Soga monogatari

Soga monogatari (The Tale of the Soga Brothers), a woodblock-printed book of undated late-Edo origin held by the Art Institute of Chicago, presents Kitao Masayoshi's illustrations to one of the most enduring narratives of medieval Japanese literature. The Soga story recounts the vendetta of two brothers, Soga Sukenari (the Tenth) and Soga Tokimune (the Fifth), who avenge their father's murder by killing Kudo Suketsune at a hunting ground in 1193. The narrative had been a staple of Japanese theater, dance, and printed literature for centuries by the time Masayoshi illustrated his version, with each Edo generation producing fresh treatments of the iconic brothers' loyalty, courage, and ultimate sacrifice. Masayoshi's woodblock-printed illustrations bring his abbreviated brush style to the well-known scenes of the story, treating the medieval warriors with the same economy of line he applied to the more contemporary subjects of his sketch albums. The volume is one of several literary illustrations he produced alongside the more famous ryakugashiki series. The Art Institute of Chicago's holding adds an important narrative-illustration title to the museum's comprehensive collection of Masayoshi's printed books and demonstrates the range of his work beyond the encyclopedic sketch-album format.