Kuniyoshi: Kashiwade no Hanoshi Killing a Tiger 膳臣巴提使

Artist: Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1798-1861)
Title: Kashiwade no Hanoshi 膳臣巴提使

Series: Eight Hundred Heroes of Our Country’s Suikoden All Told (Honchô Suikoden gôyû happyakunin no hitori) Date: 1830-32

Kashiwade no Hanoshi has pinned an enormous tiger to the ground, his blade drawn and expression fierce. Both warrior and cat have eyes that bulge with blue intensity. According to Timothy Clark (see reference below), the text on the print states that Kashiwade was sent to Korea during the reign of Emperor Kinmei, and that when a wild tiger attacked a child in Kashiwade’s party that the warrior tracked the tiger into snow-covered mountains and killed it. Despite this text that is written on the print, his viewers in the 1830s would have known that this is really a portrait of the warrior Kato Kiyomasa (1562-1611), and that he is hunting a tiger during the Korean expedition in the 1590s under the order of Hideyoshi. Kiyomasa wore this very distinctive helmet and his garments have patterns associated with him. Censorship regulations banned references to historic events later than 1592, in part because the ruling Tokugawa family had pretty much destroyed Hideyoshi’s descendants. Kiyomasa remained a popular subject in warrior prints nonetheless.

Condition: Very good impression and color; good/very good condition. Some light surface wrinkles and minor areas of restoration.

Dimensions: ôban 38 x 25.5 cm  Publisher: Kagaya Kichiemon

Literature: Robinson #S4a.8. See British Museum, MFA Boston collections. Clark, Timothy. Kuniyoshi: From the Arthur R. Miller Collection. London: Royal Academy of Arts, 2009, page 54, number 12.

Signature: Ichiyûsai Kuniyoshi ga

SKU: KUY643