yoshikane and the Other More than 40 Loyal Retainers Burn Incense at Enkakuji, Having Fulfilled Their Vow (Ôboshi Yoshikane wo hajime shijûsho-nin no gishi hon-i wo, 大星良金ヲ始四十余人の義士本意を達し万昌山円覚寺引取焼香圖)

Description: After carrying out their revenge, the Forty-Seven Rônin burn incense in the temple, while attendants prepare food for them and keep back admiring crowds

Publisher: Sano-ya Kihei

Date: 1847-1848

Robinson: T186

Title: Yoshiomi Akao’s Night Attack and the Defeat of a Brave Man (Yoshiomi Akao no gishin yo-uchi karamete no kata yûshi chakutô no zu, 赤尾義臣夜討追手方勇士着倒之圖)

Description: The Forty-Seven Rônin who are about to attack Moronao’s mansion from the back

Publisher: Minato-ya Kohei

Date: 1847-1848

Robinson: T187

I am grateful to Robert Pryor for this image.

Title: Yoshiomi Akao’s Night Attack and the Defeat of a Brave Man (Akao no gishin yo-uchi ôte-gata yûshi chakutô no zu, 赤尾義臣夜討搦手方勇士着倒之圖)

Description: The Rônin who are about to attack Moronao’s mansion from the front seated and squatting in a semi-circle, most holding their naginata (glaives)

Publisher: Minato-ya Kohei

Date: 1847-1848

Robinson: T188

I am grateful to Paul Steier for this image.

I am grateful to Robert Pryor for this alternate state with a red title cartouche.

Title: An exceptional Young Diving Girl and Daishokkwan (Shizu no ama otome Daishokkwan, 志渡の海女乙女大織冠)

Description: The ama (diving girl) who has stolen the sacred jewel from the Dragon King’s palace at the behest of Fujiwara no Kamatari (Daishokkwan) pursued through the waves by various sea creatures

Publisher: Kiyomizu-ya Naojirô

Date: 1847-1848

Robinson: T189

Title: The Death of Yamamoto Kansuke at the Battle of Kawanakajima on the 4th Day of the 9th Month, 1561 (Eiroku yo-nen ku-gwatsu yo-nichi Kawanakajima kassen ni, 永禄四年九月四日川中島合戦山本勘介入道討死ノ圖)

Description: Yamamoto Kansuke and the remnant of his troops on a hillock mown down by the Uesugi musketeers at Kawanakajima on October 12, 1561

Publisher: Minato-ya Kohei

Date: 1847-1848

Robinson: T190

Title: Untitled

Description: The fording of the Uji River in 1184: Sasaki Shirô Takatsuna (佐々木四郎高綱) riding up the bank, met by Noritaka, with Hatakeyama Shigetada (畠山 重忠) and Kajiwara Kagesue (梶原 景季) in the river behind

Publisher: Yamaguchi-ya Tôbei

Date: 1847-1848

Robinson: T191

I am grateful to Vladislav Shevyrev for locating this image.

Text: The pursuit of Yoshinaka in a bamboo grove at the Battle of Awazu (Kiso Yoshinaka wa tatewaki senshô Yoshikata no ko ni shite..., 木曽義仲は帯刀先生義賢の子にして...)

Description: The pursuit of Minamoto no Yoshinaka (centre) by a bamboo grove at the Battle of Awazu in 1184

Publisher: Jôshû-ya Jûzô

Date: 1847-1848

Robinson: T192

NOTE: Only the middle sheet is signed by Kuniyoshi, and the two outer sheets are signed by Kuniyoshi’s student, Ichijusai Yoshikazu. All three sheets bear Kuniyoshi’s signature in a later edition.

Title: Untitled

Description: Kajiwara Genda Kagesue (梶原源太景季) with his horse (left), the courtesan (yûkun) Shôshô (遊君少将, center) and the enraged Soga Gorô Tokimune (曽我五郎時宗, right) by a fenced enclosure

Publisher: Naka-ya Tokubei

Date: 1847-1848

Robinson: T193

NOTE: This triptych was published in 1847-1848 from a design drawn about 1830. I am grateful to Ward Pieters for locating this image.

Title: Ushiwakamaru, with the Help of the Tengu, Fights Benkei on Gojô Bridge (Heike no kyôshaku akugyaku wo sô mi Kurama, 天狗の加勢を得て戦う牛若丸と弁慶)

Full text: Disgusted by the arrogant misdeeds of the Taira, Sojobo of Mount Kurama and the rest of the eight tengu become close companions of Ushiwakamaru and recruit heroes as his followers in order to restore the Minamoto Clan (Heike no kyôsha akugaku o nikumi Kuramasan no Sôjôbô o hajime shosan no hachi tengu Onzôshi Ushiwakamaru no kagemi ni soi Genke no saikô o kuwadateru ni zuijû no eiyû o fukusashimuru zu, 平家の驕奢悪逆を憎み鞍馬山の僧正坊を始め諸山の八天狗御曹子牛若丸の影身に添ひ源家再興を企るに随従の英雄を伏さしむる図)

Description: The discomfiture of Benkei on Gojô Bridge by Ushiwakamaru (the childhood name of Yoshitsune), assisted by the tengu

Publisher: Enshû-ya Hikobei

Date: 1847-1850

Robinson: T194

I am grateful to Robert Pryor for this simplified state of the above design.

Another state from recarved woodblocks

I am grateful to Robert Pryor for these two keyblock panels for the above triptych.

Title: The Great Warriors of the Heike Clan… (Heike no meishô, Taira no Shigemori hachijin wo hiite teki wo, 平家の名蔣, 平重盛八陣を…)

Description: The arrest of Akugenda Yoshihira (悪源太義平) in the snow by Taira Shigemori (平重盛) and his men in 1160

Publisher: Tsujioka-ya Bunsuke

Date: 1847-1850

Robinson: T195

Another state of the above triptych published by Yamada-ya Kinseido

Title:

Description: Fujiwara Tadahira (藤原忠平) with his retinue by the seashore; his wife Fujinoe is holding a poem-card (left)

Publisher: Nôshû-ya Yasubei

Date: 1847-1850

Robinson: T196

Title: The Great Battle of Ishibashiyama (Ishibashiyama ô-kassen no zu, 石橋山大合戦之圖)

Description: The Battle of Ishibashiyama in 1180 with Sanada Yoichi Yoshihisa (sic) struggling with Matano Gorô Kagehisa by a waterfall, and Sasaki Takatsuna fighting with two swords

Publisher: Yamaguchi-ya Tôbei

Date: 1847-1850

Robinson: T197

Text: In the 1190s, at the Palace in Kamakura ... (Kenkyû no hajime Kamakura no tachi ni shoshi taikei wo etc.

Description: Quarrel over a game of go in the palace of Kamakura, between Kudô Suketsune and Sasaki Nobutsuna with Mount Fuji behind. This incident occurred during the planning for the Great Battle of Hyogo.

Publisher: Kawara-ya Chôzô

Date: 1847-1850

Robinson: T198

I am grateful to Ward Pieters for this alternate state of the above design with a red cartouche in the right upper corner.

“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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