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...
This later Setsu gekka series, which numbers at least 30 prints, is rather lyrical in its depiction of seasonal change. Flower petals flutter to the ground as a little dog tugs on its leash. Mist crosses a full summer moon as Niwaka Festival...
This scene is from the 2nd act of the long play "The Precious Incense and Autumn Flowers of Sendai" / Meiboku Sendai hagi, first written in 1777 for the Osaka kabuki stage in and then greatly expanded in 1785 for the puppet theater, the reverse of...
The alleged poisoning of the great warrior Kato Kiyomasa (1562-1611) was the subject of a kabuki play that premiered in 1807, but due to government censorship at the time, the main character's name was changed Sato Masakiyo. According to legend,...
Moonlight gives a soft pink glow to the cherry blossoms and falling petals. The woman at center carries a woven bamboo lantern that also shines up into the tree limbs. The breeze that caused a cascade of petals has also touched her sleeves to sway,...
The book entitled "The Twenty-four Paragons of Filial Piety" was written by the Chinese scholar Guo Jujing during the Yuan Dynasty. The book recounts the extremes to which twenty-four sons and daughters go to honor their elders. This type of print...
Oto no Miya (1308-1335), also known as Prince Morinaga, was the son of Emperor Godaigo who had been forced into exile in 1331. Morinaga led an army against the military dictatorship in an attempt to restore the monarchy. Yoshitoshi uses an...
A woman, slightly bent over, grasps her hair at the river's edge. Kiyohime was the daughter of an innkeeper at the village of Masago. Anchin was a devout monk at Dojo Temple on the banks of the Hidaka river. Each year Anchin stayed at Kiyohime's...
warriors; battles; men (male humans); swords; armor (protective wear); rosaries
Shima Sakon Tomoyuki was once one of the principal kerai ('vassals') of Tsutsui Junkei (1549-84), later became a retainer of Ishida no Mitsunari (1560-1600), the most important figure on Toyotomi Hideyori's staff who fought against Tokugawa Ieyasu...
One night, as Tadamori sat with the Emperor, they received a report that a monster--a figure with spikes growing out of its head and a flaming mouth--was on the road leading to the temple of Yasaka no Yashiro, and that it had been seen on the road...
mythology (literary genre); children (people by age group); men (male humans); mirrors; robes (main garments); hats; kimonos; supernatural
An image of a child watching a scene in a mirror, held by a demon. Back to back print. As Michizane was about to die, he ascended Mt. Tempai in Kyushu to declare his innocence of political corruption charges and to beseech the gods to clear his...
Hanai Oume, who formerly had been a geisha under other names, was the owner of the Suigetsu restaurant in Tokyo. The night of June 9, 1887, she killed a man named Kamekichi on the banks of the Sumida River and afterward was arrested and charged...
mythology (literary genre); children (people by age group); men (male humans); mirrors; robes (main garments); hats; kimonos; supernatural
Enma (the demon king of the underword) is showing the boy Zennojo his father's crimes in a magic mirror. The child Zennojo crouches before the mirror held by a red demon. Behind him, a blue, horned demon stands, pointing at the mirror and showing...
men (male humans); women; swords; monks; Gods; waterfalls (natural bodies of water)
The figure crouching on a rock beneath a waterfall is Mongaku (1139-1203), who was born into the Watanabe military clan and initially named Endo Morito. However when he was in his late teens, he decided to become a Buddhist monk and changed his...
women; children (people by age group); kimonos; candles; candleholders; fusuma
During the Setsubun / "Change of Season" festival held at the end of winter by the lunar calendar, mame-maki / "bean throwing" is accompanied by shouts of "Fuku wa uchi, oni wa soto" / "Good fortune in, demons out!" The beans are usually thrown out...
men (male humans); women; Japanese maple; trees; kimonos; swords; streams; mountains; warriors
The heroic figure Minamoto no Yorimitsu (948-1021), together with his entourage called the "Four Heavenly Kings / Shitenno," was asked to clear Mt. Oe of the demon Shuten Doji, who ate men and captured beautiful women to serve him. Here they...
