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...
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,...
men (male humans); women; kimonos; hairstyles; hair ornaments; hats; swords; trees
Nakamura Shikan IV (1830-1899) stars in the role of the evil Matsunaga Daizen Hisahide (1510-1577), who has caused the murder of the shogun Ashikaga Yoshiteru (1536-1565) and seized control of the imperial capital of Kyoto. Daizen is flanked here...
An image of monsters coming out of a basket, threatening an old man. An old man and an old woman were neighbors. Every evening the old man fed a sparrow that visited him. When he returned home one day he was disturbed not to see the sparrow and...
legends (folk tales); men (male humans); caves; bats (animals)
While hunting with the shogun, the 12th-century samurai Nitta ShirÅ Tadatsune distinguished himself by seizing and killing a wounded boar about to attack the shogun. A couple of days later, Tadatsune was walking on Mt. Fuji, and he and his...
folk tales; women; kimonos; grasses (plants); birds (animals)
Tamamo no mae was the beautiful and learned concubine of the Emperor Toba. One evening during a banquet, the wind rose and the lights went out, and the emperor became ill. The court magician declared this the sorcerous work of the concubine, who...
An ornately costumed man wearing a mask dances on spring green grass before a waterfall and surrounded by cherry blossoms. A printed screen hangs from a rope before him.
The medieval warrior Mori Rikimaru stands with his bloodied spear and two severed heads slung around his neck as trophies. On May 15, 1868 two thousand troops loyal to the shogunate fought a desperate battle at Ueno, in Edo, near the tombs of some...
Back to back print. The warrior Minamoto Yoshitomo (1123-1160) died in his efforts to overthrow the imperial chancellor Taira Kiyomori. Here Yoshitomo is shown bidding farewell to his wife Lady Tokiwa just before departing on his unsuccessful...
tables (support furniture); men (male humans); armchairs
Back to back print. Kibi Daijin sits on a tiger-pelt covered red chair at a red table, looking down at the top. The scholar Kibi no Mabi (693-775) was sent as an emissary to China by the Japanese emperor, but before he was allowed to present his...
Although the Heike forces had fled to boats off the shore of Yashima, one vessel turned back to the beach. At its prow stood a young woman, dressed in beautiful court garments, who took a folding fan decorated with the rising sun emblem 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...
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...
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...
A woman in an ornately patterned blue kimono stands before a flowering tree. A box is tucked into the edge of the red kimono she wears beneath the blue one; beneath this we see three white layers. She wears a cluster of gold flowers on each side of...
horseback riding; men (male humans); women; emperors; empresses; kimonos; military uniforms; flags; folding screens; boats; horse racetracks; fireworks (visual works); mountains; ponds; Single Built Works; Built complexes and districts
Horseracing at Ueno Park in Tokyo was a popular pastime from 1884 to 1893, and prints of the emperor and empress attending the races were quite popular. Several different versions of the same scene by Chikanobu are known, including one issued...
women; kimonos; hand mirrors; hair ornaments; hairstyles
A beauty applies powder to the back of her neck with a brush. She is using two mirrors to aid her, one before her and a hand mirror held behind her to reflect the back of her head into the first mirror. Fine lines are depicted in the hair reflected...
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...
Rakugo / "humorous storytelling" is shown in the circular scene, with the narrator seated on a stage before an audience of young and old. A wall poster suggests that this is the famous Enshi Danshuro (1838-1900) who was popular for his tales based...
women; children (people by age group); kimonos; books; clocks; tables (support furniture); cabinets (case furniture); calligraphy
Two girls and their mother are enjoying books. One daughter is kneeling before an open illustrated volume, holding a pointer to help her read. Her sister, standing behind, holds another thread bound book, similar in color to the cover of the one...
