Utagawa Hiroshige (歌川広重) (artist 1797 – 1858)
Center panel of triptych, Taira Kiyomori Haunted by Strange Sights (Taira Kiyomori kaii o miru zu - 平清盛怪異を見る図)
1844 – 1845
9.84 in x 14.37 in (Overall dimensions) Japanese color woodblock prints
Censor's seal: Watari
British Museum - the full triptych
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston - the full triptych
Honolulu Museum of Art - center panel only
Metropolitan Museum - full triptych
Waseda University - center panel only, but they own the full triptych
Victoria and Albert Museum - full triptych
Manggha Centre of Japanese Prints and Technology, Krakow - whole triptych
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford - full triptych
Lyon Collection - the full triptych
Los Angeles County Museum of Art - the full triptych The complete triptych, represented here by only the center panel, is truly one of the most remarkable Japanese works of art of the ukiyo-e period by any artist or publishing house. Hiroshige, born in 1797, was at the top of his creative powers at this time as he approached the age of 50. Clearly he was a master of his craft and has a well-deserved reputation.
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Signed on the right panel, Ichiryūsai Hiroshige ga (一立斎広重画) and on the left panel, Hiroshige ga (広重画). The center panel as seen here is unsigned. The publisher is Ibaya Kyūbei. Again it is seen on the left and right, but not the center panel.
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If you look closely at Kiyomori's outer garment you will see it has phoenix design, hō-ō (鳳凰), on each sleeve.
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Illustrated:
1) The full triptych in color in 原色浮世絵大百科事典 (Genshoku Ukiyoe Daihyakka Jiten), vol. 4, p. 93, #260.
2) The full triptych in color in Chimi moryō no sekai : Ukiyoe : Edo no gekiga--reikai, makai no shujinkō-tachi (浮世絵魑魅魍魎の世界: 江戶の劇画 : 霊界魔界の主人公たち) by 中右瑛 (Nakau Ei), Ribun Shuppan, Tokyo, 1987, pp. 28-29. There is also another reproduction in black and white on p. 86. [The text is entirely in Japanese.]
3) The full triptych in color in 浮世絵八華 (Ukiyo-e hakka), vol. 8 (Hiroshige), Heibonsha, 1984, #25.
4) The full triptych in black and white in Hiroshige: An Exhibition of Selected Prints and Illustrated Books, pp. 68-69.
5) The full triptych in a full two-page spread in color in Japanese Prints by Catherine David, 2010, Éditions Place des Victoires, pp. 404-405.
6) In small black and white reproductions - the whole triptych - in the Illustrated Catalogues of Tokyo National Museum: Ukiyo-e Prints (3), #s 3187-89.
7) in black and white in Ukiyo-e Masterpieces in European Collections: British Museum III, supervised by Muneshige Narazaki, Kodansha Ltd, 1988, #65, p. 184. The full triptych.
8) in color in 原色浮世絵大百科事典 (Genshoku Ukiyoe Daihyakka Jiten), vol. 4, p. 93, #260.
9) The full triptych in color in Japanese Yōkai and Other Supernatural Beings: Authentic Paintings and Prints of 100 Ghosts, Demons, Monsters and Magicians by Andreas Marks, Tuttle Publishing, 2023, pp. 224-225.
warrior prints (musha-e - 武者絵) (genre)
Yūrei-zu (幽霊図 - ghosts demons monsters and spirits) (genre)
landscape prints (fūkeiga 風景画) (genre)
Ibaya Kyūbei (伊場屋久兵衛) (publisher)
Taira no Kiyomori (平清盛) (role)