Takeda Katsuchiyo killing an old badger

A second impression or variant of the Takeda Katsuchiyo subject, this print depicts the same episode of the future warlord Takeda Shingen, as a boy, dispatching an aged tanuki credited with shape-shifting powers. Variant printings of a single design were common in late ukiyo-e production, particularly for popular subjects: blocks were re-pulled across multiple states, sometimes with adjustments to colour or registration that produced subtly different impressions. Comparison between two pulls of the same design can reveal much about workshop practice — the use of fresh versus worn keyblocks, shifts in the embossed registration of bokashi areas, the substitution of imported aniline pigments for traditional mineral colours. Within Yoshitoshi's musha-e output the Takeda Katsuchiyo design follows the precedent of his teacher Kuniyoshi, whose warrior series had treated similar exploits with energetic linework and dramatic posture. The persistence of such variant impressions in collections today reflects the commercial reach of Yoshitoshi's late series during the 1880s, when he remained one of the few traditional printmakers commanding popular demand as photography and lithography eroded the broader market for woodblock work.