Through autumn rains and winter snowstorms the love struck Shii no Shosho vowed to travel from Kyoto to Fukakusa for 100 successive nights in order to merit an opportunity to meet the 9th century poet Ono no Komachi, renown for her beauty and...
women; kimonos; trees; flowers (plants); bamboo; bridges (built works); built works
The famous poet Ki no Tsuruyuki (died 945) had an old plum tree, a family treasure, in his garden on the outskirts of Kyoto / Rakugai. When Emperor Murakami needed to replace a red plum at the palace, he sent his gardeners to take the Ki's tree,...
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...
A man in ragged robes sits on the ground before a yellow-flowering bush watching sparrows flying above him. Sanekata was a poet and high-ranking nobleman of the Fujiwara clan. He died in exile in 994. Toward the end of his political career,...
A man in ragged robes sits on the ground before a yellow-flowering bush watching sparrows flying above him. Sanekata was a poet and high-ranking nobleman of the Fujiwara clan. He died in exile in 994. Toward the end of his political career,...
Back to back print. A withered man in tattered robes, with a deadened look on his face, sits in a chair with a candle on his head; he is viewed with shock by a younger man.
In late 6th - early 7th centuries, Japan sent several embassies to China to...
Beneath drying autumn grasses, the aged Komachi sits gazing at the moon. Ono no Komachi was a beautiful, intelligent woman and one of the most accomplished early court poets. As a young woman she was pursued by many suitors, most of whom she...
A girl and 7 women watch a performance of noh / no theater in which dancers dressed as 2 Chinese lions / Kara shishi frolic amidst peony flowers. Lion dances / shishi mai have a long history in China and Japan, often associated with protecting a...
women; kimonos; trees; flowers (plants); parasols; shores (landforms); children (people by age group); fishing; boats
Four women on a hillside overlook the pine-covered Ama-no-hashidate sand bar stretching into Miyazu Bay, considered one of Japan's three most scenic views. The woman standing on the left wears a black haori over a blue kimono and holds a closed...
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...
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...
legends (folk tales); women; kimonos; lanterns; children (people by age group); fusuma; interior spaces; foxes (animals)
An image of a woman, with a fox's head (seen through a screen) walking through a door, leaving her child behind in the house. Foxes, or kitsune, are mysterious, magical creatures with powers many times greater than those of badgers. Sometimes...
When he was sixteen, Prince Usu of Yamato was sent by his father to suppress a rebellion by the Kumaso, an aboriginal tribe to the west. Before leaving the prince visited his aunt, from whom he borrowed female clothes. Upon his arrival at the...
When only eleven years old, Michizane composed his first poem in Chinese. The plum blossom was Michizane's favorite flower, and he would often write about its fragile petals and delicate fragrance. Here the artist has depicted the young poet...
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...
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...
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.
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; men (male humans); kimonos; lanterns (lighting devices); waterfalls (natural bodies of water); hats; pipes (smoking equipment); sandals; Japanese maple; built works; palanquins
The Nikko area in the mountains north of Edo/Tokyo is famous for autumn colors and for the many waterfalls that feed into Lake Chuzenji. In this view Hannya is on the right and the higher Hoto at left. Chikanobu shows two elegantly dressed ladies,...
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...
