Taira no Atsumori in the Battle of Ichinotani
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.Ukiyo-e printmakers of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries focused as a rule on depictions of actors and women of the demimonde, not to mention erotica for popular consumption. But ukiyo-e artists also participated in the popularization of the Japanese literary classics by producing easy-to-afford pictures of favorite episodes. Here, for instance, the celebrated warrior Taira no Atsumori appears mounted on a horse near shore amid a naval battle recorded in the medieval martial epic Tale of the Heike, which chronicles the Genpei wars of 1170–85.
Sugimura, who rarely signed his prints, was one of the ukiyo-e artists active during the same period as the celebrated print artist, book illustrator, and painter Hishikawa Moronobu (died 1694) in his final years.
Sugimura, who rarely signed his prints, was one of the ukiyo-e artists active during the same period as the celebrated print artist, book illustrator, and painter Hishikawa Moronobu (died 1694) in his final years.
Artwork Details
- 伝杉村治兵衛画 一の谷合戦の平敦盛
- Title: Taira no Atsumori in the Battle of Ichinotani
- Artist: Attributed to Sugimura Jihei (active ca. 1681–97)
- Period: Edo period (1615–1868)
- Date: ca. 1684–1700
- Culture: Japan
- Medium: Woodblock print (tan-e); vertical ō-ōban
- Dimensions: Frame: 27 5/8 × 18 1/2 in. (70.2 × 47 cm)
Image: 22 7/8 × 12 3/4 in. (58.1 × 32.4 cm) - Classification: Prints
- Credit Line: Lent by Lee E. Dirks
- Curatorial Department: Asian Art