101 Great Samurai Prints

Utagawa Kuniyoshi, John Grafton

• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9780486465234
• eBook ISBN: 9780486155227
• Topic: Art
• Subtopic: Art General

One of the last great names in the Japanese ukiyo-e style, Utagawa Kuniyoshi was an undisputed master of the warrior woodblock print. Born in Tokyo in 1797, his talent became evident by the tender age of 12, when he became an apprentice to a famous print master. Starting out with vivid illustrations of cultural icons—including Kabuki actors and Japanese heroes—he moved on to a unique treatment of warrior prints, incorporating elements of dreams, omens, and daring feats that characterized his distinctive style. These dramatic eighteenth-century illustrations represent the pinnacle of his craft. One hundred and one full-color portraits of legendary samurai pulse with movement, passion, and remarkably fine detail. A must for collectors of Japanese art and a perfect first work for those who want to start their own collection, it includes brief captions and a new introduction.

NOTE

UTAGAWA KUNIYOSHI, 1797–1861, was one of the great nineteenth-century masters of the ukiyo-e style of Japanese woodblock prints. He was born in Edo (Tokyo) and achieved his earliest great success in the 1820s with the first of his many prints of rebels and bandits illustrating a popular Japanese adaptation of a fourteenth-century Chinese novel, The Suikoden. Though he worked on many other subjects throughout his career, such as landscapes, beautiful women, comic and natural history prints, etc., these early dramatic subjects established his connection with the warrior prints which were one of his leading preoccupations and which are the subject of the two series reprinted in this volume. Among Kuniyoshi’s many students was the major artist Yoshitoshi Tsukioka. Kuniyoshi died following a stroke on April 14, 1861.

This volume contains 101 Kuniyoshi prints, which comprise the following two series:

Taiheiki eiy

den (Heroic Biographies from the “Tale of Grand Pacification”), 50 prints.

The 50 prints in this series are concerned with the major warriors of the last phases of the Japanese civil wars of the sixteenth century, including Oda Nobunaga (1534–1582), the subject of the first print in the series, who worked to unify Japan under his authority but fell short of his goal when some of his supporters including Akechi Mitsuhide (print #9) turned against him and forced Nobunaga to commit suicide. It fell to Toyotomi Hideyoshi (#50) to complete Nobunaga’s plan when he became, by 1590, the undisputed ruler of Japan. In this series of 50 prints Kuniyoshi portrays these powerful samurai from this complex and exciting period of Japanese history.

Some of the other major figures pictured in this series are:

#2: Imagawa Yoshimoto. One of the leading feudal lords in Japan up to his death in 1560.

#3: Shibata Shurinosuke Katsuie. One of Nobunaga’s commanders. During the intrigue following Nobunaga’s death, he was defeated by Hideyoshi’s forces and was forced to commit suicide.

#11: Sakai Ukon Masanao. A retainer of Nobunaga, killed at the battle of the Anagawa, 1573.

#35: Hayashi Hanshir

Taketoshi, a retainer of Akechi Mitsuharu (#31). They were defeated by Hideyoshi at the battle of Uchide-hama, 1582.

#39: Oda Nobutaka. The third son of Nobunaga, he attempted to avenge his father’s death, but fell into the hands of his enemies and under pressure from Hideyoshi and others, ended his life a suicide.

Seich

gishi den (The Faithful Samurai), 51 prints.

The 51 prints in this series portray all of the major figures in a true tale of samurai bravery and heroism which has always been enormously popular in Japan, the story of the 47 “...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• NOTE