Utagawa Kuniyoshi (歌川国芳) (artist 11/15/1797 – 03/05/1861)
Night Rain at Narumi (Narumi yau - 鳴海夜雨): Inagawa Yoshioto (稲川良音) from the series Eight Views of Military Brilliance (Yōbu hakkei - 燿武八景)
07/1852
9.7 in x 14 in (Overall dimensions) Japanese color woodblock print
Signed: Ichiyūsai Kuniyoshi ga
一勇斎国芳画
Artist's seal: kiri
Publisher: Enshūya Hikobei
(Marks 055 - seal 21-016)
Censor seals: Watanabe and Mera
Date seal: 7/1852
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
British Museum
Victoria and Albert Museum
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Ruth Chandler Williamson Gallery
Nationaal Museum van Wereldculturen (Rijksmuseum Volkenkunde, Leiden) via Ritsumeikan University The large cartouche in the upper right identifies each of the figures in this series. That cartouche and its warrior related border decoration is the same in each of these prints. They include a piece of armor, a drum, a war banner and a war fan. There are four other prints from this series in the Lyon Collection. See #s 363 (Fujiwara no Masakiyo), 364 (Akushichibyōe Kagekiyo), 365 (Inagawa Yoshioto), 923 (Eda Genzō) and 926 (Suzuki Shigeyuki).
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"Although Imagawa Yoshimoto [今川 義元] (1519-60), the daimyo of Suruga is a relatively unknown personage in 16th-century Japanese history, he was a pivotal figure in the lives of three great men: Tokugawa Hirotada (1526-49), his son Ieyasu (1542-1616) and Takeda Nobutora (1493-1573). Driven from his estate by Oda Nobuhide, Tokugawa Hirotada decides to appeal to Imagawa Yoshimoto for assistance in 1547. Hirotada's choice is an obvious one as Oda Nobuhide and Imagawa Yoshimoto have been enemies ever since Nobuhide's victory over Yoshimoto at Owari in 1542. Loyalty to his father likewise indebts Ieyasu to Yoshimoto. Around the same time Yoshimoto offers shelter to Takeda Nobutora, the father of Takeda Harunobu or Takeda Shingen (1521-73...). The feud between the Oda and Imagawa clans reaches a climax in 1560 when the Imagawa, though having a greater force of 46,000 men, are crushed by Nobuhide's son, Nobunaga (1534-82), at Okehazama [桶狭間]. Yoshimoto is killed during the battle. Later Yoshimoto's son Ujizane (1538-1614) offends Ieyasu such that Ieyasu breaks his ties with the Imagawa and links up with Nobunaga, Ieyasu is only nineteen when he makes this choice, but it is one that marks the first important step of his career as the founder of the Tokugawa shogunate."
Quoted from: Heroes and Ghosts: Japanese Prints by Kuniyoshi 1797-1861 by Robert Schaap, p. 106 - with color illustration.
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Japanese Warrior Prints 1646-1905 by James King and Yuriko Iwakiri provides more information about the background of this print on 286. Also, there is a full page color illustration on page 287. "Even though the subject of the print originates in the Taikōki, Kuniyoshi introduces only a change in spelling to protect himself from the censorship regulations. Inagawa Yoshioto (real name: Imagawa Yoshimoto...), was the third son of Ujichika Imagawa (1473-1526). He was sent to train as a Buddhist monk but, upon the death of his elder brother, he was called back to act as head of his family.
Yoshimoto was initially defeated in some battles with Oda Nobunaga's father, Nobuhide (1510-51), but he eventually succeeded in uniting the three provinces of Mikawa, Tōtoumi and Suruga. In 1559, he raised an army in an attempt to retake Owari. He set up his headquarters at Okehazama and the following year attacked Nobunaga's castle and fortifications.
The outcome of the battle was deceptively easy to predict: Nobunaga's army was outnumbered ten to one by the Imagawa. A frontal assault by the Nobunaga forces would have been suicidal, and holding out in his castle would only have lasted a few days against the seige [sic]. Under these circumstances Nobunaga decided to launch a surprise ambush on the Imagawa forces. The attack aided by a sudden rainstorm, came from behind the Imagawa lines, catching them completely off guard. Numerous top officers of the Imagawa were slain, and while others panicked and fled, Yoshimoto fought bravely. It was to no avail. His head was cut off after Hattori Koheita's spear pierced his right thigh and Mōri Shinsuke's [sic] his side. With their leader and many of the higher-ranking officers dead, the remaining officers defected. In short order, the Imagawa faction was destroyed. The victory by Nobunaga was hailed as miraculous and proved to be his first step towards his goal of unification... The kyōka verse in the cartouche is by Sasanoya and reads:
shino o tsuku
ame ni yaburete
Okehazama
atetaru mo wa ni
kiruru taga no wa
By the rush of rainA 'truss hoop' refers to the circular band around a barrel (oke), but here also alludes to the shape of the Imagawa family crest. A pun is being made between oke, a barrel, and Okehazama, the battle. The fourth line of the poem suggests that the rain helped destroy the Imagawa family." ****
like many bamboo falling down,
Okehazama went down to defeat;
what the rain shot
is the truss hoop cut into a ring.
Elena Varshavskaya in her book The Heroes of the Grand Pacification: Taiheiki eiyū den tells us in the notes about the second print in this series that "the dragon that decorates the front of Yoshimoto's helmet was a hereditary symbol of this feudal [Minamoto-related] house."
In this print in the Lyon Collection Yoshimoto is referred to as Yoshioto and the dragon on the helmet has become a lion about to pounce. Perhaps this is artistic license. However, if you look closely you will see a fierce looking dragon decorating the armor near his waist.
In the end notes on page 161 Varshavskaya noted: "Yoshimoto possessed vast domains, ruling over the provinces of Mikawa, Tōtōmi and Suruga. Wishing to establish himself in the capital, he led his large army against Kyoto in the full conviction that nobody would dare seek to hinder him. Unexpectedly, however, he met with resistance from Oda Nobunaga. In the gorge not far from Okehazama... Nobunaga launched a surprise attack on Yoshimoto's forces. Yoshimoto was completely defeated and fled the battlefield but was overtaken by the warriors Hattori Kazutada (d. 1595) and Mōri Sinsuke (dates not known) and was killed by them."
On page 162 Varshavskaya wrote of the Battle of Okehazama: "Okehazama in Owari province gave its name to the decisive battle between Imagawa Yoshimoto and Oda Nobunaga though in fact it was fought at nearby Dengakuhazama. The combat occurred on the 19th day of the 5th month of the 3rd year of Eiroku era (25/06/1560). The campaign started favourably for Yoshimoto who took two forts - Washizu and Marune. Yoshimoto's army was resting in the gorge of Dengakuhazama, chosen for his camp by Yoshimoto himself who was very familiar with the terrain. This choice turned out to be a fatal mistake. On that day it was raining heavily, and concealed by the rain Nobunaga approached the encampment and attacked it. Unable to react promptly and also bound by the confined space of the gorge, Yoshimoto's army was instantly routed."
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The Minamoto (i.e., Genji) surname was borne by the descendants of Sadazumi-shinnō (貞純親王: 874-916), the son of emperor Seiwa-tennō (清和天皇: r. 859-76).
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The text reads: 笹の屋 篠をつく雨に破れて桶狭間あてたる毛利にきるゝたがの輪
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Illustrated:
1) in a full-page color reproduction in Japanese Warrior Prints 1646-1905 by James King and Yuriko Iwakiri, p. 287.
2) in color in Heroes and Ghosts: Japanese Prints by Kuniyoshi 1797-1861 by Robert Schaap, p. 106.
3) .on the cover illustration for Oda Nobunaga: The Battle of Okehazama by Les Paterson in 2008.
4) in a small color reproduction in Chikanobu: Modernity and Nostalgia in Japanese Prints by Bruce A. Coats, Hotei Publishing, 2006, fig. 2, p. 12.
warrior prints (musha-e - 武者絵) (genre)
Enshūya Hikobei (遠州屋彦兵衛) (publisher)