Warrior triptychs

1844

Title: Koromo no Toji ga musume nite Wataru ga tsuma etc.

Description: Endô Musha Moritô (center) approaching Kesa-gozen over the roof with a drawn sword; in the background (left) a servant about to adjust the sandal of Watanabe Wataru, her husband

Publisher: Murata-ya Ichibei

Date: 1844

Robinson: T129

I am grateful to Marc DeVriese for this alternate state of the above design. Note the color of the hanging lantern in the right sheet.

Title: Gompachi wa Inshû no kin nari (権八は因州の産なり, The Story of Shirai Gompachi)

Description: Shirai Gompachi fighting off a gang of ruffians on the shore, one of whom he has thrown into a fire, watched by Banzui Chôbei (幡随長兵衛)

Publisher: Ise-ya Kisuke

Date: 1844

Robinson: T130

NOTE: Shirai Gompachi and Banzui Chôbei bear striking resemblances to kabuki actors Ichimura Uzaemon XII and Ichikawa Danjûrô VIII, respectively.

Another state of the above triptych with the seal of the publisher Hayashi-ya Shôgorô

Title: Hikosan ada-uchi no zu

Description: Kyôgoku Takumi engaged by O-Sono and O-Sada, daughter and widow respectively of Yoshioka Ichimisai, watched by Keyamura Rokusuke and a nobleman with his retainers

Publisher: Yamaguchi-ya Tôbei

Date: 1844

Robinson: T131

Title: Untitled

Description: The Soga brothers standing over the sleeping Kudô Suketsune in 1193 with Tegoshi no Shôshô on the right

Publisher: Chita-ya

Date: 1844

Robinson: T132

Title: Yoshitsune ichidaiki no uchi: Minamoto no Yoshitsune-kô Yoshino-yama no naka ni (義経一代記之内　源義経公よし野山中ひょうはく奥州落乃図)

Description: Yoshitsune, his wife Kita-no-kata (Kyô-no-kimi) and Benkei in the snows of

Mount Yoshino in 1186

Publisher: Sen

Date: 1844

Robinson: T133

Title: Heike no ichimon horobite hôken wa saikai ni etc.

Description: Yoshitsune, Benkei and Yoshimori listening to the report of two ama (female divers), mother and daughter, named Oimatsu and Wakamatsu, who had tried to recover the sacred sword of the regalia from the sea-bottom after the battle of Dan-no-ura in 1185

Publisher: Tsujioka-ya Bunsuke

Date: 1844

Robinson: T134

I am grateful to Marc DeVriese for this alternate state of the above design.

Title: Horikawa yo-uchi: Tosa-bô Shôshun toyose no zu

Description: Benkei, Shizuka-gozen, and Yoshitsune preparing to meet the attack of Tosa-bô Shôshun on the Horikawa palace on November 10, 1185

Publisher: Iba-ya Kyûbei

Date: 1844

Robinson: T135

Title: Takeda Shingen Uesugi Kenshin to go-gwatsu jûgo-nichi ryôshô etc.

Description: Kenshin and Shingen face each other across the river to discuss peace terms during the Kawanakajima Campaign (1553-1563)

Publisher: Sano-ya Kihei

Date: 1844

Robinson: T136

I am grateful to Marc DeVriese for this alternate state of the above design.

Title: Rokusuke wa Buzen no kuni Hikosan no fumoto Keyamura no domin etc.

Description: O-Sono fighting her father’s murderer, Kyôgoku Takumi, by a river with Keyamura Rokusuke coming to her assistance

Publisher: Fujioka-ya Keijirô

Date: 1844

Robinson: T137

Title: Sôma no furu-dairi ni Masakado no himegimi Takiyasha yojutsu o motte mikata o atsumuru (年不明_相馬の古内裏　妖怪がしゃどくろと戦う大宅太郎光圀, Princess Takiyasha Summoning a Skeleton Spectre to Frighten Mitsukuni in the Ruined Palace of Her Father, Taira Masakado, in Soma)

Description: On the left, the witch Takiyasha-hime (瀧夜叉姫), daughter of Taira no Masakado, is reading an incantation to call up a skeleton-specter to frighten Oya Tarô Mitsukuni (大宅太郎光圀). In the center, Mitsukuni is beating Takiyasha’s servant, Araimaru (荒井丸), with a sheathed sword.

Publisher: Yahata-ya Sakujirô (called “Hachi” by Robinson)

Date: 1844

Robinson: T138

I am grateful to Marc DeVriese for this image.

This is a reproduction printed in the Shôwa era (1926-1989) from recarved woodblocks.

Title: Taira no Kiyomori-kô wa sono sembushin yori idete (太政入道浄海の図)

Description: The dying Kiyomori in his last feverish sickness surrounded by Taira nobles and ladies on March 20, 1181

Publisher: Sugi-ya Seibei

Date: 1844

Robinson: T139

I am grateful to Marc DeVriese for this image.

Title: Tametomo wa Seiwa-tei hasse no son (Tametomo Shoots an Enemy Ship with an Arrow, 鎮西八郎為朝伊豆の大島にて討手の兵船を射る)

Description: Tametomo (left) sinking the foremost ship of Mochimitsu’s fleet with a single arrow; his mistress Sasarae and his henchman Oniyasha, armed with a naginata and an iron club respectively with the rough islanders look on in admiration

Publisher: Horino-ya Tasuke (Robinson read the publisher’s seal as “Ômi-ya Suke…”

Date: 1844 (censor Hama Yahei)

Robinson: T140

NOTE: Another edition with a different publisher’s seal and different text is listed as T113 in Robinson. It is not clear which is the earlier printing.

I am grateful to Marc DeVriese for this alternate state of the above design.

This is a copy of the above triptych made by Ichiyûsai Kunitoshi in 1883 with the title Tametomo kyôkyû no zu.

Title: Somoku honchô sumai no okori-hara wa etc. (河津三郎俣野五郎相撲図, Picture of Kawazu Saburô and Matano Gorô Wrestling)

Description: Kawazu Saburô Sukeyasu and Matano Gorô Kagehisa wrestling before Yoritomo, umpired by Sanada Yoichi Yoshitada in 1170

Publisher: Ebisu-ya Shoshichi (Robinson identifies the publisher as To-Sawa)

Date: 1844

Robinson: T141

I am grateful to Marc DeVriese for this image.

Title: Nitta Sachûjô Yoshisada Kamakura etc. (The Battle between Nitta Yoshisada and Taira no Takatoki, 新田義貞　鎌倉極楽寺切通)

Description: Nitta Yoshisada throwing his sword into the sea as an offering to the sea-gods to enable him to attack the Hôjô in Kamakura in 1333

Publisher: Ezaki-ya Tatsuzô

Date: 1844

Robinson: T142

I am grateful to Marc DeVriese for this image.

Another state of the triptych

Title: Kennin san-nen Minamoto no Yori-ie-kyô Fuji-no mi-kari no etc. (Nitta Shiro Tadatsune Encounters the Avatar of Mt. Fuji, 仁田四郎忠常 富士権現に遇ふ図)

Description: Nitta Tadatsune encountered the goddess of Mount Fuji and her dragon in a cave in the mountain, in which are stalactites and a waterfall in 1203

Publisher: Tsuji-ya Yasubei

Date: 1844

Robinson: T143

I am grateful to Robert Pryor for this image.

I am grateful to Marc DeVriese for this image with blue instead of green in the text cartouche.

Title: Dan-no-ura tatakai no zu (壇浦戦之圖, Battle of Dannoura)

Description: After his defeat in the Battle of Dan-no-ura, (April 25, 1185) Tomomori tied himself to a great anchor and cast himself into the sea. Here he is flanked by his retainer Sagami Gorô and his mistress Tenji-no-tsubone.

Publisher: Koga-ya Katsugorô

Date: 1844

Robinson: T144

I am grateful to Marc DeVriese for this image.

Another state of the above design with a red title cartouche, courtesy of Robert Pryor.

I am grateful to Andrea Casati for this additional state with a blue title cartouche.

“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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