Genpei No. 6 - Daibutsuden Destroyed by Fire

This print depicts the 1180 burning of the Daibutsuden, the Great Buddha Hall of Tōdai-ji in Nara, set ablaze by Taira no Shigehira's forces during the opening phase of the Genpei War. The fire destroyed the monumental bronze Vairocana Buddha and the eighth-century timber hall that housed it — an event recorded in the Heike Monogatari and remembered as one of the war's defining acts of cultural destruction. Takeda's Genpei series treats the twelfth-century conflict between the Taira and Minamoto clans through a contemporary mokuhanga idiom that departs from the populous battle triptychs of nineteenth-century [musha-e](/glossary/musha-e) by Kuniyoshi and Yoshitoshi. Here the burning hall is likely reduced to architectural silhouette and tonal contrast, with the keyblock carrying the structural geometry and color blocks suggesting flame and smoke. The work continues a long lineage of Japanese artists returning to the Genpei tales while showing the graphic compression characteristic of Takeda's broader practice.