Utagawa Kuniyoshi (歌川国芳) (artist 11/15/1797 – 03/05/1861)
The Soga brothers revenge their father (Soga kyōdai chichi no ada-uchi no zu -曽我兄弟父の仇討図) - the center and left panels of a triptych
ca 1851 – 1853
20 in x 15 in (Overall dimensions) Japanese woodblock print
Signed: Ichiyūsai Kuniyoshi ga
一勇斎国芳画
Artist's seal: kiri
Publisher:Sanoya Kihei
(Marks 446 - seal 25-210)
Censor seals: Mera and Watanabe
British Museum - whole triptych
Royal Museums of Art and History, Belgium (via Cultural Japan) - left panel only
Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen (Rijksmuseum Volkenkunde, Leiden) via Ritsumeikan University - center panel only
Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen (Rijksmuseum Volkenkunde, Leiden) via Ritsumeikan University - left-hand panel only There is a copy of the full triptych on loan to the British Museum. Robinson recorded six different triptychs on this theme by Kuniyoshi. Below is a description of a different, but oh so similar example, which is also in the British Museum.
"The revenge of the Soga brothers Jūrō and Gorō on their father's murderer, Kudō Suketune, was one of the most celebrated of all warrior vendettas. Kudō had treacherously killed their father, the famous wrestler Kawazu no Saburō, when they were young boys, and the pair were then raised by Soga no Tarō. Planned for eighteen years, their revenge finally came about in 1193, while Kudō was accompanying Shogun Minamoto no Yoritomo on a great hunting exhibition on the moor at the base of Mt. Fuji. Bursting into Kudō's tent during a violent storm, they were able to surprise and kill him. The scene in the print shows Jurō and Gorō attempting to fight off Yoritomo's warriors after the alarm has been raised. They wear matching yellow and blue robes, patterned with plovers and butterflies respectively. [Jurō, in the middle-ground on the left-hand sheet] will presently be killed by his opponent Nitta no Shirō Tadatsune, while Gorō, in the [foreground] will be captured by Yoritomo's young bodyguard, Gosho no Gorōmaru Shigemune, [who is approaching under elaborately decorated robe.]"
Quoted from: Kuniyoshi From the Arthur R. Miller Collection, p. 77.
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The full triptych in black and white in Ukiyo-e Masterpieces in European Collections: British Museum III, supervised by Muneshige Narazaki, Kodansha Ltd, 1988, #32, p. 174.
Sanoya Kihei (佐野屋喜兵衛) (publisher)
warrior prints (musha-e - 武者絵) (genre)
Soga brothers (曾我兄弟) (genre)