Nitta Shiro Tadatsune

A single warrior is shown from behind in three-quarter view, gripping a torch or spear aloft in a dark cave as red-orange flames and smoke billow to his left and small bats flit through the black air around him; he wears a pale blue floral-patterned robe under a spotted brown outer garment cinched with a white sash, a sword thrust through the back of the sash, and striped sandals, with a dark peaked cap on his head. The palette is dominated by charcoal grays and blacks set against the vivid red-orange fire, with muted blue-gray and tan in the figure's dress providing contrast. A vertical title cartouche with Japanese text sits in the upper right; this is Tsukioka Yoshitoshi's "Nitta Shiro Tadatsune," a Japanese woodblock print (mokuhanga), date unknown.