In an abstract space, a woman sits with her kitten next to a sewing box. She holds a ruler and has a bolt of cloth on her lap. This scene seems timeless and quite tranquil, although her attention is attracted to someone or something outside the...
group portrait; princes; women; kimonos; hairstyles; men (male humans); hair ornaments; flowers (plants); swords; toys (recreational artifacts); children (people by age group); banners; blinds (coverings); porches; carriages (vehicles)
The emperor appears at far left dressed in traditional court robes surrounded by his female attendants, some of whom are helping wheel a baby carriage and toy horses into the palace chamber. Being published in May 1878, this seems like a...
According to the Record of Ancient Matters / Kojiki, written about 712, Susano, the brother of the sun goddess Amaterasu, is expelled from the realm of gods and descends to the area called Izumo, where he discovered an old couple sheltering their...
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,...
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...
The 10th century poetic anthology Tales of Ise contains several verses that reportedly describe the love life of Ariwara no Narihira (825-880). According to legend, this handsome poet and courtier eloped with Fujiwara no Koshi (842-910) who was...
women; children (people by age group); bats (animals); trees; built works; bridges (built works)
As three bats / komori circle in the evening sky, two boys try to touch them with bamboo sticks while their mother and baby brother look on. Bats have long been a symbol of good luck in Northeast Asia because the words in Chinese for "bat" and for...
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...
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,...
women; kimonos; trees; men (male humans); bodies of water
The 9th century poet Ono no Komachi, according to legend, was asked by the emperor to pray for rain to end a drought. Dressed in court robes at a Shinto shrine, she reads her prayer; in response, lightning in the dawn sky indicates the rains will...
The famous warrior Minamoto no Yorimitsu (948-1021), also known as Raiko, was devoted to the goddess Benzaiten, who appeared to him in a dream and gave him a special bow and arrow to help him in the way of the martial arts.
women; children (people by age group); infants; kimonos; books; fans (costume accessories); toys (recreational artifacts)
Seven children are shown amidst toys, games and books. Two girls play ayatori / "string pulling" or cat's cradle, while a young lad looks at pictures of samurai / "warriors." An inu haiku / papier mache dog is at right, next to a fan, drum and...
Meiji period color woodblock print; a highly unusual design in Chikanobu's output. This design was obviously intended for the gaijin, and has been printed with an English title in the top margin. The eagle is depicted in its death throes, in the...
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...
men (male humans); women; kimonos; military uniforms; hats; swords; chandeliers; murals (any medium); interior spaces
A Meiji government official dressed in his Western style military uniform receives his cockaded hat from one female attendant while another holds his European style sword. The group stands in a Western style building, probably the home of this...
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...
legends (folk tales); women; men (male humans); kimonos; lanterns (lighting devices); children (people by age group); tables (support furniture); arches
The Nabeshima family, daimyo of Hizen Province, continued to be plagued by a cat monster (see Plates 34-35). According to legend, the mistress of the Lord of Saga Castle was killed by a cat monster that possessed her body and then slowly drained...
men (male humans); women; kimonos; trees; palanquins; Built complexes and districts
Okubo Hikozaemon Tadanori (1560-1639), a trusted advisor to Tokugawa Ieyasu, thought his neighbors had dishonored a pine tree given him by Ieyasu, and shot at them with his matchlock.
women; courtesans; monks; men (male humans); children (people by age group); kimonos; hair ornaments; trees
A famous courtesan of Sakai took the name "Jigoku," meaning "hell," and had images of hell displayed on her robes and on the clothes of her attendants. She exchanged poems with the Zen monk Ikkyu (1394-1481), who frequented brothels as part of his...
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...
