Last stand of the Kusunoki Clan at Shijonawate in 1348
- Medium:
- Woodblock print
- Format:
- Oban
- Source:
- Art of Japan
Description
The Kusunoki clan's last stand at the Battle of Shijonawate (1348), in which Kusunoki Masatsura and his greatly outnumbered forces fought to the last man against the Ashikaga army, was one of the most celebrated episodes of Southern Court loyalty in Japanese history. Kuniyoshi depicts the final moments of the clan — Masatsura and his surviving warriors committing ritual suicide after exhausting their arrows and breaking their swords — with the gravity appropriate to a canonical act of martial self-sacrifice. The battle occupied a central place in the ideology of imperial loyalty that ran through Kuniyoshi's warrior-print tradition.
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Woodblock print (surimono), ink and color on paper
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Poem by Abe no Nakamaro, from an untitled series of One Hundred Poems by One Hundred Poets
Hu Sanniang (Ko Sanjo Ichijosei), from the series "One Hundred and Eight Heroes of the Popular Water Margin (Tsuzoku Suikoden goketsu hyakuhachinin no hitori)"
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Frequently Asked Questions
Last stand of the Kusunoki Clan at Shijonawate in 1348 was created by Utagawa Kuniyoshi (歌川国芳).
Last stand of the Kusunoki Clan at Shijonawate in 1348 depicts figures and warriors.