Book

Donated to the museum in 1933 by Exeter-resident Lieutenant-Colonel R.J. Saumarez.

Page 1: Utagawa Yoshitora (active c.1836 -1887)
Date: 1863
Publisher: Maruya Tetsujiro (Enjudo publishing house)
This depicts a scene at the court of the Kamakura shogunate. On the raised tatami is sitting Minamoto no Sanetomo 源實朝公 (1192-1219, r. 1203-1219), the third shogun of the Kamakura Shogunate and the last head of the Minamoto clan. He was a talented poet, with one of his tanka poems being included in the anthology 100 Poems by 100 Poets (Ogura Hyakunin Isshu). He was assassinated on New Year's Day in 1219 by his nephew Minamoto no Yoshinari, shortly after participating in a ceremony celebrating his nomination to the honorary court position of Minister of the Right (Udaijin 右大臣). Since he is given the title ‘Udaijin Minamoto no Sanetomo’ in this print, I wonder if this scene is shortly before his death. Sadly the narrative panel at the top has been cropped so it is hard to make out what is being said. I haven’t been able to track down another copy of this print.

Page 2: Utagawa Yoshitora (active c.1836 - 1887)
Date: 1862
Publisher: Yamadaya Shojiro
Ashikaga Yoshimitsu is known as the shogun who ended the imperial division of Japan (between the Northern and Southern Courts) in 1392. It is interesting that Yoshitora has depicted Yoshimitsu travelling eastwards with Mount Fuji in the background of this print even though Yoshimitsu was actually based further west in the Kansai area.

Page 3: Utagawa (Gountei) Sadahide (1807 - 1878/9)
Date: 1866
Publisher: Enshuya Hikobei
Block carver: Katada Horinaga
View of the sunrise in Shinagawa in the Eastern capital. Although this looks like a typical Sadahide Yokohama-e, with the foreign ‘black ships’ in the harbour, it is actually a view of Shinagawa in Edo. The print is surely inspired by the Hiroshige’s famous depiction of Shinagawa, Shinaga hinode, the second print in his Hoeidō ‘53 Stations of the Tokaido’ series (in the exhibition!). As in Hiroshige’s print you can just glimpse a daimyo procession passing along the street of shops and restaurants. The cranes flying overhead are auspicious symbols, representing longevity and good fortune.

Page 4: Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797 - 1861)
Date: 1860
Publisher: Izumiya Ichibei
Akamatsu Castle attacked by flooding. This triptych is typical of the 'great armies' genre that was popular with Utagawa School artists in the mid-19th century. These big set piece prints revived scenes from the Japan’s medieval past, when the powerful warrior clans battled for control of the country before final unification under the Tokugawa shoguns. Ukiyo-e artists were officially banned from depicting actual historical events involving the shogunate, but as censorship began to be relaxed in the 1860s, print designers found a ready market for previously censored historical imagery.

‘Akamatsu Castle’ is really Takamatsu Castle, which was besieged by Toyotomi Hideyoshi in 1582. After a month or two of siege, Hideyoshi built dykes to divert a nearby river and flooded the castle, leading to a quick surrender.

Page 5: Utagawa Yoshitora (active c.1836 - 1882)
Date: 1853
Publisher: Sanoya Kihei
The Great Battle of Uji River.

Page 6: Utagawa Kunitsuna (active c.1820 - 1865)
Date: 1861
Publisher: Katoya Iwazo
Race at the Great Battle of Uji River
Both prints depict the second of two dramatic battles that took place in 1183 at the Uji River, during the Genpei wars (between the Minamoto and Taira clans). Both prints show the two Minamoto warriors Sasaki Takatsuna 佐々木高綱 and Kajiwara Kagesue 梶原景李 leading the Minamoto forces across the flooded river. The two competed to cross first, an incident that was famously recounted in the medieval epic, The Tale of The Heike, and was a popular subject of paintings and of musha-e warrior prints.

Page 7: Utagawa Yoshitora (active c.1836 - 1887)
Date: 1862
Publisher: Maruya Tetsujiro
The battle of Yashima at Dannoura was a major sea battle of the Genpei War, occurring at Dannoura in the Shimonoseki Strait off the southern tip of Honshu. On 24 March, 1185, the Genji (Minamoto) clan fleet, led by Minamoto no Yoshitsune, defeated the Heike (Taira) clan fleet, and this battle inspired many print designs.

Page 8: Morikawa Chikashige (active c.1689 - 1882)
Date: 1866
Publisher: unknown
This print shows the warrior Minamoto no Yoritomo and his men hiding from their enemies in a tree during the Genpei War (1180-1185). After his defeat at the Battle of Ishibashiyama, Yoritomo was being followed through the Hakone Mountains by warriors from the Taira clan. One of these warriors, Kajiwara Kagetoki (in the centre here with a bow), was secretly a supporter of Yoritomo. When the Taira soldiers came upon the tree where Yoritomo was hiding, Kagetoki stuck his bow into the tree. This startled two doves that flew away from the tree (see here top left). Kagetoki convinced the other Taira soldiers that no one could be in the tree with the doves, thus allowing Yoritomo to escape. The Minamoto side eventually won the war, and Yoritomo became the military ruler of the county.

Page 9: Utagawa Kunitsuna (1805 - 1868)
Date: 1862
Publisher: Echizenya Heisaburo
The Great War between the Minamoto and Tairo clans

Page 10: Utagawa Yoshifusa (active c.1837 - 1860)
Date: 1859
Black carver: Hori Kane
Publisher: Kiya Sojiro
Presumably this print is making reference to the Battle of Anegawa of 1570, between the allied forces of Oda Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu and the combined forces of the Azai and Asakura clans. As it was forbidden to depict recent political events, the battle name may have been ‘disguised’ in order to avoid censorship.

Page 11: Toyohara Kunichika (1835 - 1900)
Date: 1862
Publisher: Yamada Shojiro
This print makes reference to the Duel of Takadanobaba of 1694, in which Horibe Yasubei (1670-1703, later to become one of the famous forty-seven rōnin, seen here in the centre), bravely defeated several warriors.

Page 12: Toyohara Kunichika (1835 - 1900)
Date: 1859
Publisher: Yamadaya Shojiro
The female demon-robber Omatsu (right) being killed by Natsume Sentarō (centre) at the Kasamatsu mountain pass. The red cartouche top left explains the events depicted. The story was include in the popular kabuki play, 'Shinpan koshi no shiranami'.