men (male humans); women; kimonos; military uniforms; chairs; daises; fans (costume accessories); hair ornaments; drums (membranophones); flowers (plants); vases
The emperor and empress sit on the dais in the background overseeing the presentation of the Emperor's Gift Cups to military leaders involved in quelling Saigu's Satsuma Rebellion. Yamagata Aritomo, Commander of the Imperial Army in Kyushu, is...
women; men (male humans); kimonos; folding screens; children (people by age group); flowers (plants); interior spaces; built works
A baby receives his first bath, with his fisherman father Myomeijiro holding a towel, his grandmother at the wooden tub and his mother Umechiyo recovering with a cup of tea. The child would become the Buddhist prelate Nichiren (1222-1282), whose...
women; children (people by age group); flowers (plants); trees; gardens; kimonos; origami; urns; fusuma
Two children are conversing while folding origami cranes. They sit within a house, before a sliding door, overlooking a garden. To their left is a bamboo trellis and a large ornamental jar, and behind them a cluster of peonies is growing. A women...
porches; blinds (coverings); women; men (male humans); children (people by age group); flowers (plants); trees; kimonos; swords
The Heike leader Taira no Kiyomori (1118-1181), at right, stares down at Lady Tokiwa Gozen, whose husband, Minamoto no Yoshitomo (1123-1180), was recently killed. She had fled Kyoto with her three sons, concerned that the Heike forces would kill...
Meiji period color woodblock triptych print of a group of women having tea. Part of a series of 40 scenes inside the women's quarters of the shogun's palace in Edo.
A woman, in a flower-covered red robe, dances, surrounded by small flames. Princess Yaegaki found herself in as difficult a situation as Romeo and Juliet, with whom this story from the play Honcho Nijushiko, or Twenty-four Examples of Filial Piety,...
Ota Dokan approached an inn on a rainy day to request the loan of a rain coat. Instead, the maid brought him a Yamabuki flower on a tray. Her meaning was expressed by the poem "Although having many petals the Yamabuki, to our regret, has no seed."...
A participant in the overthrow of the Tokugawa shogunate, after the Meiji Restoration Etō Shinpei was appointed to a number of government posts, including Minister of Justice where he played a part in overhauling Japan's penal code. He resigned...
princesses; women; children (people by age group); men (male humans); flowers (plants); trees; swords; flutes (aerophones); hairstyles; hair ornaments
Under a summer moon in Oshu (Mustu Province), Princess Nadeshiko, who had been fulling silk, is attacked by the robber Tsuchikuro. She parries his sword thrust by throwing a fulling mallet into his face.
Meiji period color woodblock triptych depicting a group of bijin in an outdoor setting picking mushrooms. A waterfall is seen in the background in the center panel. Bright colors used in the image create a fantastic appearance.
women; men (male humans); kimonos; fans (costume accessories); snow (precipitation); trees; flowers (plants); hats; hair ornaments; hairstyles; built works
In 1338 the daughter of the governor of Iga Province went with her mother to the imperial palace in Kyoto, accompanied by the courtier Hino Suketoshi. One evening at a banquet for moon viewing, Suketoshi mistook Lady Nii's wine cup for his own, and...
men (male humans); women; kimonos; flowers (plants); parasols
Princess Sakura fell in love with the Buddhist monk Seigen of the Kiyomizu temple in Kyoto. He believes she is the reincarnation of a young acolyte he had loved many years before; Seigen and the boy had vowed a double suicide by leaping off the...
women; men (male humans); kimonos; folding screens; flowers (plants); swords
Princess Sen (1597-1666) was the oldest daughter of Tokugawa Hidetada and married at age 7 to Toyotomi Hideyori who died in 1615 at the Battle of Osaka Castle. She was then married to Honda Tadatoki, a Tokugawa ally, but when Tadatoki died in 1626,...
men (male humans); women; children (people by age group); kimonos; trees; flowers (plants)
According to a noh play, a woman from Mino Province had become a courtesan in the capital. Honoring a promise to a customer, she sent a treasured fan to Yoshida no Shosho, but because he did not respond, she went mad, wandering the streets and...
women; men (male humans); kimonos; trees; flowers (plants); swords; bodies of water; warriors; princesses
The 11th century warrior Omori Hikoshichi, according to the Taiheiki, had rescued Princess Chihaya, daughter of his former enemy Kusunoki Masashige (1294-1336). As Hikoshichi carried her across a river, he noticed in her reflection that she had...
men (male humans); women; children (people by age group); swords; flowers (plants); kimonos; lamps (lighting devices)
Minamoto no Mitsunaga sent his son Bijomaru to a temple to study and become a priest, but Bijomaru practiced martial arts instead. His father was angry and ordered his chief retainer Nakamitsu to kill Bijomaru. Nakamitsu could not bring himself to...
men (male humans); women; children (people by age group); kimonos; flowers (plants); vases; cabinets (case furniture); books; tables (support furniture); works of art
When Lu Ji was six years old, he traveled with his father to visit the Chief Minister of Nan Yang. The minister ordered his servants to bring a dish of oranges to offer to the young boy. Lu Ji secreted the fruit away in the sleeve of his robe. When...
men (male humans); women; kimonos; trees; flowers (plants); mountains; gardens; Single Built Works; fusuma
Kato Shigeuji, the military governor / daimyo of Chikuzen Province in northern Kyushu, became disillusioned with the sensual world and sought spiritual refuge on Mt. Koya, a monastic center on the main island of Honshu. Although he abandoned his...
