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Gain access to this incredible resource through either a monthly or a yearly subscription and search the entire collection from your desktop, compare multiple images side by side and zoom into the minute details of the images. Visit www.davidrumsey.com/amica for more information on the collection, click on the link below the revolving thumbnail to the right, or email us at amica@luna-img.com . Creator Name: Katsukawa, Shunsho Creator Nationality: Asian; Far East Asian; Japanese Creator Role: Artist Creator Dates/Places: Japanese; 1726-1792 Asia,East Asia,Japan Creator Active Place: Asia,East Asia,Japan Creator Name-CRT: Katsukawa Shunsho Title: Taira no Atsumori riding a horse into the sea Title Type: preferred View: Full View Creation Start Date: 1770 Creation End Date: 1770 Creation Date: 1770 Creation Place: Asia,East Asia,Japan Object Type: Prints Classification Term: Woodblock Materials and Techniques: Woodblock print. Dimensions: Chu?ban; 24.8 x 19.6 cm Inscriptions: SIGNATURE: Katsukawa Shunsho zu AMICA Contributor: The Art Institute of Chicago Owner Location: Chicago, Illinois, USA ID Number: 1939.777 Credit Line: The Art Institute of Chicago, Frederick W. Gookin Collection Rights: http://www.artic.edu/aic/rights/main.rights.html Context: One of the most famous and affecting episodes in the medieval war tale Heike Monogatari tells of the death of Taira no Atsumori, a handsome and innocent young nobleman, at the hands of the Minamoto warrior Kumagai no Jiro Naozane during the battle of Ichinotani in 1184. Realizing that the battle was lost, Atsumori was spurring his horse into the sea toward the safety of the Taira ships, when Kumagai's challenge from the shore forced him, in honor, to turn back. Only when Atsumori lay helmetless and helpless on the ground did Kumagai realize that he held at mercy a mere lad of sixteen or seventeen- no older than his own son Naoie. His instant impulse to spare the boy was foiled by the appearance of other Minamoto troops, who would have killed him without a moment's hesitation or remorse. Nearly paralyzed by grief, and promising to pray for Atsumori's soul, Kumagai struck off Atsumori's head, then wept frantically. Compounding the tragedy, the grief-stricken Kumagai then discovered an antique flute in a brocade bag tucked into Atsumori's sash, and realized that this was the youth who had enchanted both camps with his flute playing at dawn, before the battle.The episode poignantly symbolizes the overthrow of the cultivated nobility of Kyoto by the rough warriors of the provinces. Though one of those same rude warriors, Kumagai himself reflects, 'Among the hundred thousand warriors on our side, there is no one who has carried with him a flute to the battlefield. What a gentle life these nobles and courtiers have led!'Shunsho depicts the moment when Atsumori turns his horse in response to Kumagai's challenge from the shore- a scene he also drew in pillar print (hashira-e) format. The cloth (horo) billowing from Atsumori's shoulders provided some protection against arrows. The placement of the signature on the far right, Atsumori's gaze out of the picture toward the left, and the small waves entering the composition from the left all suggest that this may be the right-hand sheet of a diptych whose other sheetmust have shown Kumagai on horseback on the beach. Another single-sheet chu?ban print by Shunsho depicts the moment when Kumagai has wrestled Atsumori to the ground, pulled off his helmet, and realized with horror that his opponent is just a boy (see 'TheActor's Image' catalogue, fig. 52.1, p.156).Though warrior prints by all leading ukiyo-e artists were in vogue about 1770, the particularly large number of designs showing Atsumori and Kumagai may relate in some way to the performance of a well-receivedKabuki play on the theme of the battle of Ichinotani, Ichinotani Futaba Gunki (Young Sprigs of Ichinotani: A War Tale), at the Ichimura Theater in the sixth (or eighth?) month of 1770. AMICA ID: AIC_.1939.777 AMICA Library Year: 1998 Media Metadata Rights: Copyright The Art Institute of Chicago, 1998 AMICA PUBLIC RIGHTS: a) Access to the materials is granted for personal and non-commercial use. b) A full educational license for non-commercial use is available from Cartography Associates at www.davidrumsey.com/amica/institution_subscribe.html c) Licensed users may continue their examination of additional materials provided by Cartography Associates, and d) commercial rights are available from the rights holder. Home
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