Utagawa Kuniyoshi (歌川国芳) (artist 11/15/1797 – 03/05/1861)
Shiōren Sajima-no-kami Masataka (四王連左可馬頭政高), #29 (廿九) from the series Heroes of the Great Peace (Taiheiki eiyūden - 太平記英勇傳)
ca 1848 – 1849
9.875 in x 14.5 in (Overall dimensions) Japanese woodblock print
Signed: Ichiyūsai Kuniyoshi ga
一勇斎国芳画
Artist's seal: kiri
Publisher: Yamamotoya Heikichi
(Marks 595 - seal 04-007)
Censor seals: Mera and Murata
Number 29: 廿九
Text: Ryūkatei Tanekazu (柳下亭種員)
British Museum
Tokyo Metropolitan Library - Yoshiiku's 1867 version of this same figure
Muzeum Sztuki i Techniki Japońskiej Manggha, Krakow
Royal Museums of Art and History, Belgium (via Cultural Japan)
State Hermitage Museum
Museum of Oriental Art in Venice (via Ritsumeikan University) What is happening in this scene?
Masataka, a vassal of Akechi Mitsuhide, is pursuing Hideyoshi, who wants revenge for the death of Oda Nobunaga. In a dramatic scene Hideyoshi rides his horse over the heads of his enemies and flees up a narrow path. Masataka follows closely behind. According to legend Hideyoshi makes it to the temple of Kōtokuji and quickly shaves his head and puts on the robes of an acolyte monk so he can blend in. Some say he hid out among others men in the kitchen. Masataka entered the temple and demanded that they hand over Hideyoshi. Here Masataka is seen unfurling a sutra with his spear with little regard for the sanctity of either the text of the local.
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In the early nineteenth century Tsuruya Namboku IV wrote a play for Matsumoto Koshirō IV. It was called Toki wa ima kikkyo no hataage (時今也桔梗旗揚) or 'The Standard of Revolt'. It dealt with the events leading up to the death of Oda Nobunaga. "In this play the character of Mitsuhide is on the whole a sympathetic one, but in the more famous Ehon Taikoki...he is depicted as a complete villain. This is because his motive in killing Harunaga [the historical Oda Nobunaga] was not simply to avenge the insults heaped on him. If he had killed Harunaga and then committed suicide, he would have been a hero. Because he wished to seize Harunaga's power he is a villain."
Quoted from: The Kabuki Handbook by Aubrey and Giovanna Halford, p. 335.
Akechi Mitsuhide, a former ronin, became a retainer of Nobunaga, but in time tensions developed between them. Nobunaga worried about Mitsuhide's ambitions and Mitsuhide worried about threats to his possessions and stature. This led to Nobunaga's death. The same fate came to Nobunaga's son and favorite page.
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The British Museum describes this print as "Shioren Sajima-no-kami Masataka holding up a scroll of Buddhist scripture with his spear."
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The name Shiōren can also be read as Shiōden. Masataka was a vassal of Akechi Mitsuhide. He was sent to stop or slow down Hideyoshi who was marching toward an attack on Akechi in Kyoto.
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Illustrated:
1) in a full-page color reproduction in Heroes of the grand pacification: Kuniyoshi's Taiheiki eiyū den by Elena Varshavskaya, Hotei Publishing, 2005, p. 117.
Varshavskaya gives the translation of the text as:
[Shiōren Sajima-no kami Masataka] was a vassal of Toki... and a warrior of matchless daring. Ordered by his lord, he, together with Akashi Ridayū... had selected over seventy excellent warriors and made an ambush under the guise of peasants building a road between Kamagasaki Nishinomiya in Settsu provice. While they were waiting for the enemy general... to arrive on his return from Chūgoku, just as they expected, a solitary horseman riding ahead of his troops reached that place. They saw him and were going to surround and kill him but the enemy general showed no sign of alarm. He whipped up his horse, leaped over the heads of the attackers and onto the footpath between the rice fields and dashed up to the front gates of the Buddhist temple of Kōtokuji. Noticing, however, that Shiōren was closely pursuing him [the rider] cut his horse twice with the sword at the back near the spleen and turning the horse towards Masataka, set it free. The path was narrow, no doubt, and there was no way for Shiōren [to escape]. Enraged, he caught the horse by its front legs and tossed it into the midst of the wet rice fields. [Shiōren] entered the temple to search it but as the general's destiny was high and so was his intelligence, he instantaneously changed his appearance for that of an acolyte and remained in the kitchen. Masataka could not find him, and leaving, he passed again through the front gates and unexpectedly fell in with Satō Toranosuke... who was hurrying to the same place. They announced their names and grappled. Both were celebrated brave warriors. Without a gap from right to left or front to rear, the skilful heroes were combating. the time passed, but there seemed to be no end to the duel. At a certain they simultaneously threw away their large swords and closed with one another making desperate efforts. They wrestled violently, cutting their feet by earth and sand. Despite the unparalleled courage of Masataka, his fate had run out, and finally, defeated by Masakiyo... he fell in combat.Varshavskaya wrote of this print: "The warrior is shown bareheaded in full armour with a sutra scroll unrolled as he searches the temple using his spear. The composition might be a visual allusion to an episode from The Taiheiki. When the prince of the Great Pagoda hid himself in containers for sutras, his pursuers turned over sutra boxes in search for him."
2) in black and white in 'Pictorial formulae of martial attributes in Kuniyoshi's warrior prints' by Elena Varshavskaya in Andon, September 1998, fig. 6, p. 7. Varshavskaya wrote on p. 8: "Another vivid example of exploiting a similar device in order to produce an impression of impregnable strength is the portrait of Shioden Tajima no kami Masataka who appears here under the name of Shioren Tajima no kami Masataka (fig. 6). A retainer of the rebel Akechi Mitsuhide, Shioden Masataka had the task of attacking Hideyoshi, who was eager to revenge his betrayed lord, Oda Nobunaga. When confronted with the unexpected ambush, Hideyoshi made a narrow escape riding the single path leading to the isolated temple of Kotokuji. Assured of his victory Shioden followed him but Hideyoshi disappeared without a trace. According to legend he quickly shaved his head and mixed among the monks of the monastery. Shioden is depicted searching the temple and unrolling a sacred scroll. Represented here in full size he is also slightly bent forward, his feet apart, the protective plates of the armour are turned in such a way as to be shown to full advantage."
Yamamotoya Heikichi (山本屋平吉) (publisher)
warrior prints (musha-e - 武者絵) (genre)
Taiheiki (太平記) (genre)
Ryūkatei Tanekazu (柳下亭種員) (author)