Utagawa Yoshitora: Flooding the castle of Akamatsu - Japanese Art Open Database

Artist: Utagawa Yoshitora

Title: Flooding the castle of Akamatsu

Date: Not set

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Source: Japanese Art Open Database
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Saturday, 4 June 2005 Signed: Ichimosai Yoshitora ga Date: c. 1850 Publisher: Izumi-ya Ichibei Size: six-panel oban print (c. 36. 5 x 24. 5 cms / 14 3/8" x 9 5/8", each sheet) Condition: Fine impression and colors, minimal trimming, else fine condition. - Very rare when complete in all six panels as here. - ref. No.: # 571588 Price: ? 3,600.00 YOSHITORA was one of the leading pupils of Utagawa KUNIYOSHI (1797 - 1861) whose stylistic influence of the warrior prints is quite obvious in this design. It was the immense popularity of such prints in these years that resulted in a large output of legendary and historical depictions by Kuniyoshi and his pupils, among them artists like Yoshiiku, Yoshitoshi and Yoshitora, to name just the three most prolific and talented. The scene depicted in this wide panorama deals with the attack on the castle of the AKAMATSU clan in the early 14th century, by the immensely talented general Kusunoki Masashige, during the regency of the emperor Go Daigo trying to reunite and bring peace to the country. Musashige whose crest was a chrysanthemum flower, is seen here at the bottom of the fourth panel from the left commanding the attack on horseback, pointing to the flooded castle with his ceptre. See: H. L. Joly, "Legend in Japanese Art", London 1908/1972, no. 536, p. 308.

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