Battle Of Kurihara Pass

The Battle of Kurikara Pass in 1183 is one of the more often-depicted incidents of the Genpei War, in which Minamoto no Yoshinaka routed a larger Taira force by driving a herd of oxen with torches tied to their horns down a mountain pass at night. Takeda's Saru version stages the episode with monkeys in place of the Minamoto and Taira retainers, retaining the nocturnal setting, the panicked livestock, and the steep terrain the subject conventionally requires. The mokuhanga handling allows for the dense black grounds and reserved highlights that night scenes call for in woodblock printing, with [bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) gradations available where atmospheric softening is needed. The Warriors tag situates the print within the [musha-e](/glossary/musha-e) lineage that Kuniyoshi made central to nineteenth-century [ukiyo-e](/glossary/ukiyo-e), and Takeda's series functions as a late twentieth-century parodic engagement with that genre's conventions. The choice of subject also reflects the artist's sustained interest in pivotal narrative moments rather than static portraiture.