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,...
women; children (people by age group); kimonos; fans (costume accessories); oil lamps; fruit; stoves (heating equipment); Single Built Works; tables (support furniture); men (male humans)
Meiji period color woodblock print from the "Parody of 24 Paragons of Filial Piety" series, depicting the dutiful son Gomo eating a pomegranate. Above them Wu Meng has lit a smoking fire to protect his father from mosquitoes.
men (male humans); women; children (people by age group); lanterns (lighting devices); benches; pots
Meiji period color woodblock print from the "Parody of 24 Paragons of Filial Piety" series, depicting the dutiful son of Kakkyo drinking from his mother's cup watched by a pet dog. Above them in a cartouche Kakkyo and his wife are unearthing a pot...
men (male humans); women; kimonos; Single Built Works; trees; sandals
Meiji period color woodblock print, depicting a young beauty tying up her sandal laces as she and another girl, balancing a pile of kindling on her head, are preparing to walk home.
The book entitled The Twenty-four Paragons of Filial Virtue was...
An old, bearded man holding a feather fan floats above a young man in white with a sword. A bucket and dipper sit in the background. Tengu are forest creatures with long noses who can fly and fight fiercely; his supernatural status is indicated in...
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...
Back to back print. A man in a blue robe and a black samurai hat stands holding a fan; a younger man in a red kimono and holding a sword sits at his feet. Behind them is a screen painted with crane, and through an open doorway one can see a stone...
Back to back print. A man in a blue kimono and hakama stands and reaches for his sword at his side, while a woman in voluminous robes lies at his feet on the ground.
Kusunoki Masatsura (1326-1348) was one of those samurai doomed to a brief life...
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...
legends (folk tales); men (male humans); caves; torches (lighting devices)
Yoshitoshi here depicts an incident in which the 12th-century samurai Nitta Shirō Tadatsune discovered a mysterious cave on Mt. Fuji. While his companions were afraid to enter, the samurai seized a torch and entered the darkness. In a large...
Four of the great Meiji Period kabuki actors are represented in this triptych. Nakamura Shikan IV (1830-1899) in the role of Takeda Shingen (1521-1573) is at far right, next to Ichikawa Danjuro IX (1839-1903) playing the part of Rakuganji...
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...
Back to back print. A warrior in armor carries another across his back from the battlefield. The battle behind him is represented by black, swirling clouds and red flashes. Okubo Hikozaemon (1560-1639) was one of Tokugawa Ieyasu's trusted generals...
Hino Sukemoto was exiled to Sado Island and executed seven years later. His son Hino Kumawakamaru, returned to Sado and revenged his father's death, killing his father's enemy with the same sword used to execute his father. In this print the boy...
Miyagino and Shinobu, whose whose farmer father was murdered by the samurai Shiga, swore to avenge his death. In secret they trained themselves in the martial arts. They then went to the local daimyo and challenged Shiga to a duel, killing him in...
Back to back print. Kesa Gozen was a beautiful and virtuous married woman whose cousin, Endo Morito, fell in love with her. She rejected his persistent advances, but eventually fearing for her husband's safety in the face of Endo's obsession, she...
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...
A woman kneels with a lotus plant in her hand looking over at a snake rearing beside her; the woman wears a black nun's robe over her kimono and a large lotus leaf forms a halo around her head. The background of the print is delicately shaded from...
