Two women and a girl prepare musical instruments for a concert. The woman at center holds a lute or biwa, that is ornamented with a plectrum guard featuring a deer under a full moon. The biwa was popular as an accompanying instrument to songs and...
A bride is being escorted to her wedding accompanied by several married women. They are passing a table with an arrangement of auspicious figurines and floral elements. Two figurines are Jo and Uba, an elderly couple who symbolize longevity and...
At New Year's playing with silk thread balls / itomari was popular among girls and women. Such hand balls / temari were filled with natural sponges for bouncing or with cloth or hair if used for rolling, tossing or just decoration. Here two older...
porches; blinds (coverings); women; men (male humans); children (people by age group); flowers (plants); trees; kimonos; swords
The Heike leader Taira no Kiyomori (1118-1181), at right, stares down at Lady Tokiwa Gozen, whose husband, Minamoto no Yoshitomo (1123-1180), was recently killed. She had fled Kyoto with her three sons, concerned that the Heike forces would kill...
women; men (male humans); warriors; armor (protective wear); trees; kimonos; bodies of water; fans (costume accessories)
Lady Iga was in service to Emperor GoDaigo (1288-1339), who was exiled to the mountains of Yoshino where he established an alternative imperial court. His palace there was haunted by the ghost of Sasaki Kiyotada, who had been executed after poorly...
Watanabe no Tsuna (953-1025), one of Minamoto Yorimitsu's four lieutenants (see Plate 115), volunteered to investigate strange appearances at Rashomon, the great gateway to Kyoto. There he encountered a beautiful but mysterious woman, who later...
The warrior Kato Kiyomasa (1562-1611) rescuing women from the ruins of Fushimi Castle after an earthquake struck the Kyoto area on 05 September 1596. More than 500 people were killed when the castle tower and walls collapsed. Kiyomasu brought many...
warriors; swords; halberds; women; kimonos; men (male humans); hats; trees; mountains; Built complexes and districts
The courtesan Oiso no Tora was the lover of Soga Juro Sukenari (1172-1193), who with his brother sought revenge on Kudo Suketsune. (See plate 159) Suketsune had murdered their father, and for many years the Soga brothers plotted their retribution....
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...
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...
Within the series of more than 20 triptychs, at least 2 have close-up scenes, in which the figures dominate the composition. When viewing these images mounted in a handscroll format, the sudden appearance of these large forms in quite jarring...
