Taira Koremochi Conquering the Devil Woman on Mount Togakushi (Taira no Koremochi Togakushiyama kijo taiji no zu)

Date:: 1887
Medium:: Color woodblock prints; oban diptych
Format:: Oban
Source:: Art Institute of Chicago

Typical Price

Fine beauty print from late Meiji career in excellent condition: $1,000–$5,000
Good condition beauty subject: $400–$1,500
Standard impression: $200–$600

Description

"Taira Koremochi Conquering the Devil Woman on Mount Togakushi" (1887) depicts the tenth-century warrior Taira no Koremochi, who while on a mushroom-gathering expedition on the remote mountain encountered a beautiful woman who offered him sake. Recognizing her as a demoness through the distorted reflection in his sake cup, he slew her before she could destroy him. The mountain setting is essential to the tale—Togakushi in Nagano Prefecture was associated in medieval legend with tengu and other mountain demons, its isolation creating the perfect conditions for supernatural encounter.

More Prints by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi

Shunkan Watching Enviously from Kikai Island as Yasuyori Returns to the Capitol after Being Unexpectedly Pardoned (Shunkan sozu Kikaigashima ni oite tamatama Yasuyori no shamen senbo kito no zu)

Looking as if She Wants to Go for a Walk: The Fashion of a Married Woman of the Meiji Era (Yūho ga shitasō, Meiji nenkan saikun no fūzoku), from the series Thirty-two Appearances of Fashion (Fūzoku sanjūni sō)

Slovenly (Shidaranasaso), from the series "Thirty-two Aspects of Women (Fuzoku sanjuniso)"

1888

Color woodblock print; oban

Four PM, from the series "Twenty-Four Hours in Shinbashi and Yanagibashi"

n.d.

Color woodblock print

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Featured in Collections

Curated cross-cuts that include this print.

Japanese Ghost and Yōkai Prints

Frequently Asked Questions

Taira Koremochi Conquering the Devil Woman on Mount Togakushi (Taira no Koremochi Togakushiyama kijo taiji no zu) was created by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (月岡芳年) in 1887.

Taira Koremochi Conquering the Devil Woman on Mount Togakushi (Taira no Koremochi Togakushiyama kijo taiji no zu) depicts mythology, warriors, and mountains.