• Keyamura Rokusuke (毛谷村六助) doing penance for his mother at Hikosan Gongen [彦山権現] from the series <i>Twenty-four Paragons of Filial Piety of Our Country</i> (<i>Honcho nijushi-ko</i> - 本朝廿四考)
Keyamura Rokusuke (毛谷村六助) doing penance for his mother at Hikosan Gongen [彦山権現] from the series <i>Twenty-four Paragons of Filial Piety of Our Country</i> (<i>Honcho nijushi-ko</i> - 本朝廿四考)
Keyamura Rokusuke (毛谷村六助) doing penance for his mother at Hikosan Gongen [彦山権現] from the series <i>Twenty-four Paragons of Filial Piety of Our Country</i> (<i>Honcho nijushi-ko</i> - 本朝廿四考)
Keyamura Rokusuke (毛谷村六助) doing penance for his mother at Hikosan Gongen [彦山権現] from the series <i>Twenty-four Paragons of Filial Piety of Our Country</i> (<i>Honcho nijushi-ko</i> - 本朝廿四考)
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Utagawa Kuniyoshi (歌川国芳) (artist 11/15/1797 – 03/05/1861)

Keyamura Rokusuke (毛谷村六助) doing penance for his mother at Hikosan Gongen [彦山権現] from the series Twenty-four Paragons of Filial Piety of Our Country (Honcho nijushi-ko - 本朝廿四考)

Print

ca 1842 – 1843
7.125 in x 9.875 in (Overall dimensions) Japanese woodblock print
Signed: Ichiyūsai Kuniyoshi ga
一勇斎国芳画
Censor's seal: Muramatsu
British Museum
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
National Library of Australia
Lyon Collection - Hatsuhana by Kuniyoshi
Lyon Collection - Mongaku under a waterfall by Kunichika
Lyon Collection - 4 panel preparatory sketches including a person under a waterfall
Los Angeles County Museum of Art - a Kunisada version
Barry Rosensteel Japanese Print Collection, University of Pittsburgh In Roger Keyes doctoral dissertation on Yoshitoshi from 1982 he wrote about a print of Kesa Gozen: "Kesa Gozen was the wife of Minamoto Wataru, a courtier who lived at the end of the Heian period. Kesa fell in love with a samurai named Endō Morito, and after the two had consummated their relationship, Endō pressed Kesa to help him kill her husband. Kesa agreed, and it was decided that Endō should kill the man in his sleep. Kesa, however, resolved to take her husband's place, and it was she who was slain in the dark when Morito stole into her husband's chamber. Morito was stricken with remorse, renounced the world, became a priest in the Shingon sect, and spent days performing penance by standing in the icy water of Nachi Waterfall. Eventually, he was rescued by the diety Fudō..."

Later Keyes wrote on page 216 in reference to a vertical triptych by Yoshitosh: "After he accidentally murdered his lover Kesa, the samurai Endō Morito was overcome with remorse, shaved his head, and retired to the mountains to do penance by standing under Nachi Waterfall. It was winter, and after several days his body froze. The god Fudō Myōō, a protector of men, a savior of sinners, and the deity of many waterfalls, was convinced of his devotion and sent his acolytes Kongara and Seitaka to rescue the penitent."

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A gongen (権現) is an avatar or an incarnation of Buddha, that is, a bodhisattva. Hikosan, on the southern island of Kyūshū (九州), is a sacred location made up of three peaks which are the home of numerous sacred sites like the 49 caves which is a number related to the Buddha of the Future, Maitreya.

The origin of the precepts of Shugendō, a mystical, ascetic cult, is integrally tied to Hikosan.

There were miracle tales that grew up as Shinto lore. "...Shinto collections in Japan were also produced for kami such as the Hikosan gongen reigenki 彦山権現霊験記 (A Record of the Miraculous Efficacy of Hikosan Gongen, 1719)..."

This is quoted from footnote 41 of 'Forcing the Immovable One to the Ground: Revisioning a Major Deity in Early Modern Japan' by Kevin A. Bond, McMaster University, Ph. D. thesis paper.

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Keyamura Rokusuke the legendary 16th century swordsman doing penance for his mother by spending seven days in prayer under the waterfall at Hikosan Gongen. He is watched from above by two tengu.

There are some interesting allusions in this print. Much more common are the images of Mongaku sitting under a waterfall while being observed by Fudō Myōō's assistants. They are often placed in and have the same poses as the tengu seen here. There are two examples of Mongaku in the Lyon Collection. In one, a triptych by Toyoshige, he is praying near the waterfall. In the other by Kunichika Mongaku is in full penance mode, with a vajra bell held between his teeth. No gods are visible in this one. Our full attention is given over to the main character.

There is also a third example, but this time it is of a woman sitting under the relentless onslaught of a waterfall: Hatsuhana. Fortunately, the Lyon Collection has an example by Kuniyoshi of this one too.

Mike Lyon also owns a four panel preliminary drawing for a woodblock composition in which, in the far left panel two figures appear to be either holding someone under a waterfall or trying to extricate them. There is a link above.

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There are two copies of the same print by Kuniyoshi in the Lyon Collection where Rokusuke is struggling with kappa, a different kind of fantastical creature.

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Illustrated in:

1) in color in Heroes and Ghosts: Japanese Prints by Kuniyoshi 1797-1861 by Robert Schaap, Hotei Publishing, 1998, p. 64, no. 35.

2) in color in 原色浮世絵大百科事典 (Genshoku Ukiyoe Daihyakka Jiten), vol. 4, p. 70.

3) in color in Kuniyoshi 国芳 by Jūzō Suzuki (鈴木重三), Heibonsha Limited, Publishers, 1992, no. 144.

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Both copies of this print in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and in the British Museum are said to have been published by Muratetsu, i.e., Murataya Tetsu (Marks 360 - 村田屋鉄).
Yūrei-zu (幽霊図 - ghosts demons monsters and spirits) (genre)
mitate-e (見立て絵) (genre)
Murataya Tetsu (村田屋鉄) (publisher)
Fudō Myōō (不動明王) (role)
Tengu (天狗) (genre)
Mongaku Shōnin (文覚上人) (role)
Keyamura Rokusuke (毛谷村六助) (role)