Utagawa Kuniyoshi (歌川国芳) (artist 11/15/1797 – 03/05/1861)
The Battle of the Uji River (Ujigawa kassen no zu - 宇治川合戦之図)
1849
30 in x 14.5 in (Overall dimensions) color woodblock print
Sighed: Ichiyūsai Kuniyoshi ga
一勇斎国芳画
Artist's seal: kiri
Publisher: Enshūya Hikobei
(Marks 055 - seal 22-005)
Censor seals: Kinugasa and Yoshimura
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
British Museum
Honolulu Museum of Art
Harvard Museum of Arts
Keio University Library
Waseda University - right panel
Waseda University - middle panel
Waseda University - left panel
Tokyo Fuji Art Museum - the outer prints of the earlier ca. 1831 triptych
Google maps - Seta River, then called Ujigawa - we don't know the exact location of the battle yet, but will try to find out
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston - 1854 version of this crossing by Kuniyoshi
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston - 1853 Yoshikazu triptych of this scene
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston - 1839-41 Kuniyoshi triptych of this scene
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston - another 1856 triptych version of this scene by Kuniyoshi
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston - 1843-47 Yoshitora version
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston - another ca. 1849-52 Kuniyoshi triptych version
Lyon Collection - Shibakuni hagoita portrait of Takatsuna - notice the four squares of his crest
Lyon Collection - Hokushū portrait of Takatsuna - notice the top of his breastplate with the four square mon
Muzeum Sztuki i Techniki Japońskiej Manggha, Krakow - a badly damaged left panel
Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts, UCLA - the right-hand panel only "The Minamoto generals Kajiwara (left), Sasaki Takatsuna (centre) and Hatakayama Shigetada (right) are depicted crossing the Uji river on horseback during their attack on the army of Kiso [Minamoto] Yoshinaka in 1184..."
Quoted from: Heroes and Ghosts: Japanese Prints by Kuniyoshi 1797-1861 by Robert Schaap, p. 98, #82.
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The dappled horse is Ikezuki (生唼), the Ill-Tempered Biter, and the black one is Surusumi (磨墨), the Ink-Stick
As Minamoto no Yoritomo was about to send troops against his cousin Yorinaka, he bestowed the finest horse in the land, Ikezuki, on Sasaki Shirō Takasune. Earlier he had given Surusumi to Kajiwara Genda Kagesue even though that warrior had asked for Ikezuki. Later when he realized that the better horse was being ridden by Sasaki Kajiwara was so angry that he was ready to kill his rival. When the two confronted each other Kajiwara expressed how angry he was that Sasaki had been given the prize steed. Knowing what an insult it must have been to Kajiwara Sasaki said that the horse was not given to him, but that he had stolen it. That defused Kajiwara's anger and he admitted that he wished he has stolen it first.
The scene in this triptych shows the two warriors rushing toward the enemy on the far shore. It was a matter of honor among the Japanese warrior class as to who would be first into the battle, who would lead the fight. In this case Sasaki won that competition to a great degree because of the horse he was riding.
This story is recounted at the beginning of Chapter 9 of The Tale of Heike.
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This battle took place on the 16th day of the 1st month of 1184. If you look closely you will see the banners of the armies of the enemies arrayed along the bank of the river. You will even notice that one arrow shot from the shore is flying through the air toward the dappled horse in the center panel. Notice also the fellow near the head of that horse tending to his bit with his upraised arm.
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The curatorial files at the British Museum say: "Kajiwara Kagesue on black horse, with Sasaki Takatsuna [佐々木高綱: 1160-1214] on white horse, and arrows from Yoshinaka's troops."
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There are cartouches identifying the main figures, plus those identifying the horses. The black horse cartouche reads 口取三文太, while the white horse is shown as 口取藤太夫.
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Kuniyoshi created an earlier triptych of this same subject in 1831-32.
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Sasaki Takatsuna was the son of Sasaki Hideyoshi (1112-84) who died in the struggle against Yoshinaka. Takatsuna was made the governor of Bizen and later of Aki. After he shaved his head he took the name Ryōchi and retired to Kōya-san.
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There is actually a word for the act of riding a horse across a river. It is suiba (水馬). It is also the name of the stirrup used in such a venture. Those stirrups are pierced in such a way as to let the water drain through, thus helping the foot to dry and to keep it from festering.
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The Yoshitsune Upside-Down Cherry tree and its relationship to Ikezuki
In Tōkaidō Texts and Tales: Tōkaidō gojūsan tsui by Kuniyoshi, Hiroshige, and Kunisada, University Press of Florida, 2015, on page 134 it says in reference to the Ishiyakushi station print: "The tree called the Yoshitune Upside-Down Cherry is located within a wooded area behind a house that sits across from the Ishiyakushi Temple. Long ago, when Noriyori was on his way to the capital, he surveyed the scene and observed that this was the place where the famed horse Ikezuki was born. He thrust his horsewhip into the ground upside down, and it later sprouted branches and leaves. The Yoshitune Upside-Down Cherry lies within the fields."
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Illustrated:
1) in color in Japanese Prints : Ukiyo-e in Edo, 1700-1900 by Ellis Tinios, Lund Humphries, 2010, pp. 116-117. The author wrote: "In this magnificent triptych Kuniyoshi uses the low perspective characteristic of many of his finest landscape prints to evoke a famous episode from the Genpei Wars. At the start of the second battle of Uji, on New Year's Day 1184, three generals strove to be the first to cross the Uji River and engage the enemy. The breadth of the river and height of the mountains are emphasized in this powerful depiction of a cold winter dawn."
2) in black and white in Ukiyo-e Masterpieces in European Collections: British Museum III, supervised by Muneshige Narazaki, Kodansha Ltd, 1988, #28, p. 172.
3) in color in 原色浮世絵大百科事典 (Genshoku Ukiyoe Daihyakka Jiten), vol. 4, p. 93, #36.
4) in color in Heroes and Ghosts: Japanese Prints by Kuniyoshi 1797-1861 by Robert Schaap, Hotei Publishing, 1998, p. 98, #82.
Enshūya Hikobei (遠州屋彦兵衛) (publisher)
warrior prints (musha-e - 武者絵) (genre)
landscape prints (fūkeiga 風景画) (genre)
Minamoto Yoshinaka (源義仲: 1154-1184) (role)