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...
legends (folk tales); men (male humans); robes (main garments);
In Japanese and Chinese legend eight magical cassia trees grow on the moon. Their red leaves in autumn are said to give the harvest moon its color. The trees' seeds bestow immortality and also give the power of invisibility to those who eat them....
In China and Japan, the constellations Vega and Altair are called the Weaver Maiden and the Herdsman. Legend says that after Shokiyo, the Weaver Maiden, fell in love with and married Kengi, the Herdsman, she became distracted and failed in her duty...
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...
portrait; men (male humans); helmets; mountains; bays (bodies of water)
The warlord Takeda Shingen sits on a deerskin-covered stool wearing an ornate helmet decorated with antlers and flowing white hair; his sword's scabbard is made of tiger skin, and his boots of bearskin. Shingen attempted repeatedly to seize the...
legends (folk tales); men (male humans); robes (main garments)
In Japanese and Chinese legend eight magical cassia trees grow on the moon. Their red leaves in autumn are said to give the harvest moon its color. The trees' seeds bestow immortality and also give the power of invisibility to those who eat them....
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...
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...
Obata Sukerokuro Nobuyo was a brave, young, faithful retainer of Ishida. Ishida was defeated in war, and Nobuyo spied among his enemies to discover the fate of his master, Ishida. Nobuyo was captured by the enemy, but was released because of his...
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...
Rashomon was the main gate into Kyoto and haunted by the demon Ibaraki, which lived in the rafters of the gate. Here, the hero Watanabe no Tsuna approaches the gate astride a prancing, blue-eyed, brown horse in a tremendous downpour indicated by...
portrait; men (male humans); robes (main garments); stringed instruments (musical instruments); biwa; women; trees
After the Hogen Rebellion in 1156, the courtier and musician Fujiwara no Moronaga (1137-1192) was exiled to the island of Shikoku. That autumn he consoled himself with a visit to Mt. Miyaji. Yoshitoshi depicts Fujiwara no Moronaga playing a biwa by...
portrait; men (male humans); robes (main garments); stringed instruments (musical instruments); biwa; women; trees
After the Hogen Rebellion in 1156, the courtier and musician Fujiwara no Moronaga (1137-1192) was exiled to the island of Shikoku. That autumn he consoled himself with a visit to Mt. Miyaji. Yoshitoshi depicts Fujiwara no Moronaga playing a biwa...
A woman, in distress, is jumping in a river. The moon is setting and two white herons rise from the water near her. The story behind the image is: When her father lost his money and was jailed, Chikako tried to win his release. To prove herself a...
legends (folk tales); men (male humans); natural landscapes
The Indian prince Daruma is seated on a pile of straw in a ruin, absorbed in meditation. The moon shows through a hole in the wall with a vine silhouetted in front of it. Daruma is wrapped in a richly colored red robe and has finely detailed curly...
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...
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,...
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...
history paintings; spears (weapons); executions (events)
The label on verso reads: "He entered into enemy castle as a spy, but was captured and crucified but continued to defend his master and spoke against his enemies til his last breath." - artist Nonin Ikkisai. In 1575 Horii Tsuneemon, a retainer of...
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...
