Amako Juyushi

The title refers to the Amako Jūyūshi (尼子十勇士), the Ten Brave Warriors of the Amako clan, a band of retainers — including Yamanaka Shikanosuke Yukimori — who attempted to restore the Amako of Izumo Province after the clan's defeat by the Mōri in 1566. The group became a subject of late-Edo and Meiji-era musha-e, often serialized as a set of ten individual portraits or grouped on a single sheet. Yamanaka Shikanosuke's vow to endure the seven hardships and eight pains while petitioning the crescent moon for the clan's restoration is a recurring textual reference. As mokuhanga, the subject requires character differentiation through armor, weapons, and pose, and traditionally employs strong keyblock lines with restrained color overprinting to read clearly at smaller scales. Takahashi Hiromitsu's engagement with the Amako Jūyūshi places this work within the continuing tradition of historical-warrior printmaking, drawing on iconography developed by nineteenth-century artists such as Kuniyoshi.