Masakiyo’s Challenging Battle, from Taiheiki (Chronicle of great peace)

Tsukioka Yoshitoshi Japanese

Not on view

This triptych pictures warriors caught up in an explosion. Cartouches identify them as Satō Masakiyo, on horseback at far right, and Shimura Masazō Katsutoyo, tossed upside down at left—both characters from the early medieval epic Taiheiki (Chronicle of great peace). In fact, these men are the historical figures Katō Kiyomasa (1562–1611) and Kimura Shigenari (1593–1615), allies of the leader Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537–1598). The artist assigned them aliases to avoid censorship laws banning images of samurai who lived after end of the medieval period.

Masakiyo’s Challenging Battle, from Taiheiki (Chronicle of great peace), Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (Japanese, 1839–1892), Triptych of woodblock prints (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper, Japan

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