Background
The Edo/Tokyo artist Toyohara Chikanobu (豊原周延 1838–1912; also Yôshû Chikanobu 楊洲周延 and real name Hashimoto Naoyoshi 橋本直義) had training in Kanô-school painting, but he preferred ukiyo-e. He began his studies with a disciple of Keisai Eisen (渓斎英泉 1790-1848). He then joined the studio of Ichiyûsai Kuniyoshi (歌川國芳 1798-1861) around 1852, using the name Yoshitsuru. After Kuniyoshi's death, he studied with Utagawa Kunisada (歌川國貞 1786-1865), sometimes signing as Yôshû (楊洲), and finally with Toyohara Kunichika (豊原國周 1835-1900), calling himself Isshunsai Chikanobu and focusing on actor portraiture. Once established, Chikanobu created print designs with many themes, foremost among them bijinga (美人画 pictures of beautiful women) and sensô-e (戦争絵 pictures of war or warrior prints), including many triptychs depicting events from the aforementioned Boshin War as well as the Satsuma Rebellion (Seinan Sensô: 西南戦争) in 1877. Other subjects included historical scenes, Kabuki, famous places (meisho 名所絵), portrayals of the emperor, and pastimes of women. As a late master of bijinga, he produced numerous images and series of beauties in single sheets, diptychs, and triptychs.
For more about Toyohara Chikanobu, see Chikanobu Biography.
Design
Chikanobu's war triptych is based on a tale about the enemies Minamoto no Yoshiie (源義家 1039-1106) and Abe no Sadato (安倍貞任, 1019-1062) who engaged, incongruently, in a linked-poem competition (renga, 連歌) at the Battle of Koromogawa during the the Zenkunen War (Zenkunen no Eki, 前九年の役). The fighting lasted for twelve years, or nine if one subtracts brief intermittent periods of ceasefire and peace.
Minamoto no Yoshiie is considered the founder of the Minamoto clan's great martial legacy, and he is worshipped as a particularly special and powerful ancestor kami (high-ranking provincial lord, 守). As a kami and a legend, he is often called Hachimantarô, "Child of Hachiman, the God of War."
Centered in the composition, Yoshiie rides a magnificent gray steed as he pursues Sadato, who looks back at his adversary. Yoshiie grips both his bow and an arrow in his left hand, ready to assault his rival. Sadato is drawn in smaller proportions, meant to indicate distance, but to the Western-trained eye, he seems to float, untethered, to the rule of single-point vanishing perspective.
The Waseda University Tsubouchi Memorial Theater Museum has the center and right sheets only in its collection (011-0111 and 011-0112).
References:
- Bruce Coats: Chikanobu: Modernity and nostalgia in Japanese Prints. Leiden: Hotei Publishing, 2006 (N.B., plate no. 204).
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