Yoshiie ason Makasa (mo) seki (Lord Yoshiie at the stone barrier at Nakaso). Series: Gekko Zui hitsu

This print from Ogata Gekko's Gekko zuihitsu series depicts Minamoto no Yoshiie (源義家, 1039–1106), known as Hachimantaro, at the stone barrier at Nakaso in Hitachi Province (modern Ibaraki Prefecture). The scene references a celebrated exchange during the Later Three Years' War in which Yoshiie reportedly composed a couplet from the Chinese anthology Wakan Roeishu on the spot, completing the verse begun by the enemy commander Abe no Sadato — a display of literary cultivation alongside martial prowess that made the episode a touchstone of the ideal warrior in Heian and medieval literature. Gekko renders Yoshiie in the oyoroi (great armor) of the Heian period, pausing at or before the stone embankment that marked enemy territory. The mountainous landscape setting — rendered with rock, mist, and recession into forested distance — reflects Gekko's integration of Shijo painting conventions into the woodblock medium and his ambition in the zuihitsu series to capture both figure and landscape with equal care.