Poem by Kisen Hōshi: Nyūdō Yorimasa

Poem by Kisen Hōshi: Nyūdō Yorimasa is a 1845 woodblock print by Utagawa Kuniyoshi from the series Ogura nazora-e Hyaku-nin isshu, preserved in the Victoria and Albert Museum. Like other sheets in this collaboration with Hiroshige and Kunisada, the print pairs a verse from the canonical Hyakunin Isshu anthology — here a poem attributed to the priest Kisen Hōshi — with a figural subject drawn from later history or legend. Kuniyoshi chooses Minamoto no Yorimasa in his guise as a tonsured retired warrior (nyūdō), the same hero famous for slaying the nightmare creature called the nue in tales of the late Heian period. The choice allowed Kuniyoshi to bring his celebrated mastery of warrior prints to bear on a literary subject, depicting Yorimasa with the gravitas of an aged hero and the iconographic dignity of a poet-warrior. The cartouche above carries the classical waka and the author's name, while the lower image area is reserved for the carefully drawn figure, framed by considered colour relationships typical of mid-1840s Edo workshop production. The Victoria and Albert Museum's preservation of the sheet as part of the series allows scholars and visitors to study how Kuniyoshi negotiated the demands of poetic refinement and popular pictorial drama. The print stands as a strong example of Edo ukiyo-e in dialogue with the literary canon, and of Kuniyoshi's gift for fusing classical resonance with the visual energy of warrior portraiture.