Taira Kiyomori Seeing Skulls in the Snowy Garden
- Date:
- May 1882
- Medium:
- Woodblock print (nishiki-e), ink and colors on paper
- Format:
- Oban
- Dimensions:
- 36.4 × 73.8 cm
- Source:
- Minneapolis Institute of Art
Description
"Taira Kiyomori Seeing Skulls in the Snowy Garden" (May 1882) depicts the Heike clan patriarch in a hallucinatory vision of mortality—standing in his garden while skulls rise from the snow around him, manifestations of his guilty conscience and the karmic debt accumulated through his violent rule. The print is one of Yoshitoshi's most psychologically penetrating works of the 1880s, using the supernatural vision as a vehicle for exploring the relationship between power, guilt, and psychological disintegration. The snowy garden setting amplifies the isolation of the tyrant surrounded by his own projected horrors.
More Prints by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi
More Snow Scenes Prints
Fair Weather After Snow at Yamato Bridge, Kyoto (Yamato bashi no yukibare), Taishô period, dated 1924
Woodblock print
The Compound of the Tenman Shrine at Kameido in the Snow (Kameido Tenmangu keidai no yuki), from the series "Famous Places in the Eastern Capital (Toto meisho)"
c. 1832/38
Color woodblock print; oban
Miyajima in Snow (Yuki no Miyajima)
Yuki no Miyajima
1929
Color woodblock print; oban
Evening Snow at Shiha Park, Tokyo
1932
Woodblock print
Frequently Asked Questions
Taira Kiyomori Seeing Skulls in the Snowy Garden was created by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (月岡芳年) in May 1882.
Taira Kiyomori Seeing Skulls in the Snowy Garden depicts snow scenes and gardens.
Taira Kiyomori Seeing Skulls in the Snowy Garden measures 36.4 × 73.8 cm (Oban format).