Utagawa Kuniyoshi
Japanese (1798 - 1861) Primary

Go-Shirakawa no Hô-ô no Horikawa no gosho wo ba (土佐坊昌俊義経が宿所に夜討の図) (Shizuka Gozen, Yoshitsune and Benkei, Preparing to Battle)

Edo
1843

Greatest Dimensions
14 1/4 x 9 5/8 in. (36.195 x 24.448 cm)

This object has the following keywords:

• battles - Individual instances of armed conflict between two or more groups.
• conch - The spiral shell of gastropods, often blown as sounding horns.
• Edo - Refers to the period and style that developed from the unification of Japan in 1600 until the end of the shogunal dynasty in 1868. During this period, economic expansion encouraged the rise of an educated merchant class who created their own forms of literature and theater as well as new schools of painting and woodblock printing. A wide diversity of pictorial subjects and styles developed during this period and many 19th century Western artists were influenced by them.
• triptychs - Paintings or carvings consisting of or mounted on three attached panels, often hinged so that the outer wings fold over the central portion; a common form for altarpieces. Also used for other works having three related images side by side.
• Ukiyo-e - Distinctive genre in painting and other media, but most prominently in woodblock printing. It arose in the Edo period (1600-1868) and built up a broad popular market among the middle classes. Subject matter typically focused on brothel districts and kabuki theatres, with formats ranging from single sheet prints to book illustrations. Generally, the style is characterized by a mixture of the realistic narrative of the Kamakura period and the mature decorative style of the Momoyama and Edo periods. Distinctive styles and specialties in subject matter were developed by different schools throughout the period.
• Utagawa, Kuniyoshi, 1798-1861 - Sources:
  - Robinson, B. W.: Kuniyoshi, 1961
  - Suzuki, J. Kuniyoshi, 1985:
  - Forrer, M. Drawings by Utagawa Kuniyoshi from the collection of the National Museum of Ethnology, Leiden, 1988:
  - Info. from 678 field, converted 2012-10-25
  - LC database, June 12, 2020
• woodcuts - Prints made using the process of woodcut, which is a relief process in which the design is cut into and printed from the plank side of a wood block; distinct from "wood engraving (process)," which is a relief process using the grain end of a wood block.