Warrior triptychs

1849-1852, Part II

 

Title: Untitled

Description: Takeshiuchi-no-sukune on his ship heading for Korea

Publisher: Ise-ya Tsurujirô

Date: 1849-1852

Robinson: T234

Title: Untitled diptych

Description: Tametomo receiving a deputation of toys (owl, dog, Daruma, etc.) on the sea-shore

Publisher: Yorozu-ya Kichibei

Date: 1849-1852

Robinson: T235

Title: Untitled diptych

Description: Tametomo, in full armor and carrying his bow, meets the Hosogami, or gods of the smallpox, on the sea-shore

Publisher: Ise-ya Chûsuke

Date: 1849-1852

Robinson: T236

Title: Untitled

Description: Tametomo in his island kingdom, seated on a rock, watching native women picking fruit and diving for awabi

Publisher: Chû

Date: 1849-1852

Robinson: T237

Title: At the Lookout in a Pine Tree with Kumasaka

Chohan and His Gang (Kumasaka Chôhan mono-mi no matsu no zu, 熊坂長範物見之松図)

Description: Kumasaka Chôhan and his gang round a camp-fire under their “look-out” pine tree

Publisher: Yamaguchi-ya Tôbei

Date: 1849-1852

Robinson: T238

Another state of the above design

Title: Minamoto no Yoritomo Yamaki no tachi e yo-uchi no zu

Description: Yamaki Kanetaka leading the defense of his palace against Yoritomo’s night attack in 1180

Publisher: Kawaguchi-ya Uhei

Date: 1849-1852

Robinson: T239

Title: Echigo no kuni no jûnin Shirô Nagamochi Heike no saisoku ni shitagai shutsujin nasu ori kara kûchû ni kaii o miru zu

Description: Shirô Nagamochi, about to go to war in the Taira cause, sees an apparition of the thunder god on the seashore

Publisher: Yamaguchi-ya Tôbei

Date: 1849-1852

Robinson: T240

I am grateful to Ward Pieters for locating this image of a later printing of the above triptych.  Note the water and the solid colored cartouche in the right upper corner.

Title: Daimotsu-no-ura sakaro ron no zu (The Quarrel about Reversed Oars at Daimotsu Bay, 大物浦逆櫓論之図,)

Description: The quarrel about reversed oars between Yoshitsune and Kajiwara Kagetoki before the Battle of Yashima (March 20th, 1185).  Kajiwara Kagetoki suggested that the boats be fitted with oars to enable them to move backwards if necessary; he was upbraided for cowardice by Yoshitsune.  The main characters (in red) left to right are: Kajiwara Genta Kagesue, Misawa Goroji, Kajiwara Heizo Kagetoki, Miura Juro Yoshitsura, Musashi-bo Benkei, Eda Genzo Hirotsugu, Sato Tsugunobu, and Hankan Yoshitsune. 

Publisher: Tsujioka-ya Bunsuke

Date: 1849-1852

Robinson: T241

 

I am grateful to Marc DeVriese for this image.

Another state of the above design.  This is a daylight scene, and note the water on the left sheet.

Title: Minamoto no Yoshitsune Miyako wo uchitachi Saikoku e (Yoshitsune’s Ship Attacked by Ghosts of the Taira Warriors at Daimotsu Bay, 大物浦平家の亡霊)

Description: The Taira ghosts, silhouetted against the sky, attacking Yoshitsune’s ship amid mountainous waves

Publisher: Enshû-ya Hikobei

Date: 1849-1851 (censors Fuku and Muramatsu)

Robinson: T242

Another state of the above design

Title: The Battle of Hyôgo (Taiheiki Hyôgo kassen, 太平記兵庫合戦)

Description. Shirafuji Hikoshichirô ransacking the sacred books before the horrified monks in Fukukaiji Monastery, with mural of the sixteen Rakan behind

Publisher: Jôshû-ya Kinzô

Date: 1849-1852

Robinson: T243

Title: Nitta Chûjô Yoshisada Sesshû Minatogawa shutsujin no zu nari

Description: The departure parade of Yoshisada’s troops before the Battle of the Minatogawa

Publisher: Kagi-ya Hanjirô

Date: 1849-1852

Robinson: T244

 

NOTE: This triptych is an adaptation of T116 with the head of Tomoe-gozen recut as Wakiya Yoshisuke, while Yoshinaka has become Yoshisada and Yamabuki-gozen has become Kôtô-no-naishi.

Title: Battle in the Wars of the Taiheiki (Taiheiki kassen no zu, 太平記合戦之圖)

Description: A battle in the Wars of the Taiheiki: a mounted warrior pitches another over an embankment, and a mounted archer shoots at a cavalier who catches the arrows on his spear

Publisher: under a double mountain, read as “Wo” or as “O”

Date: 1849-1852

Robinson: T245

Title: Takeda Shingen Suwa Yorishige no jinchû wo uchi-kuzusu zu (武田信玄諏訪頼重の陣中を打くづす図)

Description: Takeda Shingen directing the discharge of a large cannon across a river, blowing up part of the fortified camp of Suwa Yorishige in 1540

Publisher: Tsujioka-ya Bunsuke

Date: 1849-1852

Robinson: T246

 

NOTE: Gunpowder was actually introduced into Japan by the Portuguese in 1542, two years after Shingen defeated Yorishige.

Title: Shinshû Kawanakajima kassen no zu (信州川中嶋合戦之圖, Battle of Kawanakajima)

Description: The prowess of Yamamoto Kansuke at the Battle of Kawanakajima

Publisher: Yamaguchi-ya Tôbei

Date: 1849-1852

Robinson: T247

A later and greatly simplified printing of the above design

Title: Kanadehon Chûshingura: daijô

Description: First act of the Chûshingura: The departure of the Imperial envoy (left), with Moronao, Enya, Lady Kaoyo and nobles on a terrace (right).  The quarrel between Enya Hankan Takasada and Musashi no kami Ko no Moronao in right panel. 

Publisher: Ebi-ya Rinnosuke

Date: 1849-1852

Robinson: T248

Title: Kanadehon Chûshingura

Description: Act two of the kabuki play Kanadehon Chûshingura: Kakogawa Honzô before Momonoi Wakasa no Suke with Tonase listening behind a screen and Rikiya approaching along the veranda in the background

Publisher: Iba-ya Sensaburô

Date: 1849-1852

Robinson: T248a

 

I am grateful to Ward Pieters for locating this image.

Title: Gishi yo-uchi midare-iri no zu

Description: The night attack of the Forty-Seven Ronin: the fight in the garden, and the defense of Moronao’s hiding place

Publisher: Hayashi-ya Shôgorô

Date: 1849-1852

Robinson: T249

 

This triptych may be placed side-by-side with triptych T286 to form a six sheet composition

Title: Igagoe kataki-uchi no zu (Vengeance at Iga Pass, 伊賀越敵討図)

Description: The Igagoe revenge: This story is told under the title of “Kazuma’s Revenge”. The principal characters shown in the prints are on the right, Watanabe Shizuma and the two faithful retainers Ishida Busuke and Ikezoe Magohachi; in the center the swordsman Karaki Mataemon, with Sakurai Rinzaemon on the horse; and on the left mounted, Sakurai Rinzo and the villain, Kawai Matagoro

Publisher: Hayashi-ya Shôgorô

Date: 1849-1852

Robinson: T250

 

I am grateful to Vladislav Ruchkin for this image.

Title: Meishô Kyûshû yori jôraku no toki Buzen no kuni Dairi no oki Manaitagase ni te nanpû ni deai sendô Yojibei o kiri shigai o umi ni nagekomi shi yori irai Yojibei-nada to iu (When the Great General Was on the Way to Kyoto from Kyushu He Encountered a Storm at Manaitagase in Dairi Bay in Buzen Province; the Sailor Yojibei Was Killed and His Body Thrown into the Sea, and Since Then the Place is Called the Yojibei Channel, 名将九州より上洛のとき豊前国(ぶぜんのくに)内裏の沖俎板ヶ瀬にて難風に出会ひ船頭与次兵衛を切(きり)死骸を海に投込(なげこみ)しより以来与次兵衛灘といふ)

Description: Story of the ship’s captain Yojibei: a nobleman leaping from a ship to a rock in a storm

Publisher: Mikawa-ya Tetsugorô

Date: 1849-1852

Robinson: T251

Title: Cast of the Legend of the Eight Dogs of Satomi (Satomi Hakkenden ichiran, 里見八犬伝一覧)

Description: Various scenes from the novel Nansô Satomi Hakkenden (The Biography of Nansô Satomi and the Eight Dog Warriors)

Publisher: Enshû-ya Hikobei

Date: 1849-1852 (censors Hama and Magome)

Robinson: T251a (not in Robinson)

 

I am grateful to Robert Pryor for information about this triptych.

Another state of the above design with a red title cartouche

Kuniyoshi - (T 28) Sanada Yoichi Yoshisiha & Matano Gorô Kegehisa Fighting at Ishibashiyama (Alt

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

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 seals of the censors Fuku and Muramatsu, indicate a date of 1849-1851. 

Title: Taira Tadanori of Satsuma Grappling with Okabe Tadazumi at the Battle of Ichi-no-tani (Satsuma kami Taira Tadanori sha Ichi-no-tani o sen ba ni Okabe Tadazumi kumiuchi no zu, 薩摩守平忠度者 一之谷於戰場二岡部忠澄 組討之圖)

Description:

Publisher: No seal

Date: c. 1849-1852

Robinson: Not listed

 

NOTE: I am grateful to Robert Pryor for this drawing, which may have been a preparatory drawing for the preceding triptych.

Title: Katakiuchi Gappô ga tsuji (Revenge at the Crossroads of Gappô, 報讐合法辻)

Description: Saeda Daigaku (早枝大學, left sheet) and others attacking shugyôsha Gappô (修行者合法, center sheet), who is standing on a statue of Enma

Publisher: Echizen-ya Kajû

Date: c. 1850 (censor’s seal is 3rd month of 1863)

Robinson: Not listed

 

NOTE: This triptych relates to a scene in the kabuki play Ehon Gappô-ga-tsuji (An Illustrated Picture Book of the Crossroads of Gappô, 繪本合法衢), which is a dramatization of the then popular revenge novel, Gappô-ga-tsuji (The Crossroads of Gappô).  I am grateful to Robert Pryor for information about this 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.

CLICK HERE TO GO TO MAIN PAGE