Warrior triptychs

1853

 

Kuniyoshi - (T289)  Battles of Kawanakajima in the 16th

Title: Kawanakajima kassen: Shingen- hatamoto no yûshi (川中島合戦 (左半分)

Description: Takeda Shingen (standing at left) reviewing his troops before the battle of Kawanakajima

Publisher: Mori-ya Jihei

Date: Ox 1, February 1853

Robinson: T289

 

NOTE: Robinson gives the publisher as Hayashi-Ji.  It was not unusual for woodblocks to be purchased and reissued by a secondary published who replaced the original publisher’s seal with his own.

Title: Igagoe kataki-uchi (伊賀越敵討, The Igagoe Revenge)

Description: The Igagoe revenge: Karaki Masaemon (right) fighting against odds and Sawai Matagorô engaged by Wada Shizuma (left)

Publisher: Mori-ya Jihei

Date: Ox 1, February 1853

Robinson: T290

Kuniyoshi - (T291) Gentoku, Kwanu & Chohi taking their oath

Title: Sangokushi no uchi (三国志之内, A Popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms)

Subtitle: Tôen ni gi wo musubu zu (桃園義結圖, Oath of Loyalty in the Peach Orchard)

Description: Gentoku, Kwanu and Chôhi taking their oath of loyalty in the peach orchard, with women waiting on them

Publisher: Tsuta-ya Kichizô

Date: Ox 3, April 1853

Robinson: T291

Image3

Title: Kawanakajima kassen: Kenshin- Shingen- no hatamoto (川中島 合戦)

Description: Uesugi Kenshin engaged by Wakatsuki Heidayû (left) and Nagasaka Gengorô (right) at the Battle of Kawanakajima

Publisher: Mori-ya Jihei

Date: Ox 3, April 1853

Robinson: T292

 

I am grateful to Vladislav Ruchkin for this image.

Title: Tsûzoku Sangokushi no uchi: Kwanu ga gishin Sôsô wo yurusu zu

Description: Kwanu mounted at the head of his troops interviewing Sôsô

Publisher: Tsuta-ya Kichizô

Date: Ox 4, May 1853

Robinson: T293

Title: Tsûzoku Sangokushi no uchi: Gentoku mitabi setchû ni (A Popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms: Liu Bei Visits Zhuge Liang Three Times in the Snow, 通俗三国志之内: 玄徳三雪中孔明訪圖)

Description: Gentoku, Kwanu and Chôhi visiting the house of Kômei in the snow to request the latter’s assistance

Publisher: Tsuta-ya Kichizô

Date: Ox 4, May 1853

Robinson: T294

Title: Tsûzoku Sangokushi no uchi: kwa-i hone wo kezurite Kwanu (A Popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms, 通俗三国志之内: 華佗骨刮関羽箭療治圖)

Description: Kwanu (center) playing go while Hua Tuo performs a painful medical procedure known as bone shaving on the former’s  wounded arm

Publisher: Tsuta-ya Kichizô

Date: Ox 4, May 1853

Robinson: T295

 

NOTE: The website of the British Museum gives the title of this triptych as Tsuzoku Sangokushi no uchi: Kada hone Guan Yu sa ryoji no zu.  Image courtesy of Vladislav Shevyrev

Title: Gentoku Jumps His Horse into the Tan Gorge (Gentoku uma o odorasete Dankei o tobu zu, 玄徳馬躍擅渓跳図), from the series Popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms (Tsuzoku Sangokushi no uchi, 通俗三国志之内)

Description: Gentoku leaping his horse into the gorge of Tan; the ox-boy (ushidôji) on the opposite bank

Publisher: Tsuta-ya Kichizô

Date: Ox 5, June 1853

Robinson: T296

Title: Tsûzoku Sangokushi: Kwanu go-kwan wo yaburu no zu (A Popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms, 通俗三国志之, 關羽五關を破圖)

Description: Kwanu, mounted, receives the submission of Sôsô and his followers on a bridge

Publisher: Tsuta-ya Kichizô

Date: Ox 5, June 1853

Robinson: T297

Kuniyoshi%20-%20(T298)%20Raikô%20severing%20the%20head%20of%20the%20Shuten-dôji,%20which%20springs%20into%20the%20air%20while%20Raikô’s%20followers%20destroy%20other%20demons,%201853

Title: Raikô Ôeyama iri no zu (大江山入之図)

Description: Raikô severing the head of the Shuten-dôji, which springs into the air while Raikô’s followers destroy other demons

Publisher: Yamamoto-ya Heikichi

Date: Ox 5, June 1853

Robinson: T298

Title: Tamatori-hime at the Dragon Palace (Ryûgû Tamatori-hime no zu,  龍宮玉取姫之圖)

Description: Tamatori-hime, the ama who stole the sacred jewel, pursued through the waves by a great dragon and various sea creatures

Publisher: Yamaguchi-ya Tôbei

Date: Ox 6, July 1853

Robinson: T299

Title: Lifelike Dolls in the Inner Temple at Asakusa (Asakusa okuyama iki ningyô, 浅草奥山 生人形)

Description: About 1855-6, the above triptych was reprinted with a different title

Publisher: Yamaguchi-ya Tôbei

Robinson: T299a (described but not assigned a number)

 

NOTE: For additional information, see Modern Select Dolls.  I am grateful to Robert Pryor for locating this image.

Title: Kurikaradani kassen: Kiso Yoshinaka Heishô Tomonori wo uchitori (倶利伽羅谷合戦: 木曽義仲平將智教をうちとり)

Description: The Battle of Kurikaradani in 1183: Yoshinaka kills the Taira commander Tomonori, while Kagekiyo fells three of the oxen with burning brushwood attached to their horns by which the Taira were thrown into a panic

Publisher: Yamaguchi-ya Tôbei

Date: Ox 6, July 1853

Robinson: T300

Title: Tsuzoku Sangokushi no uchi (通俗三国志之内, Popular History of the Three Kingdoms)

Subtitle: Hakumonro ni Sôsô Ryofu wo kiru no zu

Description: The captives Ryofu, Kôjun and Chinkyû brought before Gentoku (top right, future Chinese Emperor Chao Lieh) and Sôsô (second from top right, the king of Gi).  This is a scene from the Chinese historical novel ‘Tsuzoku Sangokushi’ (The Rise and Fall of Three Kingdoms, 220-280 CE).

Publisher: Tsuta-ya Kichizô

Date: Ox 8, September 1853

Robinson: T301

 

NOTE: This triptych is part of the Tsûzoku Sangokushi no uchi (Popular History of the Three Kingdoms) series.

Title: Tsuzoku Sangokushi no uchi (通俗三国志之内, Popular History of the Three Kingdoms)

Subtitle: Ryofu wo ou to shite Tôtaku niwa (呂布追董卓庭与轄)

Description: Ryofu flees (left) as the gross Tôtaku falls backwards and Riju hastens to his aid with Lady Chôsen watching from a balcony (right)

Publisher: Tsuta-ya Kichizô

Date: Ox 8, September 1853

Robinson: T302

 

NOTE: This triptych is part of the Tsûzoku Sangokushi no uchi (Popular History of the Three Kingdoms) series.

T303

Title: Hokkoku ô-kassen (The Battle of Kurikaradani, 北國大合戦)

Description: The Battle of Kurikaradani in 1183: Yoshinaka struggling with Tomonori, while Unno Kotarô has just knocked a man and his horse over a cliff

Publisher: Izumi-ya Ichibei

Date: Ox 8, September 1853

Robinson: T303

 

I am grateful to Marc DeVriese for this image.

Title: Kenkyû yo-nen go-gwatsu nijûhachi-nichi Soga kyôdai ada-uchi no zu

Description: The Soga brothers about to strike down Kudô Suketsune in his tent by a smoking brazier on June 28, 1193

Publisher: Maru-ya Jimpachi

Date: Ox 9, October 1853

Robinson: T304

Title: Ôeyama fukuju shusei (大江山福寿酒盛, The Drinking Party on Mount Ôe)

Description: Raikô and his men entertaining the Shuten-dôji and his demons with sake and dancing

Publisher: Ki-ya Sôjirô

Date: Ox 10, November 1853

Robinson: T305

Title: Tsûzoku Sangokushi no uchi: Bachô ôi ni sui-kyô ni tatakau (A Popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms: One Scene about the Battle between Ma Chao and Cao Cao at bridge of Wei River, 通俗三国 志之内馬超大戦 渭水橋曹操髭切敗走)

Description: Battle between Bachô and Sôsô

Publisher: Tsuta-ya Kichizô

Date: Ox 11, December 1853

Robinson: T306

 

NOTE: Engravings of European paintings were available in Japan in Kuniyoshi’s time, and this triptych may have been influenced by Paolo Uccello’s 'Battle of San Romano':

Title: Tsûzoku Sangokushi no uchi: Ryû Gentoku Hokkai e kakomi otoku (A Popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms, 通俗三国志之内: 劉玄徳北海解圍)

Description: Kwanu (left), Gentoku (center) and Chôhi (right) in an engagement outside a castle

Publisher: Tsuta-ya Kichizô

Date: Ox 11, December 1853

Robinson: T307

 

“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 RETURN TO MAIN PAGE

 

KuniyoshiProject