YOSHIIKU . Kasuya Takenori . Heroes of the Taiheiki . Japanese Woodblock Print Ukiyo-e - Utagawa Yoshiiku (1833-1904) - Japan - Edo Period (1600-1868)
Artist: Utagawa Yoshiiku (1833–1904)
Title: Kasuya Naizen-no-shō Takenori (糟屋内膳正武則) — No. 58 (五十八) of the series
Series: Taiheiki Eiyūden – Biographies of the Heroes of the Taiheiki
Date: Japan, 1867 (late Edo period)
Publisher: Hirookaya Kōsuke (Kikujudō)
Format: Chūban, approx. 24 × 18 cm
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CONDITION
Excellent. The impression and colors are with remarkable freshness. The paper is very well preserved with no flows to mention. A museum-quality impression!
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ABOUT THE PRINT:
Kasuya Takenori (1562–1607) was one of the Seven Spears of Shizugatake, the seven young retainers who made their names at Hideyoshi's victory over Shibata Katsuie in 1583 — the battle that effectively settled who would succeed Nobunaga. Arindo's text above the figure tells the story that got him there: his father, Kasuya Sukeuemon, served Bessho Nagaharu in Miki Castle. On the night before the castle fell, he slipped out to the besiegers' camp, entrusted his small son to them, and returned to die fighting the next day. Hideyoshi, moved by the gesture, raised the boy himself and later had him take his father's name. Takenori went on to hold Kakogawa in Harima, backed the losing Western side at Sekigahara in 1600, and lost everything.
Yoshiiku gives him to us as an older man, white-haired and weathered, planted squarely in the middle of a field already littered with dropped spears. He carries the banner pole himself — deep indigo cloth with a white mon, crowned by a gilt dragonfly finial, the katsumushi or "victory insect" that samurai took as a good omen because a dragonfly only ever flies forward. The armour is the real display piece: turquoise and green lacing built up in dense horizontal bands, red and gold trim, black shin guards worked in fine diaper pattern, straw waraji on his feet. A red-lacquered spear cuts diagonally across the whole composition.
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ABOUT THE SERIES:
This series ranks among the most technically demanding chūban prints of the Edo period. Each print required over eight different woodblocks with precise registration and elaborate bokashi techniques. But these are not merely visually complex works of art—many of these prints hold genuine historical significance. It's like collecting pieces of a puzzle of Japanese history! The texts on the reverse and the characters depicted offer insights into one of Japan's most turbulent eras. With 100 prints in the complete series, collecting them is a true pleasure—each print tells the story of a different hero.
Estimate
Time, Location
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Artist: Utagawa Yoshiiku (1833–1904)
Title: Kasuya Naizen-no-shō Takenori (糟屋内膳正武則) — No. 58 (五十八) of the series
Series: Taiheiki Eiyūden – Biographies of the Heroes of the Taiheiki
Date: Japan, 1867 (late Edo period)
Publisher: Hirookaya Kōsuke (Kikujudō)
Format: Chūban, approx. 24 × 18 cm
________________________________________________
CONDITION
Excellent. The impression and colors are with remarkable freshness. The paper is very well preserved with no flows to mention. A museum-quality impression!
________________________________________________
ABOUT THE PRINT:
Kasuya Takenori (1562–1607) was one of the Seven Spears of Shizugatake, the seven young retainers who made their names at Hideyoshi's victory over Shibata Katsuie in 1583 — the battle that effectively settled who would succeed Nobunaga. Arindo's text above the figure tells the story that got him there: his father, Kasuya Sukeuemon, served Bessho Nagaharu in Miki Castle. On the night before the castle fell, he slipped out to the besiegers' camp, entrusted his small son to them, and returned to die fighting the next day. Hideyoshi, moved by the gesture, raised the boy himself and later had him take his father's name. Takenori went on to hold Kakogawa in Harima, backed the losing Western side at Sekigahara in 1600, and lost everything.
Yoshiiku gives him to us as an older man, white-haired and weathered, planted squarely in the middle of a field already littered with dropped spears. He carries the banner pole himself — deep indigo cloth with a white mon, crowned by a gilt dragonfly finial, the katsumushi or "victory insect" that samurai took as a good omen because a dragonfly only ever flies forward. The armour is the real display piece: turquoise and green lacing built up in dense horizontal bands, red and gold trim, black shin guards worked in fine diaper pattern, straw waraji on his feet. A red-lacquered spear cuts diagonally across the whole composition.
________________________________________________
ABOUT THE SERIES:
This series ranks among the most technically demanding chūban prints of the Edo period. Each print required over eight different woodblocks with precise registration and elaborate bokashi techniques. But these are not merely visually complex works of art—many of these prints hold genuine historical significance. It's like collecting pieces of a puzzle of Japanese history! The texts on the reverse and the characters depicted offer insights into one of Japan's most turbulent eras. With 100 prints in the complete series, collecting them is a true pleasure—each print tells the story of a different hero.
Estimate
Time, Location
Auction House
