Picture of Masakiyo's Challenging Battle as Retold in the Chronicle of the Great Peace, 1866, 10th lunar month
Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paperexpand_more
The Mary Griggs Burke Endowment Fund established by the Mary Livingston Griggs and Mary Griggs Burke Foundation, gifts of various donors, by exchange, and gift of Edmond Freis in memory of his parents, Rose and Leon Freisexpand_more 2017.106.72a-c
Not on Viewexpand_more
Instead of depicting a standard battle scene with samurai fighting each other, Yoshitoshi captures the blast of an explosion in this unusual composition. The shock waves, rendered by black and gray swirls, whirl an uncountable number of warriors through the air.
Pictures portraying historical warriors from after the year 1573 (the end of the previous shogunate of the Ashikaga clan) were forbidden by the Tokugawa government. The title of this print therefore suggests that its source is the Chronicle of the Great Peace (Taiheiki), a historical epic covering the period from 1319 to 1367. The captured warriors, however, are actually from a later period. The name of the warrior on horseback on the right is inscribed as Satō Kazue-no-kami Masakiyo, which is a fantasy name for Katō Kiyomasa (1562–1611). Kiyomasa was an ally of the warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537–1598), who is regarded as Japan’s second Great Unifier. Another ally was Kimura Shigenari (1593–1615), here called Shimura Masazō Katsutoyo. He wears green armor and appears at bottom left.
Details
- Title
- Picture of Masakiyo's Challenging Battle as Retold in the Chronicle of the Great Peace
- Artist Life
- 1839 - 1892
- Role
- Artist
- Accession Number
- 2017.106.72a-c
- Catalogue Raisonne
- Keyes, Courage and Silence (1982), no. 178; Iwakiri, Yoshitoshi (2014), fig. 52, p. 297.
- Curator Approved
This record has been reviewed by our curatorial staff but may be incomplete. These records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about this object, please email collectionsdata@artsmia.org.
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