Warrior triptychs

1853

 

Kuniyoshi - (T289)  Battles of Kawanakajima in the 16th

Title: Kawanakajima kassen: Shingen-kô hatamoto no yûshi (川中島合戦 (左半分)

Description: Takeda Shingen (standing at left) reviewing his troops before the battle of Kawanakajima

Publisher: Mori-ya Jihei

Date: Ox 1, February 1853

Robinson: T289

 

NOTE: Robinson gives the publisher as Hayashi-Ji.  It was not unusual for woodblocks to be purchased and reissued by a secondary published who replaced the original publisher’s seal with his own.

Kuniyoshi - (T290) Igagoye hataki-uchi, The Igagoye revenge- Karaki Masayemon (right) fighting against odds and Sawai Matagorô engaged by Wada Shidzuma (left)

Title: Igagoe kataki-uchi (伊賀越敵討, The Igagoe Revenge)

Description: The Igagoe revenge: Karaki Masaemon (right) fighting against odds and Sawai Matagorô engaged by Wada Shizuma (left)

Publisher: Mori-ya Jihei

Date: Ox 1, February 1853

Robinson: T290

Kuniyoshi - (T291) Gentoku, Kwanu & Chohi taking their oath

Title: Sangokushi no uchi (三国志之内, A Popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms)

Subtitle: Tôen ni gi wo musubu zu (桃園義結圖, Oath of Loyalty in the Peach Orchard)

Description: Gentoku, Kwanu and Chôhi taking their oath of loyalty in the peach orchard, with women waiting on them

Publisher: Tsuta-ya Kichizô

Date: Ox 3, April 1853

Robinson: T291

Image3

Title: Kawanakajima kassen: Kenshin-kô Shingen-kô no hatamoto (川中島 合戦)

Description: Uesugi Kenshin engaged by Wakatsuki Heidayû (left) and Nagasaka Gengorô (right) at the Battle of Kawanakajima

Publisher: Mori-ya Jihei

Date: Ox 3, April 1853

Robinson: T292

 

I am grateful to Vladislav Ruchkin for this image.

Kuniyoshi - (T293) Chinese Heroes of the 3 Kingdoms (Tsûzoku Sangokushi no uchi ), Kwanu, mounted at the head of his troops, interviewing Sôsô (Kwanu ga gishin Sôsô wo yurusu dzu), 1853

Title: Tsûzoku Sangokushi no uchi: Kwanu ga gishin Sôsô wo yurusu zu

Description: Kwanu mounted at the head of his troops interviewing Sôsô

Publisher: Tsuta-ya Kichizô

Date: Ox 4, May 1853

Robinson: T293

Kuniyoshi - (T294) The Tale of the Three Countries in the Popular Style (Tsuzoku Sangokushi), Chinese hero Ryu Gentoku in the snowy mountains with his two warriors, having located his future adviser Komei

Title: Tsûzoku Sangokushi no uchi: Gentoku mitabi setchû ni (A Popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms: Liu Bei Visits Zhuge Liang Three Times in the Snow, 通俗三国志之内: 玄徳三雪中孔明訪圖)

Description: Gentoku, Kwanu and Chôhi visiting the house of Kômei in the snow to request the latter’s assistance

Publisher: Tsuta-ya Kichizô

Date: Ox 4, May 1853

Robinson: T294

Kuniyoshi - (T295) Kwanu playing go while undergoing bone shaving

Title: Tsûzoku Sangokushi no uchi: kwa-i hone wo kezurite Kwanu (A Popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms, 通俗三国志之内: 華佗骨刮関羽箭療治圖)

Description: Kwanu (center) playing go while Hua Tuo performs a painful medical procedure known as bone shaving on the former’s  wounded arm

Publisher: Tsuta-ya Kichizô

Date: Ox 4, May 1853

Robinson: T295

 

NOTE: The website of the British Museum gives the title of this triptych as Tsuzoku Sangokushi no uchi: Kada hone Guan Yu sa ryoji no zu.  Image courtesy of Vladislav Shevyrev

Kuniyoshi - (T296) Lord Gentoku Leaping His Horse into the Gorge of Tan

Title: Gentoku Jumps His Horse into the Tan Gorge (Gentoku uma o odorasete Dankei o tobu zu, 玄徳馬躍擅渓跳図), from the series Popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms (Tsuzoku Sangokushi no uchi, 通俗三国志之内)

Description: Gentoku leaping his horse into the gorge of Tan; the ox-boy (ushidôji) on the opposite bank

Publisher: Tsuta-ya Kichizô

Date: Ox 5, June 1853

Robinson: T296

Title: Tsûzoku Sangokushi: Kwanu go-kwan wo yaburu no zu (A Popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms, 通俗三国志之, 關羽五關を破圖)

Description: Kwanu, mounted, receives the submission of Sôsô and his followers on a bridge

Publisher: Tsuta-ya Kichizô

Date: Ox 5, June 1853

Robinson: T297

Kuniyoshi%20-%20(T298)%20Raikô%20severing%20the%20head%20of%20the%20Shuten-dôji,%20which%20springs%20into%20the%20air%20while%20Raikô’s%20followers%20destroy%20other%20demons,%201853

Title: Raikô Ôeyama iri no zu (大江山入之図)

Description: Raikô severing the head of the Shuten-dôji, which springs into the air while Raikô’s followers destroy other demons

Publisher: Yamamoto-ya Heikichi

Date: Ox 5, June 1853

Robinson: T298

Kuniyoshi - (T299) Tamatorihime, who stole the sacred jewel, is holding the jewel at her breast, a knife in her other hand

Title: Tamatori-hime at the Dragon Palace (Ryûgû Tamatori-hime no zu,  龍宮玉取姫之圖)

Description: Tamatori-hime, the ama who stole the sacred jewel, pursued through the waves by a great dragon and various sea creatures

Publisher: Yamaguchi-ya Tôbei

Date: Ox 6, July 1853

Robinson: T299

Title: Lifelike Dolls in the Inner Temple at Asakusa (Asakusa okuyama iki ningyô, 浅草奥山 生人形)

Description: About 1855-6, the above triptych was reprinted with a different title

Publisher: Yamaguchi-ya Tôbei

Robinson: T299a (described but not assigned a number)

 

NOTE: For additional information, see Modern Select Dolls.  I am grateful to Robert Pryor for locating this image.

Kuniyoshi - (T300) The Battle of Kurikaradani in 1183; Yoshinaka kills the Taira commander Tomonori, while Kagekiyo fells three of the oxen with burning brushwood attached to their horns

Title: Kurikaradani kassen: Kiso Yoshinaka Heishô Tomonori wo uchitori (倶利伽羅谷合戦: 木曽義仲平將智教をうちとり)

Description: The Battle of Kurikaradani in 1183: Yoshinaka kills the Taira commander Tomonori, while Kagekiyo fells three of the oxen with burning brushwood attached to their horns by which the Taira were thrown into a panic

Publisher: Yamaguchi-ya Tôbei

Date: Ox 6, July 1853

Robinson: T300

Kuniyoshi - (T301) Popular Heroes of the History of the 3 Kingdoms (Tsuzoku Sangoku-shi no Uchi) The king of Gi, Soso (L) & Kentoku (Hakumonro Soso Ryofu wo kiru no Zu), 1853

Title: Tsuzoku Sangokushi no uchi (通俗三国志之内, Popular History of the Three Kingdoms)

Subtitle: Hakumonro ni Sôsô Ryofu wo kiru no zu

Description: The captives Ryofu, Kôjun and Chinkyû brought before Gentoku (top right, future Chinese Emperor Chao Lieh) and Sôsô (second from top right, the king of Gi).  This is a scene from the Chinese historical novel ‘Tsuzoku Sangokushi’ (The Rise and Fall of Three Kingdoms, 220-280 CE).

Publisher: Tsuta-ya Kichizô

Date: Ox 8, September 1853

Robinson: T301

 

NOTE: This triptych is part of the Tsûzoku Sangokushi no uchi (Popular History of the Three Kingdoms) series.

Kuniyoshi - (T302) the 3 Kindoms (Tsuzoku Sangokushi), Ryofu flees as the gross Totaku falls backwards & Riju hastens to his aid, 1853

Title: Tsuzoku Sangokushi no uchi (通俗三国志之内, Popular History of the Three Kingdoms)

Subtitle: Ryofu wo ou to shite Tôtaku niwa (呂布追董卓庭与轄)

Description: Ryofu flees (left) as the gross Tôtaku falls backwards and Riju hastens to his aid with Lady Chôsen watching from a balcony (right)

Publisher: Tsuta-ya Kichizô

Date: Ox 8, September 1853

Robinson: T302

 

NOTE: This triptych is part of the Tsûzoku Sangokushi no uchi (Popular History of the Three Kingdoms) series.

T303

Title: Hokkoku ô-kassen (The Battle of Kurikaradani, 北國大合戦)

Description: The Battle of Kurikaradani in 1183: Yoshinaka struggling with Tomonori, while Unno Kotarô has just knocked a man and his horse over a cliff

Publisher: Izumi-ya Ichibei

Date: Ox 8, September 1853

Robinson: T303

 

I am grateful to Marc DeVriese for this image.

Title: Kenkyû yo-nen go-gwatsu nijûhachi-nichi Soga kyôdai ada-uchi no zu

Description: The Soga brothers about to strike down Kudô Suketsune in his tent by a smoking brazier on June 28, 1193

Publisher: Maru-ya Jimpachi

Date: Ox 9, October 1853

Robinson: T304

Title: Ôeyama fukuju shusei (大江山福寿酒盛, The Drinking Party on Mount Ôe)

Description: Raikô and his men entertaining the Shuten-dôji and his demons with sake and dancing

Publisher: Ki-ya Sôjirô

Date: Ox 10, November 1853

Robinson: T305

Kuniyoshi - (T306) Battle between Bachô and Sôsô

Title: Tsûzoku Sangokushi no uchi: Bachô ôi ni sui-kyô ni tatakau (A Popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms: One Scene about the Battle between Ma Chao and Cao Cao at bridge of Wei River, 通俗三国 志之内馬超大戦 渭水橋曹操髭切敗走)

Description: Battle between Bachô and Sôsô

Publisher: Tsuta-ya Kichizô

Date: Ox 11, December 1853

Robinson: T306

 

NOTE: Engravings of European paintings were available in Japan in Kuniyoshi’s time, and this triptych may have been influenced by Paolo Uccello’s 'Battle of San Romano':

Title: Tsûzoku Sangokushi no uchi: Ryû Gentoku Hokkai e kakomi otoku (A Popular Romance of the Three Kingdoms, 通俗三国志之内: 劉玄徳北海解圍)

Description: Kwanu (left), Gentoku (center) and Chôhi (right) in an engagement outside a castle

Publisher: Tsuta-ya Kichizô

Date: Ox 11, December 1853

Robinson: T307

 

“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

 

KuniyoshiProject