After the Battle of Sekigahara, Tokugawa Ieyasu banished Sanada Masayuki (1544-1608) and his son Yukimura (1570-1615), Nobuyuki's younger brother, to Mt. Kudo in Kii Province, far from their home in Shinano Province. When Yukimura's wife came to...
Although a trusted retainer of the warlord Oda Nobunaga (1510-1551), Akechi Mitsuhide (1528-1582) was enraged when Nobunaga murdered his mother. Mitsuhide attacked Nobunaga at the Kyoto temple of Honno-ji, setting it afire. Nobunaga reportedly...
Although Lady Matsushima was an attendant of the shogun Minamoto no Sanetomo (1192-1219), Hojo Tomotoki (1193-1245), second son of the regent Hojo Yoshitoki, frequently sent her love letters, even though she was deeply in love with Wada Asahina...
Although the Heike forces had fled to boats off the shore of Yashima, one vessel turned back to the beach. At its prow stood a young woman, dressed in beautiful court garments, who took a folding fan decorated with the rising sun emblem and...
legends (folk tales); men (male humans); armor (protective wear); Buddhas
An armored samurai is wrestling a red demon and multitude of skeletons under the gaze of a grinning yellow Buddha. Toki Motosada has seized the demon by the wrist and is throwing it down. Moths flutter around them under a full moon.
Where...
men (male humans); armor (protective wear); curtains; elderly
An image of an old man, bare-chested, with a knife in his hand, throwing a cup (which shatters) against a pillar. Yoshitoshi's Warriors Trembling with Courage is the transitional series from the clamor of Yoshitoshi's early prints-with their...
Back to back print. A warrior in armor carries another across his back from the battlefield. The battle behind him is represented by black, swirling clouds and red flashes. Okubo Hikozaemon (1560-1639) was one of Tokugawa Ieyasu's trusted generals...
men (male humans); battles; warriors; armor (protective wear); flames; balconies
he 1898 print set "Heike monogatari" published by Fukuda Hatsujiro was reissued in 1906 by Narasawa Kenjiro, evidently available with non-Heike or Genji warriors added, of which this is an example. This new collection has appeared under the title...
men (male humans); warriors; armor (protective wear); folklore; ghost stories
Ii no Hayata dispatches the Nue--a beast with the head of a monkey, body of a badger, legs of a tiger, scales of dragon and tail of snake which descended onto the roof of the imperial palace in the form of a black cloud--with his sword after it was...
warriors; armor (protective wear); swords; helmets; halberds; women; kimonos; hats; Single Built Works; snow (precipitation); arrows
In the play "Yoshitsune's 1000 Cherry Trees / Yoshitsune senbon zakura," the warrior Minamoto no Yoshitsune (1159-1185) must journey to a distant island and entrusts his beloved mistress Shizuka gozen to his friend Sato Tadanobu (1161-1186) for...
women; men (male humans); warriors; armor (protective wear); kimonos; hats; swords; halberds; snow (precipitation); mountains; waterfalls (natural bodies of water); built works
In the snowy mountains of Yoshino, the Genji warrior Minamoto no Yoshitsune (1159-1189) meets up with his beloved Lady Shizuka. Yoshitsune is on-the-run, moving from southern to northern Japan with his retainers, including the former monk Benkei,...
legends (folk tales); men (male humans); women; bats (animals); dresses (garments); bell (idiophone); edged weapons; armor (protective wear)
In the top panel two bats, one carrying an umbrella and a scarf and the other two swords, parody Act V from the play Chushingura, the murder of Yoichibei by Sadakuro during a thunderstorm. In the lower half, the monk Anchin hides in a bell to...
women; men (male humans); warriors; armor (protective wear); trees; kimonos; bodies of water; fans (costume accessories)
Lady Iga was in service to Emperor GoDaigo (1288-1339), who was exiled to the mountains of Yoshino where he established an alternative imperial court. His palace there was haunted by the ghost of Sasaki Kiyotada, who had been executed after poorly...
warriors; armor (protective wear); banners; women; kimonos; snow (precipitation); sandals; built works
Lady Tsukiyama (1542-1579), adopted daughter of Imagawa Yoshimoto (1519-1560), military governor of Sanshu, Mikawa Province, was married in 1557 for political alliance reasons to Tokugawa Ieyasu (1542-1616), who was born at Okazaki Castle but was...
On the beach of Yashima, an island off Shikoku, Minamoto Yoshitsune's forces did battle with the Taira on 24 March 1185. When the governor of Noto Province, Taira no Noritsune (1160-1185), raised his bow to shoot Yoshitsune, the brothers Sato...
Oto no miya Morinaga (1308-1335) was the third son of Emperor GoDaigo (1288-1339) and closely involved with his father’s efforts to restore political power to the imperial family. However, when Ashikaga Takauji (1305-1358) decided to claim the...
Rashomon was the main gate into Kyoto and haunted by the demon Ibaraki, which lived in the rafters of the gate. Here, the hero Watanabe no Tsuna approaches the gate astride a prancing, blue-eyed, brown horse in a tremendous downpour indicated by...
Realizing the Taira forces would be defeated at the Battle of Dan-no-Ura, Tomomori (1152-1185), the Taira clan leader, grabbed an anchor and leapt into the sea. The three imperial symbols were also thrown into the water, to keep the Genji from...
men (male humans); battles; swords; warriors; armor (protective wear); crates
Representation of a warrior in battle. Standing behind the cover of a crate, he raises his sword overhead in a two-handed grip. A spear is thrust in to the crate before him. Left panel of a triptych.
Sata Tadanobu, katana drawn, leaps through the air in a snowy landscape. Panels of his armor and the cords binding them fly about him, and he has a bunch of arrows lashed to his back.
