Individual Warrior Prints, 1838-1841

Part II

 

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Scene: Tomoe-gozen (巴御前) struggling with Musashi Saburozaemon Arikuni on a rock by a waterfall

Publisher: Yamamoto-ya Heikichi

Date: c. 1840 (The image is of a later edition, with the seals of the censors Mera and Murata on the rock, published 1847-1850)

Robinson: S1e.8

 

I am grateful to Ward Pieters for locating this image.

 

Scene: Hako-ô Maru (箱王丸, Soga Gorô in boyhood) reading a scroll by a waterfall

Publisher: Ebi-Ne

Date: c. 1840

Robinson: S1e.9

 

I am grateful to Tommy Crouch for this image

 

 

Scene: Usui Sadamitsu (碓井 定光) holding a wooden beam while treading on a wolf

Publisher: Ebi-Ne

Date: c. 1840

Robinson: S1e.10

 

Scene: Kaidômaru overcoming a wild boar with a huge axe.  The background is plane and there is a poem above Kaidômaru.

Publisher: Jôshû-ya Kinzô

Date: c. 1840

Robinson: S1e.11

Text: かる々々と斧もてあそぶ疱瘡が子ハ山あがるさへあしのはやさよ, signed Seiken (整軒), a pen name of Miyagi Gengyo (宮城玄魚)

 

NOTE: This is an example of an aka-e (red print) which was said to protect from smallpox. 

 

Scene: Taira no Tadamori (平忠盛, foreground) and the oil thief (left)

Publisher: Sôshû-ya Yohei

Date: c. 1840

Robinson: S1e.12

Text: Taira no Tadamori captures the monk stealing oil at Gion Shrine as recorded in the Rise and Fall of the Genpei (Taira no Tadamori Gion yashiro ni abura wo nusumi bôzu wo torayuru koto wa Genpei seisuiki ni mihe, 祇園社に油をぬすみ坊主をとらゆる事は源平盛衰記みへたり)

 

 

Another state without any purple

 

Another state with a solid red cartouche

 

SceneMomotarô (桃太郎) with a monkey, a pheasant, “the precious things” and a dog offering him sake

Publisher: Echizen-ya Heisaburô

Date: c. 1840

Robinson: S1e.13

 

 

Title: Mongaku Shônin formerly the warrior Endô Moritô (Mongaku Shônin hatsu mei Endô Musha Moritô, 文覚上人 初名遠藤武者盛遠)

Scene: The monk Mongaku Shônin under the waterfall

Publisher: Maru-ya Seijirô

Date: c. 1840

Robinson: S1e.14

 

 

 

Keyblock print for the above design.  Note that the censor’s seal and the publisher’s seals are closer together than on the above print.

 

Scene: Chinzei Hachirô Tametomo (鎮西八郎為朝) grasping bow and arrows looking up at Raiden (the thunder god) in a cloud at a waterfall in Kyushu

Publisher: Sôshû-ya Yohei

Date: c. 1840

Robinson: S1e.15

 

Another state of the above design

Kuniyoshi - (S 1e

 

Scene: Ushiwaka Maru (牛若丸) fencing with two tengu by moonlight

Publisher: Ebi-Ne

Date: c. 1840

Robinson: S1e.16

 

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

 

Kuniyoshi - (S 1e

 

Title: Sakata Kaidomaru (坂田怪童丸)

Scene: Sakata Kaidomaru by a waterfall lifting one bear aloft and trampling another

Publisher: Echizen-ya  Heisaburô

Date: c. 1840

Robinson: S1e.17

 

I am grateful to Tommy Crouch for this image

 

 

Scene: Kazusa Shichibyoe Kagekiyo (上總七兵衛景清), also known as Akushichibyôe Taira no Kagekiyo, resisting arrest at Tôdaiji Temple

Publisher: Soshu-ya Yohei  

Date: c. 1840

Robinson: Not listed

 

I am grateful to Tommy Crouch for identifying this print

 

 

Another state of the above design

 

Scene: Gama Sennin (蝦蟇仙人) surrounded by toads

Publisher: Kaga-ya Kichibei

Date: c. 1840-1841

Robinson: Unlisted

Kuniyoshi - Kumagaye Naosada overcoming a black bear in the mountains of Musashi, 11

 

Scene: Kumagae Naosada (熊谷直貞) overcoming a black bear in the mountains of Musashi

Publisher: No seal

Date: c. 1840

Robinson: Not listed

 

NOTE: This print is 16.3 x 11.2 cm or about 6.5 x 4.5 inches, a size known as koban 

 

Scene: Shibuya Konnômaru (渋谷金王丸) standing in a small boat pulling up a fishing net

Publisher: No seal

Date: c. 1839-1842

Robinson: Not listed

 

 

Scene: Oniwaka Maru (鬼若丸) wielding a naganata blade

Publisher: Ebi-Ne

Date: c. 1840

Robinson: Not listed

 

NOTE: Although this print is not listed in Robinson, it, and the following print, belong with S1e.9, S1e.10, and S1e.16, all of which were published by Ebi-Ne and show child warriors.

 

Scene: Kaidômaru (怪童丸)

Publisher: Ebi-Ne

Date: c. 1840

Robinson: Not listed

 

 

“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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