Minneapolis Institute of Art

Picture of Masakiyo's Challenging Battle as Retold in the Chronicle of the Great Peace

Tsukioka Yoshitoshi; Publisher: Yamashiroya Jinbei; Carver: Tanaka Ushinosuke

Date

1866, 10th lunar month

Medium

Woodblock print (nishiki-e), ink and color on paper

Department

Asian Art

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

Instead of depicting a standard battle scene with samurai fighting each other, Yoshitoshi captures the blast of an explosion in this unusual composition. The shock waves, rendered by black and gray swirls, whirl an uncountable number of warriors through the air. Pictures portraying historical warriors from after the year 1573 (the end of the previous shogunate of the Ashikaga clan) were forbidden by the Tokugawa government. The title of this print therefore suggests that its source is the Chronicle of the Great Peace (Taiheiki), a historical epic covering the period from 1319 to 1367. The captured warriors, however, are actually from a later period. The name of the warrior on horseback on the right is inscribed as Satō Kazue-no-kami Masakiyo, which is a fantasy name for Katō Kiyomasa (1562–1611). Kiyomasa was an ally of the warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537–1598), who is regarded as Japan’s second Great Unifier. Another ally was Kimura Shigenari (1593–1615), here called Shimura Masazō Katsutoyo. He wears green armor and appears at bottom left. Asia

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