Ten Famous Excellencies of Tametomo

(Tametomo homare no jikketsu)

Publisher: Arita-ya Seiyemon

1848-1851

Minamoto Tametomo was a twelfth century warrior whose exploits were fictionalized in a novel by Bakin titled Yumibari tsuki (Bow of the Full Moon). The prints in this series are each about 14 by 10 inches (36 by 25 centimeters), a size known as ôban.

	Scene: Thirteen year old Tametomo catching arrows shot at him in a competition with Shônagon Nyûdô Shinsei Robinson: S64.1
	Scene: Tametomo as a youth on a hunting trip separating two fighting wolves that became his pets Robinson: S64.2 Image courtesy of Richard Illing
	This is an alternate state of the above print with different colors.
	Scene: Tametomo beheading a monkey-like monster Robinson: S64.3
	Scene: Tametomo’s faithful retainer Kiheiji, who was accidentally left behind, throwing a weighted rope to the ship Robinson: S64.4 Image courtesy of Kate Zotova
	Scene: Tametomo on the seashore with a caged crane that guided him around the Ryûkyû Islands on his back Robinson: S64.5
	Another state of the above print
	Scene: Yatsushiro (Kiheiji’s wife) defending herself against a flight of arrows with a naginata; a snarling wolf at her side Robinson: S64.6
	Scene: Tametomo resisting arrest with a heavy beam at the hot spring of Ishiyama Robinson: S64.7 Image courtesy of Richard Illing
	Scene: Tametomo's wife Shiranui shining a lantern in the night rain on her way to rescue her husband Robinson: S64.8 Image courtesy of Richard Illing
	Scene: Tametomo is prevented from committing seppuku by the apparition of Emperor Sutoku and the Minamoto clan in the guise of tengu Robinson: S64.9 NOTE: The term ‘hara-kiri’, although more common in English than ‘seppuku’, is considered in Japan to be a vulgar and disrespectful description of an honorable action. Tengu are forest-dwelling creatures that are either human-like with wings and long noses or bird-like.
	Scene: Tametomo in hunting dress and half-armor sees the apparition of an old man rising from the severed head of a bear Robinson: S64.10

‘Robinson’ refers to listing in Kuniyoshi: The Warrior-Prints by Basil William Robinson (Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY, 1982) and its unpublished supplement.

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