Kuniyoshi: Ii Hayata Hironao takes down the magical Nue (Sold)

Artist: Utagawa Kuniyoshi
Title: Ii Hayata Hironao takes down the magical Nue
Series: Eight Hundred Heroes of Our Country’s Suikoden All Told (Honchô Suikoden gôyû happyakunin no hitori)
Date: 1840

Ii Hayata Hironao is a retainer of Minamoto Yorimasa. A famous archer, Yorimasa, is summoned to the imperial palace in 1153 to rid the Emperor of his maladies, apparently caused by a dark cloud that hovers over the palace roof. Yorimasa shoots an arrow into the cloud, and suddenly a nue, “a beast nearly as big as a horse, with a monkey’s head, the back of a badger, the claws of a tiger, scales of a dragon and a tail with a snake’s head at the tip” falls from the sky. Hironao, his retainer, is here shown grappling with the monster, his arm around his neck and a knife in his hand. Increasing the dramatic energy, the swirling dark cloud forms the backdrop, and lightning flashes in front of them.

Condition: Excellent impression, color and condition. Mint.
Dimensions: ôban 38.2 x 26 cm
Publisher: Kazusaya Iwazo
Literature: Robinson S4a.6. See “Heroes & Ghosts”, page 46, number 14.
Signature: Ichiyûsai Kuniyoshi ga

SKU: KUY485