Minneapolis Institute of Art

Battle Standards and Banners [left of a pair]

Japan

Date

18th century

Medium

Six-panel folding screen, one of a pair, ink and color on paper

Department

Asian Art

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

Over seven hundred battle standards and banners, representing about two hundred samurai, parade across this pair of six-panel folding screens. Banners refer to rectangular flags that were attached to a pole with a cross-rod at the top, while standards vary in shape and size, ranging from simple square flags to fuzzy balls to helmets. In battle, banners and elaborate standards were erected at the headquarters of military commanders, while their soldiers wore smaller standards on their backs as identification. Many famous warriors’ banners and standards appear on the screen, including those of the three Great Unifiers of Japan: Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu. Tokugawa Ieyasu was the founder of the Tokugawa shogunate, which ruled Japan for 250 years. Asia

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