Night attack of the Soga brothers

The Soga revenge narrative recounts brothers Juro Sukenari and Goro Tokimune avenging their father's murder during Minamoto no Yoritomo's hunt at the foot of Mount Fuji in 1193. The night raid (yo-uchi) became a recurring subject in the Noh play Yo-uchi Soga and in numerous kabuki adaptations. A Gyokusei treatment of this subject draws on her vocabulary for theatrical scenes: armored figures positioned within a darkened ground, with sumi black and [bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) gradation carrying the weight of nocturnal atmosphere — torchlight against night, the tense pause of approach. Issued through the [shin-hanga](/glossary/shin-hanga) collaborative system associated with Watanabe Shozaburo, the print would have been cut by a trained [horishi](/glossary/horishi) and pulled onto [washi](/glossary/washi), the [baren](/glossary/baren) burnishing successive color blocks into registration. The subject extends Gyokusei's engagement with dramatic narrative drawn from the classical theater repertoire she made central to her career.