(all artworks are sold without the "Calliope's Bucket" stamp)
Woodblock prints have been restored as closely as possible to their intended colors and appearance, with extensive research into the original pigments. Seams from folding and scuffs have also been removed. The print you are viewing is as close to a fresh print as possible, in the spirit of the Ukiyo-e tradition.
Many of these prints were produced for ephemeral purposes, as advertisements for Kabuki plays, or as political satire, they were also often used as household artworks. The meaning of Ukiyo-e, "Pictures of the Floating World" reflects this ephemerality. Most Ukiyo-e prints are between 100 and 250 years old and the printing blocks have often been lost. Due to the nature of the production process, and the frequent recarving of printing blocks, there is no original in the sense of western artworks, Ukiyo-e prints were printed tens to hundreds of times.
The signature on each print gives the name of the artist, the woodblock carver, and the inspecting censor.
Utagawa Yoshitora (歌川芳虎, active about 1836 - 1887). Yoshitora was the oldest student of Utagawa Kuniyoshi, 歌川 國芳, 1798 -1 861), and produced over 60 print series and illustrated over 100 books. In 1849 Yoshitora produced an irreverent print called Dōke musha: Miyo no wakamochi ("Funny Warriors—Our Ruler's New Year's Rice Cakes"), which depicts Oda Nobunaga, Akechi Mitsuhide, and Toyotomi Hideyoshi making mochi rice cakes for the shōgun Tokugawa Ieyasu.
An accompanying poem reads "Kimi ga yo wo tsuki katametari haru no mochi" ("Tamping down the reign firm and solid like spring rice cakes"). Censors interpreted the print as a criticism of authority and had Yoshitora put in manacles for fifty days. Soon after Yoshitora was expelled from Kuniyoshi's studio, possibly due to the print, but he continued to produce illustrations prolifically.
From the 1860s Yoshitora produced Yokohama-e pictures of foreigners amid rapid modernization that came to Japan after the country was opened to trade. He collaborated on a number of landscape series, and in the Meiji period that began in 1868 he also worked in newspapers. The last of his known works appeared in 1882.
"Minamoto Yoshitsune Reversed Oars" (Minamoto Yoshitsune sakaro no zu - 源義経逆櫓之圖) triptych
An exceptional print with astonishingly intricate hand carved details.
This print depicts an incident prior to the Battle of Yashima, on March 11th 1185, a naval battle which forms a prelude to the more well known Battle of Dan-no-ura, which was pivotal in the defeat of the Taira (also known as the Heike) clan against the Minamoto (which translates as “origin” and who share the same ancestry as the current Japanese imperial family). The Minamoto are also known as the Genji. Both battles occurred at the end of the Genpei War, which had by this time been proceeding for 5 years, since the 1180 Battle of Uji. At this time the Taira had suffered a string of defeats, but were still in possession of the Imperial Regalia in the fortress of Takamatsu, just off the coast of Shikoku, where Emperor Antoku, the Taira claimant to the throne, had taken refuge. On March 18th, a Minamoto naval force had attempted to cross the narrow straits and storm the Taira fortress, but were turned back by a storm, with many of their ships suffering severe damage. Four days later, with the sea still whipped by high winds, the famous samurai Minamoto no Yoshitsune (源 義経, 1159 – June 15, 1189, on the right side of the print being held back by his retainers), crossed the sea with 150 of his men, taking only 5 of the 200 ships in the Minamoto fleet, and accompanied by the the famous warrior monk Saitō Musashibō Benkei (西塔武蔵坊弁慶, 1155–1189, upper center of print, being blocked by a vassal with raised hands). Benkei was known for carrying, in addition to a sword, a broad axe (masakari), a rake (kumade), a sickle (nagigama), a wooden mallet (hizuchi), a saw (nokogiri), an iron staff (tetsubō), and a Japanese glaive (naginata). All of these are shown in the print.
Prior to Yoshitsune's departure, Kajiwara Kagetoki ((梶原 景時, c. 1162 – February 6, 1200, lower left with grey hair, headband, and closed fan), a Taira samurai who had become a spy for the Minamoto after defecting from the Taira when sent to pursue the fleeing Minamoto no Yoritomo (after the Taira victory at the Battle of Ishibashiyama, in 1181), suggested that Yoshitsune install reversible oars on his ships, to be able to retreat more rapidly in the event of a Minamoto defeat. Yoshitsune was disgusted by this suggestion, which he viewed as stemming from abject cowardice, and immediately attempted to draw his sword and attack Kagetoki, accompanied by Benkei. Both men had to be restrained by their vassals. Yoshitune, while surviving this incident, was eventually killed in battle Suruga in 1200, having alienated nearly the entire Minamoto clan with his constant indulgence in intrigue and treachery.
Yoshitsune successfully crossed the sea, landing at Tsubaki Bay, in Awa Province. He then advanced into Sanuki Province by night, reaching the Taira Imperial Palace in the bay at Yashima. Yoshitsune deceived the Taira by lighting bonfires on the land to the rear of the palace, leading to expect a large Minamoto force approaching by land, rather than by sea as they initially supposed. The Taira abandoned the palace and took to their ships, along with the infant Emperor Antoku, and the imperial regalia. The Minamoto fleet intercepted the fleeing Taira and destroyed a number of their ships, but most of the Taira fleet escaped to Da-no-ura, where they were defeated on April 25, 1185. On realizing a Taira defeat was inevitable, Taira no Tokiko (平 時子, 1126–1185) took the six year old emperor Antoku in her arms and leapt into the sea, carrying the Sacred Sword, one of the three items (the others are the mirror and jewel) in the imperial regalia. The sword was officially reported to have been retrieved by divers and enshrined at Atsuta Shrine, although order this sword is possibly a reproduction or another from the same period. Heikegani crabs (平家蟹, ヘイケガニ, Heikeopsis japonica) are common in the seas around Dan-no-ura, and are said to bear the faces of angry Heike samurai, reincarnated as crabs after their defeat in battle.
"Minamoto Yoshitsune Reversed Oars" (Minamoto Yoshitsune sakaro no zu - 源義経逆櫓之圖) triptych, a set of three separate panels
or
This triptych is also available as one contiguous artwork.
Approximate image size for each separate panel:
11" x 14" fine art paper - image size for each panel 5.9" x 12"
13" x 19" fine art paper - image size for each panel 10.8" x 16
ts)
13" x 19" fine art paper - image size (contiguous) 8.3" x 17"
17" x 25" fine art paper - image size (contiguous) 11.3 x 23"
Product code: Order Minamoto Yoshitsune Reversed Oars - triptych (Minamoto Yoshitsune sakaro no zu - 源義経逆櫓之圖)