armor (protective wear); warriors; men (male humans); women; swords; children (people by age group); hairstyles; hair ornaments; kimonos; trees; flowers (plants); lanterns (lighting devices); built works
Taira no Kagekiyo (died 1196) fought against the Genji troops in 1185 at Dan-no-ura. Here his beloved Akoya, a courtesan of the Kyoto licensed quarters in the foothills at Fifth Avenue / Gojozaka, sees him off. (See plate 228 for the interrogation...
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.
depictions; men (male humans); warriors; horseback riding; war horses; armor (protective wear); battles
Taira-no-Masakado (903?-940) was a warlord who rebelled against the Kioto government of the Fujiwara Shoguns. In the 930s he seized eight provinces and founded a court at Sashima, calling himself Heishin No (Taira Prince). Masakado was defeated and...
The warrior Kato Kiyomasa stands looking back at the burning Fushimi castle. He is dressed in full armor, with a naginata in his hand; beside him his horse, which he holds by the cheek strap of the bridle, moves restively. Behind him a pine tree is...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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.
Under a moonlit night sky, a samurai raises his sword overhead in a two-handed grip to cut down at a second warrior whose spear is caught in the crate before him. A young child is strapped to his back. Behind them a fallen samurai collapses in a...
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...
The Tōkaidō was one of a series of roads connecting Japan's historic capital of Edo with the rest of Japan. The most important of these, the Tōkaidō connected Edo with Kyoto and had 53 post stations along the road, which provided food, lodging...
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...
men (male humans); warriors; armor (protective wear); swords; streams; trees; lanterns (lighting devices); banners; Single Built Works; porches
The warrior Kusunoki Masatsura (1326-1348) was the son of Kusunoki Masashige (1294-1336) and both were loyal defenders of the emperors of the Southern Court (see Plate 178). As a boy Masatsuna defended his home from curious creatures and spirits,...
The wife of Matsumura and the daughter of Hayakawa have joined a night attack on the Honjo mansion of Kira Yoshinaka, the climax of a vendetta when the followers of Asano Naganori sought revenge for the humiliation of Asano by Kira. Asano, Lord of...
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...
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...
The warrior Kato Kiyomasa (1562-1611) rescuing women from the ruins of Fushimi Castle after an earthquake struck the Kyoto area on 05 September 1596. More than 500 people were killed when the castle tower and walls collapsed. Kiyomasu brought many...
Portrait; men (male humans); dresses (garments); armor (protective wear)
The warlord Uesugi Kenshin, dressed in full armor, waits in camp before battle. Seated on a deerskin-draped stool beside a blue and white windbreak, he looks over his shoulder at a flock of birds flying past a full moon. A poet, as well as soldier,...
