Stories of Strength, in Order

(Retsu den, 列猛傳)

Publisher: Mikawa-ya Tetsugorô

1845 and 1855

 

The prints in this series are approximately 20 by 8 inches (50 by 20 centimeters), a size known either as nagaban or as chôban.

 

 

Scene: Hako-ô Maru (箱王丸), the childhood name of Soga Gorô, writing on a rock and holding up a statue of the god Fudô with one hand

Date: 1855

Robinson: S48.1

 

A later and simplified printing of the above design without the white stripes in the sky

 

Scene: Ashigara Kintarô (足柄金太郎) seated naked playing with a bear cub

Date: 1855

Robinson: S48.2

 

Scene: Miyamoto Musashi (宮本武三四) warming his hands by a smoking fire of brushwood

Date: 1845

Robinson: S48.3

 

Scene: O-Kane (おかね) the strong woman of Ômi Province (近江) with the runaway temple horse she stopped in the background

Date: 1845 (censor Muramatsu Genroku)

Robinson: S48.4

 

Scene: Shôbutsu Maru (the young Benkei) holding a bamboo pole from which various weapons project

Date: 1855

Robinson: S48.5

 

Scene: Gen Sammi Yorimasa (源三位頼政) shooting at the monstrous nuye which is not shown

Date: 1845

Robinson: S48.6

 

NOTE: The Nuye was a beast with the head of a monkey, the claws of a tiger, the back of a badger and a snake for a tail.  It spent its nights on the roof of the Emperor’s palace, causing him grave illness until it was slain.

 

“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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