women; men (male humans); folding screens; kimonos; knives
According to the text panel, which reads like a police report, Tokunaga Bin attacked and stabbed seven people at the Sugidoya in the New Yoshiwara pleasure quarters on the 23rd day of the 7th month of 1879. A native of Fukushima Prefecture, this...
According to the Record of Ancient Matters / Kojiki, written about 712, Susano, the brother of the sun goddess Amaterasu, is expelled from the realm of gods and descends to the area called Izumo, where he discovered an old couple sheltering their...
"At 3 am on July 29 a battle commenced and after five hours our troops were completely victorious" begins the text panel account of this print. Chikanobu depicts two officers leading the assault with the nation's flag held high. A Chinese canon in...
women; men (male humans); kimonos; military uniforms; drums (membranophones); flutes (aerophones); biwa; swords; fans (costume accessories)
The emperor, empress and five court ladies at right observe a traditional shirabyoshi dancer. While the imperial couple sit in chairs at a table, their attendants kneel on the carpeted verandah. Also on the porch is an enormous flower arrangement...
women; men (male humans); kimonos; emperors; hats; blinds (curtains); knives
According to legend, the 16 year old Emperor GoKomatsu (1377-1433) greatly loved a woman whose family had ties to the former Southern Court in Yoshino, so that when she became pregnant, suspicions were raised by other imperial concubine about her...
women; men (male humans); kimonos; masks (costume); tables (support furniture); screens (furniture); built works
The 11th century Tale of Genji was parodied by Ryutei Tanehiko (1783-1842) in his serial novel False Murasaki, Rustic Genji / Nise Murasaki, Inaka Genji with Mitsu-uji substituted for Prince Genji and all the other characters slightly changed. Here...
women; kimonos; children (people by age group); porches; men (male humans); Single Built Works; blinds (coverings); swords
Two married women and a young girl are shown leaving a gated compound, and the text panel indicates that one is the wife of the warrior Kajiwara Kagesue (1162-1200) who has taken a branch of cherry blossoms. At right is a young messenger boy...
maps; ships; boats; flags; swords; halberds; rifles (long guns); military uniforms; Built complexes and districts; soldiers
In July 1882 dissatisfied Korean military units rebelled against King Kojong's government, surrounding his palace, destroying the homes of Queen Min's relatives, overrunning police stations to free political prisoners, and attacking the Japanese...
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...
An image of a warrior with sword and bow and arrows in the foreground, looking back at human/demon forms dancing in the background. Minamoto no Tametomo was, like Oniwaka/Benkei (7), an extremely violent youth. By the time he was fifteen he is...
An image of a warrior with sword and bow and arrows in the foreground, looking back at human/demon forms dancing in the background. Minamoto no Tametomo was, like Oniwaka/Benkei (7), an extremely violent youth. By the time he was fifteen he is...
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...
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. 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...
legends (folk tales); robes (main garments); children (people by age group); boys; sandals
Back to back print. A man in a priest's robes and headdress cups the chin of a young boy standing beside him; a rosary dangles from his right wrist. The boy, dressed in traveling clothes, grasps the priest's wrist and lays his face in the man's...
According to the text panel, "Ransen was originally a person from Japan, and even though she was a woman, she had a pure heart and acquired the magic of the immortals, riding dragons and floating on clouds without end." From other sources, she...
