A man in ragged robes sits on the ground before a yellow-flowering bush watching sparrows flying above him. Sanekata was a poet and high-ranking nobleman of the Fujiwara clan. He died in exile in 994. Toward the end of his political career,...
A man in ragged robes sits on the ground before a yellow-flowering bush watching sparrows flying above him. Sanekata was a poet and high-ranking nobleman of the Fujiwara clan. He died in exile in 994. Toward the end of his political career,...
men (male humans); women; mountains; trees; kimonos
The upper panel shows the Chinese boy Shun with a hoe and the main image has a Japanese woman with a hoe. According to the Guo Jujing story, Shun was so diligent in plowing his parents' field, even though they were cruel to him, that elephants came...
This scene is from the 2nd act of the long play "The Precious Incense and Autumn Flowers of Sendai" / Meiboku Sendai hagi, first written in 1777 for the Osaka kabuki stage in and then greatly expanded in 1785 for the puppet theater, the reverse of...
Although Lady Matsushima was an attendant of the shogun Minamoto no Sanetomo (1192-1219), Hojo Tomotoki (1193-1245), second son of the regent Hojo Yoshitoki, frequently sent her love letters, even though she was deeply in love with Wada Asahina...
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...
warriors; kimonos; hats; swords; fans (costume accessories); women
The Heike warrior Taira Kagekiyo (died 1196) had been captured at Dan-no-ura but escaped and was hunted down by Hatakeyama Shigetada (1164-1205). Shigetada blinded Kagekiyo and imprisoned him in a cave. Despite repeated tortures, Kagekiyo continued...
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...
group portrait; princes; women; kimonos; hairstyles; men (male humans); hair ornaments; flowers (plants); swords; toys (recreational artifacts); children (people by age group); banners; blinds (coverings); porches; carriages (vehicles)
The emperor appears at far left dressed in traditional court robes surrounded by his female attendants, some of whom are helping wheel a baby carriage and toy horses into the palace chamber. Being published in May 1878, this seems like a...
men (male humans); women; kimonos; hairstyles; hair ornaments; hats; swords; trees
Nakamura Shikan IV (1830-1899) stars in the role of the evil Matsunaga Daizen Hisahide (1510-1577), who has caused the murder of the shogun Ashikaga Yoshiteru (1536-1565) and seized control of the imperial capital of Kyoto. Daizen is flanked here...
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; 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...
An image of two women. In a series of seven prints, Yoshitoshi depicted the consorts of the Meiji Emperor. These two women before a waterfall are thus identified with Wednesday (water day). While the new Meiji government allowed artists more...
An image of a beautiful woman and an old crone with a lamp made of peony flowers. The Peony Lantern is a ghostly romance adapted from an old Chinese tale by the novelist Encho in 1884. The chilling story was extremely popular and was dramatized...
women; kimonos; flowers (plants); trees; Single Built Works
Within the Edo Castle inner compound was a garden area that was designed to resemble a quiet mountainous region, with rustic teahouses / ochaya where the women of the Inner Palace could relax as if in a country village. Two such thatched roof...
acrobats; men (male humans); children (people by age group); boys; girls
According to this poster the Chiarini Italian Circus group would be performing at Akihabara in the Kanda District of Tokyo from the first of September 1886. While Japan had a long tradition of jugglers, acrobats and other circus-like public...
flags; men (male humans); military uniforms; ships; rifles (long guns); boats; swords; banners; Built complexes and districts
Following the destruction of the Japanese legation buildings in Seoul and the escape from Incheon of the minister and his staff, the Japanese government decided to retaliate. Hanabusa Yoshimoto was sent back to Korea with 3 warships and several...
women; children (people by age group); kimonos; leaf (plant material); cups
On an autumn outing, this boy holds tightly to his balloon string and his mother's fingers. He looks straight out at the viewer, and his smiling face suggests he could be a real handful. His mother has a firm grip on him, though, as she enjoys the...
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...
