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...
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...
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...
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...
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,...
children (people by age group); hair ornaments; hairstyles; kimonos; dolls
This series depicts a variety of girls and women in both modern and traditional costumes. Some hold fans, flowers or books, while others play musical instruments, read the newspaper or drink beverages. Nearly all have their heads turned slightly,...
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...
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...
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...
Meiji period color woodblock print depicting the head of a young bijin wearing a kimono decorated with wisteria and holding a closed fan. The upper part of the print pictures a festival with an elephant float. Kansei no Koro.
The series, "Mirror...
women; hairstyles; hair ornaments; kimonos; children (people by age group); pictures (object genre)
Meiji period color woodblock print depicting a large head portrait of a young bijin wearing a kimono decorated with colorful calligraphy.
The series, "Mirror of the Ages" presents a group of fifty-three bust portraits of beauties from the Kenmu...
An image of a woman holding a severed head. The beautiful but evil woman who ruined a nation by seducing its ruler away from his duties was a familiar subject during certain periods of Chinese and Japanese history. In the popular imagination, the...
men (male humans); women; children (people by age group); kimonos; flowers (plants); vases; cabinets (case furniture); books; tables (support furniture); works of art
When Lu Ji was six years old, he traveled with his father to visit the Chief Minister of Nan Yang. The minister ordered his servants to bring a dish of oranges to offer to the young boy. Lu Ji secreted the fruit away in the sleeve of his robe. When...
depictions; men (male humans); women; children (people by age group); kimonos; interior spaces; fude; artists' brushes
A man with a handlebar mustache kneels on a red rug drawing irises on paper with an ink brush. A woman holding a towel and wearing a half-dozen hairsticks in her elaborate coiffure stands beside him. A small child sits at her feet stirring...
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...
An image of a woman, bound, with hair in her mouth. Over the two-year period from 1887 to 1888, Yoshitoshi produced his last and most accomplished set of "newspaper prints" as supplements to the Yamato newspaper. Muraoka (1786-1873) was a...
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,...
depictions; men (male humans); taiko; warriors; spears (weapons); swords
Yoshitoshi depicts a real character: Oishi Kuranosuke--chief of the famous forty-seven ronin of Ako--about to lead the night attack on Lord Kira's mansion. Yoshitoshi probably included Kuranosuke in this series of the 24 Accomplishments in Imperial...
Ota Dokan approached an inn on a rainy day to request the loan of a rain coat. Instead, the maid brought him a Yamabuki flower on a tray. Her meaning was expressed by the poem "Although having many petals the Yamabuki, to our regret, has no seed."...
