men (male humans); women; dresses (garments); hats; military uniforms; chairs; chandeliers; murals (any medium); vases
After the Meiji Restoration of 1868, Emperor Meiji moved the Imperial residence to Tokyo (formerly Edo) from Kyoto. Here Japanese men and women in European dress attend a banquet in the new Imperial Palace in Asakusa in 1888, a residence modeled on...
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...
Hino Sukemoto was exiled to Sado Island and executed seven years later. His son Hino Kumawakamaru, returned to Sado and revenged his father's death, killing his father's enemy with the same sword used to execute his father. In this print the boy...
This popular series that illustrates the war stories of the Heike monogatari was first published in 1898-99 by Fukuda Heijiro and then reissued (in this case in 1906 by a different publisher). The later editions are less subtly colored, but the...
legends (folk tales); men (male humans); women; children (people by age group); swords; kimonos; waterfalls (natural bodies of water); baskets
The 24 Paragons of Filial Piety are based on a compilation of Confucian tales of exemplary behavior by children to their elders. In this tale, Chi Shun went into the forest to gather mulberries for his widowed mother, throwing the ripe, black...
Between 1885 and 1892 Yoshitoshi published a series of 100 individual woodblock prints depicting figures from Japanese and Chinese legend, history, literature, and theater. These are the contents pages for the series, designed by the calligrapher,...
Miyagino and Shinobu, whose whose farmer father was murdered by the samurai Shiga, swore to avenge his death. In secret they trained themselves in the martial arts. They then went to the local daimyo and challenged Shiga to a duel, killing him in...
women; kimonos; children (people by age group); snow (precipitation); trees; hats
Tokiwa gozen had to flee Kyoto in the dead of winter after her husband Minamoto no Yoshitomo (1123-60) was murdered and their home pillaged. (See Plate 55) Here she clasps to her chest their youngest son Ushiwaka, wrapped in orange brocade; he will...
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,...
Group Portrait; interior spaces; canopies (structural elements); men (male humans); robes (main garments); hats
Three men in Chinese robes sit on a platform while two others with drawn swords stand before them. Gao of Han (commonly known as Gaozu, personal name Liu Bang), was the first emperor of the Chinese Han Dynasty, ruling over China from 202 BC until...
A woman with a large yellow and black umbrella (open) is accompanied by three white herons. The relationship of the animal kingdom to the world of human beings is close in rural societies. People feel a kinship with the wild creatures around them. ...
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...
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...
Kibi no Makibi (695?-775) was sent to study in China in 717, and returned to Japan 19 years later to be the imperial adviser to Princess (and later Empress) Koken (reign 749-758). While abroad he was often homesick, especially when he saw the moon...
The Battles of Coxinga/ Kokusenya kassen is based on the true adventures of Coxinga/ Watonai, a warrior of Chinese and Japanese parentage, who fought for the restoration of the Ming Chinese government after its defeat in the 17th c. by Manchu...
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...
Lord Nabeshima Naoshige (1538-1618), the military governor (daimyo) of Hizen Province, is being threatened by the Cat Monster of Saga, which is seeking revenge for the deaths of Ryuzoji Matahichiro and his mother. Killer cats have long been a...
Lord Nabeshima Naoshige (1538-1618), the military governor (daimyo) of Hizen Province, is being threatened by the Cat Monster of Saga, which is seeking revenge for the deaths of Ryuzoji Matahichiro and his mother. Killer cats have long been a...
legends (folk tales); robes (main garments); children (people by age group); boys; sandals
Back to back print. A man in a priest's robes and headdress cups the chin of a young boy standing beside him; a rosary dangles from his right wrist. The boy, dressed in traveling clothes, grasps the priest's wrist and lays his face in the man's...
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...
