Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

Ashmolean − Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

Kuniyoshi’s Heroes of China and Japan

A catalogue of the Ashmolean’s collection of warriors by Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1798-1861) by Oliver Impey and Mitsuko Watanabe (published Oxford, 2003).

Kuniyoshi’s Heroes of China and Japan by Oliver Impey and Mitsuko Watanabe

Publications online: 20 objects

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The warrior Saitō Toshimoto Nyūdō Ryūhon fighting an enemy underwater

  • Literature notes

    Saitō Toshimune, ?-1625, (here Saitō Toshimoto Nyūdō Ryūhon) was a son of Saitō Toshizō as was a brother of the well-known Kasugano Tsubone (1579 – 1643) who became the powerful leader of the ladies’ court. Toshimune was originally a subject of Akechi Mitsuhide and later became a vassal of the Katō Kiyomasa with whom he took part in the Korean Invasions, and of Tokugawa Hidetada (1579-1632) after Kiyomasa’s death. At a certain battle in Korea, one of the enemies was a huge man, ‘more than two metres tall’ with a ‘tiger-like beard’ whom nobody except Toshimume, also known as a strongman, dared to fight. Wrestling with each other, they fell into deep water. Eventually, Toshimume appeared victoriously on the surface of the water with the head of his enemy, earning high praise from Kiyomasa.

    In this print, ‘Toshimoto’ is on top of his enemy fighting the Chinese hero underwater.
  • Description

    Here Kuniyoshi depicts an underwater fight between the warrior Saitō Toshimitsu and a giant Chinese opponent. The location of the scene at the bottom of a moat is indicated by the detail of the two fish on the left – a device that Kuniyoshi used in several compositions. The text explains that the fight took place in the distant land of ‘Orangai’, a veiled reference to the warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s attempted invasion of Korea in 1592.

  • Details

    Series
    Tales of Heroes of the Chronicles of the Great Peace
    Associated place
    AsiaJapanHonshūKantōTōkyō prefecture Tōkyō (place of creation)
    AsiaJapanHonshūKantōTōkyō prefecture Tōkyō (place of publication)
    Date
    1847 - 1850
    Artist/maker
    Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797 - 1861) (designer)
    Ryūkatei Tanekazu (1804 - 1858) (author)
    Associated people
    Yamamotoya Heikichi (active early 19th century - 1886) (publisher)
    Saitō Toshimitsu nyūdō Ryūhon (c. 1566 - 1625) (subject)
    Murata Heiemon (active 1843 - 1853) (censor)
    Mera Ta’ichirō (active c. 1848 - 1853) (censor)
    Material and technique
    woodblock print, with bokashi (tonal gradation)
    Dimensions
    mount 55.4 x 40.3 cm (height x width)
    sheet 36.1 x 25 cm (height x width)
    Material index
    Technique index
    Object type index
    No. of items
    1
    Credit line
    Presented by George Grigs, Miss Elizabeth Grigs, and Miss Susan Messer, in memory of Derick Grigs, 1971.
    Accession no.
    EA1971.55
  • Further reading

Location

    • currently in research collection

Objects are sometimes moved to a different location. Our object location data is usually updated on a monthly basis. Contact the Jameel Study Centre if you are planning to visit the museum to see a particular object on display, or would like to arrange an appointment to see an object in our reserve collections.

 

Publications online

  • Kuniyoshi’s Heroes of China and Japan by Oliver Impey and Mitsuko Watanabe

    Kuniyoshi’s Heroes of China and Japan

    Saitō Toshimune, ?-1625, (here Saitō Toshimoto Nyūdō Ryūhon) was a son of Saitō Toshizō as was a brother of the well-known Kasugano Tsubone (1579 – 1643) who became the powerful leader of the ladies’ court. Toshimune was originally a subject of Akechi Mitsuhide and later became a vassal of the Katō Kiyomasa with whom he took part in the Korean Invasions, and of Tokugawa Hidetada (1579-1632) after Kiyomasa’s death. At a certain battle in Korea, one of the enemies was a huge man, ‘more than two metres tall’ with a ‘tiger-like beard’ whom nobody except Toshimume, also known as a strongman, dared to fight. Wrestling with each other, they fell into deep water. Eventually, Toshimume appeared victoriously on the surface of the water with the head of his enemy, earning high praise from Kiyomasa.

    In this print, ‘Toshimoto’ is on top of his enemy fighting the Chinese hero underwater.
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Object information may not accurately reflect the actual contents of the original publication, since our online objects contain current information held in our collections database. Click on 'buy this publication' to purchase printed versions of our online publications, where available, or contact the Jameel Study Centre to arrange access to books on our collections that are now out of print.

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