Abridged Stories of Our Country’s Swordsmanship

(Honchô kendo ryaku den, 本朝剣道略傳)

Publisher: Kazusa-ya Iwazô

1845-1846

The prints in this series are each about 14 by 10 inches (36 by 25 centimeters), a size known as ôban.

Title: Araki Mataemon (荒木 又右衛門)

Scene: Araki Matayemon standing and examining his sword

Robinson: S37.1

Title: Banzui Chôbei (幡随長兵衛)

Scene: Banzui Chôbei holding up a lantern with his other hand on the hilt of his sword

Robinson: S37.2

Title: Fuwa Bansaku (不破伴作)

Scene: Fuwa Bansaku having just struck off the head of a stone-lion with his bare fist

Robinson: S37.3

Title: Inuta Kobungo (犬田小文吾)

Scene: Inuda Kobungo examining a sword and holding a shirazaya (storage scabbard)

Robinson: S37.4

Scene: Inuzuka Shino Moritaka wielding his sword, his foot on a retainer of Genpachi and Inukai Genpachi Nobumichi himself armed with an iron truncheon during the fight on the Hôryûkaku roof

Title: Inuzuka Shino Moritaka (犬塚信乃戍孝) Robinson: S37.5

Title: Inukai Genpachi Nobumichi (犬飼現八信道) Robinson: S37.6

Scene: Inukawa Sôsuke Yoshitô (left) and Inuyama Dôsetsu Tadatomo (right) with a kettle hanging over a smoky wood fire

Title: Inukawa Sôsuke Yoshitô (犬川荘助義任) Robinson: S37.7

Title: Inuyama Dôsetsu Tadatomo (犬山道節忠和) Robinson: S37.9

Scene: Inumura Kakutarô seated on a rock reading a scroll with pine twigs wrapped in paper in his mouth and Inue Shimbyôe watching falling banana leaves with his hand on the hilt of his sword and a kimono patterned with toy dogs

Title: Inue Shinbei (犬江親兵衛) Robinson: S37.10

Title: Inumura Kakutarô (犬村角太郎) Robinson: S37.8

Title: Inuzaka Keno Tanetomo (犬塚毛野胤智)

Scene: Inudzuka (incorrectly for Inuzaka) Keno Tanetomo standing with two swords and a large straw hat behind him

Robinson: S37.11

Title: Keyamura no Rokusuke (毛谷村の六助)

Scene: Keyamura no Rokusuke stripped to his waist and drying his back is addressed by a young kappa. A bundle of rushes and a carrying-pole are behind them.

Robinson: S37.12

NOTE: Kappa are supernatural creatures that live both on land and in water and are as tall as a four- or five-year-old child. They have a beak-like snout, and fins on their hands and feet. They also have a shell on their back, and a water-filled dish on their head that is responsible for their supernatural power.

Title: Matsui Tomijiro Shigenaka (松伊富次郎茂仲)

Scene: Matsui Tomijirô Shigenaka looks down at three wriggling snakes with a basket and a bundle wrapped in cloth behind him

Robinson: S37.13

Title: Minamoto Ushiwaka Maru (源牛若丸)

Scene: Minamoto no Ushiwaka Maru knocking over a tengu during a fencing bout with wooden swords

Robinson: S37.14

NOTE: Tengu are forest-dwelling creatures that are either human-like with wings and long noses or bird-like.

No image available

Title:

Scene: Minamoto no Yoshinaka (源義仲)

Robinson: S37.15

Title: Miyamoto Musashi (宮本武蔵)

Scene: Miyamoto Musashi dressed for traveling on his way to see Bukoden

Robinson: S37.16

Title: Nagoya Sanzaburô Motoharu (名古屋山三郎元春)

Scene: Nagoya Sanzaburô Motoharu with sword in hand holds up the severed head of a young woman with a paper scroll in her mouth

Robinson: S37.17

Title: Sasaki Ganryu (佐々木岸柳)

Scene: Sasaki Ganryû standing in profile with a clenched fist

Robinson: S37.18

This is another version of the above print. It is a less labor-intensive printing than the above, which almost invariably means a later edition. In this print, the delicate shading (bokashi) from black to brown in the clothing was omitted. Bokashi was achieved by hand applying a gradation of ink to the wooden printing block rather than inking the block uniformly. This hand-application had to be repeated for each sheet of paper that was printed.

Title: Shirai Gonpachi (白井権八)

Scene: Shirai Gompachi with a drawn sword and a dog looking up at him

Robinson: S37.19

Title: Ichimisai musume Sonojo (一味歳娘その女)

Scene: Sono-jo, daughter of Yoshioka Ichimisai, in nun's robes applying an arm hold to an attacking ruffian

Robinson: S37.20

Title: Takagi Oriyemon (高木折右衛門)

Scene: Takagi Oriyemon seated on a large rock with rope attached having just written an account of his defeat of a robber gang on the wall

Robinson: S37.21

Title: Yoshioka Kanefusa (吉岡兼房)

Scene: Yoshioka Kanefusa defending himself from attacking policemen

Robinson: S37.22

“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