Nobunaga noticing his archrival Dosan

This woodblock print depicts the famous first meeting between Oda Nobunaga and his father-in-law Saitô Dôsan, a celebrated episode from the Sengoku period that was often treated in popular historical illustration. Tradition records that Dôsan, expecting to be dismissive of his daughter's husband based on reports of Nobunaga's eccentric behavior, was instead struck by the young warlord's commanding presence when they met at Shotokuji Temple in 1553. Kiyochika's treatment of historical warrior subjects (musha-e) draws on both the established tradition of battle illustration and his skills as a caricaturist, though historical figures received more dignified treatment than contemporary political targets. The composition would likely show the moment of recognition — Nobunaga and Dôsan at a formal distance, the psychological tension of two dominant personalities assessing one another. Kiyochika's figure work in musha-e contexts reflects his study of Western anatomical illustration alongside traditional brush-and-block conventions, producing a distinctive hybrid of Meiji-era historical image-making.