Urouro-bune (Aimless boats) / Nippon banzai hyakusen hyakusho (Hurrah for Japan! One Hundred Selections, One Hundred Laughs)

The farewell of Kusunoki Masashige to his son at Sakurai station in 1336 — the moment before the loyal imperial commander rode to his death at the Battle of Minatogawa — is depicted in this late-19th-century nishiki-e. The Sakurai farewell was one of the most emotionally charged scenes in Meiji Japan's imperial loyalty mythology: Kusunoki sending his son back to safety while going forward to certain death. Kiyochika renders the scene with the atmospheric sensitivity he brought to historical subjects, the landscape of the Yamazato post road providing a seasonal setting for the parting.